I’m writing this sitting outside the hut on Antipodes Island, 870km southeast of New Zealand. The fact that I can write and post blogs from here is a bit startling, and it shows how much the world has changed since my last forays into the subantarctic. I am here for three months, December to March, to assist with Antipodean Albatross research.

Working in the subantarctic has been a dream for me since I first learned about these far-flung islands, and only intensified with my ship based visits. Bobbing around the cliffs of the Antipodes in 2016, I never dreamed that I would find myself here seven years later, boots on the ground. Arriving here in the early morning made it feel even more dream-like, the wails and moans of fur seals and the strident braying of penguins echoing out across the water. After clambering ashore one of the first birds that greeted me (I startled it off the path worn through the tussocks, sorry!) was one I couldn’t see from that zodiac cruise years ago – the Antipodes flavour of subantarctic snipe. Since then I’ve taken every spare moment up with photographing the unique life of the island.

There’s a novelty in blogging directly from the field, and I’ll try to do more of it and share some images and stories from our work on the island. For now, here’s some from there three day crossing aboard the Evohe, and our first few weeks of Antipodean summer.