A Cabin in Silset

This weekend we spent up in the mountains at Frodes mothers cabin. It is an amazingly beautiful and peacefull spot, and our favourite of Norway. We drove up friday afternoon and relaxed for the afternoon taking in the scenery while drinking cups of tea and continued to do so for the rest of the weekend. In between our gazing and drinking we went for walks.

This time I did not brave the mountian and left the boys to that task, both of which enjoyed it and judging by the sore muscles the next day I may not have! Cathrine, Mattis and I walked (well the baby was carried) some of the way up the path with the boys, and turned back when we felt ready for another cup of tea. We ended up walking to where the summer houses where located. These houses are built in the old days to have animals live below them and girls from the ages of 16-20 live above them. These girls where brought up to live in the mountains in the summer to milk the cattle and goats to make cheeses and milk. I would say the men who owned the cattle would not have had any trouble getting thier sons to help with the cattle hearding!

That night the boys went fishing they fished for hours and hours to little avail but did manage to build a fire to roast marshmellows . Us girls stayed home to "look after the baby" which included the very hard task of eating chocolate and once again drinking tea!

The neaxt day was.... My BIRTHDAY! I enjoyed spending the day eating good food going for a walk and heading home after a lovely weekend to eat pizza and cake with a glass or two of red wine mmmm

This sunset lasted for close to two hours, the sun finaly dropped behind the mountain at around 10:30pm. It didnt matter we werent catching anything

Andy fishing... Cathrine and Frode saw a fox swimming across the lake but when it saw Andy turned back. Mmmm. Rainbow trout from a clean mountain lake tastes so sweet.

One of the many walks

This is the cabin.

Frode Tafto, the man of the house and model for Swazi Norway Ltd.

Up the top of the mountain Nebba

Walking in Norway

Coal Fish

Summit of Freikoll ('Frei' being name of island 'koll' meaning not hill, not mountain)

Grousse

Sweet Revenge!

So for the last three days we have been putting our poor little legs through the ringer by walking, walking and more walking....

Our first trip was to a 'good' fishing spot just out of town close to an old german fort, which at that stage we where not allowed to inspect as it was just the two boys and myself and Cathrine wanted to share that trip with us at a later date... Sooo the walk and location was very nice... as for the fishing I will just say the boys caught one fish each and will leave it to your imagination as to what size the fish were, all I will say is it was not worth carring them home! I did not fish so much but tried to hunt the fox's that live around those parts and try to steal fish sitting on the rocks... I had about as much success at that as the boys did fishing!

The next day Andy decided it would be a fun idea for us to climb a mountain. So we packed a picnic lunch and headed out into the unknown of Norway. Our instructions as to where exactly the path was were quite outdated and so we didnt quite find it. This excited Andy as he likes to 'forge his own path.' This may sound simple but let me tell you its not so much! First we had to walk through a tick infested swamp land at the bottom of the mountain with moss that sunk every step you took making hard progress. We finally found a resonable location (one that was not a sheer rock face) to start the climb, and climb we did. It was almost vertical, and you hand to use all four limbs at all times to scramble up the mountain. This was hard work but turned out to be lots of fun, however a word of warning when Andy tells you that "it's not too much further", well IT IS! We stopped somewhere up the mountain to have a nice lunch of risotto (which by the way we forgot forks for) and sweet melon to a beautiful view. We headed off again and came across more rock face. This time we were too far up and decided to navigate the rocks! Andy tells me that he now has a new way of thinking, he does not think of the way he would go but of the way Sharon would like to go... Im a bit stubborn when it comes to scary rock face climbing..which is quite resonable (I think) considering the high risk of death and/or disfigurement! So we managed to ascend this part without incident thinking that the top was near but mountains when climbing them seem to just get higher and higher argh... We did however get to see a cute bird and found snow where I was finally able to get my revenge (see the pictures attached)! Up and Up and Up and Up and then finally when my legs where going to dropp off we where at the top to find an awesome view yay!!! It was great up there and I could sit down too ahhhh.

But as I was soon to find out, there is no rest for the wicked or those with the wicked (Andy being my wicked) and when up a mountain one must also climb down. Which by the way is in itself was another huge event! We decided to walk along the 'small' ridge, (which is me being sarcastic as that ridge was huge) and climb down the other side. All I can say is by the end I found it hard to stop myself from falling over as my legs had turned to jelly and by that stage I had lost all care for by wellbeing!! Sooo you would think that was the end right, well wrong! We got on the bus to get home and the stupid button for stopping did not work so we ended up miles from home and had to walk (again) all the way back... lets just say I was not a happy tramper at that stage!

As for the next day we went fishing again, which turned out to be more successful then the other time but still the fish where not worth the carrying, so happily returned to the sea to be caught by another annoyed fisherman. The walk was nice (even though I was tired) as nothing could be as bad as the day before!

Oh yes and that night we got to eat whale meat, mmmmm yummy!

Now after reading this I suggest you all go and experience the fun of 'forging your own path' up a mountain... oh go on just do it!

