Macquarie Island travel guide

Macquarie Island

Macquarie is entirely unusual. Its shape, compared to squeezed toothpaste, was created 600,000 years ago when a rift in the earth’s crust forced a line of molten rock right up to the surface. It is the only known place on earth where this has occurred and its one-off geology is just the beginning.

A tiny, verdant island, Macquarie Island isn’t ruled by man, but by penguins in their millions, who share their ‘city’ with thousands of seals and sea lions.

You can only visit Macquarie Island on a small ship expedition cruise, so, sharing an onboard home with up to 140 other passengers, hopping on and off to explore unfamiliar surrounds, you’ll need your sea legs. But that’s all part of the adventure. Home of the Macquarie Island cabbage – a megaherb that grows up to 90cm tall, sprouting rhubarb-esque leaves and 60cm-wide flower clusters – the island’s otherworldly flora provides a safe-haven for newly weaned elephant seal pups and makes excellent breeding grounds for giant petrels and Gentoo penguins. And what of its wildlife? ‘Wow’ sums it up. Macquarie plays host to over 200,000 pairs of king penguins and 3 million royal penguins, who share their patch with marine mammals including southern right whales and leopard seals.

Read more in our Macquarie Island travel guide.

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Go to Macquarie Island if…

... you love wildlife. Macquarie really is about the fantastic subantarctic wildlife. It’s astonishing how anything can live in such harsh conditions, so to see penguins and petrels positively thriving alongside sea lions, seals and albatrosses that soar along with wingspans that can stretch to 3.3m is a magnificent sight to behold. ... you’re keen to embrace your inner student. We know the idea of a lecture doesn’t instantly pair up with an exciting, outdoor expedition, but trust us: lectures about Macquarie Island are neither boring nor stuffy. Onboard, and sometimes on land, you will be treated to talks from biologists, geographers, photographers, historians and geologists who are keen to share their fascinating knowledge about the land and creatures around you. You’ll learn to identify species, and a little insight means you will be even more amazed by the world passing you by on deck. ... you’re brave enough to downsize your boat. This extraordinary island landscape and its subantarctic surrounds are best explored by venturing out in an inflatable zodiac. They’re much smaller than your expedition vessel, and how far you go will be dictated by the weather and the ocean, but this only serves to make the experience more thrilling. Itineraries encourage as many zodiac trips as timing and conditions allow, getting you up close to seals and penguins and permitting you to step into their unusual world.

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Don't go to Macquarie Island if...

... you’re a bit of a loner. After a day spent exploring an entirely unknown environment, there’s only one thing left to do: swap stories with your fellow passengers. If you strongly disagree with this statement, then it’s unlikely a cruise to Macquarie Island is for you. It’s a sociable vacation – from grabbing an evening G&T and sharing your experiences that day, to joining a group dinner and getting to know each other better. A vacation like this rarely happens more than once in a person’s life, so you already know you’ll be traveling with people as enthusiastic as you are – socialising isn’t thrust upon you and there are ample opportunities for quiet time and reflection, but overall, you’ll be much better suited to it if you’re a chatty, sharing sort. ... you want to see polar bears. Sorry - you’re in the wrong neck of the woods; polar bears do their prowling way up north in the Arctic. ... you can’t keep your hands to yourself. Granted, baby seals look really cute, but distance should be kept from all wildlife, including seals, penguins and seabirds. The animals themselves aren’t aware of this, and neither are they afraid of humans, so if you position yourself quietly, they may well approach you, which is fine. But, you must never touch, feed or obstruct them, or use flash photography. Noise should be kept to a minimum too, so try and keep your excited squeals to giggling volume.