Snow owl

 

More photos

 

Worked out how to load photos. Not sure in what order they are but:Belinda,Carter(who own the Tundra Inn),Val( Mrs Greg), Greg from QR,John; Manitoba sign with inchukshuk;our new best friends leaving on the train; heading to Gypsy's for breakfast.

John joins the demo…

 

Houses at "The Flat"

Tundra Buggies

What is the collective noun for tundra buggies?- Looks like if I upload one photo at a time, and blogger likes the photo, it will work!!

Main street, Churchill

More Churchill Photos(hopefully)

Churchill Photos

It's uploading selectively:
Photos-Tundra Inn; Our motel; Arctic Trading Co

Churchill

Todays weather report maximum minus 3 degrees. There have been snow flurries (pronounced fleurrrries). Have had a good morning. Breakfast at Gypsy's Cafe - enormous breakfast for $6. More like brunch then don't need lunch. We went for a walk at The Flat - definitely the wrong side of the tracks with cobbled together houses but some of the most beautiful views in the world., The sea ice is just forming out in the bay and all around the shoreline is ice in different shapes because it cracks when other ice bumps into it (I'm sure that's the scientific explanation). We then got involved in a poster waving protest to Save the Port because the government wants to shut down the wheat export facilities here - and lots of other political reasons too numerous to mention. Lots of interesting people, mostly young. John has gone off to take photos of Hudson Bay Railway locomotives but after being out in -3 + wind chill for a few hours, i needed to thaw out. At least at the Flat there was thick crunchy snow to walk in. John went to a Halloween Party at the Tundra Inn with Greg Jones from QR last night and we are having dinner with Greg and his wife tonight. Would love to stay in Churchill for another couple of weeks. Love it. Will try to upload some more photos. Don't know why it won't let me.

John's favourite polar bear photo

Am having much trouble uploading photos - my beautiful snow owl didn't upload. Will try again tomorrow,

Tundra photos

Polar bear photos

Photos: Not 'Nanuk of the North', it's me; polar bears; tundra buggy.

Polar Bears

Yesterday was polar bear day. We went off before light at 7.00 am for our tundra-buggy tour. Vehicles with tyres five feet high and do a top speed of about 10 km/h. Have been on the tundra before but it was covered in ice and snow and indistinguishable from the Bering Sea which was also frozen. Here, it was beautiful with different coloured plants and lichen and hundreds of small frozen lakes with ice in different patterns. Lots of multi coloured rocks near the shore of Hudson Bay. We saw ptarmigan (like grouse), snow owls and assorted other birds. But the main attraction was polar bears. Took us a while to see our first bear and he was asleep. Apart from lifting his head a couple of times and rolling over once, that was it. We moved positions and then saw several others, all about 100 metres away. Then two, who were sparring on the ice, came over and walked right up to the tundra-buggy. One tried to get up into the tundra-buggy in front of us. It was a lot taller than the wheels when it stood on its hind legs. Everyone was very happy with their day and their photos. Certainly a wonderful experience. We may hire a car tomorrow and drive to near where we saw the bears yesterday. Today we're just in town – caught up with John's friend Greg, went to the Eskimo museum – John, of course, bought a shirt. He'll be opening a shirt shop anytime now. Will go to the station tonight to say goodbye to all our new friends we've met on the train and in town. Most are leaving on tonight's train but we don't go until Saturday. I love Churchill – Impossible to describe the friendly spirit of isolated places like this if you haven't experienced it. Have had lots of invitations to visit people from Minnesota, North Dakota and Boston as well as other places.

Photos

Photos: Portage la Prairie;Little house on the prairie; beaver lodge; John and Hudson Bay

Churchill

Yay!!!! The All Blacks Won. Yay!!!!
Had a good stay in Winnipeg. Quite a nice place- just the right sized city - easy to walk around. Their ice hockey team has just returned to Winnipeg after being bought by someone.There were huge crowds outside the Jets stadium and Ithought it was a game until I noticed they were mainly 11year old girls. Justin Beiber's girlfriend, someone Gomez was performing.We stayed at the Humphrey Hotel in Main St. Lovely hotel with great service. Saw on the news that it was supposed to be a 'seedy' part of town. Our train left 1 hour late. We had a twin sleeper cabin.OK but definitely not up to QR's standard. Food was wonderful though. We had REAL hash browns (not the gunk they serve in Oz). Had dinner with Wayne, a Kiwi, who hadn't heard the good news about the All Blacks. Passed through much prairie in the afternoon. Woke next morning to snow covered trees, frozen streams and it was snowing. Lots of beaver dams and lodges. Quite a few Aussies on the train, Wild life sighting count - one, a snow hare. Not very exciting. Are now in Churchill which is much like Nome in Alaska - an end of the Earth town. Maximum temperature today 1 degree. Have walked all over town and Doug who owns our motel (he's also the school bus driver) gave us a tour in the school bus. Dropped us at the edge of Hudson Bay - lots of "Beware of Polar Bear" signs. He said, it's amazing how fast you could run, even with a broken leg, if you saw a plar bear. We were walking back when someone called "John". For railway people, it was Greg Jones, from TravelTrain in Brisbane. His daughter runs a motel here. What chance meeting someone half way around the world. John will catch up with him Thursday. Tomorrow we leave early for polar bear viewing. Hope there are some there. They saw13 today. I like Churchill- on the tundra so no trees. Lovely and cold and they're predicting some snow tomorrow. For those who understand, I had Reece Cups (chocolate with peanut butter) today as well. Will post some photos and try to get John to post some railway talk for those (Ron) who think ordinary blogs are boring.

Photos : Orchids on reception desk; Rocky Mountains; John in park in Winnipeg

Winnipeg,Canada

We've arrived in Winnipeg. Had a good flight over from Brisbane. We were an hour late due to "paperwork problems". Rumour has it that a pilot forgot his passport. But, rumours are just that I suppose. QANTAS has certainly improved. The service and meals were very good. Added to the fact that although we were in 'cattle class', we each had two seats, It was quite agood flight. Checked into La Quinta at LAX where we usually stay then took the bus down to Manhattan Beach for a walk along the shore. Had dinner at a very nice restaurant and it was happy hour. Half price - you know how I love half price. I had fish tacos, yummm. Forgotten how big American meals are. Today we flew LA/Denver - Denver/Winnipeg which took up much of the day. On the subject of food again - couldn't help noticing the variety of bagels available in an airport cafe. Can't wait to have some decent bagels. We flew over Las Vegas, Hoover Dam and the Rockies which already have a lot of snow. John is happy our hotel is across from the railroad - lots of very long trains going by. We're also across from Union Station,a beautiful old station, now Via Rail. It's from there that we will catch the train on Sunday when we head to Churchill. Tomorrow I'm going to the French Quarter - at St Boniface and La Fourche. Have already read up on it (in French) - got most of the words. John will go to, surprise, surprise, the railway museum. Will try to post some photos tomorrow.