Davis Strait and Some Islands

Davis Strait and some Islands

Definition of a zodiac cruise:  an excursion by zodiac where no landing is made.  8-10 people are aboard with an expedition staff member as ‘driver’ and guide. An opportunity to get close to shore to spot wildlife in a safe environment. Great for bird watching.

Definition of a zodiac landing:  an excursion by zodiac where a landing is made, usually ‘wet,’ where the zodiac pulls up as near as possible to the beach, we exit the boat into the water as gracefully as possible and wade to the beach.  For this exercise, we are supplied with ‘Muck’ boots…that’s actually the brand name, and they are really good! Waterproof and insulated (like strong ‘wellies’ that are quite OK for short hikes.)

Davis Strait, a stretch of water not generally known for its particularly gentle nature, is showing great respect for potentially squirmy tummies today as we spend the whole day at sea, at some time entering Canadian waters. The day is devoted to time on deck looking out for whales and seabirds, lectures and discussions on history and culture, birds and photography, a special “at sea” afternoon tea, and personal time which could always include a cuppa and a chat.

24 hour tea/coffee/hot chocolate is on tap and a quiet cuppa while looking out at the early morning sky at sea is a special way to start the day. 

The sea continues to be been kind overnight, gently rocking us to sleep. And we are still sailing when we wake, arriving at Monumental Island during breakfast.  This island is owned by the Canadian Territory of Nunavut, and a safe anchorage must be found.   As this voyage is the first expedition by “Sea Adventurer” for Quark, it is very much a voyage of discovery. Charts are incomplete for some areas we are visiting so zodiacs are sent out as scouts to take soundings and relay them to the ship so safe anchorage can be found. 

Nunavut is the newest of the Canadian provinces, separated from the larger Northwest Territory to form the third northwest province, along with the Yukon and the North West Territory.

This is our first kayak/zodiac cruise.  What a debut!  Two polar bears, a mother and her 2^nd year cub, are ambling down the cliff towards the shore.  They most obligingly ‘pose’ on a snowdrift before moving across onto a rocky area where they are easier to see.  Did someone prepare this earlier??  All zodiacs and kayaks join in the spectacle before wandering off to make more discoveries.  Little did we know that two zodiacs and the kayakers would see another polar bear around the back of the island.

Our shore adventures are all dependent on safety – the ship’s Captain must ensure that the sea conditions are suitable for an anchorage, and along with the expedition staff, must be sure that conditions are safe for a zodiac transfer.  And the expedition staff must also secure the area, particularly where polar bears are likely to be encountered, and that is everywhere…who knows?  Firearm-bearing staff go ashore and scout the area and will remain on alert, sometimes taking high points to look-out, and/or carry arms while guiding walking groups. Four ‘grades’ of walking group choices:  ‘Chargers’ who enjoy the challenge (not for photographers!), ‘Fast Medium’ for quicker walkers but with photographic opportunities, ‘Slow Medium’ for slower walkers who have a chance to take in the sights as well as take photos, and the ‘Contemplative’ group who either don’t really want to walk much, can’t tackle the high ground, or just want to “be.”

As we prepare to cruise by zodiac around Akpatok Island, south of Baffin island, a polar bear with cub is spotted but lost, so our cruise focuses on the bird life on the sheer limestone cliffs.  Thick Billed Murres nest here but far above the narrow beach and difficult to see.  Guillemots are plentiful and accompany us both on the water and in the air as we return to the ship via a large iceberg floating some way off.  The intense blue of the water trapped in the cracks is stunning!  After dinner another zodiac cruise finds a polar bear swimming towards one of our boats, but the crews call the boats away so as not to cause stress to the animal.  While bird watching along the northern end of the island, yet another polar bear is spotted, this time a mother with two 1^st year cubs moving along the base of a cliff on a very narrow beach.  We shadow them for a while but leave them be as the cubs are obviously tiring.

