Reunion

Well, it seems like years ago since we were out there, and it's so long since we've seen everyone. :( *sniff* But, good news, we are going to have a reunion! Yes suree! At Post Office Tower in London (the one with the revolving restaurant!) But it is a friday and we have exams *Boo* *hiss* so we don't know whether we will be able to go. Noooooooooooo

Days 8 and 9

Today we got to phone school. All of our mates and our parents and siblings had gathered together in our CLC to talk to us! Bless! We did miss the hike for it though, but you can't have everything. It was great to talk to everyone again!

On friday we went to a ghost town. It was totally deralict and quite weird. In the space of two weeks the whole town upped and left. They left eveything behind - instruments, games, books, crockery. There was also a bottle house which was very random, but a sign of good recycling I suppose...

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone! You will never guess what we ahve just seen!!!!!!!!!!!!
A real live polar bear!!!!!!!!!!!
Just casually strolling along the mountainside, like it was on its way to Tesco's! And we all went mental!!!!
It had something in it's mouth (a fish or maybe a bird) and it was alone. I got some pics, but they aren't very clear. Some people got amazing pics though. Look out for me (Rach) on the TV!!!!!!

Days six and seven

Today we had a huge snowball fight at a place called Texas Bar (It is quite like Ny London)! It was absolutely mint. Everyone got involved, and poor Richard got pelted. We all slid down the slope holding hands, and nearly went off the end into the soil! I think the BBC got some of it on film. This may be the most northerly snowball fight in the world!!! Woo!!!

Then, we went to a tracker's station. Here we met a tracker who had been living there for a year! Brrrr. As we were walking back to the 'beach', we were also brutally attacked by Arctic terns! They were nesting, and were a tiny bit put out by our presence! We had to hold sticks up in the air, to stop them attacking us.
Never mind firearms training... At the beach we decided to go for a wee dip... in the ARCTIC SEA!!!!!!!!!!! ARE WE MENTAL??? Yes probably. I can tell you - it was more than a bit chilly. Apparently, stay in for longer than 2 minutes and you die. Needless to say, we did not test out this theory. And we did not tell our mums that when we phoned them!!!

Day five

We're still travelling back in time! Now...

Day 5 - Sunday 8th
Today we visited two 'towns' on our travels. Ny London was basically one house. This one, like many others we will see later had been abandoned. Inside all the food and bedding was still spread out, and nails still littered the ground. It was really weird. We also saw a reindeer with it's baby! Awwwwww.
Next stop was Ny Alesund, a scientist base. Ny Alesund houses the worlds most northerly pub, shop and post office. We worked with marine biologists, geese men, and artists to get a more indepth knowledge of the land around us. Mary drew a very moving picture of a chair and a table - Becky and Amanda had some stiff competition!

Day four

Now obviously it isn't really day four, so it's time for another trip back in time.....

Day 4 - Saturday 7th

Today we visited UNIS (University of Norway in Svalbard). Adjacent to this, there is Svalbard's National museum. Here there are lots of stuffed animals, including a polar bear - our first sighting!
This was actually really interesting, if just for the comedy value of seeing people squeezing through tiny coal mines if nothing else!
Later on, we boarded the Russian ship Polaris - this was to be our home for the next week. Becky and Mary and Me and Amanda are sharing. The cabins are teeny weeny, but very nice and...cosy! We stopped off at Barantsberg. We had a guided tour around the mining town. We were particularly amazed by the fridges that hung out of everyones windows!

Hi everyone!

Hiya everyone it's mary here, we had the most amazing time ever. We all made some amazing friends and we even saw a polar bear!!!
We had several lectures from various scientists(which someone managed to fall asleep in) and landed on many different islands. As you can imagine I had some blonde moments and embarrased myself quite a bit, however I still had fun. The highlights of the trip was when we got to walk on the arctic pack ice and also how we met so many great people. The worst part was leaving everyone at heathrow airport- where we all cried (me more than others) however i'm glad to be back in my own bed and not having to wake up really early.
We'll all fill you in later once we've all slept for a few days!!!!!

We're back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone, your intreped explorers have returned! It was absolutely amazing - the trip of a lifetime! We will tell you all about it soon, once we have caught up on our sleep! Keep watching the blog, more updates to follow soon

Mr Willis Update

Due to the nature of satellite communication the girls may not have "blogged" much in the last couple of days. There will be an opportunity to speak to the team face to face by video conference on Wed 11th at 1pm. If you wish to participate and you are not a college pupil please contact myself at LCC. We hope you have managed to watch the team on BBC and if you have missed any reports we have most recorded.
Becky I hope you had your camera ready for the polar bear if not make sure you have it tomorrow I hear you may get a sighting!!!!!!!

We are actually here!!!!

Hi Guys!!!!!!!!

Today is day three, but it is the first chance we have had to write here. So... let's step back in time.....

Day 1!
This was a very early start and a really boring day!!! We didn't actually do much, but were still shattered! We just flew all day, crossing about three countries and stopping 4 times! We got tot the guesthouse at 230 tThursday morning and fell into bed. The hostel is nice and basic! However we have to take our shoes off all the time and it's really annoying but never mind we're in the arctic!!!!

Day 2
Today was our first full day in the Arctic. We visited the largest satellite station in the world (it was actually really interesting!) There was supposed to be a great view, but theere was too much fog! It was very cold today!!!!(more than we expected- glad we've got our thermals...) We ate out and had pizza (yes it does exist in the Arctic!) We had to walk to the restaurant and yes Mary had shorts on!!!!!!! Brrrrrrrr

Day 3
Today we had our safety training. In the morning we started off with firearms training. fortunately for the polar bears, we don't get to shoot at all, which we were all gutted about!!! Then we went to the water for the next part of our training. We had to wear gorgeaous, bright orange suits which were miles too big for us (and leaked!) However, we did keep quite warm when we weere lowered into the water and swam back to shore! (well mary & rach swam becky & amanda hitched a ride!!!!)

Today the BBC have joined us- the presenter who was in london is here!! (Mary's very happy about this-NOT!) It is actually quite warm today which is very weird!

Look out for us ion the papers (The Telkegraph, Indepentdent, Metro and Journal etc. ) and on look North.

Today we spokje to lots of the other teams and their all really nice!!!

We'll write back soon luv ya allXXXXXX PS please comment lots!