The JCR - the last ship North

The JCR arrived on 9th April to bring the final supplies for winter and to take the remaining summer visitors home. On 14th April, following a busy few days of unloading supplies and re-loading with cargo from Rothera, the JCR was ready to depart.
Unpacking the winter supplies of frozen food

The 22 winterers gathered on the wharf to see her off with the aid of some out-of-date flares. It was a strange feeling waving goodbye to our last physical contact with the outside world for 6 months.

There then followed 2 days of a base-wide 'scrub-out', where we put our normal jobs on hold to tidy and 'winterise' the base. We were expecting a 2nd round of practical jokes to be left by the departing builders, however their imagination seems limited yet cruel - they have hidden (or eaten?) the base's only supply of jaffa cakes!!!! We are not amused. It's certainly a lot quieter here now but we're all in high spirits looking forward to the magic of the Antarctic winter :o)