Lars Christian og Solbjørg

I dag har vi vært og besøkt alle dyra i Langedrag Naturpark. Mange av dyrene gikk fritt rundt og lot seg klappe.

Solbjørg klapper en jak-okse

Elgkalven Svea ble forlatt og blir nå tatt hånd om på Langedrag.

Det mest spennende for oss var å møte ulvene på nært hold. De var mindre enn to meter unna oss, og vi var på INNSIDEN av gjerdet. Selvfølgelig med egen guide fra parken som fortalte og forklarte oss om ulveflokken. Den ulven som kom nærmest hadde fått navnet Mot.

Ulven kom nesten helt bort til oss.

Etter at vi hadde vært hos ulvene en stund tok vi turen inn til gaupene. De kom helt bort til oss. Guiden advarte oss mot å klappe dem fordi de har veldig skarpe klør.

Gaupene var nysgjerrige og litt lekne.

Vi hadde kjempefint vær og ble litt solbrente begge to. Hestene koste seg i varmen og så ut til å ha gode drømmer.

Hest som ligger og smiler og drømmer.

Bjørner i Vassfaret bjørnepark

I dag har vi vært i Vassfaret bjørnepark i Flå. Der fikk vi se kaniner, minigriser, pinnsvin, bjørner og elg. Elgen fikk vi både klappe og mate. Flott å se bjørnene på såpass nært hold også. Vi kan absolutt anbefale et besøk hit.

Vi fikk holde et av pinnsvinene parken.

Mange benyttet digitalkamera til å ta bilder av seg selv. Her er noen av bildene. Det var gøy å kikke igjennom dem etter bryllupet. Håper dere som tok bilder også kan sende oss noen kopier.

Vi er gift!! Det var en sterk opplevelse å bli viet og selve sermonien var utrolig vakker, med nydelige musikalske innslag og gode ord fra presten. Hele dagen var fantastisk, og vi sitter igjen med en masse søte, rørende og gode minner. Vi vil takke alle de som kom for å dele dagen sammen med oss, og for all oppmerksomheten vi har fått. I dag satt vi og leste igjennom alle kortene vi fikk, og det var rørende å se hvor mange som bryr seg om oss og tenker på oss! Tusen takk for alle gaver! Vi vil selvfølgelige sende en personlig hilsen til alle…det kommer Nå kan vi også begynne å planlegge Afrikareisen vi har drømt om! Vi vil legge ut bilder fra bryllupet når de blir klare.

På bryllupsreise...!

Etter å ha fått sagt våre “ja” og feiret det hele med familie og gode venner har vi tatt turen til Gol. Her venter store og små opplevelser, og vi gleder oss! I dag var vår første mandag som nygifte og naturligvis var vi trøtte og slitne etter helgens store hendelser. Lars rakk å lure med seg noe mat før de stengte frokostserveringen, og det ble frokost på sengen Ellers har vi prøvd å orientere oss litt på hotellet og rundt, vi har vært og sett på stavkirken her på Gol og vi har badet og kjørt sklier i et badeland som hører til hotellet. Været er fint og vi er veldig fornøyde med stedet! Full pensjon med alle måltider, fri inngang på badeland og masse rabatter overalt er noe man virkelig burde unne seg av og til. En stor frihetsfølelse!

Velkommen til Toten! Her ser dere utsikten fra Toten Gjestegård.

Vi gleder oss til å se dere alle sammen!

Her er noen praktiske opplysninger i forbindelse med bryllupet.

Tid og sted
Vielsen starter kl. 13:00 i Hoff kirke.
Middagen starter kl. 16:00 og kaffen kl. 20:00 på Toten Gjestegård.

Mat
Med tanke på at bruden selv ikke alltid er like tolerant ønsker vi å bry oss om eventuelle gjester som heller ikke er det. Om noen har behov for glutenfri, melkefri mat eller har andre allergier som må tas hensyn til, så ta kontakt med enten Lars Christian eller Solbjørg så snart som mulig.

