Finally, I usually work from about 10am until late at night (sometimes midnight) because the Atmospheric Space Physics experiments that I look after have to be setup ready to collect data during the night time.

Our meals and meal times are not very different to the usual. Breakfast is between 7am and 8am (again depending on when you are working), lunch is from around 12.30pm to 1pm and dinner time from 6.30pm to sometime past 7pm, or when everybody has eaten. During summer we have had a "smoko" meal at 10 to 10.30am. This meal usually consisted of bacon, eggs & sausages. It was mainly for the trades people who began work at 8am, but did not have any breakfast. Now that we have a smaller number of people on station (19 now, down from 40 during summer), we do not have this meal so if anybody wants a snack in between breakfast and lunch they are free to make up a snack in the kitchen.

For breakfast we have everything that one would normally expect, cereals, toast (usually freshly made) or a hot meal if you prefer that. About the only exception is that milk is mostly powdered skim or full cream or soy / gluten free milk. I have become quite used to powdered milk and it doesn't taste that much different to normal milk if it is mixed properly. The other obvious thing missing is the fresh fruit. For awhile after the resupply we have had "fresh" fruit such as grapes, kiwi fruit, grape fruit and bananas. The Kiwi fruit survived the trip on the boat quite well, but unfortunately the bananas never quite make the distance and become quite black and acquired the texture of wood!

With only 19 people on station, it is not hard to tell when somebody has not turned up for tea or is late, so we often put aside a plate of food in the food warmer for them. If we know we are going to be late, we can phone the kitchen and ask for something to be put aside.

After tea, usually everyone helps with the cleaning up by putting away the uneaten food in the fridge and washing up plates, cooking utensils and pots. Many hands make light work, so the clean up is usually over in 5 to 10 minutes.