^{Photo Credit: Dave Takes Photos}

Macquarie Island is this wild, remote strip of land halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica, and it feels like the edge of the world. It’s only about 21 miles (34 km) long and 3 miles (5 km) wide, but it’s bursting with life.

It’s also the only place on Earth where rocks from the Earth’s mantle are exposed above sea level, a geological rarity that earned it UNESCO World Heritage status.

The wildlife is next-level. Around 850,000 pairs of royal penguins crowd the beaches here, along with huge colonies of king penguins. Lusitania Bay alone can have over 150,000 pairs.

Add in gentoo and rockhopper penguins, elephant seals the size of small cars, fur seals zipping around in the waves, and albatrosses nesting on the cliffs, and you’ve basically stepped into a real-life nature documentary.

Getting here is an adventure in itself. Most visitors arrive by expedition ship from Tasmania, sailing through the “Roaring Forties” and “Furious Fifties,” where the winds are as wild as their names suggest.

The weather’s unpredictable, cold, windy, often rainy, and there’s no Wi-Fi. Birds outnumber people by tens of thousands, and the whole place feels untouched by the modern world.

If you’re lucky enough to set foot here, you might find yourself at Sandy Bay on a calm day, surrounded by seals and penguins, the wind carrying the sound of thousands of seabirds. It’s raw, loud, smelly, and unforgettable.

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