Photo bonanza from Kiwiland

My plan was to tell you all about my adventures in New Zealand but a little bit into the project, I realized I had a hard time finding the common thread that would bind the stories together. I´m not so good with words either and using English, a wonderful language for sure, is something I don´t feel as confident about as I used to when I spoke it everyday. Then I remembered the famous frase "A picture says more than thousand words", and decided to not give you one, but twenty three photos from Kiwiland. I find that they sum up my dream holiday in a great way. 

First impression first: WOW and EXCITING!

A nice and calm start visiting Auckland zoo watching Hippopotamus´ butts! 

Ingrid took me to see the Kiwis as well and boy was I surprised by the way they look. You have to go and see for yourself and then you will understand.. 

Next up I meet Marianne again (yay!!) and her boyfriend took us to see Cricket that despite being quite entertaining left me totally confused

Then Ingerid and I bussed our bodies up north where we hugged enormous Kaori trees. (Obviously they draw a lot of energy from the ground and hugging one is believed to give you a boost of energy)

When heading north, why not just go to the northern most tip that happens to be one of the most beautiful places on earth? 

After all the beauty you need to play around in the sand and go sand surfing!!

 Back "home" in Auckland you introduce the famous Norwegian waffles and BROW CHEESE to the locals and they all say "yummy" :D

Brown cheese madness

You squeeze in some shopping and cafe visits, after all, girls will be girls ;) 

On Waiheke island you enjoy another spectacular day with good friends

Vineyards all over the island.. 

Then you think it´s time to share this self portrait that proves what a horrible island tracker you are (shoulder bag on one arm, broken plastic bag containing a huge towel that you never used, big scarf that made you sweat like a pig and way too many clothes for the temperature)  

 On a lovely Sunday afternoon I realized that yes indeed it is the season of discovery

After waving good bye to great friends and Auckland you enjoy some more of the hilly Kiwi landscape

Rotorua makes your jaw drop with amazement over the powers from below ground, in this case a geyser. 

 The Maori language sounds very beautiful but left me struggling for hours just to get the pronunciation right. This village uses the hot pool to cook, bathe and clean clothes. Fascinating! 

The locals in Rotorua were not half as scary as they looked.. :)

Though Rotorua was great, it did feel ok to get away from the constant smell of sulphur to marvel at the crazy stalagmites and stalactites in the Waitomo caves

This photo proves my excellent skills as a photographer. If you concentrate you might be able to see the Glow worms and then you can imagine sitting in a boat that glides through the cave in total darkness and silence while you look up and see thousands of these little shining spots. *goose bump moment*

After yet another day of wonderful impressions you can´t believe what an perfect ending you receive when arriving Lake Taupo. 

While driving you can´t find out whether this particular mountain is called Tongariro, Ruapehu or Ngauruhoe but you do learn that all of the three are active vulcanos and that this is actually "Mordor"

I loved Wellington and that fact that I could meet up with a high school friend after not seeing her for almost 11 years, made the stay even better!

The funniest thing happened on one of the last days in NZ. I went to the library and there among the foreign language section I found a book that promised to teach me Norwegian. Not that weird you might think? I agree, but when I tell you that the cover of the book shows my childhood home in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, (the place probably as far away from New Zealand that you can get on this planet), then you can do nothing but laugh and shake your head!

On the plane home I felt tired from the journey and all the adventures. I did have time to look down on parts of China: 

and get another really funky stamp in my pass port. Probably the best thing though, was realizing that I had only seen bits and pieces of the North Island and that I still have to make time for exploring the South Island.  I will be back! 

I´ve been kissed by a wolf!

In January the Norwegian broadcasting company showed a mini-series of the two brown bears Salt & Pepper who were born and live in Polar zoo in Salangsdalen, not that far away from Harstad. The show also followed the life of the other animals in the zoo.

For a long time I´ve known that Polar zoo socializes the animals from a very early age so that having humans around is a pleasurable thing and not stressful. Salt and Pepper are now grown ups and too big for close encounters and cuddles but I knew that Polar zoo offers you a chance on the other side of the fence with their wolves (Wolf Camp), therefore it was with great expectations and a few butterflies in my stomach that Lise, Trond and I headed North West to cuddle and kiss wolves today.

First of all a small picture of our own domesticated "wolf" that turned 11 years old today

I noticed early in the park that most of the animals were very curious and after hesitating a little, they came closer to look at the three weird people on the other side of the fence. We used baby talk with the elks, exercised Salt while waiting for Pepper to come and great us, pissed off the Musk ox a little (that wouldn´t take much it turned out, just talking to him made him attack the fence with his head) and got hissing sounds from the lynxes. All in all, every single animal at the park were fascinating and 1,5 hours passed quickly.

The pretty pretty lynx!

 Salt is an albino brown bear and she has such a cute red nose and long nails for climbing

 and I felt that we had a special connection right from the beginning.. ;)

The lonely wolverine, who´s getting a girlfriend from a zoo in Stockholm soon.

At 14.00 o´clock we were supposed to meet outside the wolves enclosure. Having just left the furious and attacking Musk ox, I felt a little anxious but after the safety briefing that left us without gloves and hats and Lise and Trond having to change into overalls (who would have thought that Wolves like to pick feathers from holes in down jackets..?), we climbed into the snow with 3 lively wolves running next to us.

 Lets go walking! 

Kiss me honey honey, kiss me!

They are properly french and very wet! haha

It was such a great experience. Having three almost wild wolves run around you in the snow, playing and jumping around. Of course we had to be calm and not make rushed movements. The guides also told us that they are a little like cats, in the way that they ignore you if you give them too much attention. Trond was especially popular but we all received plenty of attention. One guide even got peed on. Apparently that is totally normal and said we should expect it happening to us as well. 

I didn´t get peed on thank goodness but I did have a terrific day and I would recommend the Wolf Camp to anyone passing by Polar Zoo!

:)

MS Nordstjernen - The grand old lady

During my previous shift on MS Nordnorge, another ship in our Hurtigruten fleet made her last round trip along the Norwegian coast. After 56 years in service the grand old lady has gotten too old and there are simply too many hick ups to keep her sailing.

In my eyes she is a beauty. One of the last "true boats" in the fleet and while working there we had lots of visitors telling the crew how much she means to them. Therefor she received a lot of honor all along the coast. MS Nordnorge and MS Nordstjernen dock together in Rørvik - two days after leaving Bergen - and on board we arranged poster work shops for the guests. We wanted to thank the ship for all her hard work and also give back something after she showed us her best side when NRK (the Norwegian national broadcasting company) filmed the 134 hour long trip Bergen - Kirkenes onboard Nordnorge last year.


Even though my Nordstjernen carrier was nothing more than 50 days long, I managed to fall in love with her. She´s so charming. There´s usually something not working, she rolls and shakes in bad weather, you have to get out of bed to go out in the hall way to use the ladies room and she´s very noisy. So what is it that makes her so special?


Maybe it´s the way the crew greeted me. The fun we had. They way most passengers love her "hick ups". The close feeling you have to the sea (after all you´re only a few meters above the ocean itself). The sound of the engine starting. The way the officers dock her by the help of the anker (no side thrusters to help you steer this madame) Or maybe it´s because of the ship´s own ghost called Ernst. I´m not sure. There´s just something about her.

That´s why I knew exactly what to paint on my poster: