Northern Norway

This summer we decided to head north and discovered amazing "Nordland". We started out in Trondheim, where we live and drove up the E6 as far north as Hamarøy.
I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

At the "lakseakvarium" near Grong. Admission is free.

Lakseforsen. When we were here 15 years ago, we could see the salmon jump up this georgeous waterfall,
so not seeing ANY this time was a bit of a let-down...

This picture was taken from an E6 rest area near the Korkfjell - tunnel.

Subterranean waterfall in Grønligrotta (Røsvoll, near Mo i Rana).
This cave is the only one in Norway that is lit and guided tours are on offer every 2 hours during tourist season.

Exploring Setergrotta, which is right next to Grønligrotta.

We went on a great hike from Storvollen to Bredek (north of Mo i Rana), crossing several spectacular hanging bridges,

Taking a break at Bredek.

Crossing the last bridge in Stormdalen, befor the hike ends at the E6.

On our way to Engeløya i Steigen.

Having fun at the beach! (Bøsanden on Engeløya)

Fantastic Bøsanden with its fine, white sand and Trohornet in the background.

We caught a good-size cod from land!

Family-picture outside the Arctic-Circle-Centre.

One of many art pieces that are place in the area. To see this one by Per Barclay you have to come to Fauske.

Brennviksanden, Steigen. We took a long walk along the beach and all the way to the right-hand-corner of this picture, where the path ended at....

... this unique little hut. Doesn't the wood-carving remind you of New Zealand's Moari art - or is that just me?

One of many pristine beaches in Kyllingmark, Hamarøy.

This was one of THE most amazing experiences of the whole trip: Standing on a hanging bridge in Rago National Park, where a calm lake plummets down a huuuuge waterfall!

This is a family-picture with that same water-fall in the background. 

Torrent de Pareis/Mallorca

It has now been 3 years since we left home to go around the world for almost 5 months. Back to every-day-life all we get of an autumn-break is a week, so we made evrey day count!
We went to Mallorca with SAS via Copenhagen. We stayed in the South of the island in the beautiful town of Colonia San Jodi. There are beautiful beaches in every direction. Of these Es Trenc is best known.
This post, however, is about a trip we took to the mountains in the North of the island.

We followed the windy and partly very narrow road "Sa Cobra". Stunning!

A path led along the coast and through a cave to a (not altogether) dry riverbed.

We had a snack by the sea before we went deeper and deeper into the canyon in the background.

The rock formations were fascinating.

The canyon became more and more narrow...

 

...and more and more climbing was involved. (Not quite as advanced as in the last picture, though. Here Lea is attempting to climb up the vertical canyon walls.)

Dovre mountains/Norway

After we had traveled in Germany last year to show the kids our home country, we decided to stay in Norway this year to show them more of their home country.
The first stop was the Dovre mountains, but even though the kids had been there five years ago none of them remembered much...
Oppdal is where most people stay in cabins, campsites, hostels or at the Skifer Hotel. Oppdal has an indoor pool, bowling, a shopping center, restaurants and cafes and Opplev Oppdal offers rafting, juving, a zip line ... - but we were not after all that, so we went on to Kongsvold. They offer rooms as well as traditional food and will organize guided tours to see muskox.

Coming from Oppdal on the E6 there is parking right past Kongsvold fjellstue on the left hand side of the road. Across from there a path takes you into "muskox country". If you are lucky you meet one (or several) after only minutes of walking - or even see them when driving by on the road. We met a couple who told us they met muskoxen an hours walk away and so we decided to turn around and visit the botanical mountain garden instead. It is right above the parking strip and is a collection of all the plants of the area, offering the Latin, Norwegian and German names.

 

The view from the botanical garden, with Kongsvold fjellstue in the background.

We drove on a little further along the E6 to Hjerkinn. Here you follow the sings for the viewpoint "Snøhetta". From a spacious parking lot you walk or cycle up the mountains along a wide path for about 30 - 45min. . Stone slaps take you through time from the first settlements till today.

At the end of the path you get to this amazing building. It is open to everyone and offers unique architecture, benches, a floating fireplace and an amazing view over the mountains, especially Snøhetta.

Sundsvall 2012

We spent a wonderful, sunny week in Sundsvall, Sweden.
That is about 450km from Trondheim, where we live and so it takes us only a day to tow the caravan to Bergafjärden Camping og havsbad.
Here the kids find a large,sandy beach and shallow water. (If you are a passionate swimmer this is not the place for you, since you will have to walk far before it gets deep enough).
The surrounding pine forrest is great for walks, jogging, blueberry-picking...

