Snakes & snails & puppy dog's tails: Chill Thrills...

Day number 2, Sunday morning. We were excited about our planned husky expedition, scheduled for Sunday afternoon. We were going to be collected from our hotel at 12:30, taken into town to be dressed and then off to a husky farm. My parents called us at about 7am, forcing us out of bed a little earlier than planned. We had just showered, washed hair, got partially dressed and ready for breakfast, when reception rang us to say that our safari was there to collect us. So, unfed, we headed off on our next big adventure.

When we arrived at the husky farm, the dogs were all tied up and ready to go. They were absolutely going nuts to start their run and the noise was deafening in the silence of the snow...

I wish I could put the video up here, so you could hear the volume of their barking...

After a brief run down on how to control a sled, we set off on our mushing experience. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you prefer), I was the odd number in the crowd, so I ended up going with the main musher on his sled with the 3 kids in the group. We spent about 2 hours running through snow covered forests (OK, on roads running through the forests). Our journey took us near to the airport and the wind was blowing a little. It was very cold and I was glad to be able to snuggle up under a blanket with Jake...

The dogs are really unbelievable. They're so strong and they have so much energy. Our sled was pulled by 12 dogs, because we had an experienced musher. The rest only had 6 dogs. Typically, the strongest dogs are right in front of the sled, the cleverest in the very front of the pack. Males are on the right and females on the left, because the males pull to the side to sniff and piddle and the females have to force them back on to the track...

Our guy let Jake have a go at mushing. It involves kicking off the ground to help the dogs on the uphill and standing on the breaks to slow them down. He was very excited to get a go at being in charge...

This is out near the airport, you can see how open it is and it was freezing. When we went back into town, the board said that it was -10 deg C that day. I have no idea how to calculate wind chill factor, but it was definitely there...

This is one of the other guest's sleds. One adult sits, the other mushes, then they swap over. We had plenty of little stops, so these guys could catch up to us. Their kids were riding with Jake & I in the sled...

This picture was taken on one of our little breaks at our half way point. Jake was really cold and starting to get a little grumpy because of it. His hands were freezing. Shortly after this picture, he came and sat back with me and we shoved his hands into my gloves to try warm him up a little. Despite thermal underwear, thick woollen socks, gloves, hats and snow suits, we were ill-prepared for the cold...

At the end of our ride. Jake was virtually in tears at this point, he was so cold. Then again, I could only manage to take 2 or 3 photos at a time, before my hands froze up and had to be re-heated in my gloves. It's an unbelievable kind of cold when you're outside in it. It's fine running from your warm hotel to the cab, or walking around in town, but out there in the wild, it's a different story all together...

We were ushered inside a log cabin, with a gorgeous fire burning inside. Jake and I literally sat on top of it. We were given the most delicious warm berry juice to drink and they had the biggest bowl of gingerbread cookies I've ever seen. I think Jake and I had about 15. Each. This is the view looking out of the cabin, from where we were sitting around the fire...

After warming up for a few minutes, we were allowed to go outside and meet the huskies up close. These two pups were crazy about Jake and his teddy bear...

A happier boy...

Then it was back into town to do more shopping, this time for a bag to pack our luggage back into for coming home...

Frost covered buildings opposite the taxi rank...

Jake in the lobby of our hotel. The garden is beautifully lit up to show off the winter wonderland outside...

We had a little free time, so spent it exploring the hotel and gardens. It gave me a little chance to mess around with my low light photography a little (shew, it's challenging when you don't know how). It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and already quite dark. Thanks to photoshop, I was able to lighten some of these up a little...

Personally, I couldn't believe that this wasn't that much snow. Because it had been so cold the week before our arrival (-25!!!), it hadn't snowed. That said, it snowed pretty much all the time we were there...

By 3pm, it was basically dark. By 6pm, it felt like it was already the middle of the night...

Snow Angels (finally!!)...

Not so successful. Actually (and I don't really know too much about snow), the snow there was very soft and fluffy. We tried building a snow man and throwing snow balls, but the snow wouldn't compact. When we threw it, it just poeffed away. Not sure if that's because it was fresh snow, or what. When we went to play in the snow in Ceres, it just felt much harder...

This is looking down towards town from the ski slope next to our hotel. Like right next to it. I wish I'd been brave enough to try. We didn't even get to go on the lift...

Here's the same view, without flash and lightened up in Photoshop. I like the one above better, I like seeing the snowflakes...

Frosty booth...

This is the view from the roof of our hotel. The frozen river in the background is the one we travelled on during our snow mobile excursions...

Jake having a little go on his bum board at the ski slope...

Oh, here are some room shots. This is the sauna in our room. It was gas and I was too scared to use it. The room was so beautifully heated in any case, we didn't really need it...

We were collected again from our hotel at 6pm for our last outing. We were supposed to be going to look for the Northern Lights, something I've always wanted to see, but it was overcast, so we had no chance. We still went out though and had a fabulous time...

The kids had to ride in the sled again, Jake was super disappointed that he couldn't ride with me. That's his little head popping up in the front. For this trip (after the morning's cold husky ride), we both had on 2 full sets of thermals, a T-shirt, a long sleeve T-shirt, fleece tracksuits, snow suits, 2 pairs of thick socks, gloves, balaclavas, a scarf, a buff and a hat. It was still cold...

We travelled for 40 minutes back to the reindeer farm on the frozen river. When we arrived, we were welcomed with warm berry juice and a huge camp fire (outside this time)...

The guides roasted sausages around the fire for us (Jake's sitting middle right), which they assured me weren't reindeer. Truth be told (sorry veggie friends), I was so hungry, I didn't care. They told us about the Northern Lights and we had time to play on the slope again...

Back at the Safari centre, we took our suits off and put our own shoes/gloves/hats back on. Sorry about Jake's disgusting pants, they were the only warm fleece ones I could find in his size. Disgusting...

When you get dressed to go out, you first put on your socks and shoes. Shoes need to be bigger than you need, because the air inside warms up, keeping your feet warm...