The ends of the Earth

Curiosity got the better of me yesterday when I got thinking what the ends of the earth  really look like. I had just seen Stephen Hawking on TV and when I got to read about him, his famous quote ''there's no north of the North Pole'' got me wondering. I searched through Google and Wikipedia to know more about the North Pole.

OK, so people have been there. The North Pole is right in the middle of the Arctic Ocean and is mostly covered with ice. All directions on the compass point to the south at the North Pole. The question again: so what's north of the North Pole? I saw a video on you-tube about some tourists being taken to the Pole aboard the Russian ice-breaker: 50 years of Glory. I was able to find out that the nearest inhabitable places to the Pole are Alert in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada and  Kaffeklubben Island, off the northern coast of Greenland which are both due south. So what lies north of the North Pole? Is that some place no man has ever trod or what? Or perhaps it doesn't exist at all. I'll find out more about this very interesting topic and post what I find on the blog in due time.

Now, that's that for the North Pole. Then my curiosity shifted to the South Pole. Here, man has made more progress than the North Pole, most likely because it's just a continental land mass in difference to the North Pole which is right in the middle of the ocean. All directions in the South Pole also point to the North. There's no east or west. So the question again: what lies in the south of the South Pole? The U.S. has a manned station permanently at the South Pole where temperatures are frigid. Unlike the North Pole, the South Pole is the bottom of the earth. The Southernmost part of the earth and the Earth's axis of rotation. Call it Antarctica and you'll be darn right! It just piques my interest. What lies at the north of the North Pole and at the south of the South Pole? Call me stupid but hey, a man is free to ask questions, right! Like it was when I wanted to know what the deepest part of the ocean looked like. My curiosity sent me surfing the web to know more about the Mariana Trench until I stumbled on James Cameron's National Geographic expedition to the deepest point of the Ocean. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out.

I'd like to read as much as I can about this. In case any of you readers have an answer to my curiosity, I crave your indulgence to educate me more on this or I'll search all the geography books I can find to satisfy my curiosity. I know curious minds think alike..#wink

What lies beyond the ends of the two farthest points on Earth? Watch this space!