Overnatting
Vi er behjelpelig med å finne overnatting. Det ser ut til at samtlige hoteller på Gjøvik(de to som finnes) har ventelister på rom akkurat denne helgen, men det finnes andre alternativer. Ved hjelp av familien Hansen og deres kontakter har vi muligheten til å tilby overnatting på Viken Folkehøgskole. De har dobbeltrom med bad til en billig penge. Man kan leie sengetøy hvis det er ønskelig. Vi vil gjerne ha tilbakemelding så fort som mulig hvis noen ønsker å benytte seg av dette tilbudet! Et annet alternativ er Hovdetun, et vandrerhjem som ligger i Gjøvik sentrum. Det står mer om hovdetun her.

Fellesskyss:

Vi vil gjerne tilby skyss til de som trenger det, fra Gjøvik til kirka, videre til festen og til slutt tilbake til gjøvik. Eventuelt, hvis noen av kaffegjestene trenger det, skyss fra Gjøvik til Toten Gjestegård. Dette får ikke vi gjort så mye mer med før vi vet om det er noen som ønsker det. Hvis noen ønsker skyss, si ifra til oss så fort som mulig! De som har ledig plass kan gjerne si ifra til oss, og de som kjenner hverandre kan kanskje samkjøre?

Veibeskrivelse til Hoff kirke:

Hvis du kommer fra Gjøvik:

• Kjør riksvei 33 mot Lena.
• Etter ca 16 km kommer du til Lillo krysset. Ta til venstre i rundkjøringen.
• Etter ca 900 meter er det en Fotoboks. Ta første til venstre etter fotoboksen. Du kan nå se Hoff kirke fra vegen.

Hvis du kommer fra Oslo:

• Kjør E6 nordover.
• Når du nærmer deg Minnesund, følg med og ta av til riksveg 33 mot Gjøvik.
• Kjør riksveg 33 ca 47 km, Kirken ligger på Høyre siden av vegen.

For de av dere som har GPS er koordinatene til

Hoff Kirke: Bredde: N 60° 41′ 2″ Lengde: E 10° 50′ 45″
Toten Gjestegård: Bredde: N 60° 38′ 28″ Lengde: E 10° 51′ 33″

Vis Hoff kirke og Toten gjestegård i et større kart

Ønskeliste

Vi synes vi har alt vi trenger og ønsker oss derfor et bidrag til bryllupsreise!
Noen alternativ til de som ikke ønsker å gi penger: Kinobilletter, gavekort på restaurantbesøk, sengetøy til dobbeltdyne, gavekort på Bohus, kaketine m/bærehank og salatbolle/salatslynge. Lars Christians søster Lill Kristin har vært så snill å ta på seg å koordinere eventuelle gavekjøp. Så hvis dere ønsker å kjøpe en gave i stedet for å gi penger kan dere ringe Lill Kristin på telefonnummer 48 07 48 22.

Nyforlovet(og anstrenger seg for å vise fram ringen)!

It has been some years since last time I visited my family’s vacation spot close to Bodø. I had looked forward to showing my girlfriend this beautiful place. The drive from Gjøvik to Kvalnes is a little over 1,000 km, so we and spent the night just north of Majavatnet before driving the remaining distance the next day.

We spent the days relaxing. Here the sun never sets. The sea is full of fish, and we caught our own dinner, fresh cod and haddock.

I love taking pictures, and here the opportunities are plenty. Seagulls are always fun to take pictures of.

Almost every night we saw elk passing the fields outside the house.

The elk is shy and not easy to get close to. It likes to eat the leaves of plants and trees and is often hidden behind the bushes. For this picture I got well within 50 meters.

I hope it won’t take too much time untill next time we get a chance to go here again.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog now. I’m back in Norway and have been work hard on my bachelor thesis. A phantom study of an alderson ART phantom with AEC techniques. Hopefully the paper will be available at the college library, but it will only be in Norwegian.

Anyway, the last weeks in Namibia I traveled a lot and experienced even more. Together with Wulan I visited the Arnhem cave, the largest cave in Namibia. It was full of bat droppings and it smelled awull. If you go there you won’t forget it, but I sure was glad when we came back to the surface, but happy to have seen all the bats. We also took a daytrip to Daan Viljoen game reserve and did the 13 kilometer hike. There I finally found a scorpion and got the pictures to prove it.

