Today we welcomed visitors to Rothera - the first 'outsiders' since the ship departed 6 months ago. The distant sound of the engines was very surreal and it was a strange feeling seeing the planes appear over Rothera. Two Borek Twin Otter planes landed on the freshly-cleared runway. The Boreks arrived from Canada and are on their way south to Patriot Hills (a private base in Antarctica owned by Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions who provide Antarctic expedition support and tours), they stop off at Rothera to swap their wheels for skis (as the skis are much lighter and from here on they only land on snow).
The pilots and crew very kindly brought with them LOADS of fresh fruit and veg - pinapples, mangos, oranges, apples, bananas, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, onions all sorts of luxuries which we had been without over winter. We all went a little mad piling our plates with salad and fruit and exclaiming how good it tasted. Dinner was followed by a very sociable evening in the bar sampling vodka and 'clamato' juice (some strange concoction of clam and tomato juice which is apparently very popular in Canada)..... I can't say I'd recommend it.
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