Sharon

17 Mai - National Day... a big thing!!!

So today is national day. No one celebrates this day like Norwegians, it is a big thing. The day starts at 7am with a cannon blast and everyone puts up their flags, this is about 95% of the houses.

At 9am we left for town dressed in our best, which for us wasnt much. Every county in Norway has a special dress, its kinda like the scottish and tartans. These outfits cost about 20,000 kroner (over 5ooo NZD) for the women and more for the men. Most of the women wear them but only a few of the men. The kids have them also but theirs are a bit different, more of a standard thing called a party dress this is as they are cheaper and kids grow fast.

You walk around and to any one you know you say "congratulations for the day" but in norwegian of course. The main features of the day are three parades. the first is for all the schools of the town starting with the kindergardens, which there are a suprisingly large amount of... there must be something in the water here. This parade is huge and must be kilometers long. This is followed by the "Russ" these are students who are finishing school, a long tradition where they wear funky pants and get up to mischief around town for a month ending today with them all well and truly hungover! The last is a parade for every club and organisation in town... and so most of the town ends up in at least one parade and so not too many people actually watching them parade! It is a very loud event where people call out slogans, blow whistles and wave more flags then we have ever seen in our lives! Next you all eat ice cream and spring rolls.

After all the excitement we went home for a nice nap (yay for sweet holiday naps) to prepair ourselves for the second part of the day which involves (as far as we can gather) large amounts of food and family.

So to all of you GRATULERE MED DAGEN!

Catherine and Mattias

Atlantic Rd

The best bridge

The fort and a monument.

A sod roof

Frode took us on a drive down the Atlantic Rd which goes south from Kristiansund to Molde. We left at 10am to catch a car ferry which took us across to another Island, about a 10min trip. The back of the boat opens up, you drive on, then the front opens up like a jaw and you drive off. we were treated to cold pancakes made with horn salt, aparently the process stinks but once the pancakes are cool they are fluffy and sweet and taste dam good!

It was a stunning day with barley a cloud in sight and calm clear water... i took my togs. Most of the roads in Norway are too narrow for a center line... i dont know why, there is plenty of space. The Atlantic Rd takes you right out by the ocean and over these amazing bridges that hop from island to island. After the islands we check out an old German fort with a great outlook over the ocean.

Swinging in land we went into the mountains, past lots of buildings with sod roofs up to a pass with a cafe where we stoped for tea. Sharon and i didnt realse that this stop was the lunch stop and since the guide (Frode) didnt eat anything we thought that we must be stopping somewhere else... this proved fatal after leaving at 10am we didnt get to eat till 4pm... did i mention HANGRY!!! we werent too badbut it did get a little quiet towards the end. Moral of the story, dont make asssumptions. But we all knew that didnt we.

The drive was a great one and the scenery amazing, but there was a crisp breeze so i opted out for the swim maybe next time... must be getting soft?

Thanks Frode we wont hold a grudge.

relaxing in Norway

This is a floating oil rig that floated past the window, it has come in for repairs.

There are lots of old wooden boats in the harbour.

It has been really nice to just be able to relax and have a bit of a holiday. Our days ar dominated by sleeping in and mild walks around town. Sharon is sarting to get better now after being knocked around by a particularly nast dose of the flu.

The weather has vastly improved and now feels like we have come to a summer. We went for a walk up a hill in town and both got burned to a crisp... nice. The northern hemisphere sun is far more forgiving than the southern one. We got ourselves a treat the other day, a bag of lollies and a bar of chocolate, this cost a mere 70 kroner, about $18 kiwi dollars! flip!!!

A crisp morning walk

These are some photos from my wanders around Kristiansund. The deer are roe deer and were in the neighbors garden.
Kristiansund is a town of 26,000 it is made up of islands connected by tunnels and cool bridges.
This time of year there are vibrant tulips everywhere.

Andy.

Long haul flights BITE!!!!

Andrew and Sharon going for a walk in Norway:

Well we are finally here in Norway and in an 'OK' state of mind to actually write coherently... well of that you may be the judge! Norway is fantastic... long haul flights to get there however are NOT. Especially when one was not feeling the best to begin with! All I can say is it was an interesting experience coughing up a storm when the whole world is on high alert for the suspected 'swine flue'. Especially when arriving into Hong Kong airport to find that they where screening for temperatures... I was fortunate to scrape through but felt sorry for those who did not and where put into quarantine just for passing through a country!
We are just getting over our jet lag though in saying that my whole world still feels as though it is moving, as is this computer. But are now able to go for a few walks through Kristiansund (the town we are staying in) and I have to say I would describe pretty much the whole of Norway as 'cute'... I mean they still have houses with grass growing on their roofs, and I people have been known to trim them by putting goats up onto the roof... as I say 'cute'! It is great being able to stay with Andrew’s family and meeting their wee baby and we are excited to spend more time with them doing new and exciting things! That is all I have to say and will let you know more about Norway when we are feeling more up to being adventurous.

By the way there are no photos of us whilst travelling... that would have been bad!