I have had a really bad day to day we are back in Whitehorse, Yukon. the truck has been making a very strange noise no one seemed to be able to fix it, then after spending a little time and laugh with a lady in a shop she sent me to a large truck stop, they knew what it was but could not fix it - too busy, so they sent me to another work shop, Hey presto he could fix it, it was a stone stuck in the wheel/brake workings. I really thought it was something very bad and that I would be here weeks, but now all is well :-)
so love and hugs to you all,
INUVIK in the NORTH WEST TERRIOTRY
We arrived in Inuvik Sunday 15th June 2008, having had a safe and successful journey up the infamous Dempster Highway, well that is the truck has had no major problems it is incredibly dirty, so the first job was a car wash, the wash machine only uses water, no detergent so the truck now has a biscuit colour tinge! We parked on the campsite “Happy Valley” which is in the centre of town most shops etc. are within walking distant, lots of fellow travellers on the camp. Margaret has taken up residence in a very nice hotel, things are a little stressed!
Inuvik is a very new town 50 years old this year, it was built to replace the hamlet of Aklavik which was in the Mackenzie Delta and subject to flooding and offered limited space for expansion, this of course makes Inuvik a very modern town with brightly painted houses which they call “Smartie Boxes” all the buildings are on pilings which go down into the permafrost and have a crawl through to prevent the warmth from the buildings melting the permafrost, then falling over! There is also a snake like tube running all over the town behind and between the buildings this is an “Utilidor System” which carries all the utilities including hot water for the whole town , apparently the hot water is included to stop the rest from freezing in winters of under -40c
I saw this in Mongolia where temperatures reach the same horrific sub zero’s, there the whole town received free central heating from this system.
For 56 days each year Inuvik has 24 hour sunshine, with the sun shining at midnight just as if it were noon, the sun is just on the other side of the sky ! The first snow falls in September. In early December the sun sets and does not rise until January, I will tell you now that these long sunshine days are bizarre, I have so much energy, I am wide awake from 6am everyday until midnight even when I feel tired it does not last long, Am I hyperactive? 24 hours of night must be awful. The population here is equally divided between Inuit, Dene and non-aboriginal; the Aboriginal people are what we would call Eskimo (which means eaters of raw meat) I asked if it was ok to use the word Eskimo because it is a name we know, I was told that for us to use this was ok, but amongst the tribes it is not.
There is an amazing church built like an Igloo which used very unique methods of construction in its building, I cannot describe these but they were fascinating to see.
The town also has a Community Greenhouse, this is the most northern greenhouse in North America and the only Community Greenhouse in the world, the purpose of the greenhouse is to ensure a more successful harvest and allow production of a greater variety of crops in an area where fresh economical produce is unavailable. 4,000sq.ft. is for commercial use the remaining area is for the community to use as garden plots like an allotment undercover.
I spent a very strange week trying to helping Les and Margaret, I ate at the hotel each evening with Margaret which was jolly nice,
I also spent time in the little town and their shops chatting to folk and trying to get a feel for this most northern town with 24-hour sunshine!
On Tuesday Les and I went to Tuktoyaktuk, don’t even try and say it the locals call it “Tuk” this is the land of “pingos” these huge ice covered hills, provide a startling backdrop to the community. They are formed by a combination of frost and abundant water, which freezes and expands pushing the excess frozen water upward. We were told it is like water freezing in a bottle when the ice expands rising up and popping the cork.
Tuk was the original home of the whale hunting Inuit, It now is home to oil and gas explorations also home to an early warning system for the US back to the cold war days. (Looks just like the early warning system at Goathland)
The Aboriginal peoples here have had a land agreement with the Canadian government which includes all their old hunting ground in the sea and on land, the guide we had was a hunter and gatherer, gathering berries, roots and plants for the traditional diet these folk eat, they live a subsistence life style; hunting and fishing like their forefathers, each hunter shares his catch with the elders and single families. He told us that they will take a meal to the elders and eat with them spending time and listening to their stories, this is how the traditions are handed down from generation to generation, they will also go and catch fish in an elders favourite lake or river then taking the meal to the elder get more stories, with memories. Care in the community surely works here!
Our guide had just returned from a hunt which takes him away from home for weeks and even months at a time. When we were there the harbour was still frozen shut but once the ice thaws enough the Beluga Whales come in to calf and some get killed, the whole community share the proceeds of the kill, every single part of the whale is used.
