The Northern Lights

About 2:30am, there it is! All over the sky. White streaks and some “curtains.” It is somewhat eerie; beautiful rather than spectacular. The lights move slowly, appearing in some places and disappearing in others. There are stars visible through the lights. I almost expect to hear sounds associated with the movement of the lights, and have read that some Indian cultures believe that they can hear crackling sounds during an Aurora.

After almost an hour of sitting on the deck of the cabin, I go inside to get some sleep.

It’s 5:30am – some breakfast and we’re off to the airport for the 8:00am Air North “milk run” to Inuvik in the North West Territory (NWT).

The Hawker-Siddley 748 climbs into the clear blue sky and flies north for the 1 hour flight from Whitehorse to Dawson where we dropoff some passengers. Then up again for another hour north to Old Crow. Old Crow has no road access so the town is built around the airport. This access is so important that the people own part of the airline. And it seems that all the townspeople have come out to meet us! The pilots offload a large amount of freight here, reorganize the remaining baggage and we fly another hour northeast to Inuvik.

We have flown over spectacular mountains and now see the Mackenzie Delta spread out below us – an immense array of frozen rivers and lakes that extends as far as we can see.

Bob and I are staying at the Finto Hotel, and once our bags are stowed we go into town in search of lunch and some souvenirs. But it’s Good Friday today and all stores, other than one general store, are closed. We buy food to cook in our rooms, and find a corkscrew for the Noble One hand carried from Aus together with some Tim Tams!

After dinner I speak with John and Ant. It’s great to catch up with them both, and they try to allay my edginess. But the adrenaline is flowing, and the combination of this and daylight at 10:30pm means little sleep during my very first night in the Arctic.