Tromso

A visit up into the Arctic Circle has been on my to do list for a while now. There's something about being that far north that seems pretty special. When Matty suggested that I might like to join them when Ching came to visit I jumped at the chance. Unfortunately the timing for her holiday wasn't ideal for chasing the elusive Northern Lights but still too good of a holiday to turn down.

Tromso is the second largest city in the Arctic Circle (70,000 people Keithy) and home to a multitude of "northern most.." claims. The northern most university, northern most brewery, you get the idea. During summer they have 2 months where there is no darkness, known as the Midnight Sun. Sounds great until you realise that that also means they have 2 months in winter where they don't get any light. Yikes. It's also known as one of the best places in the world to see the Aurora Borealis as it's right in the middle of the "zone". You can't see the Northern Lights in summer but from mid-August it's possible. We knew we were pushing our luck with the timing, being end of August, but Ching only had a week and we figured optimism is key!

The weather forecast was most definitely not in our favour but we took off with hopeful ideas that it might clear! Unfortunately it was not to be. Friday dawned grey, as did Saturday and Sunday. Not just grey as in no sun but grey as in low cloud, couldn't see more than a couple of k from the high viewing points kind of grey. A bit disappointing as we missed all the views of the supposedly 'spectacular fjords and majestic mountains' but we made the most of our time there.

We went to a few museums and learnt about the Sami people, their history and how the Norwegians tried to completely eradicate their culture. Luckily they saw sense and change is happening, with the Sami language now able to be spoken at schools and their cultural traditions observed more openly. I just wanted one of their cute hats. We also looked into doing a Sami tour/reindeer ride but it was a bit of a money making scheme at $200+ NZD for about 4 hours of activities and a bowl of soup.

Another museum was about the arctic explorers which I really enjoyed, until I got to the parts about all the polar bears and whales and cute baby seals they caught. I will admit to trying whale while I've been in Norway. It's a very traditional meal here but not very common in the south. Matty managed to find some at the sushi shop in Stavanger and it was pretty damn tasty, even if not very pc. I wasn't too bothered by it until we saw all the museums in Tromso and how gruesome it is for the poor whale when they're killed. The sight of the huge steaks of whale meat in all the fish shops put me off a bit as well. It's really red and bloody and apparently they normally cook it like a steak. Hmmmm not so sure about that.  

Ching's birthday on the Saturday was a great excuse to blow a bit of cash on a delicious seafood meal and to test out the infamous King Crab. It was pretty damn delicious but unfortunately my income, or lack of, will mean I'm not dining in quite that style for a wee while.

Overall it was a great trip and well worth the effort to get up north, even if the Northern Lights didn't show themselves. I've been told that you can sometimes see them in Uppsala so will be keeping my eyes open for that!!

Stavanger

Stavanger has been Matty and Van's base for a year now so I was pretty damn excited to check it all out. It is the quintessential Norwegian city where they are living, just a couple of blocks from the seaside down the cobbled lanes. Their apartment is right in the middle of town, which is great for lots of things and easy access for them for work. Not so great with the resident busking bongo drummer, who had thankfully left by the time I arrived.

Van's Mum was scheduled to arrive on Tuesday evening so I had 2 days to entertain myself while they were at work. Monday, after a very slow start, I took the rental car down the coast for an explore. There are beaches that are accessible right down the coastline and reminded me a lot of Dunedin. Quite blustery with sand dunes leading down to the water which did not remind me of Dunedin, all sorts of seaweed and rubbish washed up from who knows where. I set off on a semi-ambitious walk before being scared off by the threatening grey clouds on the horizon. Just in time too as it started to pour down just after I made it back to the car. After returning the car and making my way back to Stavanger, Matty took me on a running tour of his 'usual lake loop'.

