13th July - Tromsø
Mari and I fly from Oslo airport to Tromsø to meet Kristin. A short transit in the '91 passat and we arrive at Kristin's massive apartment. Being in Tromsø we decided to try our luck at looking for the Midnight sun. At 11pm we walked up the hill, past a lady painting her house (no better time!) and through the forest only glimpsing the famous sight. With a long day of driving ahead of us we decide to get some kip.
14th July - Onwards and Downwards to Lofoten
We load up the passat with our belongings and start our small epic drive to these beautiful islands. One thing worth noting was that in the first 50km there was at least 7 speed cameras.. Overkill? well I think so. Today we plan to reach some place to camp on the Islands of Lofoten via the Polar Zoo and Bjervik (famous for a really good burger!).
The Polar Zoo was a chance for me to meet my namesake species. And I must say we are a good looking bunch. Check out this little guy.
Despite the rain it was a really nice zoo, each animal had sufficient space as to not feel too crowded yet small enough for us to occasionally glimpse a sight of them. The zoom lens was getting a work out here. As well as wolves we saw Artic Fox, Elk, Lynx, Moskus, Deer and the head of a Brown Bear.
After the Zoo we headed to Bjervik for a burger and I can say that they are worth the hype. Looks like a cross between McDonalds and Red Rooster but the burgers are big and delicious. After the meal we cruise onto the islands and I start to become more familiarized to driving on the wrong side of the road. My Navigator and I agree on a suitable point to reach, Sandvika.
When we arrive the wind was gusting quite heftily so we sought a place between some rocks to place our "massive" tent.
As you can see the clouds were producing less than desirable weather but we took some snaps anyway.
15th July - Sandvika to Ballstad
The next morning the weather was a different story.
After packing down we drove off towards Henningsvaer. This place was a very touristy destination but for good reason. The harbour was in the heart of the town and this is a fishing town so it makes sense. Even though this town emits some intense vibes of isolation, it feels homely at the same time and to make this point more visual I will show you some pictures of this beautiful little cafe we visited.
After walking through the town looking through the many different artist's stores we find this abandoned kaviar factory which housed a very cool street art gallery. This style of art is amazing and most pictures carry some sort of "mening". A small preview below.
After realizing we weren't actually going to live here we pressed on, camera heating up from capturing all this amazing scenery.
We decide to take the road less traveled off the tourist route and it pays off. We found this incredible vista (and a beach!).
We were sailing along enjoying the awesome views and then I saw this amazing house and I stop the car to take some photos. Mari takes over driving and we set off... well that was the plan but the passat and decided we needed to stay here a little longer. Apparently it drained the battery in 2mins and we flag down some fellow tourist in a hire Mercedes. After not being able to find the battery???? so much plastic. We let them go and wave down another car this time a mondeo wagon and also a hire car. A quick charge and jump and we were off. Well as these things go, we make it about 1km and the car starts jerking erratically and we just make it into an abandoned service station. The time now is about 4:45pm and right across the road we see a mechanics shop in the middle of no-where it seems, a stroke of luck!. After some short diagnosis and cross translation the mechanic find that the brushes on the alternator were worse for wear and he phones a friend in a nearby town and he hands me the keys of one of his cars and we make a dash for this town. Meanwhile the man in the shop in town is holding the shop open for us. We pay the man and fly back to the workshop to install the new brushes. After a quick charge and thanking the nice mechanic with money. We now finally set off. Waiting for something else to go wrong.
The destination for tonight was a Rorbua in Ballstad after some time asking directions, we find our destination. A quick meal and we decide to do some walking to see what we can see. The Rødbuer were set at the foot of a massive mountain (not uncommon round here as you can see) and we try our luck at seeing the midnight sun second time round.
An expansive view is the fruit of our efforts. And we sit behind a rock waiting for the midnight sun.
Some clouds obscure the true image of the sun but we still enjoy the view. So, Search for The Midnight Sun Part 2 is also unsuccessful.
