Life on Base

It's a Sunday afternoon and lunch has just finished. Sunday is a day off for everyone with the exception of the chefs, and a few guys that need to keep the base running, like the generator engineers, the Saints (general assistants) and the ones rostered to dig the melt tanks that provide us with water. Sunday is a pretty relaxed day for all though, as there are no Smoko's only Lunch and Dinner to do, and since Lunch has finished and Dinner is all prepped I have 2 and a half hours off to add to the blog. That is if i can post anything with the amount of people using the internet....It is really slow.....
Having managed to speak to a few members of my family on the phone, i have been asked to put some pictures of  where i work and sleep. So, not wishing to dissapoint enjoy the following photo's.

 One of the Dry Stores, with not much left in it

 Ant the Chef, talking to Kirk the BAS Cameraman and Field expedition Guide

 The Boxes at back and bottom left and right are all bread flour. More will be coming in on the Shackelton Ship December 22nd with the rest of the supplies

 

Chefs on the Platform means something exciting is going on. We were not standing there very long in just our chefs kit..

The Dining room laid for Dinner. The pictures on the back wall are the annual Team photo's of every Halley Summer and Wintering Teams. Dating back to the very first BAS Expedition in 1961.

 Me in the Dining Room on Saturday evening The Tables are always clothed and smart casual dress is required to eat on a Saturday.

 The Lounge area, where the bar is and easy chairs to read or watch TV. We have film night once a week which is projected on the big screen

A bit of baking which happens more or less 3 times a day

 This is the first mix of the day on it's first prove.

 In the Dry Stores where all the milk powder is kept along with the packets of Fermipan an instant yeast

 My Pit Room. I have the bottom bunk and share with Pat another Chef.

 Ant and Pat in baking mode.

A few bags of rice..

Halo

These Pictures were taken by Micheal the base Dr. 

The Halo is an optical Phenomenon  produced by ice crystals creating colored or white arcs and spots in the sky. Many are near the sun or moon but others are elsewhere and even in the opposite part of the sky. They can also form around artificial lights in very cold weather when ice crystals called diamond dust are floating in the nearby air. Since i have been here I have never seen so many different varieties of light in the biggest sky i have ever seen. it is totally amazing.

Standing in chefs kit and sunglasses...Mad

All chefs together, Patrick, Chris, Ant, and Me..

The Story So Far

sorry to all followers for the lack of posts to this blog.  Only i have been kind of busy.

The flight from SANAE to Halley was spectacular, I sat next to Ian who is the expedition field expert and Ryan who is the Glacier scientist., and they were explaining all about the hostile environment we were flying over.  It was very exciting and equally as interesting, learning about the Rumbles which is the floating sea ice, and the Hinge which is were the ice shelf meets the continent.

Ryan is the scientist that actually discovered the crack in the Brunt ice shelf that will eventually break off Taking Halley V with it. (Which is the reason for the new build of Halley V)l.   From the air we could clearly see the crack in the Ice.

  When the plane came into Halley, there was a blow, which is like a sand storm only with snow. The pilot could not find the runway and had to circle a few times. It was touch and go as to wether he could land at all, but eventually made the decision to go for it and landed the plane with a sharp drop and a bump and a bone shaking landing as the skis ran over the ice.

 When we eventually stepped off the plane we were met by our base commander and a team of skidoos. The weather was blustery, very sunny and very, very cold.

We unloaded our baggage onto Challenger tractors and climbed onto trailers pulled by large track mobiles. It was a great ride to the laws building which is were we had our induction and safety talks.

We then had dinner and a tour of the whole camp before being allocated with our rooms. I am in the bottom bunk of room 7 in the Drewry building.

I have to walk to work every morning, which entails: getting up early to get all my polar gear on, Thermal under garments, thick socks, thinsulate top, thick boiler suit, suncream (factor 50) Buff, hat, sunglasses, gloves and snow boots. Once kitted up I tag out from my building and walk 15 minutes to the Laws building. Tag into that building and walk down the corridor past the field office and a couple of science labs to the kitchen. get out of my gear and put my chefs kit on, the whole process from my pit room to the kitchen takes approx 40 mins but what a walk to work.

 View from my bedroom window in the Drewry

The first job i had to do was to make bread for the day, 3 batches to be exact and that is the same every day, bread, bread  and more bread.

 With no Tesco down the road everything is made for these hungry workers.

 The day consists of 7.30am  start, they get their own breakfast of tea, coffee, toast and cereals, then at 10.30am they come to the dining room for what they call morning smoko.  (Which i am led to believe was a morning break for early mountaineers or expedition parties, where in their food rations of dried ingredients would be tobacco for their pipes)

 The smoko consists of items such as Hot dogs, burgers, cheese on toast.and anything savoury with a cup of tea or coffee.  At 1.30pm they all come in for lunch.