Dinner is a great time aboard.  No seating plan can mean a different set of companions at each meal and is one of the wonderful things about this journey.  The menu is always a joy as well and tonight we revisit our first wildlife sighting of the expedition – the Musk Ox.  Except tonight we are eating him, and delicious he is, too!

For more photos go to https://www.flickr.com/photos/112494332@N04/sets/72157646610262266/

 

 

Greenland

Greenland

Up anchor and away!  Our first port of call is Sisimiut, Greenland’s second largest settlement.  Our small group walking tour takes us by brightly coloured houses and the usual shops and services you would expect to find.  The friendliness of the locals gives it the feel of a small fishing village, and the 18th century colonial buildings, now housing galleries, museums and artisans workshops, maintain the history and culture of the country.  Prices are very expensive as most things come from Denmark…nothing is manufactured in Greenland.  A small Greenland flag cost 150DKK (Danish Kroner) or $US29.  (I usually pay $US2-5 for these souvenirs.)  Did I buy it?  Of course I did!!

While many folk now use snowmobiles as transport, some still retain the traditional sled for transfer of goods, and some for recreation - weekend camping and hunting trips and visits to Grandma across the frozen lake.  Dogs are kept strictly as working dogs, chained up during the summer.  They are very aggressive and are certainly not pets.   Sisimiut is also the home of Royal Greenland cannery.  Of interest are the children…as well as schools, there are 23 day-care facilities!  And a very active kayak club retains the art of kayak making – each member makes their own kayak using traditional methods, and where possible, traditional materials, although canvas has largely replaced seal skin.

As we prepare to sail from Sisimiut, we are treated to a demonstration of about 20 different techniques of eskimo rolling by a local hunter in a traditional self-made timber and canvas kayak and wearing a ‘drysuit’ of seal skin.

Our next port of call is Ilulissat.  When we go on deck at 6.30am, there is a slight wind and it is 6C. There are some icebergs around and a small whale is spotted.  We go ashore in the rain – some on a long walk, others to the Museum for a comprehensive social history of settlement before undertaking a shorter walk. Among other things, this walk visits some ‘graveyards’ of early cultures, where remains were buried above ground, layer upon layer.  The bones of the Saqqaq people are still obvious. Thick mist spoils the view of icebergs cluttering up the entrance to Disko Bay.  These are calvings from the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier some 20+ kms away, one of the fastest and most active glaciers in the world.  The ice breaks away quickly, some get grounded on a shallow bar at the entrance to the fjord, they jostle for position banging and scraping, hence the “log-jamb.”

John has opted to join the kayaking group… unfortunately both the kayaking and zodiac cruising cannot go ahead after dinner tonight because of thick fog;   the ship’s progress is also slowed because of icebergs as we sail out of Disko Bay and into Davis Strait.
More photos available on https://www.flickr.com/photos/112494332@N04/14921979382/in/set-72157646163237338

 

Welcome to Travel 2014

Welcome to Travel 2014

2014 sees us doing something a little out of the ordinary – for us.  We are taking a cruise…not your super-size-2-swimming-pools-movies-and –dancing-cruise.  Rather an expedition cruise to Polar Regions, followed by our very first visit to North America.

We begin  in Copenhagen, Denmark, spending a few days reacquainting ourselves with this beautiful city and also with Elaine’s distant cousin, Flemming and his wife Kirsten who treat us to a great day of wandering around the city and environs like locals.

The Copenhagen Airport Hilton is where we meet our 86 shipmates and Quark Expeditions staff before we fly to Kangerlussuaq in Greenland where  trucks wait on the tarmac to drive us about 23 miles along the glaciated valley to see the famous polar ice-cap. As we watch, a rumbling sound heralds yet another fracture in this fast-receding face.  A remnant of the ice-age, it is still about 3 km thick at the centre, but the experts believe that if it was to melt, it could raise the level of the world’s oceans by about 2 metres.  Our first wildlife sighting is a musk ox…remember for later!!

