1000HourDay.com [visit 2005 site]

It was a chilly start today, +3 deg C with wind-chill down to -2,and the usual delays didn't see us out of bed till about 8:30. My morning visit to the open-air toilet-with-a-view was somewhat more interesting today, as part way through I was interrupted by a giant arctic bee - like a normal Aussie honey bee, but bristling with fluffy hairs all over, buzzing agitatedly around my foot. As I looked down, she was joined by another. And then, another. Oh oh. Then a fourth crawled out of a dark entrance hole under the very rock I was crouching on! Abort! Abort! It wasn't a dignified departure, but when you're caught with your pants down, escape is rarely a smooth operation. Ha ha. Peering back from three meters away, the gathering of bees didn't, thankfully, attempt pursuit.

The start of the day was up up and up an ongoing hillside for about 3km which felt good, as the terrain remained firm tundra, and after eventually reaching the top, we looked down over 5km of gradual downhill - atleast that's what our topo map said it would be. A 'gradual sloping region of hills' might be a better description however, but we were in good spirits and there were plenty of good down-hill lowering sessions that helped us tuck away 7km by lunch.

As we hauled along, I spotted an odd ridgeline running along beside us, drawing closer, in and out of view. While all our hills, and the ones around us were a lovely, radiant golden colour, a mixture of earth and tundra, this 'other' ridge sidling up to us was black. We thought it must have just been in shadow or something, but as it drew nearer to cross our path we could see it more clearly. It was comprised entirely of dark, lumpy boulders poured on top of each other, obscuring whatever ground may have been beneath. It was dark, ominous, and with the clouds above it reflecting it's drab gloom, it looked positively 'evil' surrounded by all the merry golden hills. A few black crows wheeled menacingly above it to complete the image (the crows are everywhere, but hey, they were there too). Inevitably, as we feared it must, the black ridge swung across our path, and there was nothing for it - we HAD to cross it.

We were lured into it, the boulders began as scattered obstacles, but increased in number until, almost before we knew it, we were trying to haul the PAC over the biggest boulders we have ever attempted. "This is insane!" I shook my head in disbelief at Clark harnessed in behind me, with one corner of PAC embedded in a 1,5m boulder while the other corner was up in the air at an absurd angle, and a protruding giant of a boulder passing between the two wheels scrapped against the bags underneath, contorting and skewing the entire PAC frame. Ahead it just got worse. So, we knew what we had to do - we walked ahead, and.. set up our video and still cameras to capture the ensuring action.

It was horrendous. The PAC hated it, the wheels hated it, and we - well, we were lucky to get through without breaking at least one of our legs. These huge boulders were simply jumbled upon other boulders below, and it was a case of trying to hop from one random corner or edge of one to the next, while trying not to slip down into gaping black voids between them, all the while attached to a lurching, 300kg cart, by a length of quite elastic rope. We'd get a good footing, heave, remo0ve our back foot, go to swing our body weight forward just as the PAC's bulging tires would absorb into the face of some other rock and bounce back, flinging us off balance. Sometimes we were even 'below' the PAC while it clambered over boulders behind and above us. When it totally bottomed out on rocks we'd sneak underneath and push upwards on the underside of the PAC and bags to free it while the other kept heaving. It was full on, and when we got to the far side with only two small punctures that we noticed only in the following 30min or so, we just could not believe what the PAC had just gone through. It should not have survived, quite frankly. Good on it. After crossing the black hill, the terrain, mercifully, returned back to our favorite golden tundra, and, shaken a little by this unexpected deviation from the terrain we've come to know and love over the past few days, we hauled onwards until at last, up a few more hills, we arrived at the large river in our path.

The GPS and topo said it was 160m wide. We were dreading it, but as it came into view and we hauled down towards it, we found a crossing point where pebbles and small rocks formed an ankle-deep path all the way across! Ha ha! Brilliant. Fair's fair." I guess that's our trade-off for being hit with the boulders.." Clark said, grinning.

So here we are, camped immediately on the far side of the river, utterly exhausted. We managed a total of 12.3km again today (exactly the same as yesterday!),despite the boulders and punctures and hills, so we're chuffed with that. The lure of the end is drawing us onward like a magnet.

Only 71km to go!

Oh - a friend of ours in a mining exploration camp up here mentioned something about 'arctic cranberries'. Any idea what they are or what they look like? They sound GOOD. Apparently they are around here? Any ID tips would be great, and is there anything toxic they could be confused with? =P

Up at 6:00 am tomorrow - there's to be an almost total solar eclipse! Perpetual daylight for the last 1800 hours, and then, nothing. Will be awesome- hope the clouds disappear for us. Its been overcast all day, playing havoc with our solar re-charging abilities.

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!