Olympic Bob Sled Run

Off earlier this morning, up at 6am for a 8am leave. Rob seems to like everyone being up rather early and the only advantage was getting a warm shower, while others weren't so lucky. We travel north along the coastline to the Olympic town of Lillehammer which hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics.

The Wheelie Bobs were used instead of the Bob Sled because they didn't have any snow. The course is still used for race events and is covered in snow between September and April. The course was 1.3km long and it gets up to 120kmph. Aaron, Steve, Max and myself were in with the driver setting the quickest time with 66.4 seconds. Everyone had an absolute ball.

A quick stop at the wooden church to get a picture and have a look around. It was different to any other church I had seen, it looked like it had been burnt at some stage in the past. A very scenic location and it surprised me to find an open wireless hotpot in the location, a little to late as we drive off.

The drive was absolutely stunning, waterfalls, rivers, mountains, snow, wow. I got a small nap and then couldn't keep my eyes off the views. We arrive in our stop for the night with the promise of home made Lasagne for dinner celebrating Kaths birthday. A big night is planned and I get through half a bottle of Jamesons with Sprites to help me celebrate, Good times.

Viking Museum

We have a free day today in Oslo, giving us the option to see allot of museums and local attractions. Viking Ship Museum was the first off the ranks and it had some great history. 3 boats were in the location which had been recovered in the early 1900's and 2 were in fabulous condition. The Vikings surprised me with the equipment dug up, carts, horse saddles and many different tools. I thought they were just a bunch of big thugs who rapped, pillaged and concurred.

Stopped in at the Vigeland Sculpture Park for a quick walk and to get some great pictures. They were in a lot of detail, showing allot of naked men, women and children in different positions. Not really my thing because some of the positions tended to be a little uncomfortable and controversial.

Next, onto the famous artist, Edvard Munch who lived in the late 1800's. The Munch Museum displayed allot of his work and he is most famous for the painting called The Scream. A more cultural experience, it was interesting to see how his works changed over a period of time. Other famous works he created were Madonna, Vampire, Kiss and Summer Night.

Arrived into the city around 1pm, with enough time to eat our packed lunch and get up to the palace for the changing of the guard. It wasn't far away, we arrive just as it started, the guards didn't seem to be doing much so we moved onto the next thing.

Down to the Akershus Fortress and Castle. It turns out that the castle is still being used, mainly for major events and different occasions. The audio tour gave history on the rooms, including a few ghost stories, making it fairly enjoyable.

A bit of walking around, a beer at the bay that set us back $17 for a pint and we go looking for some dinner. Nothing special, just a falafel, a last beer at another destination and we are back to the camp site.

At the camp, teams were drawn for the Viking Olympics. This is meant to keep us busy while up north, not having much to do of a night at the camp sites. Everyone was dividend into 4 teams, I am in a team of 7 which have named themselves the Scandi Jandels. Bring it on.

Oslo and Top Deck

I spend the morning at the hostel working out my way over to the Bogstad Campsite at the other side of town. Secondary reason may have involved the Collingwood vs Western Bulldogs game, which the pies ended up winning. Leaving around midday, 2 trains and a bus, I was a little surprised it was so easy and arrived around 1pm. The lady at reception said Top Deck would arrive around 4pm, it turns out that they arrived on time at 6pm and I wasted most of a day in Oslo, not a bad thing, very relaxing.

Meeting the Top Deck crew was totally different to my last couple of tours. Tent was getting set-up for cooking, each cabin was shared between 4 and you need to pay to have a shower on the camp site. I joined a very small group of around 27 people who were doing various legs, the longest being a 37 day tour so I am only a small hurdle in there holiday.

A couple of beers later at the camp site, a curfew was introduced of 11pm by Bogstad, so a few of us head down to a lake not to far away. Rose and Aaron decide it is a good thing to get in the water, the sun was still out at midnight which is crazy. It looked freezing but good for them, a good day to end my first day on tour.

Welcome to Norway

Up at 3am, flight at 6am to arrive in Oslo at 3pm, a long day of travelling.

Bus from Airport was pretty easy to find, only a little hard with people struggling with my accent or maybe it is me with theirs. Eventually I get onto the bus, another miss understanding, 170 Nok, wait that wasn't a miss understand, $35 to get to the hostel. I log onto the laptop and best thing ever was the bus had it own wireless hotspot, Gold.

Arrive and the hostel, no worries, 200 NOK for room, 50 more for sheets and I wondering how I would have went in a hotel on the Norway Krown. A walk down the road, 25 for a bottle of water, sorry I can't help myself by repeating the prices on here for later.

Dinner I thought I would just cop it and try a local joint, I chose the only place I could find which seemed like a nice little eatery. The staff were real nice, I get a pizza made Norway style, which turned out like a wood fire pizza to me. A beer to wash it down and I spent more on that meal than I did to the stay the night. 210 NOK. The lovely lady serving me probably deserved a bigger tip than an extra 5% but I just couldn't part with it, i look back now with a little guilt.

Happy to stay in the night, just this once to regain my composure and stop converting everything back to aussie dollars. The NOK converts 5 to 1 Australian, making this the most expensive place I have ever been.

My Time in Portugal is Over

I spent allot of time relaxing in the Algarves, beer at a cafe each morning while getting online seemed to be a daily event. Was very disappointed to put out of action on Thursday, as I was so sick, either to much alcohol, something in the drink or something was a bit off. Oh well, can't be helped and I was all recovered for Friday.

Another lazy day of organising my next steps, making sure my transfer to the air port turns up on the right day, left me with mainly just packing, pool and finishing off the beers in my fridge. Late night dinner ended with me choosing an old favourite, lasagne.

Back to the room with the promise of 3 hours sleep before my early flight to Norway.

Enjoying Life

The picture to my left is the quality present Bronnie got me, it went down well in an afternoon laying on the balcony. This place is gold, had 2 big nights of fun meeting different people and no hangover. Been hanging out with allot of English and putting a smile on there faces. I ended the night with 4 locals, they were great fun and energetic. I had chicken with peri peri twice last night, the chicken roll was the best by far from a small little joint.

Welcome to Portugal

After a day of travelling, I arrive at the resort called Solferia just after midnight. The next day I head into town early, to have a look around and hopefully find a vodafone so I can organise some internet. Took a wrong turn and it took more than an hour to find the town. It seemed like I was going back to the dark ages as there isn't a mobile phone shop.

A couple of hours in an internet cafe and I am back to the resort with 9 litres of water, a dozen beers and some juice. Happy to not get lost on the way back, I go down to the bar to make my way through every drink on the menu to celebrate my birthday.

Later on in the night, I get a huge surprise when a note, bottle of red, bar of chocolate and single rose arrive. Bronnie had organised the delivery and I was in shock, a fantastic surprise.

I spend the rest of the night drinking with a young couple and there 2 children from not to far out of Manchester. They were great value and were even happy to have a quick chat to Bronnie when she called.