Firstly a big shout out to all those people from near and far who reminded me that another year has passed and that yes this time next year I will be celebrating turning 30! It's always cool to see who and from where you receive messages from and ensures the day is special and it is also a nice reminder that it takes 2 seconds to wish someone HB so I must always do it! It's kinda ironic that I’ve gone from celebrating birthday number 28 drinking some of the best and cheapest rum in the world to the most expensive place ever to have a drink… Gee I'm looking forward to that Spanish red wine in 6 weeks time!
So great birthday spent kayaking under the beautiful arctic sun with Lucy on what was probably the best weather day of summer. Followed up with a bbq and a few ales, huge full moon and the biggest carrot cake of my life! Cheers.
Anyway enough about getting old and let's get into the travel chat… We are now almost legally allowed to work in Norway. Our visa has been approved (so we are told) so now just waiting for our official cards to arrive. This process has only taken 6 months and so many emails, phone calls and visits to the police it's not funny. At the most stressful time our employer received a warning that we had to leave the country in 3 weeks time. We now just have to get a tax number and then open a bank account and then we will hopefully be paid….So the good news is we are here to stay and will be spending the winter living in our wee cabin in the woods and working as dog sled guides in the far far north, 350km above the arctic circle. Fingers crossed for plenty of snow with clear nights for northern lights viewing and heaps of whales in the fiords for kayaking with!
This week we have had some truly epic weather so have been out making the most of it. We saw for the first time since arriving in May the sun set into the sea which was a very scenic novelty. It still is yet to get dark at night except of very cloudy nights. We also camped beside a cool fiord with a wee campfire and sat reading while the sun seemed to just be frozen in the sky. Climbing mountains is also a very common pastime, I think we have climbed 3 in the last 4 days. Needless to say the thighs are burning and thankful for a days rest although it is hard when the weather is so nice you feel obliged to make the most of it and get out amongst it.
It's not often that the two of us get two days off together in a row but when we do we have been away camping in some pretty special spots. Senja is a really cool island about an hours drive from us and as with everywhere here has some cool peaks with stunning views when the clouds stay away which was only briefly… We have seen the elusive puffins which were much smaller than anticipated, terrible flyers but kinda cute all the same. The reindeer are always impressive and we never get tired of spotting moose. At this time of year there are blueberries everywhere although not quite as big as the supermarket ones it certainly satisfying plodding along in the wilderness eating berries. The mushrooms are also pretty good too.
One of the biggest sporting events of the year is the Skyrace mountain run which is run by Soloman. We volunteered at the main race on the Saturday which our flat mate Manu was also running in. The course is an extremely hard 57km with nearly 5000m of vertical climb and competitors have to summit 3 mountains and scramble over a lot of very rough terrain. It was heaps of fun cheering on the competitors and Nick even ran the last 20km up over the last climb helping Manu to finish in 9.5 hours in a very credible 31st place even beating a number of sponsored professionals. It was crazy to see the level of funding and support the likes of Soloman give to such an event in Europe compared to little Ol NZ. As volunteers we all got a Soloman t-shirt, cap and hoody as well as food and of course a large cowbell each to ring.
White out all day from our spot 900m up Hampperoken
The mountain we climbed up in the background
One of the most exciting things about our current lifestyle is that it is never too far between overseas adventures. We have been busy planning for the months ahead and are super excited to be catching up with friends, some in their home towns along the way. First stop after completing our summer season at the end of Sept is a flying visit to the narrow fiords inland from Bergen where Nick used to work before flying out to the south of Spain for some sun! We will be spending time exploring our housemates backyard and popping over to Portugal for some surf hopefully. It would be rude to head to Spain and not visit our very talented friends in Mallorca and then some more beach time in Portugal. Next up it’s hitting the road with a tour from Wales across to Ireland and then making our way north into Scotland by which time we will most likely have run out of time and money so will gap it back to the cold here in Tromso from Edinburgh at the end of Nov.
If you are anywhere close to these locations do get in touch as we would love to see ya and we are always open for cool places to stay or visit along the way so fire through your suggestions!
