The Snares crested penguin (Eudyptes robustus) were numberous, says David, but it wasn’t until he got a GoPro underwater that he saw the hundreds below the surface as well. 

A northern giant petrel (Macronectes halli) on Enderby Island. Fully grown, its wingspan will reach from from 1.4m to 2m wide. 

A Snares crested penguin (Eudyptes robustus) in the rain. 

An elephant seal on Maquarie Island. 

One of the most impressive sights, says David, were the king penguin rookeries on Macquarie Island. 

A king penguin emerging from the ocean on Macquarie Island. 

Male king penguins, rather than females, incubate eggs by sitting on them without eating for 2-3 months at a time. 

David travelled in comfort aboard the Spirit of Enderby, a fully ice-strengthened expedition vessel built in 1984 for polar and oceanographic research. 

Bird photographer David Stowe snapped this image of a tomtit (Petroica macrocephala ssp marrineri) on Enderby Island.

Royal penguins on the march to the sea.

The waves of the Southern Ocean were beautiful in the sunlight and sometimes menacing when stormy, but they are always magnficent, David says.  

An Auckland Island shag gathers grasses and leaves for its nest. It is the only resident shag occurring on Auckland, Adams, Enderby, Disappointment, Ewing, Dundas and Green Islands. 

A large New Zealand sea lion (Phocarctos hookeri). Due to ongoing environmental issues and heavy historic hunting, these sea lions are listed as endangered by the IUCN. 

David caught either a fight for dominance by New Zealand sea lions (Phocarctos hookeri) during their short November to December breeding season – or just a moment of play. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, he says.  

Photographer David Stowe is married, but as his wife suffers from seasickness, he chose a lucky friend and fellow ANZANG winner Henry Cook (pictured, right) to come along. 

A juvenile Auckland Islands shag (Phalacrocorax colensoi) comes in to land. These birds are listed as vunerable by the IUCN because of their small breeding range on the islands.

The Auckland Islands are the largest of New Zealand’s subantarctic islands with the richest flora, the largest number of subantarctic invertebrates and some of the rarest birds on earth.

Impressive sea caves have been carved into the Auckland Islands by wave action. In 1866 a cargo-carrying three-masted barque on its way from Melbourne to London, called General Grant, sunk near here after the ship knocked its mast on the roof of a cave.

Enderby Island in the Auckland Islands archipelago was one of the first stops of the expedition.