Expedition Update # 16 - 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: 19/8/05 Time: 10:30pm Position: 70 deg 23.515 min N, 102 deg 17.589 min W Summary: Bear Tracks 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: On the improve - sunny @ clear Temperature: Around 6 deg C Message: After our wolf encounter, every day now as we criss-cross our way along the mud-flat/beach/swampland out here we pass countless wolf tracks. Between the maze of caribou and musk ox hoof prints, these dog paw prints tear off in all directions at once, and the novelty of following them soon gave up, and we now don't even give them a 2nd glance as we toil past. "STOP! Look at this!" I almost stumbled into some rather different tracks - a mere 300m from last update's camp - bear tracks! Unmistakable. Could be either Grizzly or Polar bears, but chances are they're Polar, as it lead directly from the pack ice. Suddenly every white rock or bit of ice further ashore than the rest looked very bear-like. Our binoculars are continually at the ready these last few days, reassuring us that we are not being followed. Today we came across many more bear prints in the mud, somewhat larger. We are now camped perched on an esker overlooking the watery world below where these tracks wander. Bear tripwire alarm setup as always, and the only problem is that one of the local birds around here has a call that starts of sounding very much like our bear alarm going off! So every 15min or so our heart skips a beat and we spend the next 15 calming down until the next bird tweets... =P Talk about living life on the edge. The terrain the past few days has been a series of high & dry eskers running north-south, but as we are travelling east - west our day consists of accepting our fate and sliding down from an esker into the swampy mudlands (of which the eskers give us a fantastic view overlooking the impending doom), charging (slowly) across this wasteland pausing to stare wide-eyed at bear tracks, and trudging on towards the next esker that we then climb, catch our breath, regain composure and try not to look out over the next expanse of swamp until after the 15-min nut break (walnut, cashews, almonds..) is over... Although today was the last day of our first 1kg tub of peanut butter, so we could officially empty it onto our lunches, and then slice the container open and lick it spotlessly clean. Mmmmmmm.... so good! I never knew it was possible to eat so much peanut butter in one serve, and crave more still... =P It's not so much that you get any more really by licking the container clean, it's more like as Clark said, just so that you can sleep solidly at night, with the relative mental comfort that comes from knowing that there was nothing more you could do. While on the subject of food, we have built up quite the appetite and have been on the look out for extra food along the way. Fishing is the obvious answer, but every decent lake or coastline we camp beside has yielded nothing so far. We don dry suits and wade out up to our waist amongst the bergs to get as deep as possible and cast & cast again until our legs go numb from the cold... but not even so much as a strike yet. We live in hope... Live to air 'Sky-News' TV interviews that we do each Saturday morning (Aussie time) via satellite phone have been good fun, with their fair share of problems & dropouts "yeah and we've seen bear tracks not too far away from me now and.. and... *static* *crackle*.. ... (silence)" - 'Yes, we seem to have umm... lost Chris there, due to ermmm.. technical issues? (oh dear!!).. Musk ox have been steadily increasing in number out here also. A shaggy old one wandered right up close yesterday as we hauled, its round eyes bulging with obvious non-comprehension. Eventually satisfied that we were indeed not some new form of edible grass, he lumbered off to rejoin the herd. Seems as though that bone artefact we found is an Inuit "harpoon head - the hole is for the sealskin line and the slit is for the ivory (or metal blade)." Cheers Brent for identifying that for us! Nothing much else to report from out here. Just had dinner - dehydrated 'turkey tetrazzini' - just add boiling water and wait 10 minutes. Amazing how time slows right down at times like that isn't it! Now just have to endure the night and I can wake to oats & coffee... Oh, we are actually experiencing a bit of 'night' these days, the sun dips below the horizon around 10:00 and we find ourselves in the unfamiliar situation of twilight.. soon we'll need to wear little eye patches with a little torch built in that shines directly into each eye to enable us to sleep.... =) (Good times - hauling nearly 1/4 ton through mud) (left - Arctic Wolf print, right - bear print, below - numb legs while fishing) Back to updates list To send us a message, please contact us anytime!