What a Day - and Night!!!

Almost too much excitement for one day! It started with our excursion to the Wilderness Camp near Finnsnes, where we first of all drove a snowmobile and then had a ride in a sledge pulled by beautiful reindeer. Our original snowmobile excursion was cancelled, along with our husky sledding, as there was not enough ice on the lake where it was held. We were so disappointed, but managed to sign up for another couple of outings which included the reindeers as a bonus!

The snowmobile ride was terrifying (for me - my husband loved it!) I did have a go for about 10 minutes, but that was quite enough and I was (a bit) happier being the passenger, though that was scary enough too! I'm glad I've done it, but I wouldn't want to do it again!

The reindeer sledge was much more my cup of tea, as it was very relaxed and gentle and you were able to see where you were going and enjoy the beautiful scenery. We met a Sami herdsman and his family and had a meal of vegetable soup and a sweet pancake in a lavu, a Sami tent with a fire in the middle. A really lovely experience and that would have been enough for us for one day.

However, this was the night that the Northern Lights made their only real appearance in the sky over Tromso, northern Norway's largest town and the capital of the Arctic region.

Apologies for the rubbish photo, but as many people didn't get anything at all on their cameras, I was delighted I'd got even that. Not easy to get the settings right on a moving ship and in total darkness on deck! It really was as magical as people describe to watch the lights flow and change colour and direction and there were tears in quite a few eyes that were blamed on the cold wind! We were just so thrilled to have seen them at last:)