Rovaniemi, Lapland still...
We went to the reindeer farm yesterday by wooden long boat..called Safari 2, took us 45 minutes to get there from the jetty in Rovanieni and we crossed the Arctic Circle! That´s how far north we are!! It´s so amazing to be here doing that...very special, as mum says, to be in this part of the world where it´s true wilderness.
This is the reindeer farm house where we had coffee and biscuits!
The reindeers are amazing! The one thing that i found so interesting was the fact that their antlers fall off every year and some of them are just massive..weighing in at about 15 kilos! And when they form, they form in all different shapes, even from their right one from their left one!
Apparently the antlers, when they are growning in the summer, are warm...even hot to touch, because there is so much blood there as they are growing up to 2cm a day!
Isn´t that incredible?
I always thought they were called reindeers in fairytales..but they are actually called reindeers here! And they are owned by people. Not one of the reindeers are freely available to hunt....
Cute hey?
While we were on this farm, we also went into a teepee like tent..and got stories told to us...by this northern polar Lapland native....it was so funny! He was funny...even put false antlers on our foreheads in black and said we had to keep them there for six hours or we´d be cursed haha
We also went into a the sauna there.......it´s a smoke sauna. Fins are very proud of their saunas!!!
Anyway...that was fun.....we´re going to see Santa now..so i´ll put your orders in...Not sure how many BMW´s and Mercedes he can fit in his sack to Aus tho haha!
Found out we can´t see the midnight sun because that´s June, July and also found out we can´t see the Aurora Borealis either because it´s not the right time (we´ll have to come back for that!!!!).
We´re off up north tomorrow...tried to get a bus to the North Cape but the tourist season is over so we´re off to the top of Norway instead! Maybe now would have been good to have a car!! We met a couple here in who have been trying to convince us going by car iS MUCH BETTER...
I guess it has it´s pro´s and con´s....but for the distance we´re doing, and the time we´re doing it in...we are still thinking backpacking and using trains and busses is more effective...
That´s not to say we won´t come back..and get a car...then!
Okies..off now..
