The further north we get, the more .. "quaint" our hotels get :)
Last night's hotel had a pretty awkward bathroom and the buffet breakfast was extremely limited (no bacon! *gasp*). Temperature was still too warm (we're in the arctic circle and it's too hot!). Opened the window for a while, but we were on the ground floor so didn't leave it open for the night. We did have a lovely view out the window though.
Slept like crap though. Other than lots of young guys partying on after the hockey game finished and making an awful lot of noise, I also woke up stressing about hurty and other such things. So I ended up being super tired all day. :(:(:(
Out the door at 7:30. Drove up to Norway, and noone was even at the border crossing so just quietly passed into Norway. Had to turn our clocks back an hour which makes today even longer. Also stuffs up my photo numbering which is based on time. There'll be overlap of a few photos.
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Island in Lake Leviäsalmi
By 8:45 local time we arrived at a small Sami museum. Had some explanations of some of the things by a local Sami lady which was interesting. I was so tired I was falling asleep on my feet though.
The Sámi Museum
Reindeer and sled in the Sámi Museum
Photo by Mum
Traditional Sami clothing
Interior of a traditional Sami tent
Sami hut
Interior of the Sami hut
Then saw real live majestic mooses! Three on the other side of the coach, then I saw one on just outside my window and managed a good picture of it as we zoomed past. Lots and lots of reindeer too.
The Majestik Møøse
Reindeer near Kistrand
Drove along a fjord which looked very pretty, although Peter our guide says as fjords go from one to ten, it's probably a two. The super sad thing is, for all the drives where we'll be going past fjords in the next week, we're going to be on the wrong side of the coach :(:(:( Super sad making :(
Continued on and stopped for lunch at Olderfjord. Really nothing there but a small restaurant and a camp site. Had some quite nice soup for lunch, which was 99 NOK. Which translates to $16.50 AUD. Ouch. This place is even more expensive than Denmark, which shocked me four years ago.
The drive north from there got prettier and prettier. The rock strata was quite spectacular. Saw an eagle sitting on a rock. Passed cute little fishing villages, including many candidates for Stu's dream home. Got up past the trees and into the tundra, which with all the snow and rocks looked an awful lot like our snowy mountains!
Norwegian village on Porsangerfjorden
Inlet on Porsangerfjorden
Interesting rock strata
Eagle over Porsangerfjorden
House near Sarnes
Honningsvåg
Finally arrived in Honningsvag and checked into the hotel and found an ATM to get some cash out.
Then headed out again. This time for an optional bird watching cruise off the northwest side of the island. It was pretty expensive (109 EUR I think) but it was super cool. Got to see cormorants, puffins, razorbills, guillemots, white tailed eagles, gannets, kittiwakes and a whole heap of seagulls (a couple of varieties). But we finished off seeing a small group of seals which was pretty awesome. Got some great photos.
Norwegian houses
Fish drying racks near Gjesvær
The boat Lundekongen we took for the bird watching tour
Gjesvær from the boat
Me and Mum on the bird watching tour boat
Common eider
Cormorants
Razorbills
Puffin
Puffin flying
White tailed eagle
Gannets
Gannets
Island nesting colonies (Storstappen island)
Storstappen Island
Guillemots
Sea gulls and a rock crevice on Storstappen island
Seals off Kjerkestappen island
Seals off Kjerkestappen island
View southwest from Fv156 on the way back from the bird watching tour
Our tour guide Peter and me on some snow we stopped at on the way back from the bird watching tour
Photo by Mum
The Scandic Nordkapp resort
Back to the hotel for dinner. They weren't very well organised, but the food I had was very nice.
After a break after dinner (and then having to go wake up Peter who had fallen asleep) we headed out again - up to North Cape. After a rainy start to the day it wasn't all that hopeful that we'd see the sun, but it had actually been clearing for the evening which was super exciting. When we arrived we all had a glass of champagne and some caviar and salmon canapes then got a bit of time to get our photos taken with the globe and have a look at the movie and museum dug into the rock. Then at midnight we were all out to see the midnight sun. Pretty awesome :):):) The lowest it dips is actually a little bit after midnight, but they didn't give us time to hang around for that. But it was pretty surreal to be able to see the sun due north in the northern hemisphere - coming over the top of the world. Also the most furthest north I'm ever likely to get on land.
Norwegian coastline north of Honningsvåg
Norwegian coastline on the way to North Cape
Globe sculpture at Nordkapp (North Cape)
Sun seen through the globe facing north at Nordkapp
North Cape Milestone
St Johannes Chapel in North Cape Hall
North Cape Hall
Mother and Child sculpture by Eva Rybakken
King Oscar II Obelisk
View north to the midnight sun at Nordkapp (23:47)
View north to the midnight sun at Nordkapp (00:10)
Coming back Peter said that they only get to see the midnight sun about ten percent of the time, and for most tour groups they never actually get to see it. So we were extremely blessed. It was "sunset" lighting the whole way back to the hotel, but it was weird knowing that the sun was actually rising - it wasn't going to set at all!
View to Storstappen island where we did the birdwatching tour
Reflections in a small lake on the way back to Honningsvåg
So this hotel, in the middle of the arctic, where the sun doesn't set for weeks at a time, couldn't be arsed putting in blockout blinds. We just had these flimsy things that let the light in all night. Fail.
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