Willis Island's four locals are paid to keep one the world's most far-flung weather observatories running, and spend six months of the year with no fresh food deliveries or face-to-face contact with the outside world.
Everything going to plan, the weather observers are unlikely to see another person, or bag of groceries, until the vessel returns to pick them up at the end of their posting.
For Mr Tom, the job couldn’t be further from the career in music he was pursuing before the pandemic struck, which left him looking for a more stable income.
Sharing the island with an abundant avian population means cleaning up bird poo is a constant job.
A plan was hatched to evacuate the team onto a nearby navy ship, with the staff choppered one-by-one to safety in treacherous conditions.
“In the wet season, we’re getting cyclones and storms and rain continuously, not to mention the deleterious effects of having 10,000 birds cohabiting on the island,” Mr Tom said.
The current crop of weather bureau personnel finish their six-month posting this month, and leaving Willis Island will be bittersweet.
The original article contains 746 words, the summary contains 149 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
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Everything going to plan, the weather observers are unlikely to see another person, or bag of groceries, until the vessel returns to pick them up at the end of their posting.
For Mr Tom, the job couldn’t be further from the career in music he was pursuing before the pandemic struck, which left him looking for a more stable income.
Sharing the island with an abundant avian population means cleaning up bird poo is a constant job.
A plan was hatched to evacuate the team onto a nearby navy ship, with the staff choppered one-by-one to safety in treacherous conditions.
“In the wet season, we’re getting cyclones and storms and rain continuously, not to mention the deleterious effects of having 10,000 birds cohabiting on the island,” Mr Tom said.
The current crop of weather bureau personnel finish their six-month posting this month, and leaving Willis Island will be bittersweet.
The original article contains 746 words, the summary contains 149 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!