Kiruna Day 4 - Abisko

So woke up to our last morningin our lovely little chalet in the most amazing Abisko National Park. Could have quite happily stayed for SO much longer and played in the snow forever!

Our last morning was jam packed before we left for the train home with snow show walking. Once dropped at the tourist information we were kitted out with our very sexy snow shoes and then show the path up to the cable car. Now when i say cable car i am absolutely certain it does not convey the sheeeeeeer size of this beast! It was literally ALL the way up the mountain side! The view from it being absolutely AMAZING from. Once at the top we hopped of the cars and headed up the peak of the mountain. Unfortunately we ran out of time and didn't quite make it to the top before we had to head back down. back at the cable car we saw people beginning to come up to ski down, and o my seriously i don't know HOW these people have the non fear to just launch tehmselves over the edge and ski down - UNBELIEVABLE!

The journey down was a little more hair-raising than the journey up as i realised just HOW high up we really were! Especially at one point when we were dangling out over a snow ledge! But we reached the bottom and so sadly had to trudge back to the tourist info to collect our bags and head for the train :'( A very quick snow ball fight before the train and then on we piled, back into our cabins as the train departed at 12:35 for the mammouth expedition home. There was no party cabin this time around due to sheer exhaustion of everyone after possibly one of the funnest, adventure weeks ever!!

Sadly enough we arrived in Lund the next day around 3ish and unfortunaltey stepped of the train back into reality :'( No more snow.

An aamaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing trip!

The End.

Kiruna Day 3 - Abisko

Dog sledging day!

SO much fun i can't even describe!! The dogs are SOOOOOO eager to get out there and begin running! After a brief safety talk we were shown how to get the dogs into their harnesses and then how to attach then to the sleigh. The group divided into two, the first group sledging the other half snow mobiling (which was AWESOME!)

We were group two and well, it was a snow mobile with a wooden box on skis attached on the back. It was a FANTASTIC way to travel! :D When we got half way the groups swapped and dog sledgoin joy began. It was so cool, and i'm not kidding when i say i was Angelina Jolie (obviously!) in Tomb Raider when she's dog sledging in the film! The little doggies go so fast and going down hill, well now that IS exciting!

The day finished with a true Swedish sauna (hot hot sauna, then run out and roll in the snow, then back into the hot hot sauna! Actually more cleansing and enjoyable than it sounds!)

End of Day 3, exhausted but glowing!

Kiruna Day 2 - Abisko

Well after waking up at the crack of dawn this morning (literally!) Shana and I decided to have a wander round Kiruna before the rest of the world woke up. It was truly truly boootiful all quiet and full of snow everywhere! :D

When 'normal' time arrived the day began as we headed off to Abisko National Park for some joyous outdoor activities. Our adventures began with what we now affectionately call 'the cave of doom!' From the name it might be possible to guess that it was a little bit 'exciting' to say the least! To get to our 'exciting' cave we had to walk up the mountain someway which was absolutely beautiful and really quite peaceful until we arrived! Upon arrival the cave mouth, (none of us actually realising it was the entrance due to the excessive smallness of the entrance) our hero of a giude whipped out his dismantable spade, put it together and then began to dig steps into the snow for us to descend into the cave. These lovely steps didnt last long though, after about the first two people they had pretty puch dissappeared :( so that left the rest of us to slide down the snow, clinging onto the rope for dear life! And this is truly where the adventrue began! Going down was SO scary cos it was slippy, we didn't know how long the descent was, it was dark and o my well it was adventerous to say the least!

Was finally at the bottom ( the relief of touching the ground even after that little ammount of slipping/descentness was great!) our little expedition into the cave and the small spaces that go with it began! It was AWESOME!! We were climbing over rocks, crawling in between little spaces, crouching beneath over hangs and then we had a drink at a pure mountain spring underwater that was freeeeezing but really really good! We also got told to turn our lights out here just to show that there really was NO light at all (i will admit that it was a little bit freaky sat under the earth in PITCH BLACK! I coulnd't help but think of The Descent, not a pleseant thought for that time!)