Our tour took us to see Lady of Lourdes a Catholic mission ship that transported supplies from 1931 – 1957 also children too residential schools so that they would forget there birthright and learn to be white! This was also the habit of the Anglican Church.
We saw houses made from drift wood and sods these are traditional Inuvialuit dwellings
The very best of the day was the community Ice House, from the outside this looked like an old outside toilet (at the bottom of the garden) once inside there was a trapdoor when opened revelled a 30ft hole into the permafrost, we climbed down the ladder the rungs of which half way down were frozen, that was a bit scary I had no gloves the cold hurt my hands, once down at the bottom there were 3 passages leading from this central point in each passage were several rooms all cut out of the permafrost. Down here the hunters would keep their meat, like a whole whale!! But our guide who does still use this ice house said most folk like their freezer in their back kitchen, he says they find this easier then getting out the snowmobile driving to the ice house climbing down the ladder, walking in the freezing passage to their “room” collecting what ever meat they wanted then hoisting it up the 30foot ladder before taking the meat home, cant say I blame them that seems harder then having the freezer in the cellarJJ The rooms and passages have amazing crystals on their roofs, the whole place has to be cleaned and fresh snow fetched in once a year, I expect this is done in something like -40c. I will never mind cleaning my freezer again.
We then went to someone’s home for lunch there was caribou soup which was to die for with a homemade doughnut. Then caribou meat, potato and rice with trout this was lovely, the bones from the meat were fed to the dog that lived outside all the time, even in winter. There was tea to drink which was good. We also had a taste of whale, it was ok!
A great and very informative day we were able to learn a lot about the people, their way of life and how hard they are trying to preserve their old customs.
Margaret left on Thursday I had a nice lunch with her then drove both Les and Margaret to the airport, I really did not believe she would go, but she did. We are now just 2!!!
There are 2 big UniMogs on our campsite; one of them has been on the road for 9 years! There is also an 814D this is the same as mine, it was very interesting to see the different layout, they liked the cosiness of mine I liked their big bathroom!! It’s really good speaking to other crazy folk like us! Sharing their notes finding out good free camping, also good places to go.
Saturday 21st June Mid summer’s day
Festival Day.
We have a program of events, so Les and I take ourselves to the start of the parade, thinking there will be a lot going on, fancy dress to see, finishing touches to floats to watch with everyone having fun.
Nothing was happening, BUT 2 Canadian Mounties in full dress uniform but no horses were waiting outside the hall, and this however made my day all the Mounties we have seen so far just look like policeman, very boring, lots of photos were taken and a long chat about being a Mountie and explanations of their badges and stripes.
The starting time for the parade came and went, we had a chat with a lady I had spoken to in one of the shops she was with her husband a Scot who is now mayor of Inuvik he was driving a very large White ATV which was the main prize in the draw, he also led the parade, the Mounties walked followed by the Police Chief and the Fire trucks all had their lights flashing and sirens at full volume, one float bringing up the rear that just had a tent pitched on the back of a lorry with a bunch of children throwing sweets. Les and I followed this parade to the field outside the school were a stage and seating had been erected.
Once at the field the Master of Ceremonies took to the stage and discussed the day’s program, he then discussed it again, and again everything was going to happen in a short while, he just kept talking and making jokes, we were sat in the sun it was a lovely day, then a 3 piece band played some very good music and some couples got up to dance around noon our very over worked M.C announced the food was ready (which was free) Beef burgers, Hot dogs both with all the trimmings and grilled fish huge lump! A fish I had never had but it was gorgeous (I had 2 pieces) and the MC just kept talking none of the events had taken place, the band kept playing and folk kept dancing, it was all very relaxed, sunny and pleasant. Then came the only event that did take place awarding the children their school prizes this was just a shambles, no one had got the children in any kind of order or I don’t think anyone even told them what to do, some came forward to collect their prize some did not, some ran on and ran off twice as fast, some came so slowly the next child would push them out of the way, I sat and watched clapped and enjoyed, the children were all lovely. We are by this time well into the afternoon when our MC says please eat up the remaining food Burgers, Fish and Hot dogs because the people have worked so hard and are now packing away, because the feast is about to start!!! At the end of the stage there was a line of tables groaning with food all prepared by local folk, all arrived in pick ups and cars.
