Kia ora! Hello!

I feel the cold quite easily so I've packed enough clothes for sooo many layers, I look borderline like a marshmallow and 90% of the time I've worn half my bag at once - but at least I'm warm!

Also fun to note that over the 4 days here it's been snowing most the time so it's been cloudy. This means we have only seen one actual sunrise (at 11.45am), no sunsets, it's been quite dim throughout the hours of daylight and it's dark as of 3pm.

Now, first stop - Levi.

After a grocery shop we bunkered down at our Airbnb for the next 48hrs watching multiple Christmas movies and eating snacks which was a great decision. Within 5minutes of walking on snow on the street I fell over, this led to a bruise and a lump that continued to grow for a week, but I am now that person who walks really awkwardly to avoid it happening again which I'm sure is entertaining.

The Airbnb had a glass roof, which even though there were no sightings of the Northern lights it was still pretty to look up and see the snow covered trees. It was a property with several cabins that was rather remote which made sitting downstairs watching the movies and looking out the window at the snow the most surreal experience. We threw on some layers and grabbed our cameras to enjoy the snow for a little bit, followed by a dip in the spa outside whilst the snow started to fall around us some more.

After a 2hr bus ride we relocated to Rovaniemi and it did not disappoint! Santa's Village made me want to cry, and I'm well known to be a Grinch! Picture this - snow falling, wooden cabins all around as shops and cafes, a Husky Park, Reindeer Sleigh rides, Snowworld Park with ice slides to tube down and a Post Office. Don't worry I'll share some photos and videos on social media to help you see it.

Day 1 we had a cuddle experience at the Husky Park, followed by getting some hot chocolates indoors to let our toes defrost. We then wandered around a little and ended the day there after heading to the Post Office and sending some post cards to a couple special people back home. Back to town we went to grab a bite, some snacks from the SMarket (as they call them) and have a chill afternoon before we headed out on a Northern Lights chase tonight. We had only a 7% chance of a sighting, but managed to capture a couple pictures with what we could see. Unfortunately it was that cold that I couldn't stay still so they were a little blurry.

Day 2 we had a Reindeer Sleigh experience back at Santa's Village and as it is near the airport we decided to spend the majority of the day here again before our arvo flight. The Reindeer Sleigh ride was pretty neat and I will now be finding reindeer hair for quite some time embedded in my clothing. We also checked out SnowWorld that had an ice labyrinth, bar, sculptures and a slide you tube down - was pretty neat! After that we needed some food to warm back up again so went to Santa's Burgers & Pizza, which hit the spot quite nicely.

Safe to say Finland was a dream come true! Next up we head to Oslo for a few days.

Haere rā! Goodbye!