Our ship, “Sea Adventurer,” waits off shore and a zodiac transfer is required – the first of many. We receive a hearty welcome from the ship’s crew and ‘hotel’ staff, and most of us find that our cabins are a little more sumptuous than expected.  No sitting-down-while-having-a-shower-and-cleaning-your-teeth bathroom here!   And a king-size bed!

The Quark Expeditions team is very capably led by Canadian Alex McNeil…it includes an expedition co-ordinator, a naturalist, an ornithologist, a geologist/glaciologist, an historian, a botanist, a marine biologist, a kayak leader, a logistics manager, a photography advisor, as well as several other guide/zodiac drivers.…Canadian, Australian, Scottish, French, English, American and Inuit.

Passenger nationalities are just as diverse…Australia, USA, Canada, Scotland, France, Israel, Netherlands, and a large group from China.

 

Krakow

After a routine start to the day retracing our steps away from the National Park, direction south, we make an exciting discovery...a green, grassy, beautifully landscaped area with rotunda, pond with water feature, and a table and chairs in the shade for our 'elevenses' stop!  Now this may not seem all that interesting to the man on the street, but as travellers who rely on breaks for the driver, we find it quite frustrating not to have regular pull-outs for  stretches, lunch, etc.

Roadworks again slow us down...we'd love to be in Poland in 5 or so years when all these roads are finished - it will be sensational!  It's orchards and market gardens with some grain crops as we drive across river flats towards Krakow.  An intermediate overnight at Sandomierz takes us to this beautiful old city on the top of a hill, of course!  It's history is fascinating and we climb up a hundred or so steps from the camping to explore the town square, basilica (closed)and ngs dating back to the 14th century.  Incidentally, we are welcomed to the camping by the owner's son on vacation from his post-grad studies in Antwerp, Belgium.  He lives in the Jewish sector of the city where the language is
French, he studies in English, and the language of the University is Dutch...  We have dinner at a Polish pizza restaurant in the town square listening to live music, and the pizza comes with ketchup!

Next day is cooler, which is more than ok with us...24C as we leave Sandomierz...and the wind has died down without bringing the threatened rain overnight.  We move from the river flats and market gardens into the hills about 60km from Krakow with grain and tobacco crops.  The traffic gets heavier and we think we are there when the signs to Krakow disappear to be replaced by destinations Warsaw and Katowice.  We haven't seen any camping signs so we stop at a huge shopping centre to see if we can buy a map of the city.

We do so much better than that!  At a book shop, called Empik, a chain like Dymocks, we find the most helpful staff.  They not only sell us a perfect map, but also print the directions to our camping from a local website...it happens to be just down the road!  We arrive in time to get access to one of the last electricity connections available.  It's a big park and almost full...some folk who arrive after us are located in the carpark for the night, caravans, campervans and tents!

We have directions to get ourselves into the city by bus tomorrow.  It will be a big day!

Poland continued

It seems that Poland is under siege by roadworks…every town has major works happening and many country roads are being upgraded from very ordinary to OK, from 2-lane to 4-lane, or from major road to motorway.  In one day we are held to ransom for about 2 hrs by ‘one-way-at-a-time’ traffic lights, or men with red signs, or just plain ‘inch-along-as-best-you-can’ sections.  Toll ways exist on motorways, but the cost is minimal compared to elsewhere we have experienced in Europe.

We are in Elblag when the first opportunity arises to buy a phone SIM for Poland.  Surprised to find that my phone is SIM locked!  We need to purchase a pre-paid phone and the kindness of strangers manifests…we ask a young woman at traffic lights where we might find such a place.  She speaks very good English, having worked on around-the-world cruise ships, and interrupts her shopping to take us to a shop, negotiate our needs with the staff, and help us out with costs of calls, etc. 

