The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust posted this job description for a position starting in November 2024: “Help wanted: Charity seeks hard-working, self-motivated individuals for temporary positions. Must be willing to relocate—and stomach the smell of penguin poop.”

The post office is part of a historic British base on Goudier Island, called Port Lockroy, and it’s the southernmost post office in the world. 

Despite its remote location, it processes up to 80,000 letters and postcards each season, a large portion of which are from cruise ship passengers who stop by during the summer. 

The trust needs some boots on the ground to assist in the mail service but also to help maintain buildings, as well as the all important, and far more rewarding job, of counting the gentoo penguins that live in a colony on Port Lockroy. 

Successful applicants may consider the possibility of severe cabin fever setting in, as the location has limited phone and internet service. 

The port has no running water so prospective tenants will need to be ok with doing their business in a bucket and only taking showers when passing cruise ships come to deliver food and invite them onboard to do so. 

Clearly, the Port Lockroy jobs aren’t for everyone. But for the right person with the right skills and experience, the position is a “unique opportunity to live in a landscape that makes you feel pure awe and wonder.” 

And let’s not forget, you get to have penguins as neighbours.