Essex woman lands job in remote South Pole Post Office

The Port Lockroy Post Office. Credit: British Antarctic Survey.

A woman from Saffron Walden in Essex has landed a job in the UK's most remote post office - in the South Pole.

It's run by the Antarctic Heritage Trust, which is based in Cambridge, and every year four people are chosen to spend five months there sorting post and counting penguins.

This year they had almost 2,500 applications - and 34-year-old Rachel Morris made the cut.

5 Things you didn't know about the South Pole

  • Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, and driest place on Earth.

  • Despite its incredibly cold temperatures, Antarctica actually has a desert climate.

  • There are no permanent human residents, but thousands of researchers reside there every year.

  • The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was a staggering -89°C (-128 °F) at the Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica in July, 1983.

  • Antarctica is the the fifth-largest continent in area. It's twice the size of Australia!

Port Lockroy is on the north-western shore of Wiencke Island. Credit: British Antarctic Survey.

What can Rachel expect in Port Lockroy?

ITV News Anglia weather presenter, Aidan McGivern. Credit: ITV News Anglia

The Port Lockroy Post Office handles 70,000 items of mail between November to March.

Ms Morris will have to learn to share a small space with thousands of Gentoo penguins.