The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other things.

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

The first activity for our group was visiting a local family.Obviously one of the families in Arviat as they were invited to meet the Queen on her visit to Canada.A small but obviously well lived in home-

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More of the hamlet-

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[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

The town's insignias-

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Our next activity was another couple demonstrating the typical dress and tent with all the uses made of caribou-

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Then Rapa and Richard modelled Inuit snow goggles-very becoming-

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[jukebox333]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

As always, loving the photos, drron.

 

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

We were then taken to the information centre,a gift shop and community centre.At the Community Centre there was a brochure with an ad for a local airline announcing their new HS748 service!So more of Arviat-

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So pictures in the community centre and the last of Arviat-

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[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

When I got back to the landing site it was obvious that the wind and swell had increased considerably.We were told initially it would be a 40 minute wait for the zodiacs.About 20 minutes later told that the second group's tour had been abandoned and we now had to wait as the Explorer repositioned to enable it to drift when we returned.I wasn't reassured when our young guide told me it was 8 years ago to the day that her grandfather had drowned a mile out and the weather was the same as now.
So now a 4.5 mile ride back.As the wind and swell were coming from behind the ride was pretty good.However when we got close we had to stop and wait our turn.Then the waves were breaking over the zodiac.

We finally got tied up at the side gate.The first 2 got off and I was next.I had stepped onto the side of the zodiac,was hanging on to the crew at the gate when I heard a shout-Stop.So for at least 30 seconds I was hanging on whilst the zodiac rose and fell about 6 foot at a time.Every time it started to come up I got a load of water in to my groin.I was getting pretty wet.I was glad when told to jump.

So a good long soak in a warm tub before lunch and a post prandial snooze.The second singing demonstration was cancelled and we steamed off towards Churchill.Once again the team dined together and another great night.

Then the Northern lights decided to put on a final performance even though the sunset colours were still present.Fantastic.So finish the day with some pictures-

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[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

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So only Churchill to go. Sa
turday and we woke up in Churchill.Fortunately we were on the right side for the whales-actually Port side ie the side away from the wharf-see these nautical terms can end up being down right confusing.
So here is what we saw from our verandah-

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And then it was into the zodiacs.We went with the son of the owner of the agency SS was using here.A beautiful day and we were in for a bonus-

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[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

There were 4 different bears close to the shoreline.As you can see some of the zodiacs got close to the shore.These were the Explorer's zodiacs.We had a Russian couple in our zodiac.The fellow kept telling our guide to go in closer.He explained that the others were closer to the bears than allowed and also were in danger of collecting a rock.Our fellow kept insisting and when he couldn't get his way started telling the other passengers to move or sit down.All but 1 in our zodiac were a little annoyed.
But some more bears-

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This last fellow was looking towards the old English fort probably hoping a tourist would wander a little far from the group.

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We then went up river.Just an amazing experience.Beluga whales everywhere.Many would come towards the zodiacs looking us over.

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The young whales are grey-

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[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

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These gulls were about to get a surprise-

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This fellow came when our guide put a microphone in the water and played the sounds to us.It came past a couple of times and I thought it was looking straight at me.

It was now time to head back to the Explorer.As one several of us sat on the side the Russian fellow had originally been on.He protested that now he would have to stand up on the way back.No one understood a word he said.

 

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

On Saturday afternoon we took a bus tour of Churchill's"sights".First stop was Snares "beach"-

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Called Snares beach because of these-

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These were to catch polar bears.They are now allowed to stroll the beach-we did have 2 bear guards.

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Evidence of a recent polar bear rest site.They now prefer to rest under rocks so the wont be seen by the helicopters.
We saw lots of geese-

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And a ship wreck.Said to have lost steering in a storm.The locals have a different explanation related to the fact the mine it served closed 3 weeks after the beaching and it's high insurance value-

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We saw the old rocket range-

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[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

And the Polar bear correctional facility-

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There we saw the modern method of trapping a polar bear.All that was missing was the dead seal to attract the bear-

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The airport was next to here and I was lucky enough to get a shot of the next flight awaiting permission from the tower to take off-

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We were then shown the old gun battery at the mouth of the river-

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This overlooked the fort on the opposite bank-

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Then it was back to the ship for our final dinner ,amarula and then the sad packing of luggage.
Sunday and the time had come the walrus said to leave the ship at 0930.We were bussed to town for a 90 minute walk around.A few gift stores open.Rojaan got a few knickknacks.
One store had an unigue Inuit Ivory piece-

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And next to it another unique piece-

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But the stars of the morning were the sled dog puppies-

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They followed me up a side street but I had to explain Australian Customs wouldn't let me keep them so they returned to mother.

 

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

There was an interesting T-shirt-

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And we had our last polar bear encounters-

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We then had a light early lunch at the seaport hotel.However a thick fog rolled in so our departure for the airport was delayed.So we had time to smell the flowers-

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Fortunately the fog lifted and when we arrived at the airport our Enerjet 737 had just arrived-

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There were some airlines I had never heard of serving Churchill-

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Seating allocation was by deck so Deck 7 passengers were in the front seats so as deck 5 we were in row 4.I had the lucky middle seat.Well I actually scored 4A but someone decided that was their seat.
In front of us were our friends the Russians who as soon as the plane started rolling down the runway reclined their seats.Fortunately the recline is no more than a couple of inches so no real problem.

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[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

EG302. YYQ-YWG. ETD-1330. Push back-1359. Take off-1402.
ETA-1539. Landed-1532. At terminal-1546.

The country around Churchill at take off-

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As we approached Winnipeg agriculture was obvious-

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We soon saw the Airport and Winnipeg-

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We landed and went to the General aviation Terminal.This upset a few who had tight connections.It took nearly an hour to unload the luggage and get it onto the busses.It was then a reasonable distance to get to the main terminal.No problem for us as we were booked into the Four Points at the airport.Review here-
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....points-winnipeg-airport-53921.html#post900636

We were quite tired so ate at the hotel.It was surprising gly good.I had a local beer,the fish soup which was very good and then the arctic char.Mrsdrron had a half bottle of white,the scallops and the ribs-

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Then a good sleep,noise not a problem.Free internet for everyone and a public computer in the lobby.