As a professional “tent master”, whose work involves building big tops at music festivals, George Clarke has never run a post office – and certainly never counted penguins for a living.
But these and other idiosyncratic tasks will become part of his daily routine when he joins a small team of new recruits to “the coolest jobs on Earth”, staffing the world’s most southerly museum and post office in Antarctica.
The team of five have been recruited by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, a conservation charity that cares for historic British bases on the continent. Next month they will travel to a former research station on the football-pitch-sized Goudier Island, off the Antarctic peninsula below South America.
There, for five months of freezing temperatures and near-constant daylight, they will live alongside the resident gentoo penguins while carrying out conservation repairs, monitoring wildlife and greeting cruise ship visitors.
Bristol-based Clarke, 34, applied earlier this year after reading an article in the Guardian. “I thought it’d be something new, something exciting – and that I had nothing to lose from applying. So I just thought, why not give it a go?
“I’m looking forward to waking up and having my morning coffee looking out over Antarctica, hopefully seeing a whale too,” he said. “Just keeping an open mind and seeing where it takes me, really.”
While the small crew will share their tasks, Clarke’s particular responsibility is as postmaster, processing the many letters and postcards left by those who stop at the tiny wooden museum from up to two cruise ships a day.
It seems “a bit mad” to have a post office in such a remote spot, he said, but for many visitors “a key part of the experience is sending a postcard or a letter home from the southernmost post office in the world. So I’ll be sorting through the mail, cancelling the stamps, and then sending them on via passing cruise ships.”
Other team members will take the lead monitoring wildlife, managing the museum and running the small shop; they will be joined later in the season by two specialist carpenters to repair some of the fragile wooden structures previously used by British scientists, which are particularly threatened as the continent warms.
“We are the people that the visitors will meet on a day-to-day basis, and that means we have a really special responsibility to showcase the amazing work of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust,” said Lou Hoskin, 31, who has been appointed base leader thanks to her experience in marine conservation.
As well as conserving the heritage sites, the charity’s aim is “to inspire people to see the continent differently and safeguard this wondrous place for generations to come,” she said.
The final team was whittled down from those who applied thanks to some “weird and wonderful tasks”, said Clarke, such as putting up a tent in pairs while blindfolded and wearing oven gloves. “I don’t want to boast, but with my background in tents, we managed to do it twice.”
They will share a communal dorm in a Nissen hut with a strictly limited box of luxuries each – something they have all decided to embrace, he said.
“There is internet on the base, but we’ve decided as a crew that we’d rather not use it very much.” Instead, he said, “I’m a keen artist, I draw. I know we’ve got people bringing down knitting needles and puzzles, and there’s a small library on the base where people can bring books. So we’ve all decided to bring one of our favourite novels, one of our favourite nonfiction books, and swap those around.
“Part of the joy about going to such a remote location is being slightly cut off from the world. So I certainly don’t think we’ll be scrolling on our phones every evening.”