1000HourDay.com [visit 2005 site]

Today - our first day of post-Kuujjua hauling unfolded well. We practiced a little procrastination in the tent by further pondering our best route, and glaring, eyes narrow with suspicious hatred at the 'white' death-terrain like shading on Google Earth spanning much of the remainder of our route, after an initial patch of green.

We set off at a trot, full of energy and enthusiasm to get back into hauling, and the terrain was great. By first nut break we'd passed the 2km mark, and we were almost at the second nut break when passing over an old river bed, we heard the dreaded 'Rrrrrrriip! PSSSSSssssssss!' Whirling around in our harnesses, we stared accusingly at the back left side of the cart just as it sank to the ground, the tire totally deflated, just like our optimistic outlook for the morning. "Lets get some load off this thing!" I called, noticing the rims themselves now bearing the load, pinching the limp rubber inner tube into the ground. It was a smooth operation, unloading, hoisting the back of the PAC up onto our tripod as a stand to survey the damage. Not one, but FOUR punctures, one after the other in a line, where some sharp corner of rock had clearly snatched at the exposed side-wall of bare rubber, beyond where the kevlar covers could shield it. Agh well, it happens. We both grinned and said 'Ayuuknakmat' (our new word for the day, after an Inuit, Manoyak, emailed us the other day with that word - it means 'It can't be helped'. I put patch on all four of them, and Clark started his first shift of 200 pumps to pump the wheel back up. Then I swapped over, then Clark swapped back, then we realised why it wasn't getting much bigger. There was a fifth puncture that I hadn't noticed. Bagh! I fixed that one too, and we started over. Once inflated enough, we then had to carefully adjust the decrepit decaying kevlar cover back on, easing all the tangle of seven tourniquet bandages around to strangle their respective wounds. Then after more inflating, re-wedge in the series of foil packaging around the rim for anti-chafe,and then pump the last bit. What an epic. It took just under one hour,and we decided to skip the nut break that was now long gone, and press on 'till lunch to try and recoup lost hauling time.

The terrain remained favorable, and the km ticked obediently past on the PAC-o-meter. Lunch time saw us sitting, chewing our peanut butter wraps on a huge boulder in an open expanse of grassy tundra, literally smothered in flowers - a sea of color - yellows, purples, white, blue, red - it was beautiful! The boulder like the one upon which we sat were becoming alarmingly common, and we were passing through regions of what could almost be called 'boulder fields' now, and with our locked together four wheeled craft, avoiding them is something that requires a LOT of planning ahead as our Nugget has rather an embarrassing turning circle. In addition to flowers, we have started to see heaps of Mountain Sorrel growing all around us - this edible plant was an important food for the Inuit, and back in 2005 our good mate Brent had made a point of pointing out these tiny little weed-like plants with their red-green heart-shaped, and rather fleshy, leaves which taste amazingly like some kind of wild berry - sweet and flavorsome. We found NONE of it in 2005, but now, doubtless being in the mountains helps, we have been pulling off the odd clump of leaves and enjoying the novelty of fresh salad with our meals. Yum-o!

A large caribou wandered past while we hauled, and took no notice of my hiking pole antlers that I held atop my head, that was until I started waving them around up there, which stopped him in his tracks. I lowered my poles, the thought of him charging me down for an antler-on-hiking pole duel to prove himself did not appeal.

After passing a large lake, as you can see on the tracking map, we left the safety of the green zone, and entered the beginning of the white region. It was exactly the same as the green. Perhaps, just maybe, it was snow covered when Google Earth took the pics?? Wouldn't that be awesome if the rest of the island was like this? With 220 km to go, we managed just over 10km today, which, if we could keep that up, could even mean we'd be there in little more than 20 days! Obviously that's unlikely, but it's these little dreams that keep us going.

We are part way up a steep hill tonight, the PAC wedged in one of countless annoying ditches that craze this hill side, each one needing to be lowered down into and pulled back up the rather steep far wall, making the hill (which is steep enough anyway), involve actually a series of infinitely steeper mini hills, some with water at the bottom to make the crossing that much more difficult. 'Ayuuknakmat'

So, we're very happy with today's 10km, and hope it bodes well for what's ahead!

Clark - just finished making dinner - just discovered the hard way why you can't put a spoon in your mouth, while wearing a mozzie head net. =P

Our live expedition updates are written on our tiny ASUS Eee PC 900 laptops, and sent via Iridium 9505A satellite phones from Landwide Satellite Solutions, using email compression software xGate from Global mareine Networks! Thanks guys - it's the perfect set up!