We like to think that the excess sugar was to blame for our extreme excitement over the prospect of crossing back over the Arctic circle in a very important location. The highlight of our Lapland experience. We were happy to be straddling the invisible line that encloses the Arctic region but ecstatic about being at the home of Santa Claus himself. Thats right. We met the real Santa!
After passing through his office (which unfortunately was nothing like the 'its a small world' ride we had envisioned) we got our official photos taken with Santa. He was very friendly and even promised to visit next time he was in Australia (although he might have to stay on the couch). We then wandered around Santa-land, taking some unofficial photos and sending postcards from the post office which each year processes many many letters to Santa from children all around the world, and in return is responsible for ensuring that children recieve personalised Santa messages from the man in red himself.
Once the sugar high started to recede it was time for lunch and one again we stopped to stock up on snacks at the local supermarket. Just as we thought everything was well and we were on our way out again alarms began to ring and a supermarket check-out guy took it upon himself to stop, interogate and search the bags of our very own shoplifter - Kate. After emptying the contents of Kate's bag we were all still confused as to what was triggering the alarm. Item by item we sent the contents of Kate's bag through the scanner until finally the culprit was found - the spare batteries. After finally convincing the guy that the batteries had been purchased in Sydney he called off the security man who was making his way down to apprehend us and Kate's name wasn't scratched from Santa's good girl list after all.
After a long day of travelling on the bus we decided that an exploration of the new campsite before dinner was in order. We soon found that the campsite wasn't so big and with time to kill set out to meander the tree and lake filled countryside of Rovaniemi. We walked along the road and decided to circle around back to the cabins instead of just returning the way we had set out. Unfortunately things didn't go as planned. The map clearly did not indicate lack of bridges across the lake that separated us from the campsite, or maybe our sense of direction just wasn't up to scratch. The track was muddy and the moisture attracted the mosquitoes. We had already walked it once and we now found that we had to cross over it once again. With mouths clamped tightly shut and waving our maps furiously to move the swarms away from our hair we squatted and flapped like lunatics back to the safety of the road.
We ended the night in the relative comfort of 'the mansion'. Two girls on our tour had accidently been given luxury accommodation instead of cabins like the rest of us plebs with their own shower, sauna, kitchen and more bedrooms than the people staying there. And they decided to generously share this experience, hosting a big group shindig. The perfect end to a strange and troubled day
Snap Crackles!!!!!!!!!
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