Hampshire newlywed travelling to Antarctica to work in world's most remote gift shop

Natalie Corbett is part of a team of four women travelling to a distant part of Antarctica to take up jobs including running the world’s most remote post office and counting the island’s penguins.

The four beat a record number of applicants to become the team responsible for managing historic site Port Lockroy, on Goudier Island.

The team will abandon home comforts to live and work in the region without running water or a flushing toilet.

Newlywed Ms Corbett, who will be in charge of running the gift shop, will leave behind her husband for the trip, which she dubbed a ‘solo honeymoon’.

She said: ‘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?

‘I’ll be leaving behind my husband, George, who I only married in June so I’m treating this like my solo honeymoon.’

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The 31-year-old has worked in retail for more than a decade – and could not resist the opportunity to work on Goudier Island.

Alongside the other three women, Clare Ballantyne, Mairi Hilton and Lucy Bruzzone, Natalie will be based on the island for five months, as they spend Christmas together and take care of the charity’s flagship site, Port Lockroy – home to the world’s most remote post office and museum.

Training for the trip, which will see the team travel 9,000 miles to reopen the bay for the first time since the pandemic, includes learning remote first-aid and a talk from a ‘penguinologist’.