27 June – Building Team Spirit
“No one person, no one alliance, no one nation, no one of us is as smart as all of us thinking together” James Stavridis (Courtesy of Wisdom Trove)
Teamwork makes the dream work! Last night we spent a good amount of time planning the first days in the Arctic from our stopover destination – Singapore!
There is a lot to consider – because there are so many rich stories to be captured from a location as unique as this one – and it’s about ensuring we are focused enough to know the right stories to chase.
It takes careful planning, input from everyone and making sure we use everyone’s unique skillsets and passions.
Let’s introduce you to our team (pictured below):
Gavin McCormack, Richard Mills, Graeme Myburgh and Tanya Natalie.
What a spot to get our topics, curriculum and team spirit in order!
28 June. Oslo, Norway. The Adventure Begins.
Hello and welcome to everyone reading this! I’m Tanya Natalie and I’ll be documenting our adventures in the Arctic on the ‘Svalbard Odyssey’ sponsored by Aurora Expeditions! Our team consists of Gavin McCormack, teacher and content creator, Graeme Myburgh, photographer and researcher, Richard Mills, film producer and director, and myself, Tanya Natalie, writer and editor.
It took us 19&1/2 hours but we finally made it from the airport in Singapore to the streets of Oslo! Along the way we had to;
a) spend 3&1/2 hours in Singapore airport just to get on the flight
b) spend 3 hours in Doha airport on the stopover — though, we had lounge access, so, free food for the win!
c) line up for 1&1/2 hours just to get out of Oslo airport
d) go get a rapid PCR test, a requirement before boarding the Aurora Expeditions ship (we’re all negative!!)
e) spend $120aud on a taxi to our hotel!! Prices here in Norway are crazy high!!
After a quick hour-long nap, we decided we couldn’t miss an opportunity to explore Oslo a bit so we headed to a part of town called Grunerlokka. The streets were filled with cute little bars and restaurants that all have outdoor seating and the place was alive with people laughing, chatting and drinking. In Oslo the sunset is not till 10:45! And then the sun rises again at 4am! So I think people have collectively decided to make the most of the day and stay out all night. We had an Indian dinner and some drinks, walked down to the river for a bit of sightseeing, and then decided we needed an early night so went back to the hotel for a 10:30pm bed time. That long transit from Singapore really took it out of us!
Tomorrow we’ll be on a short flight to Svalbard and the real Arctic Adventure will begin!!
29 June. Oslo to Svalbard (The North Pole!)
Hello from Longyearbyen! This morning, after a hearty buffet breakfast at our hotel, we headed to Oslo airport to catch a short flight to Longyearbyen, the small town where we will be embarking on the ‘Greg Mortimer’ ship.
Coming in to land, we were met with the most gorgeous views of the land — beautiful snow-capped mountains, interspersed with bits of glaciers, low-lying clouds covering the land. It was amazing, and we were all blown away by the beauty.
When we arrived at Longyearbyen airport, we were greeted there by the Aurora Expeditions team and taken to the hotel in town. It was 8pm but of course it was still fully light and bright outside — there are no sunsets at all in Longyearbyen, not for a few months yet!
We decided to check out the little town for dinner and went to a cute local pub for a delicious feast, then headed back to the hotel pub — the northern most pub in the world — for drinks and a game of cards.
One more sleep till we embark on the ‘Greg Mortimer’ and begin our Arctic Adventure!
See you tomorrow and thanks for reading!
30 June. Svalbard. The Greg Mortimer!
Good news, everyone! We’ve arrived on board the Greg Mortimer!
Today was a lovely day of sightseeing and historical discovery in and around the town of Longyearbyen, organised for us by Aurora Expeditions. We woke early for a delicious buffet breakfast provided by the hotel as part of our Aurora Expeditions deal.
At 2pm, we were picked up by a tour bus and taken to Camp Barentz, a cabin created to honour the discoverer of Svalbard — Willem Barentz. We learned about some of the fascinating Longyearbyen history and the story of Barentz’s trek through the Arctic.
At the camp we also got to meet the huskies and learn about dog sledding across the snow-covered tundra.
After Camp Barentz, we were taken for a trip to the Svalbard Museum. It was rich with historical artefacts and we spent an hour taking it all in.
Finally, it was time. Time to head to the ship. To embark, we first had to board the mini Zodiac boat at Longyearbyen port, to take us across the water to the Greg Mortimer.
We embarked the ship in a state of wonder — it was so much bigger than we had imagined, and equally as luxurious! We were met with welcome drinks and some important briefings, including a mandatory lifeboat drill — safety first, people!
After settling into our cabins, we headed for dinner and spend the rest of the evening talking and laughing in disbelief …
One more sleep till we get to make our first trip out to sea!
1 July. Skansbukta. Departing Longyearbyen Harbour.
Each morning on the ship, we are to be woken up early for breakfast. Across the tannoy at 7am comes a call — half an hour till breakfast is ready! That message serves as our wake up call and we quickly get ready to feast — a delicious buffet awaits us.
