Meet your average Islander

Front entarnce of "Gough House"

After a really relaxed week and feeling pretty dull in terms of inspiration on what to post, I had to seek some guidance. On this weeks agenda, the everyday life of an islander.
What does one do to keep busy and pass the time when you have nowhere to be, because you have nowhere to go.

Just a quick rundown on what you need for a overwintering team on Gough.
1x Medic (Someone needs to administer the morphine)
1x Radio Technician/communications officer (Internet keeps us sane)
1x Diesel mechanic/handyman (Hope the base doesn't fall apart and we have electricity)
3x Meteorologists AKA Metkassie (Head in the clouds)
2x Biologists (Anyone seen the birders? Yeah, they in the mountains!)

Well, seeing as I am a metkassie I will give you an insight into what a week may consist of.
First, what am I actually doing here?
Well, I'm here to observe the weather. I report on the weather and send all the data back home so they can try and forecast what you may expect. Doesn't mean you can blame me if it rains when they forecast sunny skies. Not my fault. I just tell them what I see.
We do this by general observations on current weather (is it raining, snowing misty etc.) as well as cloud observations and upper air weather balloon ascents. All of this helps tell a story of what kind of weather is approaching sunny South Africa.
We work a 9 day week. 3 days of day shift from 6am-3pm with hourly weather and cloud observations as well as an upper air ascent (weather balloon)
3 nights of night shift from 6pm-3am with observations every 3 hours and an upper air ascent.
Then 3 days off. this rotates amongst three metkassies and seems to work perfectly.
That first day off is just spent sleeping and recovering from the night shifts. Really takes it out of you. Although there is always something to help pass the time.
Honestly, it is not exactly strenuous work, but it needs to be done.
Between observations and on days off a favourite past time is cooking.

Meteorologist office.

I'm serious about the cooking. Get dumped on an island with food enough for a year and a half and very little to do. You learn to love cooking. From your typical braai to a lamb roast or even lobster. You learn to love food and love preparing it.

Braai area inside the courtyard.

Food is a huge part of the island experience. We really do eat like kings. Despite having zero fresh produce you can still come up with some winner dishes, even with tinned food. The freshest thing we have here is the fish we catch.
Dessert seems to become a nightly event. Whether it be chocolate cake or chocolate brownies. This is definitely not uncommon. you are bound to find someone in the kitchen whipping up something great, just to pass the time. Also good practice. Cause if it flops. Well, not to worry. Just try again. It's not costing us anything. What a pleasure.
I do need to make special mention of Nkoane AKA Jack, and his amazing baking prowess. Fresh bread is always requested when Jack is cooking.
The biggest challenge comes in trying not to pack on the pounds. And boredom and food seem to go hand in hand.

Walk in Freezers. Plenty of meat.

Pantry with fresh canned food. (Food store is separate building)

TV room with the projector screen.

And when you bored and have a couple terabytes worth of movies and series and music, well you may as well climb right in. Another preferred island past time. Vegetating in your room with music blaring or movies playing. Can say we have all watched a fair share of movies and series. And it doesn't seem to get old.

On the odd occasion we may be inclined to pick up a book and try something a little bit more stimulating. Couple individuals have also been known to grab a guitar and try strum a few chords. Although the music side of things is still in it's infancy, we hoping to have a couple songs written by October. First have to learn to play properly. Gosh! Little bit by little bit. Crawl before you walk!

And if things get really tough, we may head over to the bar and get the music going whilst we play a few games of pool or table tennis. This mixed amongst the occasional beer. Oh, that's another island past time that is less well documented. It's not uncommon to see a beer open at breakfast with some individuals. Some even have there own shebeen operating from there room.
And this rule about having a plane fly over before you have a drink. Well, only twice a week does that happen. So that rule went out the window very early on.

Gonçalo Álvares Bar. Sunette (Left: Sunette- Medic/Team Leader. Right: Marius- Mechanic/Safety officer)

So that's the average day around the base for most of us. Our biologists are always out in the field doing there work. And everyone is keen to try help out where they can just to get out and about for a while. If they don't need the help,then we just mission on our own to wherever seems like a good spot.

That pretty much tells you what my week consisted of.
Although, we did try plan a hike up Tafelkoppie for Friday morning. The weather just wasn't playing along and it got postponed until we have sunny skies again. Today would have been great, but seeing as I was working, we had no such luck. Will get up there again soon. Maybe a boxing day hike if the weather plays along. Gotta work off Christmas dinner some how.

Did snap a couple pics of the Moorhen that run around the courtyard with it's chick. We have affectionately named him/her Pitte, thanks to Leonard. The chicks are getting along and growing quickly. Must be about 2 months old and they doing well.

Gough Moorhen with chick

Gough Moorhen feeding it's chick.

Also had our monthly medical check up thanks to Sunette our medic. I seem to be staying in one piece and have a clean bill of health. Plan on keeping it that way.

Not much else. No drama, no nothing. Another good week on the whole.
And yes, I do miss home. Who wouldn't. But I am making the most of this time and learning plenty of valuable lessons about life and myself. So that is always exciting and very positive.

Next weeks post should be fun. Get a big Christams party and a birthday party. Fun times ahead! Bring on the trifle and chocolate cake! Mmmmmm, nom nom nom!

Merry Christmas all. May you all enjoy the company of family and friends and rejoice in the warmth of Christs love over this special time.

Cloud observations. "Altocumulus lenticularis"