#6: Flat ground finally, and a goose!

We had a late start to the day this morning, so as to avoid skiing into a strong headwind. We can use the 24 hour daylight to our advantage here, and adjust our days to suit the weather, and so we started at 11:30 and skied until 8:30. Today was flat as a pancake compared to every day we have had so far, which was nice on the legs, but it did make navigation a little trickier. Gone were all the features that we could line up on a bearing and walk towards, replaced by a flat white horizon that melded seamlessly with the clouds. We were left with our shadows and the wind direction to keep us on track. The high, wispy cirrus clouds above us suggested that there may be a change in weather on the way. In Australia we call these telltale clouds ‘mare’s tails’, but Bård informed me that in Norway they call them ‘ski tip clouds’, and well if that isn’t the most Norwegian thing I’ve ever heard! We saw a goose today which was novel, perhaps the only living thing other than ourselves that we will see for a long while. It was headed East across the icecap, a long journey ahead, good luck Buddy! We skied just shy of 18km today, good progress considering we have a cold doing the rounds of the team, sore throats and sniffly noses, but sunny days and sing alongs are keeping us happy! Mardi Photos: 1: trying to spot the horizon 2: goose (look for the black speck 😅) 3: celebrations arriving into camp