Almost Never lost

Friday - almost perfect

2010-07-24T10:08:00.000+02:00

The temperature was down to 2 degrees during the night but we didn't experience it that cold at all. Maybe because we have had soon much colder in the past and were prepared for worse.

As we sat off the sun made an appearance and we gladly accepted the warm rays. It actually turned out to be the most fantastic day and we had an Amazing lunch overlooking a valley. At 4 we again reached Grovelsjon but we thought the weather was too nice to jump into the car and drive all the way to Stockholm so we decided to stay until saturaday.

After a quick look at the map we jumped into the car and drove to a place called Lövåsen. It looked like it would be possible to hike a couple of km up the mountain and find a good spot for the night.

The reality though proved different. We didn't find a good water source and the place was infected with mosquitos. We admitted ourselves defeated and two hours later we again found ourselves back at the car. The time was getting late and our feet and backs were soar but we needed a place to sleep. We again decided to drive back to Grovelsjon and hike a while up the mountain again to a good spot we has seen earlier that day.

Sitting in the car on the way back we drove pass a nice mountain hotel. We looked at each other and it was decided, our bodies didn't feel like climbing another mountain so we checked in at Storsätra Fjällhotell insted.

Thursday - 50/50

2010-07-23T21:38:00.001+02:00

Today was both fantastic and really shitty.
In the morning we walked past a mountain lake and went for a swim..almost, because the water was super cold. But it was very nice. We then hiked for about 10km enjoying sun, clouds and some serious wind. Then it started to rain and even though the forecast was 0mm rain for the afternoon it never really stopped. We had decided to hike one of the highest peaks in the area but half way up we had to turn back because of the weather.

We decided for another route that took us through a 5km mosquito infected swamp that forced us to dig out our mosquito net's in panic. When we broke through the weather was getting worse again and the time was getting late. After a while we found a very nice place where we made camp. We expect a really cold night but that shouldn't be a problem since we are well dressed.

Wednesday - hello Norway

2010-07-23T14:17:00.003+02:00

We woke up to some sever wind. The tent was very difficult to keep grounded when we took it down. After about an hour it started to rain but it never got really bad. After a while we walked a few kilometers through some forrest and for the first time we got to feel the anger of the evil mosquitos. We were hunted out from the woods and agreed that we would not be sleeping below the tree line anytime soon.

In the afternoon the sun peeked out and we could enjoy a very nice evening as well. We have set camp with a fantastic view of a valley, though it took forever to find some flat ground in between all the rocks.

Thursday - 50/50

2010-07-23T14:17:00.001+02:00

Tuesday - Arrived

2010-07-23T14:16:00.001+02:00

We left a sunny Stockholm just before 9 in the morning and about 7h later we arrived to Grövelsjön mountain lodge. We had just driven through some rain and it was a whole lot colder than the summer we left behind. Since we arrived quite late a both were tired we decided to just do a short hike. We walked 7 easy km and sat camp at the foot of the mt Storvätteshågna which is the highest peak on the Swedish side in this area.

When we were making supper it started to rain..of course...we are probably haunted by some evil rain god because no matter where we go it always rain. It was also very windy which made it a little chilly. Dinner was great and we will go to bed happy..

Grövelsjön

2010-07-19T19:54:00.002+02:00

This summer we are hiking a few days around Grövelsjön in Dalarna (in Sweden). We still haven't decided exactly which route to take. Either we will hike from Grövelsjön around lake Rogen, into Norway and down to Grövelsjön again, or we will hike a smaller route below lake Rogen and do some peaks instead. We are probably leaning towards the latter since we will have less time in the woods (where the mosquito's live) and get better views.

We'll try to do daily updates on the blog but of course it depends on cellular reception in the mountains.

leaving

2010-02-21T17:56:00.000+01:00

We had a soft morning with a really nice breakfast with fresh bread and home made jam on the patio. After having found the way to the airport we managed to get through the pain to check in and through customs and security check. Now we are just about to board the flight and start the long journey back home. We'll be bringing som sun so pleace remove the snow storms.

A long drive

2010-02-21T04:35:00.000+01:00

We woke up early to get the most out our last full day in Chile. Just north of Termas del Socos is a strange rain forrest located where it actually shouldn't be, called Fray Jorge and we wanted to check it out. As we left the highway we realised that is was a 25km drive on a crappy gravel road to get there and since we were a bit short on time and we decided to turn back and head south instead.

We made a quick stop to be amazed by the enormous waves from the pacific that clashed onto the shores.

A little further south we stopped in the little coastal town Pichidangui for lunch. As usual it was a bit over priced compared to what was served and my 'seaf food soup' tasted a bit funny but Anias fish was quite alright.

The goal of today was Vina del Mar which we had heard would be a beautiful but slighly blant city close to the coast. We reached VdM just after 16 and then started to look for a place to stay. Quite quickly we realized that all of Santiago had come here for the weekend and pretty much all places had printed notes on the doors saying they were full. After 30min of getting rejected we drove down to the ocean to decide what to do.
The sight that met us was astonishing. On a little 200m stretch of sand we finally saw our "penguins". Though they were not really of the kind we had been hoping for but the many thousands of people that had packed themselevs on that small beach could just as well have been penguins, because that's what they looked like.

Now we had had it with Vina del Mar and thought that if all of Santiago had came here it would be a breeze to find a place to stay there instead. The first two phone calls was neegative and we actually started to get a bit worried but then we found what sounded like a nice b&b that had room for us and we grabbed it instantly.

It took about 1.5h to drive into Santiago and it was a bit of a shame that we didn't know this before because we could have saved quite a lot of time then. The place we found is called El Patio Suizo and is located in a vey nice area of Santiago and it is super cozy. We felt that the day would probably end on a high note after all.

We walked a good 30min to a restaurant called Cafe del Patio to have dinner. For a change we got some really good food and we practically rolled our way back home.

It was actually good that we went back to Santiago because this evening has really showed the city from its best and we now feel a lot more positive about it.

Tomorrow we are leaving Chile.
We have a soft morning ahead of us that we will enjoy here in the patio. The Swiss couple that runs the place have just baked a special swiss bread that we will have for breakfast and it smells great.