Tuesday I commandeered Van's bike for a ride round the harbour and up a hill for some good views of Stavanger. It was 25k out to the hill followed by a short walk up. The bike took me forever with a couple of wrong turns and stopping and starting to check the map. I also discovered that Van's bottom wire to change gears had rusted into place and I was stuck in a high gear, not ideal on the hills but good exercise at least! It really was a great view up the top, well worth the effort. I only just made it home with energy levels running seriously low, coming off 4 weeks of no exercise this was all a shock to the system. Luckily by the time i made it back Van's Mum, Ching, had arrived and was cooking us a Philippine feast of home made spring rolls.

Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) was the next sight to tick off the list, the second big scary ledge in a week. Only a 30min boat ride from Stavanger and a 3k walk this was Matty and Van's 4th trip with guests, such locals. After a nice easy wander up the hill we came across it sticking out over the water and looking mighty impressive. It appears to have been almost carved out of the rock with a nice big flat area for picnics and gorgeous views down the fjord. I found this one quite a bit more terrifying as it's completely flat so sitting in the edge, a gentle nudge in the wrong direction would be goodbye world! At least Trolltunga was sloped upwards so while it looks scary in pictures, you would have to launch yourself out to fall off it. I managed to get the obligatory snaps on the edge before hastily retreating to a nice lunch spot further back.

After going to Perikestolen, Trolltunga and doing the Oslo-Bergen railway I had almost ticked off all of Norway's main sights. Almost. The hunt for Northern Lights was on with a flight 600k into the Arctic Circle to Tromso on Thursday evening.       

Trolltunga

Matty was lucky enough to be my welcoming party on my arrival to Stavanger. I have gotten used to arriving and looking around hopefully for the city-bound bus, quite the luxury to have someone there to meet me! Admittedly he needed me and my drivers license to pick up the rental car but those are minor details.

After an encounter with an Aussie/Norwegian guy in the Hertz office we were off into Stavanger. This was my first experience of driving on the right side of the road. I was pretty damn tentative to begin with, particularly after my tyre made friends with the curb after only 10 minutes. That gave me enough of a scare that I managed to work it all out and pretty much get the hang of it, except for on some crazy Norwegian roads.

We picked up Van from the Stavanger sidewalk, which is very cute and cobbled around their apartment, and set off to Trolltunga. It was set to be a 4 hour drive but with everyone having the same idea as us "get out of the city it's the weekend!!", it made for an hour wait in a queue that seemed to continue forever just to get on the ferry. Luckily Van had brought snacks so I was introduced to possibly the best chips I have ever had and became the rubbish dump for all the chocolates that Matty and Van turned their noses up at (coconut and marzipan, they are actually really good). Norwegian drivers turned out to be pretty hilarious with some great passing maneuvers when everyone was sitting still and it was literally impossible to get back into the queue, therefore blocking the entire road until people could inch forward and begrudgingly let them back in. There was also a lovely truck driver who decided that everyone could just wait for him to finish his cigarette before he would move forward. Turns out Norway isn't so perfect after all!

Once we were finally off the ferry and on our way the challenge for me began. I thought NZ roads were windy and narrow in places but Norway is just crazy! With all the fjords around the roads seem to wind along the waterline (single lane of course) before heading into a monstrous tunnel then back to the winding hell. Add on top of that the darkness and rain that had started, lets just say I had a very firm grip on the wheel and was seriously pleased to have done alot of hairy driving in NZ. Eventually we made it to our oasis for the weekend, a little apartment right on the fjord, just past Odda.

The plan had been to walk Trolltunga on Saturday and relax Sunday but thanks to a rather bleak weather report Saturday became gloriously lazy. We slept in, chocolate was involved in breakfast, we watched movies, drank coffee and explored Odda. All topped off with Matty and Van's traditional Norwegian dinner of shrimp on bread with mayonnaise, avocado, egg, tomato and lettuce, seriously delicious! Sunday was the day for action. Trolltunga was the last rock precipice that Matty and Van had to tick off their list, one of the big 3 and the only thing stopping them had been that they couldn't hire a car, which is where I stepped in. Plus they wanted the joy of my company as well.

