A Sigh of Relief!

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.

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.