Contrasts

2010-02-20T03:15:00.000+01:00

Today we really got to see many different sides of Chile.

We woke up in sunny Vicuna and had a long breakfast and then very slowly packed our stuff together as we enjoyed the morning sun and waited for some laundry to dry.

Heading out to the coast we stopped to have a walk on the massive dam just west of Vicuna. It's an impressive construction and beautiful to see all that water in the middle of a lanscape that is very close to being a desert. Here we also tasted Copao(?) which is the fruit that grows on cactus. We also had some juice from fresh fruit that was almost destryed from too much of the Chilean-never-ending-love for sugar.

We reached the coastal city La Serena just after noon and stopped for lunch. It's an hectic city with quite a lot of traffic. The advantage though of driving in a bigger city is that one-way streets are marked on the GPS and that makes it a whole lot easier.

After having walked around the central plaza for a while we felt like a coffe and a tea. Chile have no cafe culture and it's a bit of a gamle to set your foot into something that is branded cafe. There is no such thing as order at the counter and that makes just having a quick coffee into a bigger project. Anyhow, we got our coffee and tea together with a massive piece of cake. We were a bit sceptical towards the cake because we had a similar one on the night we got food poison and we are not sure if it was from the food or the cake.

We left La Sarena around 16 and started to drive south. As the motorway followed the coastline the ocean simply looked to inviting so we drove off the panamericana highway at a no-name little town along the way. We dipped our feet in the cold pacific water and then enjoyed a fresh melon in the sun (sugarless).

In the late afternoon we reached our goal for the day. Termas de Socos is located at the end of a 2km gravel road off the highway. It's a place with thermal baths and the whole place is surrounded by nothing but sand, rocks and cactus. We took a walk in the cool Lucky Luke western landscape and then prepared dinner. When it got dark we watched the stars while eating some chocolate that had melted in the car when it was parked in the sun.

Czesc rodzinka! Blog mozna latwo przetlumaczyc poprzez www.translate.google.com - wystarczy skopiowac adres strony (http://www.almostneverlost.blogspot.com) i wkleic na stronie Google Translate. W ustawieniach wybrac trzeba jezyk( z ang. na pol.). Caluski Ania

from crap to stars

2010-02-19T04:21:00.000+01:00

Yesterdays dinner came with the additional treat of food poisoning and we have been feeling quite crappy most of today. As we are approaching the evening we are slowly returning back to normal but I think we are getting a bit tired with Chilean cousine.

When it comes to food Chile don't have too much exciting to offer for a food lover and no matter where you go it's all pretty much the same. We did have some really good food down in Puerto Natales but that was an African restaurant. You can probably find some good food in Santiago as well but you really need to know where to look. We have understood that Chileans are a bit afraid to loose their face if they go into a restaurant and don't understand the meny and that might be one answer to the conformity of what's served.

The old French Consulate we stayed as was very charming at first sight but it was very run down and for sanity reasons we were happy to leave.
After we had breakfast we slowly drove inlands towards Vicuna. Every city in Chile we have driven through has proven to be a project in itself. The one way streets are spread at random and they are not indicated on the gps which makes it only useful for macro navigation. This morning it took ages just to get out of Coquimbo and we drove in circles several times. Btw for some reasons the drivers in Chile are in love with the horn on their car and downtown of any city/village is a constant honking symphony.

We reached Vicuna just after lunch and found a fantastic little garden of a hostel in the middle of town where we could camp. In the afternoon we just kicked back and lay under a tree enjoying the sun and treated our bellies.

This part of Chile is known for very few cloudy nights and there are several astrological obervatories located here. After the sun had set we took a trip into the mountains to see the Mamalluca observatory where we got to peek in their telescope and a energetic guide tought us how to use stars to navigate. Very little information actually stuck but it was an amazing evening.

Now we are enjoying a quiet night with the crickets under a star covered sky.

The scenic route

2010-02-18T03:51:00.000+01:00

Today we decided to head inlands to check out the Chilean countryside and what we had been told was some cool rough nature. We left Los Vilos and drove a couple of hours east until we hit the little city Illapel where we had a slightly chaotic lunch; The waitress was really nice but didn't understand a word of english and even though we tried our best to speak from our dictionaries we probably scared her a little bit.

We continued north and as we drove through the mountains we were treated to amazing sceneries, almost moon like with lots of cacti and the occasional goat and donkey. It's crazy that some people actually live in this brutal environment, though not very many.

After a few more hours of driving through desert like mountain terrain we reached wine country. We didn't stop for samples, instead we headed back out towards the coast.

After a long but very nice day in the car we reached the coastal city Coquimbo, just south of La Serena. We found a room in what used to be the old French Consulate, now Hostal National.

Coquimbo didn't have much to offer in restaurant selection and we made what we thought was the least bad choice. We stuffed ourselves with something that made the Punta Arena junk food seem like Micheline quality and then we had coffee and tea in a friendly Brittish style cafe.

As we came back to the hostel the area blacked out and we had cozy candles in our room. The blackout only lasted 10minutes though and it was a little bit of a disappointment to be able to flick the switch again.

The picture is from Illapel where Ania has just gotten hold of quite a big water melon that we later treated ourselves to on the side of the road.

the dirty dusty hot way to the top

2010-02-17T13:48:00.000+01:00

Today we sat out to follow the footsteps of Darwin and climbed Cerro La Campana. The peak is at 1890m after an intense climb of 1490m in just 7km. This would be the longest climb we had done in one stretch up to date.

We started at 9 in the morning on this beautiful day. What we didn't know then is that all but one of the three water holes had dried out and the one that still had some water was the one located furthest down. The temperature slowly climbed to about 30degrees but luckily a big part of the climb was in shade. All and all it went vert well but it was a very dutsy and exhausting experience. The view we had from the top was an amazing 360 panorama and if it wasn't for all the agressive wasps we would have stuck around a lot longer than the 10 minutes we did.

We were quite beat when we had finished our hike down but feeling very pleased with what we had achieved. After having had some fresh water melon in the sun we prepared a late lunch and headed off.

