There are many wheels that turn to keep our station running smoothly and one of the things that makes for a happy expeditioner is looking forward to what the chef has cooked up for smoko, lunch or dinner.
Family and friends often ask how the stations are supplied with food. Do we get regular shipments? No we don’t, but have a large annual resupply that delivers just about all our fresh, frozen, tinned and dry goods. With a very small top up half way during the season.
All of this is organised by the Station Supply Officer back in Hobart. The whole process is a huge undertaking and the chefs are spoilt for choice with the variety and quality they have to work with.
At Macca we also have a small hydroponic shed that is looked after by the hydroponics team and they keep us well supplied with a variety of lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and some herbs.
Going to the supermarket entails grabbing the wheelbarrow and heading over to the Green Store for supplies and saying hello to the resident gentoo penguins on the way. At Macca we have a large walk in freezer where the chef can decide on what meat or seafood is needed for the menu. They will also find all their frozen fruits, vegetables, chips and ice cream just to mention a few things. Think of the freezer section in your local supermarket but much, much bigger.
The next storeroom houses all our dry goods like cereal, biscuits, tinned fruit and vegetables.
After dry goods comes the cold room with all our cheeses, long life cream and fresh produce.
The final storeroom has all our flours for producing daily a large variety of breads needed to keep the hungry team happy. This is also where all the nuts, dried fruits, milk powder, sugar, grains and spices are found.
There is also a locked storeroom that is kept under the watchful eye of the store person. This contains all the chocolates, lollies, chips and other treats that are delivered once a week to the mess and usually pounced on eagerly to get first dibs on sweet or salty favourites.
So you can see we are definitely well fed down here on this amazing little wild and windswept island and unlike the hardy sealers and adventurers before us we will never have to be tempted by the local wildlife for our dinner.
