Beautiful, freezing Kirkenes - Friday 14th January

A lovely way to start the day with the goal of disembarking very shortly, as well as being joined by Sue and Shakti for breakfast. They're heading off back to England today and Sue was a little jealous that I was going to be staying at the Snow Hotel tonight.

Once packed and my luggage was in the luggage storeroom, for the next 45min, I chatted with Sue and Shakti on Deck 4 looking out the windows to the changing scenery when noticed ice on the sea surface. Mette (the Tour Guide) informed us this was because we'd left the Gulf Stream and the water temperature was low enough for the ice to form. Both Sue and I attempted to photograph through the window, but it wasn't working. Shakti, Sue and I braved the outside to get some proper shots. But boy-o-boy was it cold outside!! The temp gauge, which I photographed, said -16. However with the wind chill factor it was far, far below that.

Oh such a relief to be off the moving boat! But OUCH, don't breath through your nose. The temperature is -25 degrees and as soon as you breath in through your nose the moisture up your nose freezes and that is not a nice feeling.

I was collected by Barrents Safari for my next exciting excursion, and was joined in the minivan with 3 couples - one from Luxembourg, a couple from England and other Australian couple. Our drive, would also be our instructor and his name was Ulf (kind of like wolf). He was very chatty and kept us entertained during our 20min journey.

Inside the small hut like building, Ulf gave us snowsuits and boots and said we wouldn't need our down jackets on underneath, as we'd be warm enough with the snowsuit on. Next Ulf, amidst lots of laughter from us all, put on the balaclava and helmet. He also assisted in tying my scarf around my neck for added warmth. Once we had our helmets and collected gloves we waited outside for everyone to be ready. Someone commented on this, and Ulf's reply, you'll be too hot in here. Although it was -25 out, in the gear I wasn't cold.

There they were - the Snowmobiles! All lined up and ready to go. Ah, but first some training. Safety, procedures and how to drive the snow-mobiles. We'd be heading out on the Barents Sea so safety was important. We'd also travel in convoy style, with two on each snow-mobile. (Bummer, I thought, there's seven of us, so I'd most likely be with our guide.) We'd make a few stops to swap drivers if we wanted. He asked who was with who and paired the couples up, them came me. "Single", said Ulf, "then you get to drive a snow-mobile by yourself".

WOOT!

Over at the snow-mobiles, Ulf taught us how to turn them on and off, accelerate, break, turn, etc before assigning us to our vehicles and convoy order. Before we departed Ulf had three last rules:- 1. Hold on with both hands on the handlebars, 2. Look ahead, and 3. Smile! He reminded us to relax and enjoy yourself, but no kissing, except me - I could kiss the only single person there, him :) Hehe, he was cheeky and I was having loads of fun already.

We set off on our snow-mobiles, I was third in the convoy. It didn't take long to get the hang of the throttle. It was awesome!! The scenery was amazing. Flat over the frozen water and mountains, small ones rising either side, dotted with ice covered trees and the odd house. We stopped and took some photos, before heading off again for another 5km. We zig-zagged along the sea. I was really enjoying myself when I noticed my fingers were freezing! Thankfully we stopped and I was able to, eventually warm my fingers by rubbing them together and moving them. During this stop Ulf informed us that below the couple of feet of snow was 3metres of ice, below that was the sea with fish, seals and King crabs. Also if we were to continue traveling in the direction we were headed for another 100km we'd arrive at the point were Finland, Russia and Norway met. Or we could travel 10km to the left and be in Russia, or 25km to the right and be in Finland. Wow!

We'd notice tracks in the snow and asked about them. Ulf said they could be from either Brown Bears, Reindeer or the Lynx.

On the way back we came close to the edge where the land meets the sea and I could clearly see the trees. They were so beautiful, all covered in frozen snowflakes. The couple in front stopped to swap drivers and not long after they took off again, the lady dropped her glove. I slowed and stopped to pick it up, and sat on the glove so as to not drop it again. I hope she could keep her hand warm! I returned it to her when we stopped next. Ulf complimented me again on my great driving. He told us a bit more about the sea, and that if it were not for the two small bridges crossing it, the Hurtigruten would be able to come down it. The sea went down about 1500m!! Reminds me of the Loch Ness in Scotland.

Another short drive and we arrived back at the hut. Where we were invited into the Lavvo, leaving our helmets outside. It was so nice to hold my hands over the fire to warm them. They were the only part of me that was cold. So much for the handlebar warmers. We had some tea or coffee and some Sami 'viagra' - dried reindeer heart. Chewy, salty, but not too bad really. Ulf also played the Sami drum and sang a traditionally Sami song. Check out the video. (oh, the picture gets clearer as my lens warms).

Unfortunately it was time to go, so we returned the borrowed equipment and clothing before getting back in the minivan. On the return journey, Ulf maintained his jovial banter saying that I should get a double bed at the Snow hotel tonight .... I didn't follow ... so he could join me :) hehehe.

After placing my luggage at the Rica Arctic Hotel luggage storage, I headed out into the freezing cold of Kirkenes in search of a cafe for lunch. Once inside the cafe (only one of two cafes in Kirkenes) I took my tray and went to sit down. As I looked across I saw and then said "Well look at who you meet in cafes!" It was my friends Kat and Michelle from Tromso. It was brilliant to see them and I joined them for lunch. We caught up on our adventures of the last few days, and Kat and Michelle said they'd not go cross-country skiing or snow-mobiling because they aren't covered in their insurance. Oh, insurance, not sure if I was either. Oh well, it's all good :)

Kat and Michelle headed off to sort their luggage and things for this evening, and I remained in the cafe catching up on my journal, as I'd not written during the entire time on the Hurtigruten. I went for a wander around the town - it was very small and ventured into the Bibliotek to use the computer. This was good to catch up on some blogs.