We drove 150km north and landed in a small coastal village called Los Vilas. The place was hardly on the map and it was by pure luck we found the b&b we had planned to stay at. This is also where the locals come to celebrate holidays so we were quite lucky they had a room available. The b&b is called El Conquistador and is a really nice place run by some very friendly chaps.

We had a good dinner at a restaurant the b&b guy recommended and finished of the evening with a short walk along the beach, enjoying that it's hot enough for shorts even at night.

A colorful smelly chaos

2010-02-16T01:20:00.000+01:00

We started the day with breakfast in the sun on the terrass of lovely Hostal Casa 199, where we had spent the night.

After having kicked back and soaked some sun we sat out to explore Valporaiso. It's a crazy but very colorful city and we climbed many stairs during the day. By the afternoon we had gotten a bit tired of all the polluting cars and smelly back alleys and we were ready to leave.

We jumped in our shitty rental and sat course to the national park La Campana. Having battles our way out from the roads of Valparaiso we reached the highway and after about 1.5h drive we arrived to the park. We found a fantastic private spot on a campsite occupied only by a few others. It was quite a change to crowded Patagonia and also a very nice experience to be able to feel ones fingertips after having done the evening washing up.
Now we are enjoying an almost total lack of human sounds but there are many strange noises comming from the forrest surrounding us.

Tomorrow we have planned probably the most insane climb we have done so far, following the footsteps of Darwin (relax, it's physically insane, not dangerously insane so no need to worry).

Back in the heat

2010-02-15T03:02:00.000+01:00

This time the plane was on time and three stops later we landed in sunny Santiago 10min ahead of time.

After the normal excessive paper work we got our rental car from AVIS. Rental cars in Chile are really expensive and for what we are paying for our shitty Hyundai Getz we would have gotten at least a Volvo V70 at home.

We headed straight to the coast and a city called Valporaiso. The city is built on hills and a nightmare to drive in but with a combination of a GPS equipped Nokia E71 and some sharp guiding skills by Ania we finally found our destination. We had booked a room at a cool place with a view from the terrass overlooking the massive harbour.

We had dinner at a nearby fish restaurant. The view was amazing and we watched trucks get loaded with containers and massive cranes moving heavy stuff during the meal. The food was decent but over priced and the place was a bit touristy.

We had been warned to stay out of the city center at night and to avoid stairs and since it was quite late when we had finished eating we just went for a short walk before heading back to the room.

Tomorrow we plan to do some quick city explorations before once again leaving civilization for something a bit more rocky. This time in slightly warmer climate though.

Almost penguin

2010-02-14T12:11:00.000+01:00

Today we planned to be 100% tourists and we had booked tickets to Isla Magdalena that has a huge penguin colony of about 70000 penguins. The only way to get there is by a 2h boat trip. As we were on our way is started to get windy. We were closing in the Island and saw thousands of super cute little penguins jumping of joy to see us (or Ania saw them, I had gotten a little pale by then bacause of all the rocking).

We were about 1m from the shore when the captain decided we couldn't continue becouse of the weather and we had to turn back. After another 2h on a rocky chestnut we finally made it back. I was then about the color of a ghost and we were more than a little bit disapointed as we walked back to our hotel.

In the evening we found what looked to be a nice warm restaurant called Tekus. The service proved to be horrible and after over an hours wait we actually left sinse they seem to have no answer to when our food would be ready.

We ended up having some Chilean junk food that should have been prohibited to sell, but the hour was late and it was fast. The attached image actually sat on the wall in the junk food place and is picturing the restaurant we left with the junk food logo taped over it.

Tomorrow we are off to the north again with a three flight trip to Santiago.

Punta arenas

2010-02-13T17:15:00.000+01:00

Friday was a calm day that was mainly about transportation. We had lunch at a nice veggie place in Puerto Natales called el Living. Then we jumped on a bus heading for Punta Arenas. We arrived in the late afternoon and headed for a hostel we had managed to book during the busride. Apparantly the 'we need a room today' hadn't gone through and they were full. After some searching around we managed to find another place in a good location called Hostal de la Patagonia. In the evening we just chilled and had some nice food and a drink.

mixed order

2010-02-12T15:23:00.000+01:00

The posts qued up and got sent in mixed order, but you probably get the picture anyway.

Rain and wind

2010-02-12T12:31:00.001+01:00

Today was the second worst hiking day we ever experienced. We actully had one day last year in Ålesund that sucked more, but it's a close call.

That hope of some sun to dry up the tent in the morning sure didn't happen and it has been poring down all day. Add to that the relentless patagonian wind and try to walk towards that and the closest thing that can explain it is a hail storm. There where times when we were only managed to stay on the ground bacause we carried big backpacks.

We hiked back the 11km we did yesterday and anothe 8km to something called camp Italiano. We actually had planned to either to a small side excursion or to continue to another camp but we were simply to depressed to continue.

The trail is actually quite easy to walk but this time a year it's peak season so there are a lot of people here so as soon as there is some rain the paths turn into a mud bath almost impossible to walk.

It's quite fun to watch how many locals dress in the trails and it's quite clear they don't come prepared for rough weather. We have seen many people with jeans and sneakers and they get soaked to the bone. Actually when we took the catamaran yesterday we wondered if we came over dressed compared to many of the other people on board. That has not been the case, but in the end not even our gore tex coated clothes stands a chance and by the end of the day we were soaked.

If the weather remains this crappy we'll try to hike out either by tomorrow evening (wednesday) or thursday. But in the way of our freedom lies 18km of almost impenetrable muddy paths and then another 7km road to walk.

Lets hope for some sun tomorrow because it would suck to throw in the towel this early.

On a more positive note we had a great dinner and our sleeping bags are still dry (knock on wood) so it is very cozy in our tent right now.

1 minute of sun

2010-02-12T12:31:00.000+01:00

It was hardly raining at all when we woke up in the morning. Because we had dug paths around our tent to lead off the rain and put some twigs under our backpacks, we came through the night quite ok.

