Macquarie Island
A World Heritage island halfway to Antarctica, with megacolonies of king and royal penguins reached only by expedition ship.
Macquarie Island
Macquarie Island is a Tasmanian nature reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Area roughly halfway between Tasmania and Antarctica. It holds some of the largest penguin gatherings on Earth: around 120,000 pairs of king penguins, some 750,000 pairs of the near-endemic royal penguin, plus gentoos and eastern rockhoppers.
Megacolonies stretch along the shore at Lusitania Bay (kings) and Hurd Point (royals), with king and royal penguins at the Sandy Bay landing site. You reach it only by expedition cruise, usually en route to or from the Ross Sea, with tightly permit-controlled landings.
A successful pest-eradication programme, completed in 2014, has helped the island's seabirds recover strongly.
All places to see penguins- Not a day trip — expedition cruise only, seasonal and expensive.
- The king penguins' long breeding cycle means brown chicks can be seen much of the year.
- During the birds' moult, standing penguins must never be disturbed.