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Published: June 29th 2015
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As you will have deduced we have managed to find internet access . Below this blog is another with some photos of our day at Givskud Zoo & Safari Park as well as us going sailing with Anne and Henrik. Please note that the next blog is unlikely to appear before we get back to Helsinki on Saturday evening.
Saturday 27 June:
Well, after the complete shambles that was getting to Helsinki yesterday, today started nice and smoothly. We got up early and had time for a drink and a bit to eat before getting our taxi, which arrived on time. I noticed last night, and again on the trip to the airport, that traffic lights in Helsinki are all on set timer phases which don’t change regardless of the time or traffic conditions. Yet something else I find very odd but the locals no doubt do not.
We got to the airport, waited only 5 minutes to check in our bags, went straight through security (the guy cannot have been older than 14), and got to the gate. Boarded and departed on time. Brilliant!!!
The plane was an ATR72, which
is a turbo-prop style. They seem to be coming back into fashion a bit and I guess they do the job efficiently for short-haul flights. We were in row 4, with the propellers right behind us so I was expecting a lot of noise. However apart from take-off it wasn’t really too much noisier than your average jet. The flight to
Kittila goes via Ivalo and took a little over 2 hours. Ivalo is actually about 120 km further north but the plane just does a triangular trip (so on the way back we fly direct to Helsinki). I was hoping we could get off at Ivalo and sniff some polar air but we had to stay on. Sitting behind us was a family of four with very familiar accents so we got to talking. They were actually on their way “home” from Perth. The guy had won an arts grant (he is a photographer) last year and, being of Finnish heritage, he used it to work in Lapland. He, his wife, and two young children had enough money for 6 months but after a few months decided to stay. She resigned her job and they sold up and moved.
Now he works freelance and they forage and fish and live a vastly different lifestyle to what they did. They love it and I can only applaud them for making the move.
A small delay in rainy Ivalo and then we landed in sunny Kittila, along with our bags, and were met by our shuttle which had indeed got the message. We thus headed for
Akaslompolo about 50 km away. About two thirds of the way there we had to slow down for two reindeer (a mum and her fawn) who were strolling along the middle of the road. Some deft manoeuvring and we were past. This was very cool and we had seeing reindeer on our list so we can tick that off. Eating one is the next thing to do. There was another reindeer on the road just as we got to Akaslompolo so hopefully we see a few more.
The extremely helpful driver helped me with picking up our key and then drove us to our cabin. He then took me back to the town so I could go shopping while Heather unpacked and Zachary explored. The supermarket was huge, which
I wasn’t really expecting. But then I was told that in winter 25,000 people suddenly arrive all at once so it is needed. I managed to get what I wanted, conscious of the fact that it was about a 20 minute walk back to the cabin and there was always the potential of getting lost. I didn’t and arrived back to find Zachary happily playing outside and an exasperated Heather trying to work out why the washing machine just wouldn’t do anything. We rang the office and she said someone would come by. I was expecting this to take a while but less than 10 minutes later the maintenance man was there and it was all sorted.
Then we all headed back into town (where the temperature briefly got to a positively tropical 26) to get some more shopping and try to rustle up some DVDs. We stopped in at the office to ask about wi-fi and DVDs and she had a big box full of them. Zachary thought it was Christmas and we borrowed 5 for him and 2 for us so we can have some down-time over the next day or two. Zachary is absolutely
exhausted and it is showing in some of his behaviour in the last couple of days so we may not do much tomorrow apart from take a walk around the lake. The area is lovely and our cabin is warm and well-equipped (although strangely Zachary’s room has no curtains). There are heaps of walks to do and on Monday we’ll make our way to the info centre and maybe book an activity or two. The main issue here is going to be bugs. There are some BIG mozzies around, although they will be even bigger in a month. So we’ll need to be liberal with the insect repellent and be careful about opening doors and windows.
Home-cooked dinner, a DVD and Zachary in bed and straight asleep at 8. Still daylight outside of course and it will be interesting to see if there is any change at all. In Helsinki last night I woke up at 2:30am and it was still light and again at 4:30am and it was a little bit gloomy. We’ll see how the light affects us tonight!
Sunday 28 June:
The sun was still very much out
at 2:30am and about 4ish it got a very little bit dull. However by 6am when Zachary and I got up it was back to proper daylight.
Zachary watched half of Toy Story 3 before we had breakfast and then he watched the rest. After this we all headed out for a walk. We went round the lake as far as possible until it got to the road. We decided to carry on and this worked out well because a little further down the road was a primary school and there was no issue with going onto the grounds and Zachary using the playground. They even had their sports shed unlocked (which we didn’t tell Zachary) so I guess there is no crime around here. We carried on into town where everything opens at 12 on a Sunday. There was a car boot sale on in the carpark, so it seems no matter where you are there are always people trying to sell other people crap they don’t want! We skipped that and went into the café and Heather and I had a very nice soup for lunch, while Zachary had a banana cream pastry. He then had a little play in the small indoor playground there before we carried on back to the cabin. We stopped at the sports shop to enquire about bicycle hire. It is very flat here so we may do this later in the week and
possibly cycle to the town of Kolari. A bit of rain and a bit cooler but we got back unscathed by the mozzies that were harassing us the whole time. I’m glad I wore my beanie and will need to keep it on whenever I’m outdoors I think.
The walk around the lake was nice but the one place where there was a “beach” wasn’t accessible without gumboots and the bird-watching tower was closed, probably due to soft ground. We didn’t spot any wildlife apart from a few jays and a shitload of bugs.
A quiet afternoon then in the cabin before dinner and bed. Tomorrow my job is to go for a walk to the Info Centre and find out if there are any excursions we can book. We saw a sign for Santa’s House so I’ll certainly ask about that. There is also a bus to Kolari so I’ll find out if this is worth visiting. When I get back I can hopefully access wi-fi and meet Heather and Zachary in town.
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