We decided it was way too soon to give up and we sat our goal to hike a steap path up one of the mountains for a good view. After about 15 minutes we started to break the tree line and it quickly became clear that we were on a foolish mission. Since we after all are some quite sane people we headed back down again to initiate plan B.

After having re-packed our gear to the big backpacks we first hiked 6km through the forrest in what sometimes can be described as challenging conditions (lots of mud and paths that had turned to rivers). Just before lunch we experienced the few minutes of sun the day was going to offer. Of course it was still raining though. still the scenery was amazing and the rain was actually not that bad. With wet feet we had nice lunch at a campsite located along the path.

We then hiked 11km to Las Torres where we have set camp. This piece of the trail was mainly outside the forrest which meant no mud and it turned out to be a very nice hike with some fantastic panoramas.

Tomorrow we really hope the weather will be better because we plan to hike far up the mountain but for it to make sense we can't have too many thick clouds blocking the view or rain pouring down to ruin the experience.

27km sunshine walk

2010-02-12T12:30:00.002+01:00

We woke up to a wonderful sunny day that was made for what we had in mind; hiking. We headed up to see the three 'towers' that defines Torres del Paine and also is kind of the icon of Patagonia. The hike was a 10km stretch climbing about 800m. We were really treated to some fantastic views and had lunch in the sun at a mountain lake at the foot of the 'towers'.

After we had hiked the 10km back down again we felt great but tired.

We had planned to return to Puerto Natales today so we had to get to the bus station, but it wasn't exactly around the corner. Almost 8km later and a slightly stressed dinner we sat our tired behinds on a bus heading back to 'civilization'.

We reached Puerto Natales a little bit after 22 and then came the quest to find a place to stay, since we hadn't booked anything ahead. After having checked five places that were all full we picked up the Lonely Planet guide book and dialed a number at random. We got lucky and at 23.05 we checked in to a supernice little place called Amerindia.

To finish the evening we found a cool Chilean restaurant/microbrewery Baguales were we had some local food and an ale.

Tomorrow's plan is to find a bus that can take us the 3h to Punta Arenas and then faith willl decide. Now we'll take our blistered feet and tuck ourseleves to bed.

some updates

2010-02-12T12:30:00.001+01:00

We now have wlan access so here are some chronological updates.

Hitting the mountains

2010-02-12T12:30:00.000+01:00

we could have used a couple of hours more sleep but the busses leave at 7.30. We had arranged with a buss company to pick us up outside the hostel but imagine out surprise when no bus showed up when it was supposed to. After an hours wain the very friendly woman who runs the hostel contacted the bus company and they arranged for a minivan to pick us up together with four other guys they apparently forgot as well.

After a 3h bumpy bus ride we arrived to Torres del Paine. TdP is said to be maybe the most beautiful national park is south america and so far we have absolutely no objections. All though we have nothing to compare with.

We took a catamaran to cross a lake and then hiked 11k to Grey glacier where we have set camp for the evening. Grey is one of the few glaciers that still maintain its size and it's amazing to look at the lake below that is all white with blue blocks of ice floating around.

The weather here is a bit funny. The wind is just brutal and simply never stop. We had mixed sun, cloud and some short showers during the day but after a fantastic evening it has started to pour down. We hope for some sun tomorrow to dry up the tent that is getting wetter by the minute.

oh no you didn't thinks so did you....

2010-02-08T02:00:00.001+01:00

Soooo.. After the smooth check-in the plane taxed out on the runway right on time and that's when it went wrong. The plane suddenly drove back to the gate again and after some confusion we managed to figure out that another plane from that airline had a problem and needed a spare part. Thing is that the plane with the promlem was in another part of chile and we were selected to be couriers of the part. It took almost two hours to find the part and then we were on the way. because we had purchased a kind of flight shuttle ticket it ended up with four take-offs before finaly arriving to punta arenas.

After some confusion we jumped on a very comfortable bus that drove us the three hours to puerto natales.

We actually managed to find a open sports utility shop at 21:10 on a sunday evening where we could by gas for the kitchen and a compass.

we are currently finishing this longest day at an african restaurant before we will try to find our hostel.

Heading south

2010-02-07T14:07:00.001+01:00

We ordered breakfast from the 'restaurant' and it was prepared maniana-style so we had 5min to eat before throwing ourselves into our taxi. Schumacher drove us to the airport this morning and we probably arrived before we left.

Someone apparently thought we spent enough time waiting in line yesterday because check-in was over in 4minutes. The line to LAN next to Skyairlines, that we are travelling with, was covering half the departure hall.

Now we are leaving sunny Santiago for a bit more rugged weather down south. Our flight has two stops on the way and then we have a 3h bus ride ahead of us before reaching Puerto Natales.

Food

2010-02-07T02:15:00.001+01:00

Downtown Santiago sure isn't a culinary experience. We had a decent lunch at a very local restaurang. Both of us using dictionaries to figure out what to order.

in the evening we went to a place a couple of km's to the west of the city center and got a more east-berlin-ish feeling with some funky restaurangs. We got some good sushi for supper.

A side note on Santiago airport is that we experienced a passport line that made heathrow feel like an express experience. Hopefully we'll not have the same guys working tomorrow because then we'll miss our morning flight for sure.