Then in the afternoon at 4.30pm they break for afternoon smoko, Which is like afternoon tea, with a cake or biscuit, such as fruit cake, flapjacks, chocolate brownies etc. All of which we have to make.

 Then Dinner is at 7.30pm and we are finished by 8.30pm. So everything really does revolve around the food and meal times…

 It is good and i am enjoying it, there are some amazing things happening. The most exciting thing that has happened so far is the moving of the Drewry, our accommodation block. It needed to be positioned nearer the laws building as there are another 18 workers coming in to work on the new base camp, Halley Vl. so moor accommodation units have to be attached to the Drewry.

 The whole building was towed into its new position using 3 large challenger track vehicles, with 2 bulldozers at the front pulling, and 2 bulldozers at the rear pushing, with me and a few other guys inside making sure nothing falls

  It was a military feat of precision towing and was fantastic to be involved in.

 I also got to stand and watch as they pulled one of the new modules out of it's winter hole and onto the flat ice. That too was awesome.

 The next big thing is Thursday, when they will be pulling the Big Red One, the largest of the new modules out of the Ice that it is stuck in. Apparently a very tricky manoeuvre

Two of the seven Challengers used to pull the Drewry

Halley at last

Hi Guys, just a very quick post to let you know that i have eventually arrived at Halley. The picture is of the Bassler that we came in on. It was blowing a real gale when we landed a few days days ago. I have actually started work in the kitchens and Tomorrow i will have been here a week. I appologise for the lack of info but It has been quite full on since arriving. As soon as i have worked out how and when the best time for me to use the computer is I will post some more pics. and there are some amazing ones. Until then keep following and I'll update as soon as i can.

Snowed in

We are still at the South African Camp as the Plane is deep in snow.. Which I have been told will take all of us from BAS to dig it out after lunch. Where's my shovel..... So i thought i would take this internet connection opportunity to post a couple of pics that i have taken so far.. the pics above are of the Russian plane we took from Cape Town.

 Yours Truly

 Novo The Russian Camp

 The first team heading out

This was our Transport

Stuart taking a picture, and deciding wether we should walk across

 The DC3 we flew to the South African Camp in

Fantastic views from the air

The weather was so bad that the pilot could not find the runway, so had to circle a few times before coming into land somewhere on the ice. We then had to taxi for about 20 mins until we found the team that came out to meet us. Even with the red flares we could not see them until we were right on top of them. It was a great journey back to the base on the Skidoos.

South African Base Camp

 Hi guys, this is the first chance i've had to post anything as we have been stuck at the Russian base Novo for 2 days we are now at the South African base camp Sanae, After a 4 hour flight over breathtaking Scenery, we started our Ascent onto the ice and suddenly had to abort the landing due to heavy snowfall. We circled for a while until runway could be cleared, we had a very bumpy landing and had to taxi for 20 mins racing a couple of skidoos before coming to a stop at the group waiting for us with the red smoke flares. This was because the pilot could not see the runway. It was awesome and the most amazing experience. We were then Transported to the base on the back of skidoos, where we were given a whistle stop tour of the base camp. We are still here being given some good old fashioned German hospitality, Food and drink and an internet connection ..lol.
How long we will be here depends on the weather, could be 2 hours could be overnight. We have to be ready to go at a moments notice. The next stop will be Halley a 2 hour flight away. so Until my next connection Stay cool...

Kitting out

An early start a good breakfast and off to the warehouse at Cape Towns harbor to get our exposure gear.

Cape Town South Africa

Arrived safely in Cape Town, South Africa, After a tiring journey of 12 hours.
Got to the Hotel ok only to find my room was not ready, along with a few other guys from the group.
The team that should have been in Antarctica by now was still at the hotel. They had been delayed due to bad weather on the Ice. After introductions it was suggested that we go up Table Top Mountain while our rooms were being prepared. What a Shock to the system that was.
When we arrived at the cable I was told that we were going to climb up!!
And BOY did we climb, and climb. After a long flight, very little food, Scorching sun and 2 and a half hours later, I eventually reached the top. My legs jellyfied, my heart pumping and my stomach growling I marvelled at the view before getting something to eat and taking the cable car down.

Journey South

And so it begins. After a week of visiting friends and family and completing a First aid course (again) of which I passed (again)
The time to depart for heathrow has arrived.
With my bags packed and my goodbyes said it's time for this intrepid chef to venture south to colder climes.