Aurora Hunters in the Arctic circle
Some crazy fool got in touch with his friends & asked "Hey, do you fancy seeing the Northern lights? It might be a little chilly though". The reply from his even crazier friends was "YES!".
Early start from London to Tromso, Norway & the skies were clear when we came in lifting our spirits further still for our first night in Norway.
All that remained was to check in to our hotel, collect clothing from a hire shop in town & enjoy the evening.
Early dinner for us & then out for the night to see what we could find.
How will the cameras stand up to the freezing environment? Pretty darn well truth be told. Coldest temp we experienced was an incredible -39C on our first night at the cabins.
The first night was quite impressive at times & I didn't want to leave it but fatigue got the better of us all & eventually had to turn in & head to a warm bed.
What do you do to occupy time in the 4 hours of daylight? We went out to a frozen lake on snowmobiles to sample the delights of ice fishing.
We didn't catch any fish though so it was Reindeer & beer for dinner.
A special meal tonight only this time we're in a teepee kind of tent called a "lavau" (unsure of correct spelling) . It's quite an intimate experience where our host Jan Helmer cooks slices of reindeer over the log fire before placing them on a wooden platter Which then gets passed around from one person to the next whilst taking some meat to eat. After which the platter is thrown into the fire & a new one is used & the process repeated until everyone is full.
After dinner it's time to get the cameras out for more Aurora shooting but it wasn't ready for us so we had to make our own northern lights while we waited. I'd packed some wire wool & a whisk for some "spinning" which everyone seemed to enjoy taking photos of. I'm happy I didn't get stopped at customs & asked to explain why I had them in my bag.
"I want to see them dance!"
They did Jane, just for you & right above our heads.
