It has been very busy the last couple of weeks with numbers on base reaching 100 and still more to come in. These numbers have not only given the chefs more work, but have also increased the internet usage making it very difficult to update this blog.
The JCR finally got in to Rothera and with the plan for relief on the wall of the dining room, there was no excuse for not knowing your role or who was in charge of which zone. So on the morning of relief, the mooring team was in place to receive the ship, the wharf cargo team and vehicle operators where ready to unload, zone leaders were at their stations and the rest waited for a call to help where ever needed.
My role as the wintering chef was to be in OBH (Old Bransfield House) to organise and direct the food stocks from the containers when they came off the ship onto the shelves in the food bays. As this relief is potentially my stock and i will need to know what we have and where to find it.
The JCR finally got in to Rothera and with the plan for relief on the wall of the dining room, there was no excuse for not knowing your role or who was in charge of which zone. So on the morning of relief, the mooring team was in place to receive the ship, the wharf cargo team and vehicle operators where ready to unload, zone leaders were at their stations and the rest waited for a call to help where ever needed.
My role as the wintering chef was to be in OBH (Old Bransfield House) to organise and direct the food stocks from the containers when they came off the ship onto the shelves in the food bays. As this relief is potentially my stock and i will need to know what we have and where to find it.
Relief plans
JCR approaching the wharf
Mooring and cargo teams take position
Mooring team taking the lines
Ship secured and ready to offload
JCR against the wharf taken from the cross,
with the sun behind it
It was a great sight to walk out of Admirals and
see that cargo had started to come off the ship.
The next best sight was the food containers outside
OBH ready to be unloaded
The two white containers (Reefers) are freezers that contain all our meat, fish, veg and dairy. These are plugged in outside Fuchs building and will stay on base until last call, when the Ernest Shackleton arrives to take them and the last of the summer staff home. We have until the end of the summer season to get them emptied and into our freezers on base. Although we can't transfer anything at the moment as we are having new freezers installed in Fuchs to replace the ones that broke during last winter. Pictured are Scott and Glen two RAF Mast Erectors carrying a ladder to climb something?
One container emptied one more to go.
The shelves are gradually being re-stocked
This is a bay that we keep locked behind shutters
as it is full of soft drinks, chocolate and crisps
Starting to look better
Filling up nicely
Now getting short of space
While i am organising shelves, bays and food moves
Lewis is hard at work in the kitchen preparing dinner
A little help from Gemma a Dutch scientist who
Had some Dutch cheese sent down
Straight after the food move was the bond move
where all the beers, wines and spirits are brought over
to New Bransfield House and locked in there respective areas.
Pictured is Stewie one of our Vehicle Operators helping with the move
Will, our friendly Australian winter vehicle operator
All round base people driving machinery, transporting
cargo back and forth
Scot and Glen the RAF boys about to operate the
cherry picker
It's good to see Pete, our comm's guy out and about and helping with relief. You would normally find Pete in the control tower communicating with aircraft, boats and parties in the field, which is a very full on job and their time is off is precious, here it looks like he is driving with Reid our weather forecaster to drop off some equipment.
The problem with all cargo is the packaging and boxes that have to be broken down. This is the span where Jake and Joe have the responsibility of making sure that all waste is correctly dealt with. This means separating cardboard, cans, glass, etc. The boxes that have been emptied are all flat packed and tied onto pallets ready for shipment off Antarctica
Jake bringing another load into the Span
While all the work was going on around base and my stores were on the shelves they needed to be on, I took the opportunity of getting onto the ship to speak with the chef to see if I could gain any extra supplies for my winter? It turns out I used to work with the chef Gary on board the QE2 in 1996. This was a bonus for me as he let me raid his fridges and I came away with quite a nice haul.
Nice to see some fresh ingredients in the fridge
Thanks to the Dash 7 returning from Punta with 600kg
The stores in the kitchen are looking pretty full too
Joe Cox cleaning up any debris
This is what all the winterers have been waiting for.
Our P boxes have come off the ship and are waiting
to be unpacked
My P Box
The boys in the Span, braking down boxes and getting rid of the plastic
Rob the out going wintering Plumber modelling the new
Tech Services Tee Shirt
Here is one piece of kit that we are glad to have in the kitchen
Our new Bratt Pan. This will be worth it's weight in gold
A job I did not relish! a few cans of mushrooms
and cartons of orange juice got crushed on the ship
and have all gone off. Here I am opening damaged tins
of rotting mushrooms and mouldy orange juice. Delightful!
Good news for musicians, we have had a new electronic drum kit that you can only hear through headphones. Unless plugged into speakers, this means we can learn the drums without disturbing anyone else. Callum here is testing them.
Another great toy, a fat wheeled bike which is usually ridden on the beach. Apparently it works on snow? I will have to let you know, once someone else has tried it first.
Relief done and the JCR heads out into the bay to continue with the science.
A Skua watches as the ship leaves Rothera
That will be the last time we see the JCR until this time next year, when we will do it all again.
I really hope their is enough food on base to last the 12 months.
The JCR was in and out within 3 days, we had unloaded and packed all the dry food away in a day and a half, which was good progress. We still have the Reefers to empty of all frozen foods and that will have to be done over the next few weeks, once the new freezers have been installed. We will make it a scrub out job and get a few strong guys to do a food move once a week until the reefers are empty. I will let you know how that goes.
