Off to the Saltstraumen

Whilst cruising along on our ferry is giving us a fascinating insight into life in fjord country, from time to time we like to do something that is a bit different. So here is Randall boarding his water taxi for a ride into one of the the world's greatest tidal changes-the Saltstraumen just a few kilometres out of Bodo. The locals seem to think that foreigners might find the water a tad too cool should they fall out of the boat and so we were given a survival kit to wear.

I wonder what sort of survival kit the vikings had during their holiday outings to England in former days?

Over the Arctic circle and into Bodo area

This morning (18Aug09) we pass over the Arctic circle at about 7.30am after about 3 hours already of daylight. This morning we visit Ornes for a short while before heading further North and Bodo. And just as we think that there will be fewer houses outside towns, we pass yet another small holding squeezed in between the rocks. Town sizes are not great; Ornes has about 1600 inhabitants whilst Bodo is the second largest town in Northern Norway at about 36,000.

The view in Trondheim is quite Scandinavian

The new uni year is starting as we check out the historically significant cathedral of Trondheim. The new generation of Norwegians put on a display for the wandering crowds whilst we walk back to the Richard With for our trip into the Arctic circle.

Randall is now a bit more constrained than usual as internet connectivity is somewhat limited and slow on board the Richard With. A couple of sessions to update emails are just enough to keep us up to date. We do notice the triviality of Aussie politics and wish that Kev could just stop grandstanding and talking and start actually doing something. It is easy enough to spend other people’s money to buy votes but another thing to take difficult decisions in trying economic times. From up here in this part of the globe, there seems to be more to life than pursuing the folly of Afghanistan, racist based immigration policies and denying man’s influence on the environment, including Australia’s collusion with the greedy set.

But hey; a short visit to beautiful Rorvik beckons so I must finish off now and put on my polar bear fleece and get some exercise in before dining on some more of that tasty whale.

Getting further away from it all

The sea is like glass and in the morning we briefly stop at Alesund. Three of us are still at breakfast so Randall has just enough time to wander into town on his own to check out the town as it starts the day. Alesund is an attractive town which looks like it is doing well.

We are having difficulty sorting out just who are the Norwegians, who are Swedes, who are Danes and who are Germans out of our travel mates. These seem to be the dominant foreign speaking people on the ship. Of course there are the inevitable pommies most of whom seem to be retirement home escapees seeking a sun tan in Norway by sitting in coolish breezes on the rear sun decks much as they would usually do on Brighton beach. Their mates are snoozing over their books and knitting in the panoramic lounge upstairs.

The days on board are somewhat idyllic as the ferry glides along winding its way through the thousands of islands. We are continually amazed that people actually live here but perhaps these people have much the same challenges as people face when living in central and Western Australia. The remoteness of it all must be tough at times. But if we think of the sea ways as part of the national highways then it all makes sense. We on the Richard With are part of a traffic network where each ship of the line is one day apart when leaving from Bergen. So far, at day 4 of the trip north we have seen some 4 other Hurtigruten ships making their way south. So there are plenty of opportunities for locals to go back and forth from the bigger cities of Bergen, Trondheim, Bodo, Tromoso and Harstad. In many ways it is better going here than in NSW where we are still trying, and failing, to construct at least one highway of international standard, let alone using sea lanes for transport.

Hurtigruten and off Northwards out of Bergen

Our return after many years to the western Norwegian city of Bergen starts and ends with some rain. In between we managed to get half a day of perfect sunshine during which we took the cable car up one of the hills overlooking this jewel of a city and after taking in the tremendous views we thoroughly enjoyed our walk down through the trees back to the old town and the gaggle of tourists.

By Saturday evening we were making our way on foot from Hotel Neptun to our nearby home for the next week, the Hurtigruten ship, Richard With. After checking out Richard and settling in, we left Bergen on time and began our epic journey up the west coast of Norway; a trip we had been targeting for several years.

Now just how many islands are there as we snake our way north? How cold will it be up here? How old are our fellow travellers? How can people live in this climate? What do the locals do all day? Is the scenery as powerful as we had heard?

Norway in a nutshell

If there is one day that can describe regal Norway it was today. From Voss we took a local bus down a steep hill deep into a valley and the small community of Gudvangen. A tiny skinny road which was unbelievably formerly a two way road for buses. At Gudvangen we joined up with tourists (we are travellers as you know) for a couple of fantastic hours sailing along Sognefjord fjord to Flam. This is Norway’s deepest and longest fjord and the weather for us is just fantastic. We fill our cameras memories with unforgettable images as we sail along.

After a short break and a bite to eat at Flam we follow even more tourists to clamber aboard the train to climb from 2 metres to 866 metres at Myrdal on a stunningly constructed rail line which winds its way up and out of the deep valley. We take another local train for the last hour of this spectacular day back to our hotel in Voss.

Onwards and upwards-To Voss

I apologise to readers in that the blog has drifted into more of a day by day monologue with less and less comment. So I will try to lift the standard back to where I used to be. The day to day listings is a handy way of recording happenings however, especially as there have been some early lapses in my separate written diary.

As we drag ourselves away from beautiful Oslo and head west into the mountains and eventually Voss, we do encounter more rain. In some ways it is a bit of a relief from the hot days and we are thinking that in Voss we might enjoy a nice winter’s meal at Fleischer’s hotel which is virtually on the train station platform. Nice and handy for when we leave here in two day’s time.