Archive for the 'Road Trip' Category

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Across the blazing hot Outback – ArcticTropic dashes from Adelaide to Sydney – over 1200 km in 36 hours, with nights in Broken Hill and Narromine.It was not unusual to go over an hour without seeing another vehicle. The temperature held steady at about 41 ( 106 F) throughout the day. The video begins in the Southern Ocean and ends in the Pacific Ocean.

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Today was a relatively light day with only 200 km on the road. First above the beautiful Arctic City of Akeryuri to Hliarfjall Ski . Though there is only 600m ( 1900 ft ) of vertical it looks delightful – fresh powder, no line ( there were only about 8 people on the whole mountain) . All for about $ 30 a day – far less than US ski prices – now over $ 100 a Day !

We then headed west to Hvanneyri, on the way to Westfjords. Once again we encountered wind and snow, though not the blizzard conditions of yesterday.

Typical house of Akeryuri.

An early Prime Minister of Modern Iceland immortalized in Akeryuri’s Lutheran Cathedral.

Oceanic Ice ! Not quite the Arctic Ocean, but the Greenland Sea, which leads from the Atlantic to the Arctic Ocean.

Evening snowfall in Hvanneyri.

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Crossing North Iceland from Egilsstaðir to Akureyri was slow going as a blizzard struck in the mountains. The landscape was literally torn apart by volcanoes and earthquakes over many millennia. We also crossed from Europe to North America, as this is where the Eurasian and North American plates meet on the MId Atlantic Ridge.

Courtesy BBC.

Cold beyond imagination.

Icy.

Country Church.

Whiteout.

City Church. Akureyri 65.68 North.

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ArcticTropic drove East along Iceland Route 1 for about 200 km today. While only about 125 miles, it was long day because of the incredible amount of nature to experience.

Glaciers flow directly into the Atlantic Ocean.

Black Lava Sand Beach At Vik.

River of Ice. Recent winters have gotten colder and the glaciers are expanding.

Icy Iceland Beach.

On The Moon ?

During the 2 hour sunset.

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ArcticTropic traveled along the Southern Ocean today, along the Great Ocean Highway. Cold summer weather between 15 and 19 C. The coastline is 2000 miles from Antarctica.

Some of the Twelve Apostles.

A Koala munching on Eucalyptus leaves.

Strange local birds.

The Apostles.

London Bridge. Until 1990 there was a second arch that connected to the mainland but it collapsed. All of these natural structures consist of very soft sandstone and regularly collapse.

Video upload is very limited at this time. Rural Australia does have some wifi, but at dialup speeds. The above 7 second video took 40 minutes to upload.

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On February 15th ArcticTropic rented a car – a Holden Barina and headed south to Jervis Bay, about 250 km from the city. Once beyond the metro areas, Australia is a beautiful and nearly empty land. Kangaroos are a common part of the landscape and while looking friendly they can give intruders quite a stomping.

Prince’s Highway stretches 1250 km from Sydney to Melbourne.

Beautiful beachfront property near Jervis Bay Territory. No hurricanes in this part of the world.

Isolated beaches everywhere.

In the Snowy Mountains ( where is snows from June to September ) near Mt. Kosciuszko, highest mountain in Australia. The Eucalyptus forest smells wonderful.

Crossing from New South Wales into Victoria State.

Kangaroo – It’s What’s For Dinner. Very healthy lean meat. Delicious too !

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2014 was an incredible travel year for ArcticTropic. We explored Myanmar ( Burma), European Russia,Siberia,Mongolia,China,Japan,British Colombia,Canada,Singapore,Philippines and Panama. Here’s 184 clips in 11 minutes. This version is natural sound,a musical version will be uploaded soon.

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Final edit of Go-Pro footage of ArcticTropic’s exploratory voyage across Russia in early Summer 2014. Five days in Moscow , then to Irkutsk,Lake Baikal and Ulan Ude , before crossing into Mongolia.

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After Namibia , ArcticTropic had less than a week to explore the vast territory of South Africa. 3 days in Cape Town was plenty, but the 1000 mile,1600 km journey back to Johannesburg via the Wynlands,the Great Karoo and the South Coast was quite a feat, meaning many hours in the car.

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Our hosts were Jargalsaikan and his wife Tuya. We stayed with them in the yurt ( ger ) on the left for two days and nights. The encampment is in Bulgan Aimag ( an Aimag is similar to a province or state ) about 15 kilometers from the village of Gurvanbulag,where they spend the winter.

With two children of the encampment.

The inside is very comfortable. A video of daily life will be uploaded shortly.