In all our chats before heading over to the UK, Kylie and I had one thing straight… the only thing we HAD to do was see the northern lights. Our whole trip to Finland revolved around what the locals call hunting auroras.

In all the research we did, it was clear that it all depends on the weather – clouds or snow means no auroras. Also depends on holes in the sun and sun dust?!? WTF. Us amateurs had no idea when or who would be the best to make our dreams come true.

Enter Mikko. During our visit to Santa Claus’ Village, while ordering the best Finlandish coffee vodka, Kyles mentioned to the bar man about wanting to see the northern lights. Twenty minutes later, we’ve organized a random dude to pick us up at 9pm and take us aurora hunting. Had he not had a decent Facebook page or Instagram account, maybe we would have been more cautious. Maybe not. Maybe I still messaged a friend with links to the dudes socials in case we went missing…

So after collecting our luggage, legging it back to our accommodation and smashing some hesburger, it was time to hunt.

Mikko was super entertaining and obvs not a psycho, he knew everything about hunting auroras, was all hooked up to the sites and groups that discuss the nights upcoming spectacle… let’s be honest, I just sat in the back, ate chocolate and drank Glogi while Mikko and Kyles did the real hunting…

So literally in the middle of absolutely nowhere we stopped and waited. Heater cranked, since it was a a cool -28.5 outside… Glogi, heater, chocolate, wait…

During the wait we learnt heaps about Finland, school is free, school lunch is free, university is free, even for foreigners – uh, stuff London, I’m moving to Finland… lowest crime rates, gender equality in their government since 1906 and was the first country to make a broadband connection a legal right (xtra info from Kyles).

So around midnight, Mikko made the call, “it’s time”. Nothing can ever prepare you for -28.5 degrees, just as nothing can prepare you for seeing the most beautiful feat of nature that ever existed.

Jumping out the car and staring into the sky, it appears as a green haze at first then slowly it appears in all its glory. I’ll be honest, in the pics, it’s clearer and more spectacular but for reals, it’s still bloody brilliant. It fades in and out and is called Eileen… because when you dance in the snow and sing “Come on Eileen..”, she appears…. for reals…

So no sugar coating the experience, it was cold beyond words, my lame arse Aussie boots were no match for trekking through knee high snow, I honestly thought I would lose some toes. Defrosting toes is pain beyond words. Luckily, there was a heated car to jump back into when the lights faded and it was time to wait again.

And thank god for Mikko who knew when to jump out to see Eileen and when to be patient. Other groups gave up on the night but we persisted til around 1.30am and I can honestly say it was the most beautiful, amazing thing I’ve ever seen in my life. So grateful that I’ve been in the position to do this. Grateful doesn’t even feel strong enough – thankful, privileged, lucky. So much so that my first born child will be called Aurora, worst parent in the world if it’s a boy…

Wednesday 2nd January 2019.