Norway

I wanted to do a kind of wrap up on arriving in Norway, about coming back and starting up. Since I’m writing this retrospectively, Ill probably jump back and forth a bit…

Anyways, we got back, after 2 months worth of traveling Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Brazil. We where keen to start up again, and get back into a routine.

I started looking for work, and having forgotten about “fellesferien”, it was a bit unnerving. I had completely forgotten about how July shuts down everything, and you cant get anything done since everyone is on holiday! Because of this, we where kind of landlocked, and couldn’t go to far, in case an interview came up. The longest trip we made was to Luleå, but we also made a few short trips!

Our first trip out, was to the woods east of Oslo, creatively named Østmarka. We figured we walk out, find a nice spot to camp, a chill by a lake, which is what we did.

Trail

Campsite
Little tent, nice lake

I had promised Sara that there would be no mozzies, as we where a bit to early still. I was right about that but I had completely forgotten about the Knott. After a while we started feeling some bites, but there was no mozzies around. Then it finally clicked, and I remembered about the Knott. The vicious little things got through the mesh, and bugged us all night!

Campfire
Campfire

It was nice though, and good to be out in the bush!

A bit later, Kate & John arrived from the UK, and hung out with us for a while. We where staying with my Mom & Dad until I had a job, and we could afford somewhere to live. So we all crammed in, and went to town.

Fat Aass
Fat Aass

Pete & Kobe came over too, as we where having our “second wedding”. Since so many couldn’t come to Oz for it, we arranged a second one in Norway. I have only just now realized that I don’t have any pictures from it! Must have been to busy hosting…. Anyways, it was great to have the whole family there, and to get to catch up with everyone!

While overseas, Mom & Dad had bought a cabin, where we also spent some nice summer days!

Cabin view
Cabin view

Lush grass
Lush grass

Midst all this, I landed a job. It was exactly the kind of job I was after, so very happy with that! 🙂 It was interesting also, as dads work had just completed a study in Norwegians with overseas education, getting work in Norway. Turns out I matched all the findings…

As soon as I had a job, we where on the property market. We ended up buying a flat within the 2 week looking, and we won the third we place a bid on. About the time we bought the place, Sara started Norwegian classes, and I started work. Ill finish the initial entry here, and rather do another reflective one later for our current situation. We have had a few challenges, and some positive experiences as well 1 year down the track. Well, that’s it for now!

New flat inauguration
New flat inauguration

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Norwegian Summer 05 – 2nd part

Saturday saw us of to Hamar, catching up with Andreas and Simon. Hamar has changed a lot since last time we were there! It now has a big beach and lots of other stuff it didn’t have before, including David Hasselhoff….

Went out on Saturday night, and the town was booming, saw lots of familiar faces, a bit like going out in Bombala I suppose.

Sunday we where just hung over, but still managed to go to a BBQ at Gøril’s, where we ate some Moose and other good stuff.

Monday we went shopping…

We also walked into town, eating a whole heap of berries.

Monday night we caught the bus to Denmark: what was originally devised as an ingenious time and money saver, saw us signed, sealed and delivered to Denmark in the form of a human pretzel. With no sleep and no food (and definitely not a good mood), we walked the streets of Copenhagen until the first bakeries opened…
Unfortunately we chanced upon the only bakery in town with an apprentice sandwich hand and after a harrowing wait, we left with food (a possible communication breakdown meant that Jo enjoyed a cheese and jam roll as opposed to the 1 cheese and 1 jam roll that he ordered).

After this we set our sites on Copenhagen, and in particular one of good friends- Mary..

Well, after that, we went along the harbour, all the way to the little mermaid (who’s head is famous for being stolen), to the palace, to Christiania (a kind of hippie commune). We then booked into our hotel (supposedly 4 star, but we noticed it to be the smallest room on the fire escape plan…not happy Jan). Later, we went for a drink and dinner on the wharf. There were heaps of bands and street performers around, so it was nice just to sit and watch. There were also a few drunks (Jo said that in Denmark, anyone of any age can buy beer, which can, incidentally be purchased at the supermarket! But apparently not everyone can drink it!). Some poor tourist fell into the water from the wharf!

The next day (our last) we went down to the old part of town (well kind of… only made it to the museum- which was free on Wednesdays- and parliament house). We then headed to Tivoli for a long time, drinking beer and eating ice cream.

We then went and had a look at another palace and then went into town again. We had a lot of ice cream, baked goods and some pretty nice vego meals (which is a bloody wonder over here!).

We headed back to Oslo and found ourselves in another black mood from the bus and no food.

Wednesday and Thursday was spent recovering, and relaxing. Had a BBQ on Thursday with the brand spanking new gas BBQ! Was very nice! Friday was much of the same, didn’t leave the house at all, only yo buy chocolate.

Today we are going back up again to Hamar, for more beer and another BBQ, and Sunday will see us of to Sweden to catch up with Malin and Dave.

Norwegian Summer

We left Sydney on a cold Wednesday night with the night flight to Tokyo. Going through security, I got my bag emptied, while Sara got checked for bombs; business as usual. Qantas looked after us well, they gave us a complimentary business class travel kit, thanks Dan! I was eager to test allmy anti jetlag remedies, so we passed up on the champagne and wine… I slept the whole way, while Sara didn’t, despite all the best travel equipment!

Tokyo was ok, we managed to get ourselves something to eat, and looked around for a bit. A few hours later we left for Copenhagen, the trip was uneventful; we both squeezed in 3 movies each, and ate a lot.

After a brief stopover in Copenhagen, grabbing the essential tax-free, we went on to Norway. We landed at 19, and it was still very bright! Dad, Svein and Gøril greeted us at the airport, and we went back to the house, where we had supper. We were reasonably tired, but managed to stay up until 22, going to bed before the sun.

The next day we had Farmors 80th birthday. The whole family was there, except for 1, so we were 32 people. And that’s just dad’s side.

Saturday followed with more walks, while adjusting to the daylight and trying to get rid of the jetlag. We went on a tour of the royal castle, Sara was very impressed by my castle, so that was all good! Sunday we went into town, for a look around, Gøril came out, and we ate a lot of cherrys! We all got very full!

Monday we drove up to Hemsedal, after visiting Mormor on the way. The cabin is about 4 hours drive away, and there is mosquitos there in summer. Sara got to experience those. The next day we went on a tour of the west coast fjords. This included a trip with the world’s steepest railway and a 3 hour cruise from Gudvangen to Lœrdal, in Norways narrowest fjord. Sara also got to meet Huldra, a fairytale creature that steals the men away, but Sara fought her off.

Wednesday Mom and Dad came out too, and we went to the world’s oldest stave church. It’s from the 1100th century. We also went to a Glacier museum, and had a peek at one of those. After that we finished up with a tour of an old costal town that we had just raced through the day before, Lœrdal. Dinner was up at a mountain lodge. The only thing vegetarian they served was sour cream porridge (a dish that looks like white sauce served with butter, cinnamon and sugar), the rest of the dishes contained some sort of salted meat.

Thursday we went up to a mountain farm, where they had baking day. Sara and I baked a flatbread each, mine was (not) the better…. The day was warm, and we finished it of by walking up to the top of one of the mountains next to the cabin.

Friday we came back to Oslo, it was 30 degrees and sunshine! Excellent weather! Unfortunately, it also means that we have less than 3 weeks to go.