We were still anchored in Longyearbyen Harbour and spent the morning doing some mandatory activities — a Zodiac briefing, an AECO (Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators) informational slide show and a biosecurity check.
In the afternoon we took our first trip out on the Zodiac into a Grand Canyon to make our first landing at Skansbukta. Here, we learned about the gypsum mine that operated from 1918 until the 1930s, marvelling at the remains, which included a twisting railway that led from the mine out towards the loading platform on the shore.
We watched as two lazy reindeer grazed on the grass nearby and we carefully tread around the skeletal remains of another reindeer that had met a grisly end in the jaws of a polar bear — somewhat recently, it seemed!
Later, on our way back to the ship, we cruised past the puffin cliffs to get a glimpse of the puffins swarming and nesting, and then headed back to the ship where Captain Oleg Klaptenko introduced himself and his officers, and officially welcomed us all aboard.
2 July. North Pole. Here Come the Polar Bears!
It’s so early into our Arctic Adventure and we’ve already seen our first polar bear!!!
In the morning, our original plans were to head out on the Zodiac to an area called Ytre Norskoya and do some hikes there on the land, however at the last moment those plans had to be cancelled as there had been a polar bear sighting!
If ever there is a sighting of a polar bear, it is too dangerous to do a landing because these bears can travel exceptionally fast — up to 60km/hr on land and 15km/hr in the water.
So the new plan was to cruise around in the Zodiac and watch the bear from afar.
After lunch, we were back on the Zodiac, cruising through to view some palatial glaciers where we learned about calving — the birth of an iceberg. We recorded some Upschool.co educational lessons for the children in front of the ice, and then again in front of the mountains filled with bright orange lychen, which is created through the symbiosis of algae and fungi.
Here, we also managed to spot a couple of Arctic foxes and some Arctic terns defending their nests.
Each night after dinner, we venture to the top deck for a well-deserved dip in the jacuzzi. The contrast between the icy cold air and the steaming hot water, along with the palatial glacial scenery, is just to die for!
We feel privileged to be here and hope to do justice to the educational program we’re bringing back home with us for Upschool.co.
3 July. Time for an Arctic Dip!
Today we did the unthinkable.
The ship anchored at 81°N, 25°E and at 4.15 pm a call came over the tannoy — come down to the mud room to do a ‘polar plunge’!!
We looked outside and saw large chunks of ice floating by and our immediate thought was ‘oh no!’
In a way it was good that we weren’t given any significant warning because we didn’t have time to talk ourselves out of it! All four of us, the A team, took the plunge together into the 0° waters! Even though you could see the look of regret in our faces, I have to say I’m glad we did it!
Overnight, we had headed north towards the pack ice, which is annual ice that grows every winter up to a meter thick and then melts through the summer.
Earlier in the day we were captivated by Ulyana’s lecture on the wonderful world of ice, where we started to understand the importance that ice plays in balancing the world’s ecosystems. We took her aside and recorded a lesson with her on how we can all play our part in protecting the sea ice situated in the Arctic.
After our polar plunge, we headed straight to the sauna and then the jacuzzi to thaw out a little, and in the afternoon we attended another interesting lecture on whales and the history of Svalbard, led by Ben, where we learned about how whaling was integral to those early communities.
Later on in the evening, to end the day, we met Daniel on the upper deck to record a lesson on climate and weather processes.
4 July. NE Svalbard. Blue Whale, Ahoy!
We spent almost a full day of exploring today. Overnight, we headed out towards what’s known as the ‘polar desert’ — the barren northeast part of Svalbard.
Our first outing in the morning was to the archipelago’s northernmost island — Karl XII Oya. We cruised around in a Zodiac, on the lookout for bears, but instead we spotted some cute common eider ducks and puffins.
At lunch we were interrupted by an excited voice over the tannoy! A blue whale, port side! The blue whale can grow up to 28 metres long and weigh up to 90 tonnes, and their blow can be up to 12 metres high! With only about 3–12,000 of them left on Earth, it was a sight to behold.
In the afternoon we went out for a second Zodiac cruise to the island of Foynoya. We didn’t see any bears, but we did spot some walrus who popped up to watch us cruise by, curious about the drifting humans in their territory!
Later in the afternoon, back on board the Greg Mortimer, Ben entertained us all with the interesting tale of Andrée, Strindberg and Fraenkel’s attempt to cross the North Pole in a hot air balloon. Spoiler alert, they all perished! And were most likely mauled by polar bears!
5 July. Kvitoya to Kraemerpynten. Bears, Bears and More Bears.
Total polar bear count: 6!
Today we saw five more polar bears!! I’ve decided we need to do an official total polar bear count for this trip, because we seem to just keep on running into them!
In the morning, the ship anchored at a spot near the island Kvitoya, also known as ‘White Island’. We were planning on landing and hiking at Andreeneset, which is where Andrée, Strindberg and Fraenkel spent their final few days.
