Sailing Harstad - Tromsø

I am a fan of couchsurfing and since February 2011 been letting people surf my couch. If you don´t know the idea behind, it simply means letting strangers traveling to your home town stay on your sofa. In return you get to know people from all over the world that you might never have met otherwise. Of course you can sleep on strangers´ couches when you travel but I haven´t dared to do that yet. (might sound a little strange I know)
While on board last time a French man contacted me. He and a friend were on their way to Harstad with his sailboat and they asked me for some advice on where to go out while in town and if I wanted to meet them. I wrote down a few names of bars and said that I could come because I was at work and then thought I would never hear from him again. I was wrong.

A few days after returning home he wrote me again and thanked for my help. He mentioned that he was coming back to Harstad because he needed to sail up to Tromsø to pick up some things before returning to Harstad again. He then invited me to come along. Of course I could not let the opportunity pass so I said YES!

Here are some photos from the journey.

Leaving Harstad

One of the many beautiful sights during the voyage 

Rice and vegetables, easy cooking while on the go

Still, it tasted great

Passing Gibostad

Captain Damien and his smelly cheese 

If it hadn´t been for the frozen fingers, this could have been any sunset in the Mediterranean 

Rystraumen, the strongest tidal current along the Hurtigruten stretch. 

Me in control of the boat. Damien is tilting the camera!! 

Docked in sunny Tromsø

The boat!

According to Damien, I was a sailing talent. It was fun trying to figure out how the wind affected the sails but also challenging at times. Most of the tour we had very little wind and though the weather was wonderfully sunny, it was freezing cold. Even 5-6 layers of clothing (mostly wool) could not keep me warm. Still, my conclusion is that I´d love to sail again. Maybe somewhere warmer though.. :) 

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:

Birthdays at work

Life on board is hard to explain to people. We all miss home, family and friends and perhaps particularly on days such as your birthday. This was my first time celebrating on board and I must say I was wondering how it would be without the special attention you normally get at home from friends and family. I´m happy to report that everyone I saw that day made me feel very special and loved.

It started while working in the dining hall in the morning when some of the crew sang the Norwegian birthday song and placed the coolest yellow crown on my head, telling me that I had to wear it the whole day through. Later I discovered about 10 posters that the receptionist trainee had put up all over the ship. They resulted in several congratulations and even more hugs. Not only from crew but passengers as well.

The weirdest thing of all was my cake. You see the birthday tradition includes a cake for you and the crew to enjoy. One of the chefs has made crazy, nasty looking birthday cakes her speciality and I must say that mine is the worst I´ve seen so far. Don´t get it wrong, they are all pieces of art and there´s no doubt that the girl is talented but oh my goodness what and awful looking cake it was! That being said, the butt cheek tasted great!

Cape Reinga and my grandmother´s tree

Some of you might not know it but at the moment I´m on holiday in New Zealand. I´m having an absolutely marvelous time. This must be one of the most beautiful countries in the world and I´m very lucky to have my friend Ingerid and her boyfriend Isaac as local tour guides.

On the day I was leaving, I received a message from home that my grand mother had passed away. She died 5 days before her 91st birthday. We knew she was weak and ill because of age but didn´t know how long she would stay with us. I was just about to board the plane from Schipol to Beijing when my mother wrote me the sad news. She said that my grand mother would have wanted me to go and my stomach feeling told me that I should travel despite feeling really sad. 

All settled and rested in Auckland I found out what great travel plans Ingerid had made for us. We were supposed to head north to the Bay of Islands and from there make it up to the New Zealand "North Cape" called Cape Reinga. The original plan was to leave today Sunday the 26th but we ended up leaving Thursday the 23th in stead. After one night at a backpacker place in the Bay of Islands, we got up with the sun and boarded the "Awesome NZ bus" that we would spend the next 11 hours on. 

Our tour guide and bus driver Barry made the trip and unforgettable one. He told us great stories along the route. Among them was the spiritual importance of Cape Reinga. The Maori believe that the spirit of the dead travel to the afterlife from Cape Reinga. They actually leave the land through an 800 year old tree. Barry told us that when visiting the cape, we should think of our loved ones. He also shared a very personal and sad story of loosing his son at the age of 5. He explained how important the cape is to him and how he tries to visit the tree he has planted there in remembrance of his son. 

Since this was the day of my grand mother´s funeral, I decided that I would plant a tree for her as well. It felt wonderful being able to mark the day even though I was on the opposite side of the world. 

Grand mother Asbjørg´s tree

The whole atmosphere on the cape was magical. It´s truly one of the most amazing places I have ever been. It might have had something to do with me being quite emotional that day but the color of the sea and land, the sound of crushing waves and cicadas "singing" all around us, the great company in Ingerid and the sun and warm temperature in addition to the wind keeping us from melting away, really made the day perfect. 

Kirkenes Snow hotel

Now that I´m again working as the Hurtigruten potato, one of the most important jobs that I do is selling our excursions. Obviously to be good at selling something, you have to know your product. I have been on a few of our summer excursions but not that many of the winter events. Therefore when we got to Kirkenes Sunday, I got to go to see the Snow hotel or "Gabba" as it is also known. (Gabba means white reindeer)

As we sailed into the fjord towards Kirkenes, the sun was rising and from the ocean we could see the mist rise. It was quite magical.

I hopped on the right bus after sending most of the guest in the right direction together with my boss Ina.(we have another 2 excursions offered in Kirkenes and two additional busses taking the passengers to the airport or the city centre) The ride was short but I´m really happy we didn´t have to walk because the temperature was -15. That is not uncommon for Kirkenes but still something we don´t experience too often.

Here are some of the pictures from the ice hotel:

 The hall way. Rooms both to the right and left

 The Nansen Suite

 My favourite room!

Outside of the hotel I spotted a bunch of exclusive and expensive vehicles. These things are very very Norwegian and called "Spark". Works perfect in places that stay cold and white through most of the winter. 

 Spark

Rudolph showed up as well and he was very curious and hungry. I want to add super cute too but he didn´t really like it when I tried to cuddle him behind his ear so I´m not sure I would have him as a pet.

"feed me or leave me alone"

I liked the tour a lot. It might have had something to do with the weather. Just look at the pictures below. However the snow hotel is a very interesting concept. What struck me the most was the silence in the rooms. I think I would have slept really well there. Right next to it they had a big and wonderful sauna and what better way to start your morning after a night in a snow cave than sitting in a wonderfully warm sauna? Maybe I´ll book a room next year. Anybody who would join me?? :)

 At last I leave you with a picture of the boat docked in red January light. What a wonderful day!