16 July Nusfjord - Utakleiv
So today the journey was somewhat unplanned but we wished to go to Å. The southernmost town on the Lofoten islands. So we board the mighty passat express again and left Ballstad behind. Our first port of call was Vikten. Some what out of the way and on a "cul de sac". But here there was an amazing glass makers workshop. And a unique cafe across the road. This is what we saw.
Moving on we went to Nusfjord, a historical fishing town now just a living museum. This small town had a long history and it was mecca for fishermen seeking shelter from rough seas, as it is situated behind a rocky bluff and has its own "lagoon" (fjord).
We drove on to Hamnøy and in this tiny village we found a restaurant (via road signs) and here I tasted the delicacy of whale meat. Now i know what your thinking, it so cruel, so on and so forth but these are not the endangered species and besides it was quite tasty.
From there we went to Å and we were a little disappointed. A little over hyped I guess. But this being the end of the road meant we had to now double back and we tried to avoid seeing the same parts again so this time we were heading for Utakleiv, a beach on the west side. So we pressed on some 2hrs driving and we arrived at this haven.
It was a gorgeous place to camp 10m from the beach and ocean views forever. So here we set camp and ate our dehydrated meals (not so bad, lacking a little flavour).
And again we waited the midnight sun but this time there was no mountains to obscure the view and little cloud. So we waited and this is what we saw.
So once the sun had gone behind the mountain we grabbed the opportunity of darkness to sleep.
17 July - Viking Museum - Stokmarknes Camping Site via Ferry
The new morning came and we packed camp and hit the road. We were planning to visit the Viking museum today and see how far we could drive. On our way to the viking museum we saw one of the street art painting on an old building in Borg.
We also saw something a little more common in Norway and that was a farmer driving his tractor to the local shop to get a coke and some snacks... As they do.
When we arrived at Lofotr the Viking museum it seemed that some other people had heard about this place too. In fact quite alot had, some of whom were our best friends the camper-van drivers. Even though in my photos I omit the severe over population of these wide-berth sunday-hat-drivers, this was one of our favourite topics of discussion of Lofoten. Mostly the question was... Will this camper make it past that camper on this road? well yes but only just.
Anyway back on topic we were at the viking museum on a beautiful sunny day and this is an open air museum so we could work up our non-existent tans. The main feature of the museum is the long house which is aptly named and it is visible for miles around. Perched on top of the knoll to show off how big the chief's house was.
Inside the house is brimming with people re-enacting the typical viking lifestyle minus the brawling alcoholics. For now it is probably best to let the pictures tell the story.
A short walk to the lake and we saw some replicas of viking boats.
After the viking museum we made our way back up the islands and stopped into some the places we overlooked on the trip down. Kabelvåg for lunch, Svolvær and then on to the ferry port with some gorgeous vistas.
So we boarded the ferry and then a short trip later we hopped off at Melbu and continued to drive up without any place in mind. We searched around for a place to camp and we found this fairly dodgy but overall ok place with a nice view.
18 July
After a good nights sleep in the tent we woke up to the sound of rain on the tent, just what we wanted. This set the theme for how the day would pan out.
We had planned to stay one more night on the beach overlooking a beautiful view but when got to Andøya we couldn't see much but clouds and raindrops. So this shortened our stay on Andøya and we decided to leg-it for Tromsø.
"Not so fast" the passat said in car language and that is "stop the windscreen wiper". One minor setback and we made our way slowly up to Andenes. Where we boarded our second ferry. This one though took 2 1/2 hrs and we couldn't see any of the amazing views apparently hiding behind the rain. But thats ok because we only paid 560kr for the ticket (aussies, thats about $1o0).
After we hit the land again we decided to sit behind some campers of course. Loads of fun hey. So from here the journey kinda rewound to Tromsø. We arrived at Kristin's and unloaded our gear and put it out to dry and spent our extra day just kicking it around town.
Then we flew back to Oslo and go picked up and went back to Fagernes and prepare ourselves for going to Vinjerock. check out the next post for this!
Nick, over and out.
p.s. all these pics are unedited.
