It’s been a quiet week on and off station, so this week we will have a look around the station living areas.

Macca station buildings and living areas

It’s been a quiet week at Macca both on and off station. There are several groups currently working off station but they won’t be back until the end of this week. Things are still relatively quiet also on the wildlife front. We are awaiting the arrival of the adult elephant seals to commence their breeding activities on the beaches in the next month, and likewise the royal and rockhopper penguins, which are all currently feeding at sea. The wildlife photography opportunities will go through the roof then. So this week I thought readers, particularly those with family and friends here, might be interested in a tour of the station buildings that provide our living areas. These make up most of the buildings at the northern end of the isthmus, and most of the work buildings are located a minute or two walk away further down. The communal living area buildings are arranged around an open space known as ‘market square'. 

The building which is the heart of our communal living areas is the mess/surgery building which houses the medical facility at one end, the kitchen in the middle, and the dining room, bar and relaxation area at the other end. Most evenings currently see lively darts games held there. The medical facility includes an office, a one bed in-patient hospital, a dental clinic, and an operating theatre.

There are four accommodation buildings. Bedrooms down here are known as dongas. Currently most of our wintering expeditioners are in Hasselborough house, which has two double dongas and nine single dongas. Nearby, the rest of us are in the two storey Cumpston’s cottage, which has three double dongas and one single donga (and the station leader’s office on the ground floor). These are the two most modern of the four accommodation buildings and are quite comfortable. The other buildings are Garden Cove, which has eight dongas, and Southern Aurora dongas (known as SAD) which has 18 rooms. The dongas in these buildings are smaller than in Hasselborough and Cumpston’s, and these two buildings are currently empty, but will be used by summer expeditioners and will fill up over peak resupply periods.

At the top of market square is the multi purpose building (MPB). This houses electrician’s and carpenter’s workshops, and clothing store on the ground floor, a library/cinema, aerobic equipment gymnasium, offices, and field store on the top floor. A second gymnasium is located behind that, and is set up with weight training equipment. Both gyms are currently well used, and are a vital part of keeping Macca expeditioners sufficiently fit to cope with the demanding conditions encountered when travelling by foot around our magnificent island! 

The other communal living area building is the recreation hut (post office). This is a general relaxation area currently set up with a pool table and band equipment. 

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