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POLAR BEARS AND NIAGARA FALLS ADVENTURE 2001
02nd November 2001 Toronto
Finished packing and got a can to LHR T3. Went to the Air Canada Executive Check-In where the bloke greeted me from the Telly.
Took my seat in the top bubble of the 747 and watched Shrek.
Arrived in Toronto on-time and got shuttle to Hotel. Watched Jurassic Park III.
03rd November 2001 Winnipeg
Nice lie-in followed by buffet breakfast.
Checked in for the flight, it was 2.5 hours and only go a bag of crisps and had to buy own beer for CAN$5.
Checked into the Sheridan Hotel next to the airport. Nice sunset over the prairies.
04th November 2001 Churchill
Got up at 05:30 for the flight to Churchill. Met the rest of the group in the hotel reception and went on a Hawker-Siddley HS748 turboprop.
Lots of rectangular prairies fields, then more tundra vegetation with lots of small freshwater lakes. Churchill was cold. Took the Tour Bus (a yellow School Bus) to the lunch stop had a roast beef sandwich.
Went on the tour of Churchill. Saw a red fox, with only half a tail, then saw a helicopter over the Polar Bear jail. Stopped and watched a female carried out, and two cubs being put into the chopper. They slung the mother in a net and took off North to drop them off. Saw an adolescent bear near the dump sleeping on the rocks, then went to the port an Merry Point.
Quick tour of the town, before going to the Bear Country Inn to relax before dinner. Did see another red fox near to the port. Chinese for dinner, then a slide show.
05th November 2001 Churchill
Up early for the Polar Bear hunt. Drove in the School Bus to the Tundra Buggy depot, where there was a bear close-by.
Quite bumpy in the buggies, but loads of room. Saw an Arctic Hare, then watched a mother and two cubs cross the ice towards us, and then raced around to intercept them. They laid down in front of us, with one of the cubs being inquisitive on a nearby buggy as well as our own.
Went on a bit further and saw a mother with a single cub cross the ice towards us. Again, the mother sat down and the baby was running and slipping on the ice and rolling over.
Had lunch, then went on a helicopter ride for an hour. On the chopper saw 19 bears, mainly solitary, but some in groups up to 5 who were lazing in the bushes. Went as far as Point Churchill. Saw one mother near to some buildings sniffing around but the best was a mother with two cubs in a procession across the ice, casting long shadows in the orange sunlight. Rejoined the buggy at the Great Bear Lodge which is a string of buggies where you can spend the night. When the chopper landed we saw a bear sleeping nearby so had to run for the buggy.
On the way back saw the mother with the single cub again. He was sniffing another buggy and sitting down playing with his feet. Good light again, but getting quite dark. The journey back seemed much longer than the journey out, with the buggies racing (at about 10 mph) through the big puddles of ice water, sometimes tilting at 45 degrees. Back in town, bought postcards and had dinner at the Churchill Hotel. Later had a good slide show of ‘Churchill through the Seasons’.
06th November 2001 Churchill
Had a good breakfast at the Churchill Hotel, then while waiting for the bus saw a red fox right outside the porch of the hotel.
Went for the dog sled ride, saw a big white bear on the way. The dog musher did a funny slide show on his expedition across the Antarctic for 9 months. Bitterly cold, mainly due to the biting wind as it was sunny.
In town went to the Post Office and got passport stamped. Went round the Eskimo Museum and Canada National Parks Office and saw a few films on the bears and on the old fur industry running out of York Factory, being run by the Hudson Bay Company. Before dinner, did some shopping. Saw some flashes of the Aurora Borealis. Still very windy, slippery and bitterly cold.
07th November 2001 Winnipeg
Nice sunrise, breakfast. Packed bags then boarded the School Bus for the rise to the tundra Buggy launch area. Saw a bear mooching around the buggy area, then a mum and two cubs on a bank on a frozen lake who were snoozing.
Watched a chopper take a huge spare type to a broken buggy. It was #11 the one were on 2 days ago. Near to the Great Bear Lodge saw 3 bears, one was huge. He chased one of the smaller bears who lollaped through the grass and hid behind a rock. Went to Gordon Point and found another bear who was munching kelp and was quite dirty. Went through the Boreal Forest and watched the sunset, also saw a red fox. Back in town, had dinner and afterwards it was snowing. Waited around for the plane to depart.
Flight back to Winnipeg was a Saab 340 on a snowy runway
08th November 2001 Toronto
Breakfast in the Hotel, before going across the road to the airport for the flight to Toronto.
Routine flight, but raining in Toronto. Caught a bus to the hotel, went past Lake Ontario, the CN Tower and Skydome. Bus driver said that Yonge St., which starts near the CN Tower, is the longest street in the world 1800 km.
Checked into the hotel, which was quite basic.
09th November 2001 Toronto
Picked up from the hotel for the Toronto City Tour. Saw the harbour front, financial district and University. There were lots of black squirrels in the parks.
Went up the top of the CN Tower, and stood on the glass floor quite scary being 447m up 147 floors. Walked back to the hotel via Union Street and the Gold Building.
Pizza for dinner.
10th November 2001 Niagara
Picked up from the hotel for the drive to Niagara Falls, the joined the tour.
Went past both falls and up to the barrage where they control the volume of water going over the Canadian Falls. Went on the Journey Behind the Falls. Wore silly yellow macs and could hear the water as soon as we left the elevator. Went to a couple of portals where there was just water spraying outside got a bit wet. Went outside where we were at the bottom of the falls and was quite murky, so couldn’t see the entire Horseshoe Falls.
Had a buffet lunch in a restaurant overlooking the falls, then took a few pictures of the edge of the falls then went up to the whirlpool in the gorge before continuing past the hydro-electric plants to Niagara on the Lake which is quite a nice little town. On the way back to Niagara took a helicopter flight over the falls which was short (7 mins) but was quite impressive.
Checked into the hotel. Went around the gorge in the evening to see the falls lit up.
11th November 2001 Niagara
Walked around the falls in the morning and had lunch in the Sheraton again. After lunch went up the Skylon Tower which was good in the afternoon sun with a couple of rainbows (or mistbows).
Went around the floodlit falls in the evening again. Quite cold today (2 degrees), but wind wasn’t as bad as yesterday and the mist from the falls wasn’t coming to the Canadian side.
12th November 2001 Home
Got up at 08:30 and had breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Heard on the news that an Airbus A300 had crashed at JFK.
Checked out of the hotel and watched the Imax movie ‘Niagara’ which wasn’t as good as it could have been. Went for a last look at the falls before lunch at Denny’s, then went back to the hotel for the transfer to the airport. Checked in OK, then watched the News in the Maple Leaf Lounge.
Nice flight back home. Managed to sleep OK.
Animals seen in Churchill
Red Fox4Polar Bears31Arctic Hare1 Highlights
§46 Polar Bears §Polar Bear Jail Airlift §Family processions of Polar Bears across the ice §Polar Bear cubs playing §Snow, wind-chill on the dogsled §Niagara Falls (Horseshoe Falls) §Tundra Buggies §Glass Floor of the CN Tower
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