Svalbard summarised

G'day all,
Back to Monday the 20th of August, location: Tromsø airport. Dropped off by Eric and soon on board an SAS flight to Longyearbyen, Svalbard. A 1.5 hour flight to 78 degrees north accompanied by a substantial drop in temperature as we hit the tarmac. The views flying in were amazing, 60% of the archipelago is glacier. From the airport I hitched a ride 4km into the town centre, home for around 2000 inhabitants - Norwegians, Thais, Swedes and nationalities that account for 26 different languages existing in Longyearbyen!

After speaking with a few helpful locals I soon found myself holding the key to a 2 room apartment. Accommodation in Longyearbyen is pricey and hard to come by so to have this place...gratis...for the next 10 days was a great start. I met with Oskar from Sweden and Cris from Norway - fantastic guys full of local knowledge and advice. With the midnight sun in the sky for another 3 days, Cris and I headed out hunting into the surrounding valleys. No geese out at 2am however...

Guus arrived from Tromsø on Thursday, stocked up with some fresh supplies that were triple the mainland price in Longyearbyen! The next couple of days saw us riding (good to have borrowed bikes!) around town organising ourselves for an independent hike. Carrying a firearm outside the settlements of Svalbard is highly recommended due the the possibility of encountering polar bears, so we were soon in possession of a Mauser (from WWII!) and 20 rounds of ammo...hopefully more than enough. In addition we acquired a flare-trip wire system for around the tent, crampons and a few other bits and pieces. Another hunt with Cris, this time into the freezing swamp they call Adventdalen. Our toes were still thawing out for a midnight ride out to Bjørndalen (bear valley!). Nice valley, no bears. Next day and an evening hike up 1050m Nordenskiold was supposed to afford fabulous views over Longyearbyen. Snow and fog decided to change that idea...Great hike anyhow. A late night venture to the shooting range with Oskar allowed us to get to grips with the Mauser...bang bang.

The sun shone the next day as we sailed to the Russian mining settlement of Barentsburg. Arriving to an industrial town that appeared to be a piece of Russia on Norwegian territory, we were entertained by the locals celebrating their "miner's day". Vodka + Russian and Ukrainian miners...whoa! We had a short tour with a guide around the interesting town centre - my favourite site being the sports hall, adorned with a huge steel replica of the olympic rings. Not placed here because Barentsburg had hosted the games, but in the words of the guide "....because it looks nice". Brilliant. The IOC would love that.

The boat left to return to Longyearbyen as Guus and I continued to explore the town before heading into the hills late evening. The next 3 days on foot took us over hills, through rivers (brrr!) and across glaciers back to Longyearbyen. We encountered plenty of reindeer but no humans or polar bears in these truly stunning surroundings. 1.30am and we found ourselves on a ridge with the sun setting over the hills to the west and the full moon rising above the enormous Reindalen (reindeer valley) to the east. An unforgettable experience.

Returning to Longyearbyen early morning we managed a few hours sleep before taking a boat north to Pyramiden. A guide took us around this fascinating abandoned mining town, the last coal being taken from the mines in 1998. A once large and very independent community is now occupied by a mere 5 Russian men. On the boat we ventured to some enormous glacier fronts and were told of Svalbard's numerous "surge" glaciers, one particular glacier retreated 35 meters per day! Back to pack and the following day we left for Tromsø.

Jon has continued to be a great host here in Tromsø with parties, fishing and XBox battles. We'll call Tromsø home until Monday when we load up the bikes and continue on the road north. Hope all are well