Wednesday 25 July

More wandering and bushwhacking today. I am pretty sure there isn’t a track left in this town we haven’t explored.

The huge tundra buggies that the tourists go out in (mostly in October when the polar bears are out waiting to get back onto the ice) seemed to be all near one area.  We started heading out on the nearby tracks before realising that big ditches had been dug into the roads so that only the tundra buggies could pass – I guess they have to find some way to get people to still go on their tours in Summer.  We pulled up at a rocky knoll and saw people walking around – are they mad? we thought. But as we got closer we realised one was a guide carrying a gun.  We also saw a local going for a bicycle ride with her dogs with a shotgun strapped to her back. I guess the locals do take the polar bear threat seriously.

Saw lots more lovely birds. Apparently up to 200 different species of migratory birds stopover here. If you’re a bird watcher you’d love this place!

Kila

Checked the board at the Northern studies centre to see if there had been any more polar bear sightings and there was only more – yesterday- at the door of the studies centre! That would have been a thrill for the students. Also made us glad we had decided not to go hiking further into the forest wrongly assuming bears don’t go this far!

Weather has turned calm, warm and sunny today – just in time for our trip on the zodiac to see the Beluga whales.

I noted the guy taking the other tour that walks around the fort has shotgun shells strapped to his chest…

The day couldn’t have been more perfect to get out on the water. In what was an incredible magical experience we floated around with pods and pods of shiny white Beluga whales swimming around us with their grey calves. Thousands come here every summer to calve and to moult.

Then we got a radio message from another boat alerting us to a polar bear so we got to see another polar bear Mum and cub!! So lucky! And sorry for all the pics but not every day you get to see a polar bear!

White bears

Finished off the magic sunny day watching a magic sunset over the glassy water as the seals and beluga whales glided through the water. Too beautiful for words.

Just in case there was a square inch of Churchill we had missed we did some last minute exploring and found this cute little bay where a local had their little spot. Couldn’t help feeing nervous about what might be in the rocks though!

And yes- I am doing some work in between all of this ?