However, once more we were thwarted by bears! We spotted one sleeping on a massive ice cap, occasionally rolling around playfully, and another one lumbering along the shore, heading straight for the monument commemorating the ill-fated Andrée expedition that we had planned to visit!
As the bear sauntered past, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to record a lesson in front of him. When we first envisaged the Arctic lessons we’d be creating for Upschool.co, the dream was to capture them with a bear in the background, and there we were, prime position to bring the dream to reality!
Later on, the ship repositioned to the most Eastern point of Svalbard — Kraemerpynten. Once again, our plans to hike on the land were thwarted by bears! This time, there were three! We saw one adult bear walking towards the beach, and a mother with her cub snuggled together nearby!
They don’t call it White Island for nothing!
6 July. Brasvellbreen. Birds, Walruses and Bears… Oh, My!
Total polar bear count: 7!
What a day we had today! We have been so fortunate to be waking up to beautiful sunny days in the Arctic, perfect for exploring outside! Each day we’ve had calm seas and clear skies, perfect conditions to brave the wild Arctic outdoors.
Our morning Zodiac cruise took us to Brasvellbreen and some absolutely amazing sights. Before us was the third largest ice cap in Europe, named Austfonna. We slowly cruised along, marvelling at its beauty. Turning a corner, we spotted some spectacular waterfalls cascading off the top of the ice cap, pouring thousands of litres of water into the sea below. We even saw a waterfall coming out of the middle of a glacier, something known as an internal glacial waterfall.
In the afternoon, we were planning on landing at Torellneset but once again we spotted a bear! We cruised along in our Zodiac, watching him from a safe distance, and soon he had lumbered off into the distance.
Closer to us, we saw many walrus hauled out on the shore and many more were in the water bobbing around and watching us with curiosity. The walrus are amazing creatures, surviving in temperatures up to -40°C with their bodies covered in blubber and their tusks that keep growing forever. These social animals are a sight to behold but beware, the smell of their belches after eating too many clams, can really pack a punch.
At night, it was a special celebration on board the Greg Mortimer. Perfect weather conditions for being outside meant that we were having a bbq for dinner out on the top deck! We were greeted with a traditional Norwegian sweet, warm, mulled drink called ‘Glogg’ and the spent the rest of the night enjoying a wonderful buffet bbq.
7 July. Barentz Island, Dolerittneset and Elephant Island. Reindeer at the North Pole!
Total polar bear count: 9!
It was a beautiful day for a walk on land … and the polar bears agreed! Two more were spotted at Sundneset on Barentz Island so unfortunately we had no choice but to skip the morning hike.
Instead, we cruised ahead to the next planned landing at Dolerittneset. Here, we saw hundreds of walrus in the water and hauled out on the sandy beach.
On shore, Ben regaled us with tales of the Pomor people who had previously occupied the area, as we could see from the huts along the beach. The Pomor people are descended from Russian settlers and the name means ‘a person who lives near the sea’. Their traditional livelihood depended on animal hunting, whaling and fishing, and they also practised reindeer herding.
Speaking of reindeer, as we headed on a long hike up a huge, steep hill, we spotted some Svalbard reindeer grazing on the tundra. We made our way to the top of the hill, 720 metres, and paused to take in the sights.
On our way back down, I managed to step knee-deep into a mud-filled sinkhole and get completely stuck! As five people tried to pull me out, they each got stuck in turn! Eventually we made it back to the ship to find out that another group had been stuck in the mud as well, and though they made it back in one piece, one of their boots didn’t!
In the afternoon we found an amazing landing spot – Howard, our expedition leader on Greg Mortimer, managed to find a small bay at the edge of a glacier and we were able to walk on the glacier itself! We were in a spectacular area where three different types of glacier intersected; a debris-covered glacier, which is what we were walking on, a surging glacier and an active-front glacier.
After a long day of hiking and walking, we gathered together at Elephant Island Bar on the ship to share stories and pictures from the day.
8 July. Samarinbreen Glacier, Gnålodden, Gnålberget. Gulls, Wildflowers and Good Times.
Total polar bear count: 9!
Another glorious day greeted us early in the morning – bright blue skies, the sun shining down on us, and calm waters — perfect for a Zodiac cruise!
No matter which way we turned, there was a spectacular sight to behold. In front of the ship was the giant-sized Samarinbreen Glacier, with a length of 23 kilometres, in the Hornsund fjord. Near the shore, we spotted a ringed seal in the water, and there were also some tracks through the snow along the snow bank. As the ice crashed down from the glacier into the sea, we saw kittiwakes diving and feeding on the nutrients churned up from deep below. Above us, soaring high into the sky, was the tallest peak on Spitzbergen — the Hornsuntind, standing at 1480 metres.
We were fortunate to experience another landing in the afternoon — there were no polar bears in sight so we made the most of it! Howard took us to a place called Gnålodden, with a rocky shoreline leading towards a beautifully green and mossy tundra.
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