Santiago

2010-02-06T21:36:00.001+01:00

We have finally arrived. 13.5h in economy is more than one should have to endure. Still it feels great to be here. 25 degrees and blue sky ain't too bad. We have been checking out downtown santiago today and done some shopping for tomorrows trip down to the south. Right now there is only one problem and that is how we will get hold of gas for our kitchen when we arrive tomorrow evening to Puerto Natales. Our planned bus to the mountains leaves at 7.30 monday morning and no stores are openbefore that. We also need to get hold of a southern hemisphere compass. But these are minor issues and all in all we are doing pretty great.

ready for boardning

2010-02-05T15:05:00.000+01:00

After the usual behaviour of running around like mindless ants before leaving home it has been smooth sailing. Due to the last couple of days train chaos, we left with pleanty of time to spare. Amazing enough the train was on time and check in was a breeze. First flight is to Madrid where we will have a 5h wait until finally crossing the atlantic on a 13h+ flight. That's a serious trip for sure.

packed

2010-02-04T23:22:00.002+01:00

So, it looks like we are finally packed and this time is was actually quite easy. The normal procedure is for Ania to stay up until atleast 1AM trying to figure out what she hasn't packed. We haven't done a final weigh-in but I think we are well within the weight limit as well. Somehow it almost feels too easy, something is bound to go wrong.... But it won't... no really..it won't

Chile

2010-02-03T19:24:00.001+01:00

We are off for another adventure. This time we are heading to the Patagonian mountains of Chile.

sunday - summary

2009-08-23T14:25:00.000+02:00

Today we are heading back to Malmö again and it's time to sum up the trip. The 110km hiking (-6km boat trip) in the Swedish mountains has been the longest hike we have done so far, averaging about 20km a day. The terrain has been quite easy but it's still though to carry the heavy bags so long. We did tye trip in five days and there was never any stress to make our day tips even though we did them quite a bit longer then "recomended", but concidering Ania's knees suffered the last day we should probably have planned for one more day. The scenery has been fantastic and can easily measure up to both Norway and New zealand. Only one day did we suffer from the mosquitos and we expected it to be a lot worse. Something we probably will try to do for our next trip is to look at the bag situation. To be light on the feet makes you able to enjoy the scenery more then when struggeling with a heavy bag, though you feel better about yourself when reaching your goal with the heavy load.

Btw, sorry for not posting chronologicaly but there was no cell coverage in the trails so nothing got posted until we reached Abisko.

saturday - pine

2009-08-22T20:33:00.002+02:00

A few worrying drops of rain woke us up in the morning, but they never stood a chance. We have had supeb weather the entire day. First we hiked the last 4km to Abiskojaure and then 13km through pine forrest down to Abisko. Today we really took our time and had a wonderful lunch by the river. It's probably good this was the last day because Ania's knee has gotten really swollen and she will need a long rest to cure it. We have set our final camp with a view of Torne träsk. Abisko's camp site is though not the best but because this is inside the national park there is not much else to do since camping in the park is not permitted. Now it's time for a blueberry desert.

thursday - grey

2009-08-22T20:23:00.000+02:00

We woke up to a really cold day where we had to crack the ice of the water bottles. The day has been mainly grey with quite a lot of rain. We hiked from Sälka for about 20km and have set camp 4km south of Alesjaure mountain cabins. On the way we stoped for lunch at Tjäktja mountain cabin to heat up. The evening has been really nice and hopefully the night will be a bit warmer than yesterday. There i little cell coverage out here so we'll probaby deliver a couple of reports at once.

friday - t-shirt

2009-08-22T15:33:00.000+02:00

Today we hiked from Alesjaure for about 20km and have set camp just outside Abisko national park. Today was the first sunny day and we could go short sleeved almost the entire time. In the evening a few drops of rain has fallen but nothing to be concerned about. One thing that though is a bit annoying are that for the first time we can feel the wrath of the northern mosquitos and we have been forced to break out the repellant.
The hike past lake Ahpparjavri is one of the best we have ever done and the scenery was breathtaking. Tomorrow is the last hiking day with a 18km trip to Abisko in easy terrain.

wednesday - mixed weather

2009-08-22T15:32:00.000+02:00

The morning was fantastic but when we where about 1h into the trail it started to rain and the wind was horrible. Luckily it wore off after about 1.5h and the rest of the day have been amazing. We hiked from Keb mountain lodge, took a short cut via a beautiful mountain lake and after about 20km we set camp near Sälka mountain lodge. Last night was pretty cold but today feels a tad warmer. So far the mosquitos have been fewer than the rain deers and we are very happy about that. Ania actually came close enough to 'pet' a baby rain deer before it ran off into the sunset. Except that mr Christoffersson seem to have missplaced the compass everything is just dandy. Now it's about 21.30 and it's still quite bright outside. We don't have midnight sun but it never get's completely dark.

The longest day

2009-08-18T22:38:00.001+02:00

After plane to sthlm and then on to kiruna we took two busses to get to get to Nikkaluokta. We arrived at four and set of to cover 19km. 6km walking, 6km boat ride ad 7km walking later we sat camp. The day has been really long but fantastic. One minus though is that it's freezing in the evening. Ania decided to check the quality on her i.c berlin glasses by stepping on the with her boot. They sprung apart but could easily be assembled again. Those Germans make some killer glasses. Now we'll hit the sack. Good night

takeoff

2009-08-18T08:42:00.000+02:00

As always we were very late out the door but just made the train in time. Easy morning at Kastrup withot lines and in a couple of minutes we are off to stockholm and then further on to kiruna.

prepping

2009-08-18T00:16:00.000+02:00

Have spent most day running around getting food and other stuff. Now for a short nights sleep and then off to Kastrup.

Keb

2009-08-11T13:26:00.004+02:00

Now We are swiftly approaching our next adventure. This time we'll eplore the most northen parts of Sweden and are heading to the Kebnekaise area outside Kiruna. We still haven't decided if we should actually do the summit because we are a bit short on time and we have plotted quite a long walk. We'll leave Malmö on Tuesday the 18th so that's when we'll start to get active here for real.

Experiences

2009-03-01T12:37:00.004+01:00

Let's give it a shot to sum up this marvellous journey.

New Zealand is about the same size of Sweden (less people, lot's more sheep) but because of the terrain it takes longer to drive through. Still all reads where in good condition and compared to eg. Scotland it was a walk in the park. The long country has so much to offer and it's a good idea to have a rough game plan to follow before arriving. Ania had done a lot of research before we left and it was really valuable to know where to go but the many i-site and DOC (department of conservation) offices around the country made micro-planning quite easy. Because of the unstable weather we had to make some quick changes but they where all for the best. We spend a little over two weeks cruising the country and we could easily have spent a few more weeks. It would have been nice to see the Fjordlands and Stewart Island but now we have something to see when we come back, in about 15 years.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and to two nature lovers like us it was pure paradise... Almost. In New Zealand there is a little bugger called the sand fly which is really mean. Especially Ania became a feast for these small creatures and by the time we reached Queenstown she had as many bite marks as there are stars a clear night, and they itch. Our Scandinavian mosquitos are a little more annoying and slightly more thirsty for blood but a mosquito bite only lasts a few days while the sand fly bite increases in pain during several days and takes weeks to disappear completely.