So then we had to turn back and retrace our steps out, and o my, so here comes the worst part of all! Now the ascent UP the rope was, well, what words can i use here...?? None seem suitable! After having stumbled up ALL the mountain walk, poor Shana now had to navigate UP the slippery slope in her boots (whcih were the reason behind the slipping and sliding!) Now i am not normally a person who sees the bad side of the situation but i'm not kidding at one point i actually thought she was NEVER gona make it out of the 'cave o doom.' Everytime she made a step her feet just fell down again. Our hero guide came to her rescue though and after about 20 minutes of trying she was pulled from the cave mouth by the saviours of the other group beyond! O it was scary, especially as we had to go after that, and really i have NEVER been good at rope climbing, these muscles of mine just aren't good enough!

But we survived, thnakfully and the journey down the mountain was MUCH tfunner than up cos we got to slide down in whichever manner we fancied - excellent!

End of Day 2

Kiruna Day 1 - The journey!

So i know i've been a bit radio silent as of late but o my heavens the adventrues are now well and truly over for a little bit at least, if only becasue exhaustion has taken over!

The adventure period began on March 21st at 11:38 one relatively spring like morning in the Northern Hemisphere, as the train departed Lund station for Stockholm. Despite the prospect of another 24hours on a train spirits seemed suprisingly high! The 4 hour journey went remarkably quickly, mostly due to some classic Ana time and memorable comments. My most favourite one being a genuinely amazed statement about Sweden that, 'O my god, they have WHITE hay!' This rather splendid outburst arose after seeing a pile of hay bales covered in white plastic! O i love the Ana, she is a legend!

So Stockholm arrived, sooner and windier than generally expected and we were let out in the fresh air for an hour before the next train. Shana, Mina, Ana and I had a little exploration around the station and found only roads (aparently we should have gone the other way if we wanted to find the city!) The girls found it rather nice to be back in a proper city (Lund is 'apparently' a city...hmmm....!) all coming from either Sydney or London. Before we knew it though it was 5pm and time for our 2nd leg of the journey.

Ana and I agreed to sharing a cabin with 'the boys' (Ilias, Dave, Hugo and Pieter) and o my if we'd only known what lay ahead! Our cabin actually turned into 'the party' cabin after many a round of Who Am I? Ilias getting some classics such as Santa, Hercules and his hardest one of all, having never heard of him, Tiger Woods! Not convinced that this guy was in fact rather famous and trulyexisted, he then proceeded to ask every one who passed if they had in fact herad of someone called Tiger Woods, which of course they had, much to his amazement!

Now when i described it as the party cabin, i make no exageration of this term! The table was covered in alcohol bottles and when the iPod arrived - WITH speakers - Well you can imagine the scene! (one tiny 6 bed cabin, people all over the show, drinking, laughing, shrieking, and of course the obligatory drunken rock rendition, complete with air guitar and head banging!) But im sorry to say Ana and I were both ready for bed around 12, we felt like such old ladies!)

Beds were finally put down around 1 ish after the guard had already been round for the 4th time to tell everyone to quiet down, bless him he really was so tolerant. Swedish design amazed me again when making the beds, they just think of everything, my favourite being the seat covers folding down into pillows - genius! :-D

Slept beautifully, despite the smelly boys (again i make no exageration here, it was a confined space with 4 boys - need i say more!!!) But we arrived in Kiruna alive and kicking, despite the bad air at 10:30. Quick check in at the hostel, then off to the ice hotel - yes the whole hotel really is made out of ICE!!!! it's very very schnICE!!!

Got extreeeeeeeemely snap happy and only just had time for a hot chocolate in an ICE glass before heading for the bus. Most people went backt to the hotel, but the boys being true adventurers and full of energy decided to head off for some cross country ski-ing. Unsurprisingly my ski legs are not so good and i ended up falling A LOT, mostly due to an inability to trun, which resulted in a most splendid superman slide down a hill on my front, which i'm still quite proud of!

Truly exhausted we headed home. End of Day 1.