Antarctica post worker 'looking forward to view'

Part of post office job also includes counting penguins

A woman poised to run the world's most southerly post office says she is looking forward to "seeing that view".

Rachel Morris of Saffron Walden is one of four chosen by Cambridge-based UK Antarctic Heritage Trust to spend five months at Port Lockroy.

The tiny post office is surrounded by ice, rocks and mountains and handles mail from 18,000 summer tourists.

Ms Morris, who previously worked at IWM Duxford, said she would be "busy" dealing with 70,000 post cards.

Rachel Morris and three others from the UK beat 2,000 other hopefuls to the job

The average temperature at Fort Lockroy will be -10C (14F)

The tiny post office at Port Lockroy deals with mail from 18,000 visitors during the summer.

Ms Morris will be joined by Adele Jackson from West Yorkshire, Laura Martin from Inverness-shire and Iain Pringle from Lincolnshire, who beat 2,000 other hopefuls to the job.

Port Lockroy is the most popular spot for cruise ships that visit Antarctica.

'Tinned food'

Ms Morris said the weather, with average temperatures of -10C (14F), was "not as bad as you might think".

Part of the job will include counting the area's penguins.

"The food we will have at Port Lockroy will mainly be dried and tinned food. But we will probably be invited for food on the cruise ships. They are frequently very generous."

The post office team also has no running water so showers will also have to be aboard the cruise ships when invited.

They will receive further training in September before leaving the following month for Goudier Island, home to thousands of gentoo penguins. The posting will run until March 2016.