The coastal road kystvägen offers many places to visit: There are numerous beaches, small fishing villages, restaurants and cafès, museums...

By far our favourite place is Galtsrømbruk! It is such a friendly place full of flair.

There is an old farming museum, where the kids can climb antic tractors till we contiue on to the historical iron works. At restaurant and cafe they not only serve GREAT food but also keep the kids happy with a little playground, their own play-room and rabbits, cats and chicken to run after and feed.

(To judge by the waitress' reaction, the free-range chicken under the tables were not really meant to be there...)

Denmark, June 2012



On the ferry



 Since we live in Norway while the rest of the wider family lives in Germany, we decided to meet half way - in Denmark.

Altogether we were ten people and rented a house at the Limfjord through Sol Og Strand.

 

Windy Denmark is ideal for kite-flying!

 



And then we went to Legoland! Yeah!






We had great fun at Spøttrup Castle even though the picture does not show it...

 Another highlight was the visit to the medieval castle of Spøttrup. On the day we were there locals had arranged a medieval marked, demonstrating traditional crafts and foods.

Coming back and our resume

We have been back from our round-the-world-trip for several months now and since quite a few people have asked for it - here comes a resume.
First of all: It is great to be back!
Even though it was fantastic to be on holiday for such a long time and experience sooo much, we missed home. Some people who decide to travel around the world quit their jobs and sell their homes, often sick of their "old life" or "the rat race" . Luckily we did not have to do or feel any of that. Although: We were afraid that we would love New Zealand so much that we would be willing to give up our life in Norway for it. We did like New Zealand a lot - but nowhere near as much as we love Norway.
Especially the children were excited to be back! Lisa could not wait to go back to school despite the jet-lag. Niklas was worried that the children at school had forgotten him and all his friends had found other friends. He quickly found out that that was not so and greatly enjoyed giving out Kiwi-bird fridge magnets as gifts to everyone.
It was simply wonderful to hear from so many friends, neighbours and colleagues that it was good to have us back! Everyone showed interest and many had followed us via blog - fantastic! Thank you!!!

We are so grateful that we were able to do this! Both of us being able to take that time off work was key - and is hardly possible in other countries (according to travellers we met from all over the world).

Travelling around in a campervan in the USA, New Zealand and Australia was the best mode of travel for us, since we got round a lot and still had a certain stability for the kids. They, however, thought all this driving was boring (- especially since they were asked to do maths in the meantime) and as soon as they had found a friend, we were driving on... Motorhome-life involved a lot of decision-making and practical stuff: Where are we going? Where do we stay the night? Where do we empty our toilet? Where do we get water? Where do we get food? Where do we wash our clothes? It was frustrating that a day could go by just doing all those necessary things...

The kids just loved Thailand, where all those questions had easy answers: We stayed in pre-booked accomodation, ate in local restaurants and left our dirty laundry at the reception desk. That left us with a lot of time to relax and have fun. Even though the question "Where are we going?" was
 often answered with "To the pool!"we still feel it was an intense time full of new impressions, since for us Thailand was the most foreign and exciting country culturally.

No, we are not tired of travelling and yes, we went on a summer holiday but now we try to make up for the enourmous carbon footprint we left going on that journey... In addition to flying around the world, we drove around in motorhomes that drank enormous quantities of fuel.

Nevertheless, we have a lot of wonderful memories and most importantly, we had a lot of time together as a family.

Lisas siste innlegg / Lisas letzter Eintrag

I dag er det min siste dag. Jeg gleder meg til å se dere igjen. Jeg opplever også mange spennende ting i det nye lille og finne huset vårt som å svømme gjennom en hule og snorkle etter fisker. Det var en veldig fin ferie. Forresten skal vi fly i 4 fly og det lengste flyet skal gå i 11 timer.

Mamma tvang meg til å bruke armringer...

Heute ist mein letzter Tag. Ich freue mich darauf euch wiederzusehen. Ich erlebe so viel spannendes in unserem neuen, kleinen und schönen Häuschen, wiedurch eine Höhle zu schwimmen und nach Fischen zu schnorcheln. Es war ein sehr schöner Urlaub. ûbrigens nehmen wir 4 verschiedene Flugzeuge zurück und der längste Flug dauert 11 Stunden.