That said, besides the sand flies and being somewhat unlucky with the weather this was a fantastic once in a lifetime holiday we'll never forget. Something we have learned though is we should not be ashamed of our part of the world at all. Some of the most beautiful nature in NZ will have a though match against the fjords of Norway and once we met a German fellow who had spent six months hiking the south island and he said the best nature he'd ever visited was the north of Sweden (a very likely destination for this summer's adventure).

We have uploaded a set of 470shots from Kiwi land that can be viewed here

That's it for this time and looking forward to our next endeavour
Ania & Joakim

Jet-lag

2009-02-27T07:06:00.002+01:00

A couple of days after our return and the body is slowly getting back to normal. Ania probably had the worst jet-lag looking like a bit wasted in the evenings. We'll post a new zelaland special with pictures in the weekend.

Home

2009-02-24T17:58:00.001+01:00

It's a funny thing leaving Auckland at 23.00 in the evening and arriving to LA after a 12h flight the same day 9h before you left, go figure. Anyway now we are on the train to Malmö after a loooong journey that wasn't as painful as one might expect but it feels good to be back. We'll make a summary of our experiences in a couple of days.

Monday - The island

2009-02-23T13:50:00.002+01:00

On our final day we took a ferry to an Island outside Auckland called Waiheke. The sun was strong until we arrived when a few drops of water fell on our heads. Luckily it was over in 10 minutes and then we enjoyed swimming in the pacific on two different beaches. We tied it all up with a nice dinner in the city before heading to the airport.

Now we have 30+ hours of travelling in front of us before again setting foot in good ol' (cold) Sweden.

Sunday - Back in the sun

2009-02-22T10:56:00.001+01:00

Arriving to sunny Auckland felt really great. 23 degrees and great weather was needed. After a little hassle with our hotel we checked in to a fantastic room with ocean view from the 19th floor at the Quadrant. We went for a long walk in the evening and eventually found an excellent Italian restaurant where we had dinner.

Tomorrow is the final day in Kiwi country and we'll make the most of it, no matter what the weather will be.

Saturday - Reaching for the clouds

2009-02-21T21:06:00.002+01:00

For sure it was raining when we woke up but we would not let a little storm stop us. We started the climb up mt Ben Lomond from Queenstown and after a couple of hours we reached the clouds. When visibility declined and the wind was too heavy we returned becuase it was no real point going further when we still would see nothing but we still got a quite heafty excercise.

After a late lunch we checked in to a really good hotel for the final night on the South Island. We are on the 9th floor with a fantastic view of the bay. We are finishing the day with a meal at the best fish restaurant in Queenstown, called Fishbone.

Tomorrow we are on an early flight back to Auckland for hopefully a little warmer weather.

Friday - KIWI

2009-02-20T08:19:00.003+01:00

Because rain killed our hiking plans we headed through wine country towards Queenstown. We stopped at beautiful Gibston Valley Winery for a tasting of mainly Pinot grapes but also a Riesling. Then we popped by the old gold town Arrowtown for a tea/coffee and a look at famous NZ photographer Craig Pottons gallery.

We realized it would be difficult to find a place to stay in QT and a few calls around confirmed our fears, but by a chance we found a nice place of the road 5 k from the city.

In the afternoon we got our first long awaited spot of Kiwi birds at Kiwi Birdlife Park, they look like superfast big meatballs. :) We finished the day with a nice meal at an Indian place before heading back to our room. Weather will probably be crappy tomorrow as well but we have hope.

Friday morning - Rain

2009-02-19T20:55:00.001+01:00

We just woke up and it's absolutely pouring down. Luckily we knew this was comming so we slept indoors tonight. The plan was to hike a mountain called Roys Peak but if there are only clouds to see it makes less sense. There are many vineyards in the area so perhaps we'll make a wine day out of it.

Thursday - A plane

2009-02-19T08:02:00.002+01:00

When we packed the tent together this morning ice chips fell off, confirming that it was a pretty cold night. Since our camp was deep in the wild and we had decided to get out today we hitched a ride with a little 5-seater plane back to the car park. YES a plane, for about €40 both of us got a private plane ride out from the mountains, amazing. It's because the plane drops of tourists who hikes for 2h and then get a jetboat back and instead of going back empty they pick up trampers heading back.

Before the pickup we spent an hour just laying in the sun looking at mountains. We then returned to Wanaka where we had lunch at an organic restaurant and chilled most of the day. Now we are about to prepare some nice lamb for supper and looking forward to a good night sleep.

Tomorrow there will be no more sun but rain, rain and rain. But we have good gear for that.

Wednesday - 11 h

2009-02-18T08:02:00.001+01:00

Today we did one of the most intence walks we have tried. 900-1500-750-1150-750 m climbs and 20+km, were the first climb and going down was with full packs. Normally people do these in two days, but we woke up really early and had done the first rough one by 13 so we just went ahead and took the other one as well.

The day was fantastic and at 1150 m we took a swim in a mountain lake surrounded by sun, mountains and snow. At 19 we reached camp after having walked for almost 11 h, we were pretty toast but very happy.

Tuesday - 20+ km

2009-02-17T07:59:00.000+01:00

Today we hiked the first part of the Gillespie trail. Over 20 k with full packs made us quite tired but it was an amazing day and the weather was fantastic. We have set camp in a beatutiful small valley at about 900 m.

Tomorrow we will start with a 600 m VERY steap climb that will be a killer.

Monday - 6 years!

