Mushing in a Winter Wonderland

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Rob Writes

Coccyx not sucking (chortle).

We were up early today as we had a pick-up arranged to take us on the Huskey sled tour at 7:45am. We had found a hostel that served a buffet breakfast right near where the pick-up was, so that was the first port-of-call. We jumped on the tour bus and after a 30-minute journey we were at the Huskey farm(?). After getting suited up in the provided snow overalls we were directed to the tutorial sled, where the tour guide gave us a run down of what to expect. This briefing was quite a lot of take in and the guide was quite intense (another robot – Tina). By the end I felt like I was about to take control of an unruly rocket ship with a mind of its own, when in hindsight, it was nothing of the sort. I was a bit scared, so insisted Tina go first this time. We were then led to the dogs.

I’m not a big fan of dogs. I never had a dog growing up and I didn’t really experience a friendly dog to the point where I gained any trust in them. Most of my experiences involved running away from angry dogs. I always thought that if they got angry, they would eat me, and still do. Especially the big ones. I’m wary, I suppose. The dogs were very noisy. They seemed very excited to have to cart our fat-arses around for the next three hours anyway. I think they love their jobs. They weren’t interested in eating me either. They were already tied up together and to the sled, ready to go, with one line tied to a concrete post holding them back. I jump in the sled, and Tina jumps on the back bit where the pilot captain driver musher goes and we are all waiting for everyone to get ready, the dogs still going berserk, frantically trying to pull the tied-up sled.

They don’t seem to get an order to start pulling, or at least these ones didn’t, they just do it. Always do it, even when they can’t, they’re trying to do it. I felt like they were wasting a lot of energy, which they are going to need. It’s like driving an automatic car with the throttle to the floor, where it will just keep going forwards unless you keep your foot on the brake. I wasn’t expecting that, I thought you would need to tell them. Probably should have listened more at the tutorial.

Ok so we are ready to go and as soon as the line is released, off they go! And silence… No more barking nothing, they all quieten down. Happy they’re doing their favourite thing. I swear the sled took off faster than my car. It was amazing really and they seemed to make quite light work of it. They weren’t big dogs, certainly not husky size, but more medium sized dogs, five of them pulling us. There wasn’t a lot of driving to do, you just hang on really. The dogs do this tour multiple times a day, so they know the crack, which was in stark contrast to the briefing we just had. It’s funny watching them taking mouthfuls of snow as they’re running along, trying to cool down I guess. It was very tranquil. Cutting through the trees on the trail with the snow falling, it really was a winter wonderland and so quiet. It was cold, but the gear we had on really insulated us from it. A bit of snow in your eyeball every so often, but otherwise a great, comfortable experience. I had worried it was going to be bumpy like the snowmobile but no, not at all, smooth as silk. Lovely.

We got to the halfway point and switched, Tina in the sled, me at the helm. More of the same while driving, bliss, but stood up. You must be aware of a couple of things though, slowing down using the brake, which is just like an anchor to push into the snow/ground with your foot, and the dogs needing to go to the loo. When you see a dog trying to do their business, you must stop and let them. The thought of nipping one off with 200kg in tow doesn’t seem like a pleasant thought to me, so I kept a watchful eye on the dogs out of respect. Can’t have been easy. The person in the sled doesn’t get splattered or anything though, nothing like that. That was one of my concerns because they didn’t provide any goggles. The tour was like a big circuit. We cut through woodlands, then onto a frozen lake, then through a woods again, eventually getting back to the point where we started. I’d say it was about 3 hours all in.

(Tina - I thought about editing this video to be all lovely and that but just kept it all in. Watch to the end haha)

Once we got back, we had the opportunity to pat (clap) the dogs and take some pictures with them. The dogs didn’t seem too interested though, but I imagine they were knackered. We finished up in a wooden pod with a fire in the middle where we had a Q&A with the guide, some hot juice, and some biscuits before getting changed out of our gear and back onto the bus to take us back to town.

We were back in town for roughly mid-day and fortunately for us the drivers next job was picking people up from Santa Land, which is where we planned on going next, so we stayed on the bus and that’s where we went. Bit of luck that!

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