We set off nice and early and reached the relatively empty car park. The walk was supposed to be 7-8 hours return and Norwegians seem to be relatively accurate, unlike DOC back home. We headed up the hill and out across the rocky hill tops, passing more summer houses which would be amazing in winter for cross country skiing but unsure I would want to do the 40 minute hike to get there, uphill, carrying all your stuff. The sun shone, a bit. It was horrifically windy in the exposed areas but manageable with all our gear on, just meant a bit of head down with multiple lolly refuel breaks.

We eventually rounded the corner of the hill to find we were looking down in a ridiculous outcrop where people were jumping and posing. Trolltunga literally translates to Troll's tongue and you can see why, it's a ledge that sticks right out over the rather steep drop to the ground hundreds of meters below. Inevitably there was also a queue to get out on to it but in typical Scandinavian style everyone was very gracious in waiting their turn and letting people take their time on the tongue. We each had a go with Matty filming his video for a kiwi version of the Lion King. A heavenly bagel was scoffed down in the shelter of some rocks before heading back to the car. Quite a few people had camped up there overnight which I thought was pretty cool, not a bad spot to watch the sunset around a camp fire!

Following the delightful 5 hour drive back to Stavanger we were a very weary group by the time we got there. Such an epic weekend though and made my dithering over whether I could afford to come to Norway all worthwhile, and it was only the beginning!

Bergen, Norway

A week and a half whizzed by in Uppsala before I was off again to Norway, the plan consisted of a solo mission to Bergen, a couple of hikes to big scary outcrops and a trip up into the Arctic Circle. With Norway being considered to be pretty damn spectacular in the outdoors (obviously second to NZ) it was all very exciting!

The train ride between Oslo and Bergen is considered to be one of the must do activities in Norway courtesy of the scenery. It certainly didn't disappoint. I really enjoy train trips as a way to travel, you get to see parts of cities and countries that you would normally miss in a car or on a plane. That's if you have the time to spare which I most definitely do at the moment. I just about cooked for the first hour sitting in the blazing sun on my side of the train. There was a blind but after 3 attempts to pull it down I gave up and was lulled off into a head lolling sleep as we sped out of Oslo. Things had improved greatly when I woke up, some nice older lady had done the blind while I was asleep and her and her friend sang away in Norwegian next to me. Not literally sang, but if you get a chance to listen to people speak Norwegian you'll understand what I mean. They sound like they are singing with all the changes in cadence and pitch as they talk, it's actually really nice to listen to even if you can't understand a word!

I hadn't been sure what to expect of the landscape, it was pretty different to home but beautiful. Lots of rolling hills and forest to begin with then it began to open up more with little lakes and bigger, steeper mountains. The further west we went the more sparse it became with bare rock poking through and patches of snow turning up. One thing I love about Scandinavia is most families have summer houses, or the kiwi equivalent of a bach. Often, and this was the case on the Oslo to Bergen route, they are in the middle of nowhere surrounded by forest with a lake nearby. A little slice of heaven during summer for walking, and winter for skiing. I attempted to take photos of this as it all zoomed by but every single photo has a lovely reflection off the window of me inside, need to practice my photography on train skills.

Bergen turned out to be a cute little seaside town that was bustling with what seemed to be mostly tourists. Once I found the hostel I was out the door again for a wander round with a gorgeous setting sun. The biggest attractions seemed to be the funicular up the hill and the old part of town. Being right on the edge of Norway I had considered attempting to get on some sort of boat cruise but the Norwegian prices quickly put a stop to my wishful thinking.

The next morning I was up bright and early courtesy of my room mates who left at 3am and 5am. Who plans to catch a train at 3am?!! I was thinking of going up the funicular and having a jog around up the top but that extra 2 minutes getting a coffee at breakfast meant I just missed the first ride up and would have to wait for another 30mins. So in typical Greta fashion I decided I could probably beat the next funicular if I ran/walked to the top. Success! Beat it by 10 minutes which meant I had the whole viewing area to myself and saved $40, winning! A wee jog/explore around the top filled up my morning before I had to be on the bus and to the airport. Next stop, Stavanger and Team Matty and Van.