The British base-turned-museum of Port Lockroy on Goudier Island. PA
The British base-turned-museum of Port Lockroy on Goudier Island. PA
The British base-turned-museum of Port Lockroy on Goudier Island. PA
The British base-turned-museum of Port Lockroy on Goudier Island. PA

Newlywed leaves husband behind for post office in Antarctica


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Four UK women are to travel to Antarctica to take up jobs, including running the world's most remote post office and counting the island's penguins.

Clare Ballantyne, Mairi Hilton, Natalie Corbett and Lucy Bruzzone beat a record number of applicants to become the team responsible for managing the historic Port Lockroy site on Goudier Island.

The team will abandon home comforts to live and work at the site, which will have neither running water nor a flushing toilet.

Ms Ballantyne will take charge of the post office while newlywed Ms Corbet will leave behind her husband for the “solo honeymoon” to take charge of the gift shop,

As well as dealing with sub-zero temperatures and almost constant daylight, the women will share the island with a colony of gentoo penguins, which Ms Hilton will be in charge of monitoring.

“This will be my first time in Antarctica and I am very excited to set eyes on the white continent,” Ms Hilton, from Scotland, said.

“I have no idea what to expect when we get there — how cold it will be, will we have to dig our way through the snow to the post office?

“I am a conservation biologist, so personally I can't wait to see the penguins and other wildlife like seabirds and whales.”

The four women were among 6,000 people who expressed an interest in the roles, which were advertised by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust charity.

They will be based on the island for five months, spending Christmas together and taking care of the charity's flagship site, Port Lockroy — home to the world's most remote post office and museum.

Training for the trip, during which the team will travel about 14,500 kilometres to reopen the bay for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, includes learning remote first aid and a talk from a “penguinologist”.

Pungent penguins await

Newly appointed postmaster Ms Ballantyne, 23, who recently completed a master's degree in earth science at the University of Oxford, will deal by hand with about 80,000 cards that are mailed each year from the site to more than 100 countries.

“I'm most looking forward to stepping on to Goudier Island and taking in the cacophony and pungent smell of the penguins, the backdrop of the glaciers and Fief mountains — and being able to call it home for the next few months,” Ms Ballantyne, from Lincolnshire, said.

Training for the trip includes learning remote first-aid and a talk from a 'penguinologist'. PA
Training for the trip includes learning remote first-aid and a talk from a 'penguinologist'. PA

Ms Corbett, 31, from Hampshire, who has worked in retail for more than a decade and got married in June, said she could not resist the opportunity to work on the island.

“Who wouldn't want to spend five months working on an island filled with penguins in one of the most remote places on the planet?” she said.

Ms Bruzzone will be base leader, managing the team and co-ordinating all ship visits to the island. The scientist, who spent three months in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard on an Arctic expedition, described the opportunity as a “lifelong dream”.

The team will be joined by Vicky Inglis, 42, a general assistant in the 2019-2020 season, who will help settle them in for the first 10 weeks.

Recently married Natalie Corbett. PA
Recently married Natalie Corbett. PA

Ms Inglis, from Aberdeenshire who started working for the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust full time in the summer, said: “Port Lockroy holds a very special place in my heart. Having spent five months out there before the Covid-19 pandemic, I am excited to be travelling with the new team to introduce them to the magic of the Antarctic.”

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Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre

Transmission: Seven-speed auto

Power: 165hp

Torque: 241Nm

Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000

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Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin

Director: Shawn Levy

Rating: 3/5

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Wednesday, April 25
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Director: Jon M Chu

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Rating: 4/5

Generation Start-up: Awok company profile

Started: 2013

Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev

Sector: e-commerce

Size: 600 plus

Stage: still in talks with VCs

Principal Investors: self-financed by founder

Why it pays to compare

A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.

Route 1: bank transfer

The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.

Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount

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The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.

Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction

Total received: €4,756

The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.

Timeline

2012-2015

The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East

May 2017

The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts

September 2021

Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act

October 2021

Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence 

December 2024

Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group

May 2025

The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan

July 2025

The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan

August 2025

Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision

October 2025

Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange

November 2025

180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE

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Started: November 2017

Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: transport and logistics

Size: 150 employees

Investment: approximately $8 million

Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar

Updated: June 20, 2023, 8:21 AM