“Arriving at Port Lockroy for the first time was unforgettable. We came in on a Zodiac [rigid inflatable boat], through driving sleet and snow. We couldn’t see the base at all, then suddenly it just appeared out of the blizzard. We dumped our kit on the beach, grabbed some shovels and started digging out snow to find the door”.
And so began a four month adventure at the World’s most southerly Post Office for Stephen Skinner, who was brought up in Newton Aycliffe and went to Woodham Technology College.
Stephen had a long time ambition to work in Antarctica ever since he was a teen. He beat competition from scores of UK and International candidates to grab this job, dubbed “Penguin Post Office” in a recent BBC Nature documentary.
He is employed by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) to help run the Post Office at Base A, Port Lockroy, Goudier Island but this tells only part of the story. Stephen says “Working days here are very changeable. They can involve acting as Museum guide, maintaining buildings and artefacts and giving presentations to passing Antarctic Visitors”. Then there are the postal duties – all of the mail from here is stamped and goes back to the UK, via the Falkland Islands. The Base relies on passing expedition ships to take the sacks of mail for us. Postcards can take up to 8 weeks to get home.
Stephen shares the UKHAT base with 3 other volunteers. The island is the size of a football pitch and has very basic living conditions. There is no running water, basic dormitory accommodation and food. No Wi-Fi or mobiles here and with temperatures as low as -10 degrees and wind speeds of 80 knots conditions can be quite tough.
Back mid-March, Stephen says “The penguins are awesome. We don’t have television here, so we simply open the curtains and watch penguin TV! The things I do miss are really tangible like the smell of mown grass or seeing insects. But mainly I miss my friends and family.”
