diary2

DAY THREE (15th)

Got up early for breakfast, walked for half an hour towards town only to meet our tour guide on his way to pick us up, whitey! We got to tourist centre only to find we had been rescheduled to the next day, heavy whitey! So just went home to bed at four, got again at eight and went to the pub for a couple of pints, not the most constructive day you can realise! On our way home myself and Ali had the bright idea of doing the most northerly streak in the world! Video footage is no bad like! Went in for a shower, after a world record 100m sprint. Went for sleep number two of the evening, which was nice!

DAY FOUR (16th)

Got up earlyish but had plenty of sleep so not bad, hearty breakfast was enjoyed! Got picked up at eleven and headed out in a tracked vehicle to see some ice caves. Descended inside the ice cave, it was like vertical tunnel full of icicles, quite claustrophobic but amazing none the less. After struggling to get out the tight hole at the top we headed over to a big tent and had a warm drink and lunch, no bad! Journey back was amazing, as sky had cleared a bit. We were able to look out through the "sunroof" and take video and photos. We saw some arctic reindeer which were cool. The descent through the pass was really hair-raising as it involved steep descents, even more so when you were hanging onto the roof for dear life! Stopped by a cafe for some chit-chat, coffee and most likely beer later. Went to Karls-Berger Pub (dubious name?) and commenced the evenings drinkin at five o'clock, we were on holiday in a duty free haven after all! By seven o'clock we were all gettin tipsy, had a nice wee dram! Got chatting to some Norwegian blokes who were a good laugh! Pedro and Ali got pissed off and went on a pub crawl, but i decided to stay as we were well on our way to solving all of earths problems! Headed to Polar Hotel for one o'clock then returned to same bar until 2.30am. Got into taxi with people I was with, but the guy who had been matching me for drink was totally gone and they made me take him home cos he was having trouble walking to be honest! Eventually got him home and headed off, i went up two different valleys before i found the right one! I don't know what the hell I'd done on the way home but it took me until five o'clock!

DAY FIVE (17th)

Earylish start again but this time we didn't start the trip till around seven that night. Went into town and looked around the duty-free shops, bought a camera, a pure zoomy one! Went to cafe for lunch, the boys went to check if the trip was on. Just as well cos it had been cancelled! So we booked a table for dinner at the Polar Hotel. Had dinner with Ella and Bea, our friends from Tromsoe university, from Poland and Spain. Meal was excellent, for a starter we had reindeer meat marinaded in a orange sauce with apple and celery salad. For main course we had whale and seal meat, in gravy with potatoes and vegetables. For dessert we had mixed fruit sorbet with chocolate sauce, very nice indeed! As could be expected i didint last the meal without having a beer especially as the waiter suggested it! So the drinking commenced we all started to talk a lot more, as you do! Decided to go elsewhere, there was this amazing sunset, we went to a bar with a round glass seating area, so we drank beer in the amazing sunset, although the sun doesn't completely set here! Especially in season no.5 as they enjoy on Svalbard! Had one then left to the Kroa pub, had more beer, chivas whisky, fags and merry chit-chat! Got chucked out at 1am and headed home to bed, tomorrow we would go on the 8 hour long snow mobile safari, so rest was needed!

DAY SIX (18th)

Well today we do the most eagerly anticipated trip, hope it's not cancelled too, we've not been so lucky with our trips so far, have had a good breakfast, it's a beautiful day, just can't wait to get out there! (But I can't remember where I've to meet the boys, christ!). Well it's Sunday the 22nd now i need to remember the rest of the trip! Snow mobile trip was amazing, one of the best experiences of my life! The scenery was spectacular, we travelled by ski-doo about 60km up to a glacier in the hope that we would come across some polar beers, although we did not, this turned out to be a minor detail in the end! We saw some seals sunbathing above their snow holes on the ice, fantastic! Arrived at the glacier which was an amazing sight, it was like a big cliff stretching along the horizon as far as the eye could see! The glaciers were amazing the structure meant that the ice appeared to be an icy blue colour. Had a decent warm lunch and headed back, after a wee nap on the snow mobile of course! The return journey was just as spectacular as before, we went down this big gorge right to the end where we saw some birds nesting in a cave! Ride back was good, saw some arctic reindeer and went at 120km/h and did a lot of jumps. Although we couldn't go as fast as we wanted due to older couples it was still exhilarating! Headed back up the road via some pubs, went to "Huset", the night club we'd been at and had a nice dinner and a couple of beers. Then I fell asleep on a big comfy seat! Headed to bed, our last day had been amazing, now we had to look forward to the trip home and Tromsoe.

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