Our MC announced the start of the feast, reminding everyone to look after the elders and any one who needed help; this was all done by young people who did not have to queue or get in line J they just went to the front loaded plates and took the plates to all the oldies there, food was also taken to girls with babies in buggies as some were their own, this was very nice to see, there were some old folks sat near me, they were well looked after. The food was very traditional, meat, fish, salads and some rice and pasta salad, bread and cake. Les had some Muskrat (this is a water/riverbank rodent, which in the winter lives under the snow making little runs and stacking up twigs to make air holes!) which is smoked with very little meat, not that I could see any way, Les was going to have a go (I passed) when he came to eat the thing he broke it in 2 it was full of maggots YUCK which of course were nicely smokedJ this caused much interest amongst our German friends all of whom came to inspect, Les did not eat it!!!!
Our MC then told us that the program would continue at 9.30pm, we had been waiting since noon for the program to start J I had my truck parked across the road, there were no toilets at this event J So decided to take it back to the campsite and was not really up for coming back, but then when Les said he was going back I though “don’t want to miss anything” so I joined him, so pleased here was a long program of local drum dancing in their National costume, this was brilliant, a lot of hard work had gone into this the costumes were all home made the boots and slippers were amazing, lots of the children who were not part of the troupe just got on the stage and joined in it was really great, I so enjoyed this and was very pleased I had not chickened out.
I think the star of the day was the MC he worked so hard with good humour all day.
For me this was a great end to a very interesting day mostly spent just people watching, but what interesting people with customs and habits so different from my own. This day is what the travel I so love to do is all about, being apart of this amazing world not the tourist part (although that is fun as well) just real folk doing what they do………..…..
Tomorrow we head back down the Dempster…………………………………….
If anything the drive back down the Dempster Highway was more beautiful then the drive up! There was not as much dust, but still plenty!
We spent the night at Eagle Park and had “Liver and Bacon” for our tea, yummy! We met up with the Unimogs spending quite a time watching Dall sheep, coming down the mountain side across the road to the small river/creek most were mums with babies wonderful. We also saw a Golden Eagle
I also meet up with a couple I had met in Argentina, it was lunch time I had to go and tell them they had a punctureL it was great to have a chat about were we had been since last meeting, they asked about Olwyn’s leg
It was a wonderful drive back; the most amazing thing is that we are in true wilderness, just to see the trees, animals, rivers and mountains that have been untouched since time began just brings a lump to ones throat, nature has even hidden the oil pipe that runs through this area it can be seen as a lighter and straight line meandering across the landscape, lets hope it never changes.
Tuesday 24th June
We spent 2 days on a campsite cleaning the trucks doing laundry and email
Thursday 26th June
We leave Dawson City to drive the “Top of the World Highway” and into Alaska, I have had several different stories about this road most of which are not good, dust, pot holes, with the road hanging off the mountain there was nothing good about this road, the alternative was a huge detour back the way we had come so with a deep breath off we go!
There certainly was dust (we had just cleaned the Dempster off the trucks) lots of snow on the mountains, I kept expecting around ever corner and over ever hill this terrible road to appear, it did not, I have certainly driven on much worse pot holes and driven roads hanging off much higher mountains, I remember driven across the Himalayas in my right hand vehicle and being unable to see the bottom of the drop off, on my left hand side was a Tibetan lorry, parked and waiting for all of us to pass I snuggled up close and friendly getting a tear/rip in the side of my van, this had a temporary repair with “gaffer” tape writing “wounded by a Tibetan lorry” J this repair lasted until I got home. The top of the “World Highway” was dusty and beautiful with the smallest USA boarder crossing where the custom officers get a very good bonus, so they told me!
My girls will be very pleased to know I did not leave my knickers in “Chicken” neither did I get laid in “Chicken” I did not therefore buy a T shirt stating either of these factsJJ
We found a lovely lake for a night camp, but were very worried about mosquitoes. I put all my mosquito killer devices in to action including a “Citronella” candle which horror of horrors burnt 3 holes in the mosquito blind above the kitchen sinkLL I have this window open more then any other, I have to repair the blind a.s.a.p I tried with “Gaffer” tape but this did not work when the blind closed the tape came unstuck, some deep thinking is needed!! I have a very large mosquito net I cut one corner from the net; in my sewing box I have a circular needle (I knew this would come in handy) so I make a very neat patch on each side of the blind ! result……………………………..
We are now in Alaska again …………………………………………