The Lake District is a huge area of some 2000 lakes of all shapes and sizes, formed by glacial activity.  It seems the best way to find a camping place is to watch for signs along the road…and stay away from the larger centres.  Even when you think you are driving away from a lake, you will be driving towards another one!  This is how we find a place in the area of Mazury where the temperature is a balmy 24C and we have our quietest night so far.

Our first National Park visit in Poland is to Biebrzanski.  The end of summer is probably not the best time to be visiting a wetland area, and on a day of 36C we should not expect that the birds and invertebrates, or anything apart from humans, will be out and about.  We have a couple of nice walks across the ‘wetlands’ boardwalks, and return to our somewhat rustic campsite for a quiet sit in the shade.

Our next National Park experience is quite different – Bialowieska, where the beaver, European bison, wolf, red deer, lynx and a hybrid wild, native horse (about 50/50 with domestic horse at the moment, but the hope is to improve the wild horse percentage through a selective breeding program.)  We go beaver spotting in the evening, successful through night vision binoculars, hear large animals, probably bison, moving about in the forest, and see a large red deer stag majestically make his way across the road in our headlights.  At our camping, we meet George and his grandson Peter, visiting from near Warsaw.  George is a Loppet skier and has met many Australians at ski races in Poland.  Anyone out there know George?

Wayside stops, or roadside parking areas, or picnic places…whatever you choose to call them…are virtually non-existent in this part of Poland.  Consequently we have had our ‘elevenses’ in some interesting places…beside a churchyard, near a cemetery, under a bridge, down a farm road where we meet a group of motorcyclists with pillion passengers and one sidecar…containing a very large dog!  Basically anywhere we can fit a medium size camper and two chairs.

After talking to many people on the road, including George and Peter, we decide to bypass Warsaw and make the best of our time in Krakow and Auschwitz before heading for Slovakia.     

On driving in Poland

The roads range from excellent – new, wide, well surfaced and with a broad, sealed verge – to very narrow and very rough with broken, potholed edges, no verge and often avenues of trees as close as 30cm  from the tarmac. It’s hard work at times, needing plenty of concentration in a large-ish vehicle such as ours, especially when passing very big trucks.

The cars are of similar vintage to those on Australian roads and the drivers are generally very courteous and considerate although you do have to be constantly aware of the  fairly frequent ‘adventurous’ overtaking manoeuvres – both oncoming and overtaking – which often require some cooperation from other drivers to complete in safety. On the subject of courtesy – according to our National Park guide - people probably see the German registration plate and large German writing on front and back, think ‘tourist’ and give us a wider berth.

Road rules seem like common sense but speed limits continue to be something of a mystery and seem to depend a little on who you talk to. Motorways are generally 120, and two-lane roads 90, but even on quite major roads each little settlement has speed restrictions. Between the town signs the limit is either ‘drive carefully’ or 70 unless the town sign has a white background when it is 50, except when otherwise signed, which can be 70, 60, 50, 40 or 30. However, “50 really means 60, 70 really means 80,” as there is ‘usually’ a 10kph buffer granted. We think that we may have had our photo taken the other day but have no idea why. We had just passed a 70 restriction sign and were travelling at exactly that speed, so who would know? Guess that we’ll find out when we drop the vehicle back in Hamburg!  According once again to our local ‘expert’ it was probably another car, but “Don’t worry, they probably won’t chase you back to Germany, let alone Australia...”

Navigation has presented some challenges. Road signs in places have been excellent, in others non- existent, including route numbers, so a little guesswork is often required. This is compounded by the fact that our road atlas is at times rather ‘approximate’ and place names are almost invariably spelt differently to the way they appear on signs and often differently again on other maps. Then, of course, there is the problem of trying to read a number of unfamiliar place names in Polish while passing by at speed, often in heavy traffic, so a few laps of roundabouts are sometimes required.

