We left Jodie at Reykjavik and caught our flight to Kulusuk on the east coast of Greenland. Our flight in took us low over giant icebergs and the rocky coastline.Greenland is the least densely populated country on earth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density). Australia is 100 times more densely peopled. Kulusuk is a tiny settlement (population 310) on the remote, even less densely populated eastern coast of Greenland (only 5% of Greenlanders). Not many people stay here for more than a few hours. Ever. It is home to Eastern Greenland's only international airport though. A gravel strip that is open for a small part of the year in summer for daily flights to Iceland and twice weekly flights to Kangerlussuaq.
Kulusuk is still a very traditional town where most people make a living from hunting, though tourism is on the increase. While there we were able to take a trip to a nearby glacier, explore the island and also visit Tasiilaq, the capital of the eastern municpailty of Ammassalik. Since it was the middle of summer the ice had thawed somewhat and we were able to undertake the trip by boat, rather than sled dog.
In Kulusuk we had a unique chance to spend some time in a very different community which was a great experience. After a few days we flew across the frozen centre of Greenland to the strange town of Kangerlussuaq. Inuits never lived in Kangerlussuaq but the American Air Force maintained a base there for over 50 years. As such it has the best air facilities of anywhere in Greenland, including the ability to land 767s. The whole town seems to exist just for the air field, with not much else going on. The strangest story surrounds Volkswagon. Cars were flown in and a road built to an inland ice track for extreme weather testing. We visited the ice and explored the surrounding area where we spotted some Musk Ox.
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