Winter begins

The Morning After The Night Before

Sunday morning the 9th of April, i woke at 7:30am the light in my room still on, i had a quick shower and made my way over to New Bransfield House for some breakfast and to start preparing some bacon ready for when the ship left. It was apparent that the summer staff were indeed leaving today as the rooms being vacated had all the bed linen and towels in the corridor, ready for our winter team to launder them once they had gone.

I walked into the boot room of NBH and remembered there was no where to hang our coats as all the hooks had been taken down. I walked into the dining room where there were one or two ex winterers who were waiting to say a last goodbye and to see our reaction  at having no cutlery. I walked straight past them and into the kitchen, i got changed into my chefs kit and came back out with a box of cutlery enough for 22 of everything that i had put away a couple of days before, anticipating cutlery going missing! I then went into the freezer to get the meat out for dinner that night, only to find all the cutlery had been put into a large container, filled with water and frozen into a solid block. It took 3 days to defrost, luckily we could still eat with what i had put by.

Once everyone was on the ship that should be on the ship, we started to prepare for the send off. We had already been given a safety talk from Paul Samways our station leader on the correct use of flares and smoke canisters, so while everyone made their way to the wharf i started to cook the bacon, Maz was rearrange the dining room condensing and minimising to better suit 22 people. We then put together the condiments and the bread rolls that Rob had made for me and along with a warming plate took them down to the Bonner Lab near the wharf where we set up an area to have champagne and bacon butties ready for a celebratory drink to toast our coming winter. We then joined the others on the wharf to wave the ship off, the cast off team were in position waiting for the Captain to give the order to release the ropes.

Being my first winter, this is the first time i have seen the tag board with so few people on it. No more counting to see how many people we have to feed, i know how many i've got and it is not going to change for another 6 months. Happy days!

The photo board also looks sparse with only 22 on it. Dont ask me why Zac is upside down??

RRS Ernest Shackleton Departs

All at the wharf waiting patiently, Julie excited at setting off flares  

The cast off team waiting patiently

Look at all those mouths that i no longer have to feed going home!

Zac sums it up nicely!

Lewis on the left wishing us a great winter and even though he is no longer in the kitchen, he is still thinking of us as he managed to get me 3 large boxes of fresh milk and a container of fresh tomatoes that he knew i needed for my first nights meal. Thanks Lewis, safe travels mate!

The Shack is full of cargo, crew and 40+ Rothera staff

Kate has a wander along deck having handed over the dive officer job to Theresa. See you next season Kate!

With the word from the Captain the ropes are released

Here Rio is making sure they actually leave, it really is about time

Rob Chef in his green hat, smirking because he knows he sprayed all the stainless steel in the kitchen with water and left it to dry, leaving me with grubby water stained residue to clean up, which he knows messes with my OCD and which one of you chefs hid my mug in the bar amongst the trophies?? I will have the last laugh!

Cast off and they are away

The bow thrusters push her away from the wharf

The first green flare goes up

Once away from the wharf she turns into position

A few more flares go off this time red ones

the smoke canisters are let off

The Shack's horn echoes around the station as flares and smoke blow in the wind

It is a very strange feeling, saying goodbye to friends and colleagues that you have just spent 6 months living and working with. But even stranger to know that the ship that has just left, was the last chance of getting back to civilisation, you watch it slowly get smaller and as it fades into the distance  the fact that we are completely isolated from the rest of the world becomes a reality>

With the ship gone and the champagne waiting we all head into the bonner lab for our bacon baps

Once inside we open the champagne and get started on the bacon baps.  Paul welcomes us to the winter season and quickly explains that the next couple of days will be days off, with the 3 days following being scrub out days, with every department deep cleaning their own areas and coming together to deep clean general areas. This gives us the opportunity to find what has been hidden and to start the winter with a clean and tidy home.  Having had something to eat  and a chat it was back to New Bransfield House to start organising, cleaning and preparing ourselves for the next few months.

The dining room has been made smaller with the partition wall being pulled across and the tables put together to make one large one that will seat 22. It has been said that we should all make the effort to eat together every meal time, as it is sociable and will help reduce the risk of becoming insular which could lead to depression. Although i don't see that happening with the team we have.

Here Blair and Michael are putting together new sofas and easy chairs at the top of the dining room in order to set up a little rest area for coffee, reading and general relaxation

Looking out of the dining room window is quite spectacular, especially with all the sea ice and bergs blown into the bay

Different light changes it quite dramatically

The easy corner is looking good

Table and chairs in place

The view from the sofa is stunning

I can sit here all day with my cup of tea.

Once everyone was sat at the dinner table Paul went round the room with a hat, asking each and every one of us to pull out a name. The name that you pulled from the hat was the person for whom you are to make your winter present. I can't tell you who i got as they may read this blog, i do have an idea of what i am making though, this will be for mid winters day when all gifts are exchanged.

The meal that i cooked that night to start my winter was:-  Fillet Steak, Hand cut Chips, Grilled Tomatoes, French Fried Onion Rings, Peas, Bearnaise Sauce & Peppercorn Sauce. For the two vegetarians, i did Roast Butternut Squash filled with Spinach, Wild Mushroom and Feta Cheese. Then for dessert we had a Cheese Board and a birthday cake for Will, our vehicle mechanic, Paul put a few bottles of red wine on the table and a good night was had by all.

The next day was a day off although i still had to cook for everyone, but it was a lot easier with only 22 and for lunch i did cold meats and salads, that i had prepared the day before and the dinner was Chili Con Carne and rice, which Lewis had done for me before he left. This meant i could enjoy the day as well, plus i had a lot of help from everyone, which was great.

The day after was deep clean everywhere and no stone was left unturned. I had Matt and Bradders in the kitchen with me, we took everything apart and cleaned it to within an inch if it's life and the results were very satisfying.

Matt cleaning the servery

Bradders cleaning the grill

Bradders having pulled out all the stoves and Bratt Pan

does a great job

Matt and Tom in the dining room

Upstairs in the bar, the carpets are shampooed, 

all the seat covers are removed and washed

Seat covers washed and hung on the 

Stair railings to dry

On the other side of the partition wall in the dining room is the table tennis table! This is a great decision to move it from Admirals as more people play after lunch and dinner and we are having some really good games

Here Bradders is playing against Joe, with a few of us waiting

and the winner stays on

It's only been a few days and already people are 

improving, It will be interesting to see how we 

improve. Here Jen hits a winning shot.

So with Scrub out done, every thing now clean, all work areas more or less back to normal and most of the missing items like the pool table legs and the toilet doors have been found. it's really nice to be almost into a routine. Having said that this Monday 17th April I actually go out for my winter trip (weather permitting) which will be my time off base for a week, this gives everyone a chance at

cooking for the day. I will keep you posted on how it all goes.

In the meantime the picture below is a panorama of  how Rothera looks at the moment, taken from the balcony of the bar. The nights are drawing in now and it starts to get dark around 8:00pm and gets light around 8:00am

You never get bored with looking at this scenery.