As we go into Slovakia, Hungary, etc., things will change again, although speed limits and headlights on all the time are pretty standard.  Blood alcohol readings do change...from .08, .04, and in Hungary, 00.00.  Suffice to say that we are being particularly careful, haven't yet been 'caught out' driving on the incorrect side of the road, and going around roundabouts to the right now seems normal. 

And away we go!!

 

 

Welcome to Travel 2013

We’re on the road again, this time starting our adventure in Hamburg in northern Germany.  We spend 3 days staying at Hotel Friesenhof (highly recommended!!) in the suburb of Norderstedt, north of the airport and just up the road from the hire company where we have booked a campervan for our overland journey across Eastern Europe. Access to our room, in a second building, is reminiscent of Maxwell Smart going to work…leave the lobby, down 1 level in the elevator, along an underground passage, up 2 levels by elevator, and there we are!  A train station is 15 mins walk from the hotel and usually there is a train…there is work on the line and so we catch a bus for 2 stations and then go to the city These 3 days included Elaine’s 70^th birthday celebration, featuring a hamburger with candles; a tour of the city on the 'traditional' double-decker bus which took us from Alstersee, a large lake which hosts rowing, sailing, canoeing, fishing and swimming, as well as ferry trips, to the amazing harbour.  Hamburg is the 2^nd largest container port in Europe, moving 10’s of thousands a day…containers waiting to be loaded or collected stretch as far as you can see.  The rest of the time we self-guide around the city landmarks.

While searching for glucosamine and turmeric product we meet a charming pharmacist, Cornelia, who, with her partner Paul, has been to Australia and in fact stayed at a camping park on the Barwon River not far from where we live in Geelong!  Not only did she source our product, but invited us to their home for a drink and a chat about travel, which turned into a light meal and a late night!  We also find that we can collect our campervan 3 hrs ahead of the advertised time.

Our first 3 days on the road go something like this…

The plan on leaving Hamburg is to have a short journey to familiarise John, the driver, and Elaine, the navigator, with the vehicle and the road signs, etc.  Our first destination is the small town of Bad Segeberg, about 60 kms away.  Our camping guide is written in German as no English version is available.  The only part we can really understand is the name of the place, so the ‘how to get there’ part is good luck!

All roads seem to take us to Lubeck, no matter how we try to go around the city.  We avoid a massive traffic jam on the motorway which stretches for kilometres and jams up the motorway access ramp, but the detour takes us into uncharted territory, being thwarted every-which-way by not being able to actually go in the direction we know is the correct one.  We manage to find our way to the Muritz National Park where there are many lakes, not many signs to the apparent myriad of camping grounds, and being school holidays, heaps of people milling along country roads.  Our navigation finds a rather rustic lakeside camp on Wiessen See where the manager makes John put a bottle of Pilsener beer back in the frig because "IT'S MINE!!!!...for stress!" 

Moving into Poland provides more interest…today we go to Germany and Poland twice!  Leaving our lakeside camp, the drive east towards Poland is lovely...obviously one of the amazing food bowls of  Germany with grain crops being harvested and huge tractors towing several even bigger trailers full to the brim with grain on all the roads heading towards the local silos.  Veggies, berries, mostly strawberries, broadacre corn and sunflower crops, with occasional dairy herds.  All goes swimmingly until we cross the border into Poland when the world as we know it changes…the Polish language is quite different to the Germanic and I'm not quick enough to read a signpost and a map at the same time, in Polish, and come up with the correct direction!   Suffice to say, after arriving in Poland, doing one 'around the block' of about 45 kms, including a return to Germany and re-entry to Poland by the same route (!), we find that there IS a road to the north-east, Dorothy, and we are on it!!  To the Baltic Sea and a great camping place at Dziwnowek with a white, sandy beach to walk along.  Currently it's about 23C after 3 days of mid 30s, and we are feeling much more comfortable.   

Already we have found how friendly and helpful the local people are, whether they speak English or not, and how a simple ‘dzieauje’ (jyen-koo-ye) (thank you) is greatly appreciated..