At last google earth has hi res pics of Macquarie island. I spent 1975 there. Windsurfing wasn't invented then. It is so windy. This lake in particular, fully exposed to the prevailing westerlies you get at 55deg south. There's barely a lip holding the water back from the cliff. Waterfalls often didn't hit the ground on this coast.
Check out the island on Google earth.

The lakes are mostly liquid, only occasionally do they freeze over. It was only on a few days that we got a layer of snow covering the ground. Mostly drizzle. The island has a very narrow temperature range, an average of 3.2 deg C in july and 7.0 in January. The max we got for the whole year was +12 and the min -8 ? I seem to remember. It can be colder in Canberra in winter. Inhabitants take a traditional dip in the ocean mid winter.

I don't think it's easy for tourists to get there. The only accommodation is still probably just the base operated by the Antarctic Division.

Our electrician took (smuggled) his surfboard down. Had a bit of a paddle on a rare still, sunny, summer's day, (the day it got to 12 deg C). Don't think he actually caught a wave.

Hey Ian, we must have crossed tracks cos I was there in 74 with BoM.

Rossx said...

Hey Ian, we must have crossed tracks cos I was there in 74 with BoM.

No doubt we did. But the 74-5 changeover was a hasty one. ANARE had forgotten to book the Nella Dan. We met it in Port Lyttelton to save time. Until we were properly resupplied later that summer we had to survive on Leopard Lager.

The elephant seals wouldn't be a problem Wespyyl, you warm to them after a while.