I was very pleased to be at New Island – I arrived towards the middle  of the afternoon and by the time we’d waited for the second plane to arrive and bumped over the track to the settlement for 40 minutes, it was getting on.

It was about 5pm when I set out and as there was a cruise ship visiting, I was advised not to go to the nearby settlement rookery but go further afield perhaps to the fur seals, using one of two routes – round by the vehicle track or over the hill.  I was also given instructions for how to find the right place to walk down to see the fur seals and not frighten them.  Apparently they’re easily spooked by people and if frightened will rush off into the water, leaving their pups – which no one wants.

I set off, secure in the knowledge that it doesn’t really get dark until after 9pm or later at the moment – but I hadn’t really asked how long it would take to get to the fur seals and obviously I wanted to arrive, have a while watching them and then walk back.  If the wardens thought it was doable, I should be fine…

I set off up over the hill as I thought it would be a shorter distance.  I hadn’t factored in how much time it would take to avoid prion burrows.  Prions live in huge numbers on New Island and they nest in burrows not far from the surface.  If you’re not careful you can put your foot through a prion burrow – bad for you and worse for a prion chick, as it’s now exposed to the air and the attention of the caracas, who will swoop in and get it.  If you do inadvertently put your foot through, you should check and see if there is a bird in there and find a stone to cover the hole.  I was careful to try and avoid them, but this is almost impossible as the island is a bit like a swiss cheese, filled with holes that are prion burrows.  I found that when you notice one, you suddenly find you are in an area filled with them and you have to pick your way out very carefully. 

I got to the top of the slope – having walked up a fairly regular slope and assumed that I’d be walking down something similar on the other side to the point where the valley to the fur seals was.  Not so – it was undulating…. or perhaps I should have gone higher and it would have been a ridge all the way round, but who knows I didn’t go that way.  I also was a bit unclear on where the turn off to the valley to the furs seals would be – but I could see the rover track wending its way gently round the valley floor.  Ah the ease of the road not taken – too late now.  I persevered and admired the range of flora that existed on this side of the slope – lots and lots of diddle dee and lots of plants I couldn’t name!

Eventually I made it to the track – having been eyed up by some caracara on the way.  I hope I wasn’t have a drink in a particularly desperate way inviting them to think that I might soon be food, more likely I was close to a nest that I couldn’t see or just in their territory.  I moved on, they left me alone. 

I found a stick in a cairn on the rover track, which I thought probably signified the turn off to the valley towards the fur seals.  Off I went following some old fence posts down – was this right?  I remembered that I should see some blue stones – there weren’t any.  I went further down and got buzzed by another pair of caracara – still no stones.  Should I have gone further along past the cairn to another one?  There were two on the map but I’d only seen one.  I went back up the hill, more caracara buzzing, back to the cairn.  I walked past it for a bit – no more cairns, no more valleys.  It was 7pm.  How long would it take me to walk back?

I decided sadly that I’d run out of time to see the fur seals that evening. I walked back along the rover track – it was further, but it relatively level and I didn’t have to do any prion nest dodging.  It was peak Magellanic penguin evening shoutout time and the air was thick with their braying.  It is a sound that I have really come to love, along with the way they watch you from the edge of their burrows, fixing you with a beady eye while they decide whether it’s safe to stay out on guard, or whether they need to duck back inside for safety.

And so back to the house for the night – I got home just after 8:30pm, so the rover track was definitely the right choice and might have been on the way out!  I still didn’t know if I’d been in the right place or not.  I’d had a lovely and somewhat eventful walk despite being rubbish at finding the fur seals!