Day 4: Auckland Islands

It seems hardly remarkable now to mention the constant rocking and pitching of our vessel. Suffice to say it's like trying to sleep in a tumble dryer, but the passengers and I seem to be holding up remarkably well. A few spare places at meals only.

Today's challenge is to climb a muddy, rocky 200m bluff to see a Mollymawk colony on the main island of the Auckland Group. A party of twenty kitted up for the ordeal which was simple enough except for treacherous puddles of knee-deep muck interspersed with slippery tracks through the abundant tussock grass. The weather smiled on us and the cameras went crazy.

Back aboard it was an afternoon and evening of predictable, incessant undulation as we traversed the notorious stretch of water en route to Macquarie Island which we'll reach early on Day 6.