We went from the station to the dog camp (or the kennel), met the dogs, and were given a brief tour of the kennels - via the crazy mob of 50 barking and howling dogs. The best part was that our room was very close to the kennels so we didn't get woken up in the morning.... oh wait.. that was our 8am wake up call...
That night after some milkless coffee.. ewww. Amazing how bad something tastes when you are not used to it... we got given a tour on snowmobiles through the darkened and eventually pitchblack forest to a sami style tent that overlooked a frozen lake (that we couldn't see until later) We were given moose and bread cooked over the fire - it was cold.. -10 I think. The wind made it feel about -10000. We jumped back on the snowmobiles after dinner and then hooked across a few frozen lakes which was extremely fun. Nothing like 50kmph across an ice lake. An interesting thing to note is that the snowmobiles have built in hand warmers! Very nice :)
The next day we didn't do alot - we met the guy that we going to take us hunting into the bush for 'birds and wildlife' and chatted but didn't do alot more. Sat around, drank coffee - went for a few walks with the dogs - did a snow dance to try and encourage the clouds.
Another 8am wakeup call from the nice dogs and we were to get ready for a trip out mobiling again and then also to go hunting with a hunting dog - emlah. We didn't see much - actually, we didn't see anything! So it was really a walk in the woods carrying a gun... But it was nice to be out in the snow and seeing things that are totally different to that of what you would normally.
As it got dark we went on a longer mobiling tour - which was fun. It was a shame that there wasn't enough snow, as most of it we were going over heavy bumps and rough tracks. At times you had to hold on and lean (abseil style) so that you wouldn't tip it over. Tarks didn't and consequently rolled his. But I think that is made us get used to them much faster. We arrived back after a good day - about as good as a fishing day with will. (saw nothing, caught nothing)
The last day we headed to the ice hotel - which due to the late winter was closed - but we still got to see the icce bar and the making of all the ice sculptures that would be on show in a few weeks. Tarks got to drive the car in the snow - which was fun.
Amazingly the kiruna airport had free wifi - Amsterdam and Stockholm didn't.... Ridiculous.
We left via 2 planes from kiruna to amsterdam to where I met andrew who dropped me off at Koen's place, the person that lives in Amsterdam.
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