Mustn't stay put in place for long! We were on our way the next morning heading to Whitehorse, way up north in the Yukon near the Alaskan border. We had to go via Vancouver, of course we would have another flight become delayed once we had boarded, we weren't having much luck this trip with flights! After an hour of sitting at the gate we eventually set off, arriving in Whitehorse a few hours later.
It was a lovely 1 degree celcius when we arrived that afternoon... I was in heaven! Haha. We met our tour guide for the next few nights then checked into our hotel 'The Best Western Goldrush Inn'. The name says it all about history of this town. Nowadays it's exactly what I expected, a country city, where barely a thing opens on a Sunday and everything just feels very casual. We went for a walk around the town but as it was a Sunday, most things were closed. We had dinner at a bar nearby and tried to get some rest. The next three nights were going to be consisting of being picked up at 10:30pm heading out till 3am and hoping to see what I came all this way for...the Aurora Borealis!
We arrived at the viewing area for the first night, it was in the middle of no where, a good half an hour out of Whitehorse. The cabin area was fantastic, they had set up a warm log cabin to relax in, a bonfire outside, marshmallows for toasting and hot drinks to keep us all warm! They had even welded together and prepared a heap of homemade tripods, which was perfect for me having left all of mine at home. Getting the settings right on the camera was a challenge in itself and unfortunately we had no luck the first night, the super moon was just to bright then cloud came over and gave us no chance.
The next morning we went for a tour around Whitehorse, then spent the rest of the day catching up on sleep before we headed out again. Unfortunately again that night the clouds didn't budge whatsoever. We all sat around chatting, it was good fun still chatting to people from all over the globe and hearing their stories, especially an Italian couple that had never been to Australia but one location they knew (that I didn't think many knew unless they had visited) was Kangaroo Island! I don't think some Aussies even know where it is.
Our last day we caught up on some boring chores and I did some catching up on the blog accompanied with some sleep before heading out for the final chance to see those illusive bastard lights! It was a small group, just us and 4 Japanese women, we all cooked moose meat sausages and marshmallows and discovered that no matter where you're from, the 'Quick! 5 second rule!' when you drop some food always applies.
It was cloudy almost the whole night, Cara had given up around 1:30am and fallen asleep inside the cabin, I woke her 5 minutes before we were about to leave, honestly given up all hope and convinced the trip to Whitehorse was a complete waste. Next minute our guide yelled out 'It's coming, it's coming!'. Oh my gosh, it was absolutely worth the sleepless nights and travelling that distance, it crept up from the north, the green glow was dancing and moving across the skyline, it was spectacular!! I have wanted to see if for so long. Worth the wait!
We got back into Whitehorse around 3:30am, unfortunately no time to get to bed, we had a flight at 5am heading over to Edmonton for the next part of our trip. After a brief stopover in Vancouver we arrived in Edmonton that afternoon worse, much worse for wear. Oh my god, I honestly think that's one most tired moments I've ever experienced!
I'll pick up and continue the journey in the next post, stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment