Applications open for Antarctica’s penguin put up workplace with one applicant utilizing tattoos to point out her enthusiasm

Applications are open to work in Antarctica’s well-known “penguin post office”.

Successful candidates will probably be “self-motivated”, “empathetic” and high-quality with showering as soon as each two weeks.

The store in Port Lockroy is the southernmost put up workplace on this planet and steadily smells like penguin poo.

Every yr, the Antarctic Heritage Trust is flooded with functions for the roles. This yr, there are three positions on provide and they’re solely open to UK residents.

As nicely as processing as much as 80,000 letters and postcards a yr, employees should run the store and welcome roughly 18,000 cruise passengers who cease by.

One applicant, charity supervisor Katie Shaw in Manchester, needs to go a lot, she has tattooed a geographically correct map of the Antarctic on one leg and a portrait of explorer Ernest Shackleton on the opposite.

“I grew up wanting to be a marine biologist working in Antarctica,” mentioned Ms Shaw.

“Academically, that didn’t work out but I’ve always found the wildlife, landscape and the exploration there fascinating.

“The continent is so vital to the setting and appears like a spot we have not completely f****** up but.

“Each year it feels less and less likely we’ll be able to enjoy and appreciate it.”

Successful candidates have to have a variety of abilities. Employees should kind put up, promote stamps, take care of the buildings and run the present store. They should put up with primary dwelling situations and be proud of their very own firm.

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The utility type warns folks about hygiene:

“We have no running water on the island, so washing facilities are very basic. Water is collected in jerry cans from visiting ships.

“There are not any bathe services at Port Lockroy, so employees are anticipated to be comfy dwelling with these restricted washing services, but nonetheless preserving hygiene ranges excessive.

“Visiting ships will offer showers approximately once per week, but when weather conditions are poor you could go up to two weeks without visitors or a shower.”

Staff additionally have to depend the roughly 1,500 gentoo penguins that stay in a colony at Port Lockroy.

Holidays to the Antarctic are costly. Ms Shaw estimates it will value greater than her annual mortgage cost to go on a two-week cruise to the area.

There are additionally issues Antarctica’s rising tourism trade is damaging the fragile ecosystem.

Antarctic vacationers are even inflicting penguin species to vary their reproductive and social behaviours, in line with the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

That makes the put up workplace place much more enticing for candidates.

“There’s only three ways you can really visit Antarctica; working on a research base, elite tourism or applying for the post office,” mentioned Ms Shaw.

Applications shut on 18 March for the season ranging from November and ending in March 2025.