Scot gets dream job as lighthouse keeper on Australian island

A Scottish man has landed his “dream job” as a lighthouse keeper on a distant Australian island.

Sandy Duthie, 42, jumped on the likelihood when the earlier lighthouse keeper determined to retire after 25 years on Gabo Island, off the coast of Victoria.

Sandy, from Aberdeenshire, visited Australia 5 years in the past along with his companion, and by no means left. When he went to the small lighthouse island he realised he would like to someday turn into a part of its historical past.

Touchdown the lighthouse keeper and island caretaker job means he’s now spending six months of the 12 months there – one month on and one month off – with a colony of penguins for firm.

Sandy hails from Kirkton of Durris, close to Banchory.

He studied ecology on the College of Aberdeen earlier than changing into an arborist.

He visited Mallacoota in 2019 along with his companion Brodie Gaudion on an preliminary three-month vacation visa to fulfill her household for the primary time, and ended up staying.

He first went to Gabo Island two years in the past, and dreamed of finally being its caretaker.

Gabo lighthouse itself was constructed greater than 160 years in the past.

Earlier keeper Leo op den Brouw, 70, had spent each second month alone on the island for the previous 25 years.

When he determined to return to household life on the mainland earlier this 12 months that left the put up open, and Sandy landed the job with authorities organisation Parks Victoria.

He and one other keeper – who has now been working there for 16 years – share the month-on and month-off rotation.

Sandy and his monumental beard – which he has been cultivating for a few years, and which he thinks could have helped within the job interview – began his new job again in March.

He will get to and from the island by way of a small boat constitution.

It takes about half-hour if the climate permits it – the situations are sometimes uneven – and there are usually whales close by.

Sandy’s first expertise of Gabo Island got here when he visited for 2 weeks to do weed management work.

“It felt like dwelling instantly, it felt very very similar to the north east of Scotland,” he defined.

“The foliage – it’s fairly scrubby – and the granite is in contrast to some other a part of Australia that I’ve seen. I fell instantly in love with the place.

“I requested the caretaker then how he acquired he job and he instructed me it was simply luck on the proper place and the correct time. And since then he retired and I utilized for the job – proper place, proper time.

“The job doesn’t come up fairly often.”

He described Gabo island as small however with “wonderful” wildlife.

“We’ve little penguins – a big colony of them,” he mentioned.

“We’ve whales, sea eagles and seals. We’ve whales go previous continually in the intervening time.

“I noticed round 15 or 16 at this time. Generally there are 30 or 40 a day.”

Sandy mentioned the job itself is extra like a way of life.

“It’s important to actually get with the rhythm of what it’s important to do and never put an excessive amount of expectation or planning as a result of Gabo Island has a manner of flipping spherical no matter plans you may have.

“You have got to have the ability to problem-solve. Our vary of duties run from climate observations each six hours to cleansing the general public bathrooms, portray all the pieces – we’ve got 80% humidity with salt air so all the pieces rusts and corrodes and all of it wants taken care of.

“There’s lots of ongoing upkeep that must be executed to the home.

“You simply should count on the surprising.”

He mentioned the job was superb for him, however that it got here with challenges.

“There’s sufficient distinction to maintain your thoughts busy on a regular basis,” Sandy mentioned.

“I fairly get pleasure from my very own firm. I do additionally benefit from the firm of others. My companion comes to go to.

“Don’t get me fallacious, there are some days the place it looks like a jail generally.

“The earlier caretaker described it as Alcatraz the rock. You possibly can’t go away, go to household occasions when you’re right here. Generally we get caught on right here for days on finish due to the climate.

“However on the identical time you’ll be able to principally write your individual script of the day and go about your duties.

“It may be troublesome when cellphone sign drops out however there’s not a lot that I miss..

He mentioned provides might run low if a ship didn’t come.

“However the different aspect of it’s after I get again to the mainland, one thing I’ve discovered is having to be tremendous cautious about being in a crowd of individuals.

“If you happen to’ve been right here for weeks by your self and never seen one other face it’s fairly intimidating going to the pub or going to an occasion.”

He has additionally found that there have been different Scottish connections to Gabo Island.

“The pink granite on Gabo could be very onerous in comparison with different Australian granite,” Sandy defined.

“Paperwork I’ve discovered recommend the individual accountable for constructing the lighthouse in 1859 really sought Scottish stonemasons, particularly ones who had labored on the Aberdeen and Peterhead lighthouses, as they have been used to working with such a tough materials.

“Sadly we don’t know rather more about who constructed the lighthouse although.

“There’s a e book about the entire caretakers who’ve been on the island since 1859, and lots of them are Scottish – folks from the Highlands and Islands, Perth, Edinburgh, Glasgow and from the north east too.

“It’s actually unbelievable the Scottish connection right here.

“It’s 100% a dream job. For me it’s excellent.”