Expedition Update # 12 - Direct from the High-Arctic! These updates are composed on our sub-notebook computer, which is powered by solar panels courtesy of UNSW, then sent using software from Global Marine Networks, over a satellite mobile phone provided by Landwide Satellite Solutions. Thanks very much to all involved! Date: 6/8/05 Time: 10:00pm Position: 70 deg 1.337 min N, 101 deg 16.162 min W Summary: Grit teeth & pull harder Location Map: Click the map to the left and a new browser window will open, directed to Google's new satellite maps feature. The map view will be centred on our current location. Zoom in for more detail. Weather: cold, windy, overcast and the odd bit of rain Temperature: 4 deg C Message: 3:00 am - "SCREEEEACH!!!" What the hell is that? We both blink in a dazed stupor at each other, stunned-mullet style, until about 3 seconds later the fog lifted from our minds, replaced by terror & a flood of adrenalin - our bear tripwire! A bear must be just meters from our tent!!! We fumbled for our respective tent door zips, flung them open and leapt out, shotguns in hand, bear bangers ready. No wolf. Not even any lemmings. The wind must have tripped it. What a welcome anti-climax that was. Getting out of bed in the morning has never been so swift & efficient This will only be a short one this time, as we have no spare energy to write an epic email (surprise Sacha! haha). this night is our 8th campsite since we were flown in, and we have gone a total of 22.9km in a direct line from the start point (which took us 3 days reach anyway from the lake the seaplane landed in). So distance covered is not great, but there has been a LOT of winding around lakes and the worst of terrain. We are slowly settling in to systems still, making & breaking camp faster, and realising things like if we use our two exped hiking poles (one each hand) when hauling, it helps to stop us being flung bodily left & right like a rag-doll when our PACs recoil after a wheel snags on hidden rocks every 2 or 3 steps. Another thing that works well is to haul only in our icebreaker thermals as it is incredibly hot work, yet as soon as we stop for even a minute or two the arctic wind cuts into us and rather than crouching down in the foetal position behind a windbreak like the wheel, we have our goose-down jackets close at hand. we wear them right up until the second we decide to head off, then it's a matter of stripping it off, harnessing up and gritting your teeth against the cold for the fist minute of hauling until you warm up and the sweat once again starts to run... We are giving it everything we've got. Some terrain is horrifying, yet it looks almost flat from a distance when you head for it. Nothing is very consistent - sometimes the green regions surrounding lakes are soft and mushy - near impossible to move even with both of us forcing 1 PAC, but then other times it's just flat rocks with grass poking up through it, and you can't tell which it is until you're there. Another cunning trick of the land are the mud-pits - see photo - the ground is often strewn with dried mud boils, just regions of soil about 1m across. most (maybe 70%) are solid, and being flat, are easy - desirable even - to haul across. Yet the other 30% have the same crispy exterior, but tread in it and you nearly loose your boot under 40cm of mud. That's not the problem though, it's when the PACs wheel happens to strike one of these traps that the PAC sinks in, heels over and refuses to budge. The number of times we've snapped serious bits of rope that connect us to our hauling points sending us sprawling... it takes everything - one hauling, 1 lifting & pushing to free the wheel, and then chances are it'll pull into the next one a few meters ahead, just enough time for both team members to be shackled up to their own PAC and ready to go individually. So some sections are hard, so hard. But it's like the weather here, if you don't like it, wait a few hours - diversity is the name of the game. That's what we are here for. It's one hell of an experience. Yesterday was our best day to date, covering almost 14km, including a good long paddle. Best news is after all the torment we have put our PACs through, they didn't leak at all! Paddling is awesome. We can't wait to hit some long river and lake systems coming up, and open water on sections of the coast to really catch up on time lost. The terrain looks infinitely better on the sat maps in about a week, so we are not letting ourselves be discouraged. All will be well =) There is a bird that keep meowing & purring outside our tent. What's with that? We've been spending on average 1 or 2 hrs a day doing repairs to our PACs, but the majority of these have been fixes rather than just dodgy temporary repairs, and we are gradually ironing out the issues. Next up is a few days more of the same, then we should reach a series of lakes with only minor sinister patches. Fingers crossed. On a brighter note, today was day 7 of our rations, and as our nuts are portioned into weekly bags, we were able to halve what was left!! So tasty! more than expected - except in the 'trail mix' which Clark and I watched, frozen in horror, as it fell off a rock and spilled on the ground a few days ago. After several seconds the paralysis left us and we made a grab for it, much too late. =P Needless to say we spent about 30min picking up each individual sultana and sunflower seed. Good times. we're exhausted.. going to sleep. see you! (Bogged in random mud-pit again & again) Back to updates list To send us a message, please contact us anytime!