Aurora

We had a quieter day today.  We met at reception at 10am to go cross country skiing.  There were 5 of us in total and our guide.  Everyone had a great sense of humour so we had a lot of fun.  With our skis on, we were all a little unsure, they slipped about a lot on the hard compacted snow and it seemed like even with the poles we were possibly in for a lot of falls.  We had a sneaky advantage, not only had we been out walking on the ski trails, but the guide last night had told us how a machne comes along and cuts the grooves we had seen that people ski in.  Once we were safely across the site and on to the ski tracks, things were a lot easier.  With your skis nicely in the grooves, you only had to think about making yourself go forward.  The opposite hand to opposite foot took a bit of coordination but we soon got the hang of it.  We skied for about 45 minutes until we reached a ski shelter.  A young family already had a fire going and were warming sausageson it.  We enjoyed some hot juice and biscuits whilst we cooled down and got our breath back (it was hard going on the uphill bits) before setting off home.  Thew way back had some fun downhill bits.  I was mown down fell over when G hadn't antisipated that being heavier than me he would go faster and would catch me up.  With your skis in tracks there's nowhere to go when you're about to run in to someone.  I also slipped going over a bridge when my skis crossed on the hard ice.  By the time we reached the big downhill back to the centre, the Geordie couple had repeatedly fallen over.  A few metres from the ski store G finally fell!  I was so pleased but then he owned up that being at the back, he'd fallen over a couple of times at the start but I hadn't seen!

We had a gentle afternoon, took a walk around the site and then along one of the trails we'd only seen at night.

In the evening we headed out on a snowmobile pulled sleigh to the Aurora Camp.  There was a little hut that they lit a fire inside and a fire pit to keep people warm outside too.  The sky was heavy with clouds, it was snowing.  As you stared up at the sky your eyes played tricks on you.  Are there colours in those clouds?  Are they getting lighter and darker?  Was that a star I saw?  We'd come all this way so I wasn't going to let the clouds and snow showers get me down.  It was a perfect opportunity to practice some night time photography anyhow.  As it happened, it was also a great test of whether your eyes were playing tricks. No, they were just clouds thinning, look they're white.  Then BOOM!  There were colours, our eyes were not tricking us.  You could see greens and reds lighting the thick cloud, the colours moved and changed from shot to shot.  There was definitely auroral activity happening and it was exciting regardless of it not being the clear skied, stunning display that everyone hopes for.  During our stay, G had commeneted that at the Ice Hotel, and slightly on this trip too, we were definitely in the youngest age bracket.  Taking disposable income of younger people out of the equation, I decided that it's because they're all still waiting and searching and hoping for that truly amazing display (also you fall in love and never want to go anywhere that doesn't have snow again!)

We headed back happy, ready for an early start and packing in the morning!