Return of the sun!

Hihi,

I've been very busy lately!

On the 8th march the sun finally reached the town. Every year there is a celebration at the old hospital steps by the church as, when it reaches these steps, the sun is officially deemed "back". It was a really nice occasion, where there was lots of children singing and a general feeling of happiness knowing that summer was coming. The sun was hiding initially, but just as "here comes the sun" started playing, the clouds parted and there it was! That was a moment I think I'll remember for a long time.

Fun in the sun, sort of! (Jen's photo)

As we walked to the church, we also saw the plane that dad and Kate were on coming in to land, which was cool. It's a shame they juussst missed the festival, but from what they told me they had more than enough sun on their cruise! They bought some of that sun with them on Sunday when we went on a bus tour instead of their going dog sledding, which had been cancelled the previous day due to bad weather. The tour was very informative and it was so clear out that we could see for miles. It included seeing all around town, a visit to nearly-EISCAT (road was blocked so we couldn't go the whole way), the seed vault and mine 3. 

We also ate out at several nice places including the Radison, which is quite posh but not as expensive as I thought it would be. I had some of the best beef I'd ever eaten, and a tiny sliver of whale, given to us free by the chef. I felt a bit funny about eating eat, and probably wouldn't have if it weren't a tiny sample.

Mine 2b

Whale, courtesy of the chef

Amongst all this, me and my classmates built a sled for a competition that was meant to be happening on Saturday, but unfortunately had to be cancelled due to bad weather. You wouldn't think, looking at the above photos, that it could have been that bad less than 24 hours before, but it just goes to show how quickly things can change here. Me and Jen were in charge of making a radar dish out of tin foil, card board and a broken hula hoop (went pretty well!) and the aurora out of wool (the less said about that, the better). The guys raided a scrap yard and had fun with hammers and drills to make what I called "a death trap" and what they called "fast".

Beautiful

As ever, a little video of these events is below. Next week, another visitor- Joseph! Exciting!

Emma xx

Ice Caves!

Hihi,

On our second adventure we ventured into the ice caves. The walk up was a bit easier this time, and they really were amazing! I wasn't sure what to expect but they exceeded my expectations. It was surprisingly warm in there, and very, very quiet.

First ice cave

The second ice cave, which had lots more structures

I missed the moment Brandon threw Elliot in the hole, but you get the idea

 

The cave entrances are only small, and quite a big drop down. It's crazy that you could completely miss these big caverns if they weren't marked. Makes you wonder how they found them in the first place! Hopefully not by just falling in. It was a bit scary at first (and you definitely didn't want to think about how much rock was above you), but once you were used to it it was very cool. The second cave was especially interesting, with lots of stalactites and ice formations. I would definitely recommend bringing a head torch, microspikes, and a camera.

Later that day we had dinner at the coalminers cabin and then went to a big bonfire to say goodbye to the last polar night. Happily the it was clear out and the aurora gave a display!

I think Brad took this one. Fire!

As always, here's a little video to end with. Thanks for reading!

Emma xxx