2009-02-16T07:26:00.001+01:00

Today we celebrate 6 years of relationship and 1 year since proposal. We started this sunny day with a 6k run down to Monroe Beach where penguines where supposed to nest. The beach was all empty but still the Tasman Sea looked amazing in the morning. Otherwise we have checked out some waterfalls and planned our long hike tomorrow. We will be doing a quite heavy hike called Gillespie track in Mount Aspring National Park so expect no blog updates until thursday the latest becuase with 99% certainty there is no cell range there. Tonight we'll treat ourselves to a nice restaurang in the city of Wanaka.

Sunday - Hot 'n cold

2009-02-15T19:23:00.001+01:00

Today we hiked a trail called Roberts track in Franz Josef galcier. This is btw where the "lighting of the beacons" scene from LOTR was shot. After a couple of hours of fairly heavy hiking in the woods we got up to a great view of the glacier. Weather was a bit cloudy but not too bad for hiking. To heal our worn feet we then went to a Glacier thermal spa. As we are sitting in the 38 degree pool(outside ofcourse) it starts to pour down rain. That must have been one of the best places on earth at the time, an amazing experience. Ofcourse one needs to get up eventually, thus suddenly making it a much less enjoyable place to be. When we left Franz Josef it was raining heavily so we found a really nice little motel to stay at overnight.

Saturday - Sun

2009-02-14T21:17:00.002+01:00

Today we hiked/climbed an inland trail at Arthurs pass with a shaky summit of about 2000 (we started somewhere around 7-800). We had beautiful clear weather all day so even if it was a bit straining at times our spirit was high and the scenery was just awesome. We then drove west until we hit the Tasmanian sea and now we just had a fantastic salmon dinner down at a beautiful lake.

As usual no connection in the evening so this will post to late.

Friday - Seals

2009-02-13T20:15:00.002+01:00

It took a couple of hours to straighten out our little car accident before we could continue south. It was rainy/cloudy all day and as we where driving along the Pacific ocean gasping at how amazing the sea can be we stopped along the road and suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a friendly seal colony. They are awesome creatures those seals!

It's a funny thing driving south and the climate's getting colder. It's about 10 degrees colder now than in the north and the days are a couple of hours longer.

Tomorrow we'll probably do another long hike called Avalanche Peak in a place called Arthur's Pass. Though it all comes down to the weather, but we have high hopes. We heard that the weather has been awesome up until our arrival, go figure.

Thursday - Rain & rocks

2009-02-12T10:54:00.003+01:00

Today was mainly a transportation day getting from the north island to the south. On a good day this stretch of road and ferry ride can offer some magnificent scenery, but it was pouring down all day so we got none of that.

We are renting our car from Avis but they operate two separate fleets on the two island so we had to get a new one on arrival to Pickton (south island). Because of really heavy rain a lot of debree had found it's way on the roads so after about 10 min use of our new car a big rock on the motorway tore loose quite a large piece of plastic shielding from under the car and now it's making funny sounds. We'll find a dealer tomorrow to have a look at it. From a prior incident in Scotland we have learned to max out on insurance so we should be 100% covered and that's good anyway.

We ended the day in a restaurant with a good meal with good local wine (we are in wine country now).

Wednesday

2009-02-11T18:43:00.002+01:00

It was still raining in the morning but we had already decided that today we where going to hike a 20k trail in Tongariro called the alpine crossing. Btw is Tongariro home to mt Doom and several other locations from Lord of the Rings.

We thought this trail would be a good 1st for us in NZ and we actually have to say we kicked some serious bootay up on that mountain and when it was blowing/raining hard at 2000 m we were probably the only ones still smiling (if you have done Norway in 4 degrees a little NZ breeze is nothing). Sadly though it was a cloudy day so the best parts had very low visability.

We reached the end at 700 m a good 2 h before schedule but because the start and finish where at two different places we had to wait for the bus. After 1 h we decided to hike back the last bit 7 k to the car so we were a bit tender after that to be honest.

During that 7 k roadhike the sun was also super strong so we both got quite burned making us ripe tender tomatoes. We had some seriously good lamb for supper and tomorrow we are heading down to Wellington.

Thermal bath

2009-02-11T09:53:00.004+01:00

Because on no cell coverage on Tuesday we could not send the text so here it is, another for Wednesday will be arriving shortly.

We had set the alarm to 6am but since not even the sun had stepped out of bed at that time we gave it another 30min. Just after breakfast it started to rain again and kept on doing so during large parts of the day. We headed of to a geothermal area where we saw some really cool green ponds, boiling mud, a almost boiling waterfall and a geiser eruption (I was not intimidated).

After a little drive we had lunch at a very nice hotel and thereafter took a bath in a thermal mineral pool (about 40 degrees). All in all we have had a superb day.

Right now the weather is really sucky but if it clears up the plan for tomorrow is a beautiful 20k hike around Mount Doom (Lord of the ring).

Geiser

2009-02-10T09:44:00.000+01:00

The birds (with feathers) are quite pushy here and during supper we attracted quite a crowd of ducks. It was pouring down all night and because it's not that cold outside it got very humid in the tent. Anyhow it has pretty much stopped raining this morning but that apparently mean nothing here. Yesterday went from sunshine to rain in notime. Now we are of to check out a geiser.

Glowworms

2009-02-09T08:50:00.007+01:00

We left auckland after a good nights sleep, the jet lag actually has not been as bad as one might expect from pushing 12h in such a short period. We drove south a few hours to a place called Waitomo where we visited a fantastic cave with thousands of small glowworms.

After a good lunch we drove east and ended up in a kind of zoo called rainbow springs. They had some cool creatures but when we went to check out what we came there for, KIWIS, it turned out they are nocturnal and were fast asleep (we should maybe do a little more research next time) so all we saw was a fluffy ball that did not react at all. Picture: Kiwi.

Now we have set camp just south of a place called Rotorua which is an area with lots of hot springs and we'll probably check out a few tomorrow. Btw it just started to rain so now things are back to normal again.

Auckland

2009-02-08T19:47:00.002+01:00

We arrived about 7.30 in the morning and even though we felt like old carrots it was amazing to step out into the New Zealand summer. The sun in Auckland turned out quite strong and since we both were lacking anything resembling a base-tan we soon went from old carrots to bright and red carrots. We are spending the first night in a little hotel owned by a really nice chap who let us have our room already before 11 (though it was quite clear he was already a tad tipped at that time). We hade some supreme fish in the evening and now we are hoping the jet lag will be merciful.

