In November, Davida Mead, of Wanaka, and Melanie Heather, of Queenstown, arrived back from the Antipodes and Bounty Islands, a three-day yacht trip. Bounty Island is 650km southeast of Stewart Island and the Antipodes lie another 200km further south again.
Closing one door opened another and the two were invited to join a five-person team for the trip to the subantarctic islands.
"It's an amazing place, but it's somewhere people just aren't allowed to go - a limited access island," said Mrs Mead, who farms Dingleburn Station beside Lake Hawea.
On the Antipodes, they carried out an Erect-crested penguin and rockhopper penguin population survey, last attempted in 1999, an important task considering the islands are the only place in the world where the Erect-crested penguin breeds.
Ms Heather, an asset engineer for the Queenstown Lakes District Council, said the big count was not an easy task on the Antipodes.
"It was full on, doing 12- tp 13-hour days and you're walking through two-metre-tall tussocks in some parts because there are no trails. It's absolutely untouched and pristine."
To make the going easier, the volunteers camped at various points.
Ms Heather said the isolation played particularly strongly on her mind, with an 8am radio check from Stewart Island their only contact and the island too remote for helicopter rescue.
Three weeks after being dropped off on the Antipodes, the party's chartered yacht returned to take them to Bounty Island, a rocky outcrop barren of vegetation but teeming with animal life.
Both volunteers said visiting the island was a highlight of the trip, but got the feeling it was somewhere humans did not belong.
"The interesting thing is, that area was completely hunted out by sealers in the 1900s and to see the population increase to what it is now is amazing ," Mrs Mead said.
"Almost anywhere you step you are bound to almost step on an albatross or penguin".
Ms Heather said they had to be careful because the seals were extremely "protective of their harems" at that time of year and could charge suddenly.
The trip co-ordinator, Doc ranger Jo Hiscock, said it was the first time Doc had taken volunteers down to the islands - usually Doc staff were sent.
"They help to cover the costs of the trip and get stuck into the work, but basically it's a chance to involve the community, as it's a place that not everybody gets to go to."
While the data was still being compiled, Ms Hiscock said it appeared penguin numbers had decreased.
Scientists would now study the information gathered from the trip and release their findings and recommendations about what to do next, she said.
