I could start this blog post with a reflective comment like as the sun sets on another day here in Norway above the arctic circle we look back…. But we haven't seen a sunset in the 6 or so weeks we have been here and will not for at least another. It has taken some time to adjust to 24 hours of light (sun would be an unfair overstatement). The weather here is special, we get a lot of cloudy days but as a whole, little rain although everything changes very quickly. This makes for amazing lighting on the mountains and surrounding fiords and when the sun does shine it is truly stunning. It is also these beautiful times that going to sleep is thrown out the window and we get outside and make the most of it.
I'll touch on work later but the long sunny evenings are perfect for running or climbing in the mountains or a spot of fishing. It is so strange to be standing on top of a mountain (of which there is no shortage of) at midnight and watching the sun climbing higher in the sky. The snow has finally started to recede a bit quicker as the temperature have risen from the daily highs of 4 or 5 degrees to a balmy 12-15 degrees and even cracked 20 the other day! The fishing here is amazing with arctic cod nailing any little lure and school fish similar to a mullet teaming in one narrow channel in particular. Here, when the tide turns these fish just boil for as far as you can see, the sound is crazy too with so many fish jumping and the huge schools of screeching gulls it's a magic sight.
As the snow has been a bit slow to melt this year it has meant that the reindeer have hung around at sea level. This is such a novelty still. The antlers these guys posses is impressive and they are not at all phased by cars which can pose a few problems. We have also seen a few moose, though these don't have the huge antlers like in Canada. The other day we spooked 4 as we took the long walk to work up over the mountain which was pretty cool.
We are well settled into our cozy wee cabin which we share with two other cool energetic people, Manu the Spanish mountain running machine and Ieva the Latvian/Russian energiser bunny. These guys are always keen for an adventure oh and of course we have a few pet dogs, normally it's just one or two but often more… We have a number of trails which lead directly from our house up into the mountains which are very convenient although the terrain is very boggy in places with lots of peat swamp and the occasional knee deep mud puddle, big clawed running shoes are a must!
It's not all running, when we first got here there was still plenty of snow around so on a kinda gloomy day we went snow chasing. We donned touring skis and a split board and after a bit of a steep rocky climb found enough crusty snow to get the skins out. We skirted a frozen lake and headed on up with spectacular views back down to the fiords. The snow didn't improve so we turned around just before the summit disappeared into the clouds and shredded our way back down only tumbling a couple of times when we broke through the crust. It was a great taste for what potentially awaits us next winter….
The busy summer tourist season has started to kick into gear with plenty of cruise ship passengers to take kayaking and wandering through the dog yard. The clients are a real mixed bag who generally have plenty of cash to throw around so it's not hard to pay for the weekly supermarket shop if you grease them up the right way… We also run longer activities for tourists who are not so restricted by time with the most popular being a midnight sun kayak. It's a great trip if the weather plays ball with a great dinner of reindeer stew and plenty of sea birds with chicks to view, unfortunately the sunsets have nothing on an auckland-sea-kayak-sunset-tour-rangitoto-island …. The kiwi attitude of a bit of she’ll be right and just getting stuck in has seen us do all sorts of jobs from kayak guiding to training puppies, picking up dog shit and feeding raw cows stomachs to flipping sausages and steaks on the barby and even the odd bit of shovelling gravel and building…
It is true that everything in Norway is ridiculously expensive so we generally just eat vegetarian meals and certainly don't drink very much as a pint is about 170 krona or 28NZD. The other night we went out for our first and probably last meal out. It was just a pretty stock standard bar with terrible service and we ordered very ordinary burgers and fries with no beers. The grand total for the two of us was 440 krona or 74NZD that really is day light robbery and as an Aussie guest told the barmaid… “You really should be wearing a balaclava love”... It's easy to see why the locals don't go out and socialise too much.
Time seems to fly by up here and another week has come to an end for us we are glad to see the snow retreating from the mountains here but hope that there is plenty of the white fluffy stuff dusting the tops down in middle earth.