A rock

2009-02-08T11:17:00.001+01:00

Due to some technical difficulties we have not been able to post since leaving motherland. Apparently both in US and NZ sonofon has no deal for package data, at least not with vodafone that I am currently using. Hopefully we can solve this but in the meantime Jane (brother Niclas's girlfriend, posting as "Felicitas") has stepped up to the plate and will be posting mms/sms's from us. Lots of cred to Jane, she is a rock. :)

Boarning flight nz001

2009-02-06T16:12:00.000+01:00

Just about to get on the plane

Checked in

2009-02-06T10:59:00.001+01:00

a couple of nervous minutes when the people in the check in where convinced that a visa was needed for ania, but now we are through and soon on our way to uk

Pretty cash

2009-02-05T19:46:00.001+01:00

NZ money are very soft.

up and away

2009-02-04T21:02:00.001+01:00

only 39h to departure now.. :)

KIWI

2009-02-02T12:38:00.001+01:00

Here we go again

2009-02-01T21:06:00.000+01:00

On friday the 6th we are off on another crazy journey and this time the goal is hobbitland on the other side of the planet.

sunnmørsalpane

2008-07-23T20:47:00.002+02:00

Some thoughts about sunnmørsalpane. This is a totally amazing place if you are looking for some hiking in peace. During our days here we have not met a single hiker in the trails and i have to say it is really nice. There are some downsides with this tough. It was difficult to find a map of the area and there are few to ask, even the people in ålesund tourist info looked like parrots and provided a map made by a 3yr old. Also, Because so few people walk here the trails are very difficult to follow and we lost track several times. The trails can also be quite difficult and are sometimes not suited well if you are carrying a heavy pack. The nature is though incredible and i would say even better then jotunheimen but it is not as easy to plan a trip here. Ålesund and ørsta have some tings to learn in this area. But it has been a few fantastic days.

on more fjord shot

2008-07-23T09:28:00.000+02:00

tuesday

2008-07-22T21:52:00.001+02:00

No rain today so that was fantastic. This was overall the best day so far. We made 3 water crossings and at 700m the water is mighty cold. Faithful to our habit of getting lost in dangerous places we lost the trail during a very steap climb an had to work ourselves another 100m up the ridge. Though having cursed the rocks climbing up the view was spectacular from 1100m. The climb down was to our surprise quite easy and we have set camp at about 200m in an incredible place. So happened our place was in blueberry heaven so ania got a bit crazy with the picking so no difficult guess what we had for desert. Tomorrow we are catching a ferry and will try to make our way back to ålesund where we have a hotel room waiting for up. As far as the sportstracker goes i guess my conclusion is thats it's a great tool for sport but not so much for longer out door activitys. Though having had a internet enabled phone with has been a killer. We had to change plan several times and it's helped up catch ferrys and buses that would not have been possible otherwise.

tent view

2008-07-22T21:24:00.000+02:00

The tuesday evening view from our tent, magnificent.

monday

2008-07-21T21:38:00.000+02:00

There are good days and there are bad, and this was the latter. The rain was pouring when we woke up and the sky was grey. We waked 8k to catch the ferry to the next island where we walked during the day. When we reached 500m the mist was so bad we had about 15m visibility. We got recommende a shortcut by a norwegian cabin worker but becase we could not see anything we had to turn back to avoid getting totally lost. Back on track again we where totally soaked and there is on way our boots will dry up by tomorrow. All in all we hiked about 20k in really shitty conditions so we are hoping for some sun tomorrow.

fog

2008-07-21T19:18:00.000+02:00

Visibility is right now about 20m. We almost lost our trail so we have to go back.

the final decent

2008-07-21T18:00:00.000+02:00

sunday

2008-07-20T21:49:00.001+02:00

Today was truely eventful. We walked about 15k and the trip went from 300m to 800m to 400m to 800 to 0 so we are quite pleased with our efforts. We experienced crossing ice cold water bare foot 3 times and we almost lost anias shoe to a waterfall but i jumped in without hesitation and managed to grab it just in time. The next hour was spent with wet trousers but since it was a sunny day we quickly dried up again. Then there was a bit of a scary episode when we had to walk on a really narrow high path over a almost vertical drop and since we later have found out that path is almost never used it was difficult to follow so at the most critical place we found oursele very exposed. Carrying 18kg does not help either when you have to be super careful about keeping your balance. Down at sea level again we camped out in what looked to be a really nice place and after have coming to terms with that a lot of small mosquitos also thought that we now are getting ready for tomorrow.

day 2

2008-07-20T17:33:00.001+02:00

We slept about 9hours so we where well rested in the morning. I ran sportstracker a little bit the first 7k but the mountains messed with the signal so it looked like we ran in circles. Because there is on cell coverage here i will write some stuff during the way and send it in bursts. Weather so far is really good, a little bit of rain but it is norway so it is to be expected.

2008-07-20T17:32:00.000+02:00

We had to cross here. Ouch i can tell you it was cold

day one

2008-07-20T16:35:00.001+02:00

Saturday was a really long day that started when we woke up at 4.40 am. It proved difficult to find a proper hiking map and we could not find one covering all. This ment that we hiked the fist 13k almost without map. Because we started a bit off ment that we did not meet a single hiker during the entire day. We set camp just when we realized that we had reached the corner of our proper map. A first toughu on sporttracker for an event like this is that is really drains the battery. I have 4 with me but would probably need the double if i should track 5 full days. Otherwise the n95 has saved the day several times so far. Good internet and gps kicks ass. Though for a quick location look google maps is the fastest to use.

food day 1

2008-07-19T15:26:00.001+02:00

Having a not so good chicken curry. It took a long time to get out from ålesund because of hardly any busses.

landed

2008-07-19T10:33:00.001+02:00

10.30 arrived in ålesund. We are tired from an early morning

Hello World

2008-07-18T09:53:00.002+02:00

A a blog that celebrates physical movement and the geek tech that goes with it.