TROMSØ (Norway). A Cold and Snowy Post Script. 85 843 Km

Lying above the arctic circle in northern Norway, Tromsø seems like it was just about as far away from Colombia as we could get to and it seemed liked a top spot to spend a week on our way home from South America.

After an overnight stop in Oslo we jumped on a plane north, flying over snow capped mountains and frozen lakes. It was all very pretty. We planned to stay with a retired couple in an AirBNB just outside of the centre of town which was a great way to get to know a little bit more about the area and things to do. We of course had lots we already wanted to do and were hoping for some good weather.

When we landed, the skies were a little cloudy but it was otherwise not too cold (-3) and technically the sun did not rise yet at this latitude.

The first evening we were off in search of the northern lights. It had started snowing a little between when we landed and when we started our tour at 6pm but we were crossing our fingers. So were our tour guides apparently as they informed us there was a lot of cloud and the best chance we had was to drive to (and possibly cross into) Finland. So off we went, periodically checking the sky for clouds and lights, until 3hrs later we reached the Finnish border and kept on driving.

The conditions were rough. The roads were becoming wet and icy and the clouds continued to blow over. We eventually found some clear sky but finding a place to pull over was hard after all the fallen snow. We finally found a small area near a frozen lake with clear sky and waited for the lights.

It. was. freezing! The wind kicked around us blowing snow everywhere. Hands and feet went numb. And not many people on the tour stayed out of the bus for long. Despite trying to battle the cold the clouds closed over again before the lights appeared and we had to call it a night. We headed back to Tromsø disappointed but we still had another 5 nights to try. We crossed our fingers again for some change in the weather.

The weather did not get better. At least not initially. The day following our trip to Finland we were due to do a tour along the fjords and mountains with the aim of getting some good landscape photography opportunities and then we were due to try for lights again that night. Both tours were cancelled.

In a way that was nice that we got to catch up on sleep as we were still a bit out from the time zone in South America and we had been up late on our first night. We still held out hope for one of the nights and despite the appearance of the blizzard outside, we decided to head into town for a wander. It was of course made all the easier by some big winter jackets lent to us by our AirBNB hosts.

We came across lots of snow in town and found a poor bike left out in the blizzard. Apparently the guy had given up for the winter as we found it still there 5 days later.

We didn't last super long that first day exploring. But the next day we had a plan to see some things indoors and we were anticipating the arrival of Elin, my sister-in-law, in the evening as she flew in early for a conference she was attending the following week. During the days we explored the polar museum, which houses polar marine life including seals but mostly small marine animals, and checked out the roof top bar of the Clarion hotel. The view into town from the rooftop was pretty but the wind up there didn't allow us to stay for too long. The weather also stopped Elin from arriving as planned as her plane returned half way to Tromsø and she didn't arrive till close to midnight.

Once we found Elin the next morning we spent the day mostly catching up. We went from coffee, to lunch, to the polar research institute (to meet a friend of Elin's who could tell us what Norway does in polar regions) to an old pub on the wharf, and finally to dinner. It was a great day of catching up but we had to get some rest because the weekend was going to get busier.

First up was a trip to meet some Saami people and their reindeer. The farm area was only about 30min from the centre of town but very quickly the houses mostly disappeared to endless nature. When we arrived got a quick rundown of the days plan and then it was out to feed the reindeer.

One of the strangest, and slight scary, experiences of the trip. There were around 200 reindeer and 50 odd people with buckets of feed. The greedy ones would come along and scare or hit some of the smaller ones with their antlers or sometimes they would did their antlers towards you if you didn't hold your bucket out far enough.

One we got through the bucket of feed we had time to wander among them, take photos, retreat to the warmth of the Lavvu (traditional communal tent) or go for a short sled ride.

When we got back to town the weather had seemed its nicest in days. The wind had also dropped for the first time in days so we made a dash for the cable car to get a view over Tromsø. Of course the weather didn't stay nice when we got there and soon the clouds and snow rolled in. Luckily there was a cafe at the top to enjoy some hot chocolate and wait out the storm. Which thankfully it did go away.

From the top of the mountain it was a quick trip back across the bridge to get to dinner before we were off again to search for lights. We heard rumors that they were spotted the night before and so once again we cross our fingers.

And we found them.

Pictures can't really do the lights justice. It doesn't capture the excitement of seeing them slowly come through from the horizon getting bigger and stronger. The photos don't capture them dancing and displaying their reds and greens. It was a special thing to behold.

We were excited. Following our successful lights trip we were due to go husky sledding the following day. Unfortunately we found an email when we got home saying the trip was cancelled as the road had been closed after all the bad weather. We tried looking for another company but when that failed we decided to go whale watching instead.

There has been an influx of killer whales in the area over the last 6 years or so and that's what we hoping to find. No luck with the killer whale but we did see the rare sperm whale (above), a humpback in the distance, and lots of dolphins. And not to mention we saw a lot of beautiful scenery.

We arrived back in the harbour and spent a bit more time in town. Wandered through some shops, took some photos, had some coffee, and found a little bar. Being a Sunday it was bit hard to find some shops and cafe's open but we got there in the end.

On this our final night, in Norway and of our year away, we were invited to dinner by our AirBNB hosts. It was a nice final night and we had some great reindeer stew.

The following morning we got ready for our final flights. It would take us 4 planes and 41hrs to get home to Sydney. There was a mix of feelings of wanting to stay and wanting to go home. With our last flights we would have done over 100000Km of travel this year. Slept in 99 different beds. Visited 10 countries (plus 2 sneaky crossings into countries we didn't stay in). We had been in hot, cold, humid, city, jungle, beach, mountain.

It has definitely been a year to remember!

85 843 Km (51676Km Flights, 9156Km Sailing, 24099Km Bus, 296km Hiking, 51Km Horse riding, 150Km Train, 12Km Bike)