My mother, father and aunt also came to visit me, and we took a long trip to the northern part of Namibia, with another four days in Etosha, a visit to Oshakati and Okalongo. We met with Queen Elisabeth in Opuwo and visited a Himba village. Stayed at the beutiful Opuwo Country Lodge, and also visited Swakopmund and the Namib desert again.

Back in Norway now I’m starting to save money for my next trip to Namibia.

Last weekend we rented a car and set the course for Sossusvlei. We took the route by C26 and then over the Spreetshoogte pass. The view was fantastic when we came over the mountains, and I would recommend the route for others. The gravel roads where nice and in good conditions, with the exception of the Tsondab river blocking the road just south of Solitaire. However A short detour about 30km along C14 was fine. We spent the night at a lodge 60km from Sossusvlei, and left there before sunrise early in the morning. We reached the gate to Sossusvlei just a few minutes before sunrise.

The last few months Sossusvlei has actually gotte som rain. It’s still a dessert, but on the gravel planes there was some water making some fantastic scenery.

The dunes had beautiful scenery to offer, but there where also quite a lot of basking beetles and small lizards. One on the most common we saw was the Wedge Snouted Lizard. This little endemic lizard resembles the Shovel snouted lizard I saw in the dunes outside Swakopmund.

After half a day in Sossusvlei we continued our trip down to Lüderitz. It’s a long drive, but we just made it and was there about 30 minutes after sunset. We checked in at Kratzplatz, a lovely littl bed and breakfast that i can recomend to anyone going to Lüderitz. They make some awesome good pizzas. The next day we visited Kolmanskop, the ghost town. This is where the first diamonds where found in Namibia in 1908, but it was abandoned in 1956 when the operations moved to Oranjemund. It’s amazing that all of the diamonds where found on the surface, and no diamonds are found deeper than two meters down. Now it serves as a tourist attraction, but the area around is still forbidden area, and there is probably still possible to find diamonds there. However all the diamond there belong to Namdeb, and stealing a diamond will land you eight years in prison. Needless to say it is a good idea to stay out of the restricted areas.

At Kolmanskop it’s also possible to buy diamonds, but unfortunatly not on saturdays, so we had to leave without being in possession of a precious carbon piece.

After a guided tour around the ghost town we went exploring on our own. We where warned about that scorpions and snakes could be inside the houses, so we should watch our step. Unfortunately I didn’t come across any of those, but only a rabbit and an agama.

Next we took a drive out to the coast. Signs again warned us about entering the restricted area. The Atlantic Ocean was cold and it was very windy on the coast. Some kitesurfers enjoyed the strong wind in the bay, but out on the ocean the waves where high. We went all the way to Dias Point Cross, but had to hold on tight not to get blown of the stairs. i almost lost my sunglasses as they blew of my head.

The cafe at Dias Point had excellent oysters and good coffee and chocolate  cake.

On Our way back to Windhoek we took the route through Keetmanshoop. Not as much to see as over the mountains, but some interesting points along the way. Just west of Aus there is viewing point for the Namibian wild horses. As a bonus to the horses we also saw a gekko (yet to be identified) and a sandsnake!!! As I’ve already had held this snake earlier I recognized it immediately. Didn’t pick it up, but rather followed it. It didn’t take much notice of me, but was on the hunt for prey. It slided silently from shrub to shrub, stopping occasionally looking out for small geckos it could eat. For as long as I followed it, it didn’t find any…

We stayed overnight in Keetmanshop, and saw Quivertree forest and Garas Park. There I also found a scorpion, but didn’t get to take a picture of it. If I had had the nerves I could have picked it up by the tail, but I’ve never tried that before and didn’t want to try this. Especially since it was one of the deadlier species with big tail and small pincers.

Thanks to everybody for email, gifts, sms and blog comments on my birthday. It’s very much appreciated, especially now that I’m so far away from home.

Yesterday we had a fantastic sunset here in Windhoek. Just now we are leaving to Sossusvlei and Luderitz, so updates will come next week.

This weekend we went to Swakopmund, a town on the west coast by the Atlantic ocean. This is the driest area of Namibia, and here is the desert and the dunes. The city has a lot of activities to offer, and this time of year it’s also very quiet.

To get there we took the Intercape bus from Windhoek. A comfortable way of travelling, and also cheap. We had booked rooms at Dunes backpackers. I haven’t seen the other backpacker places in Swakopmund, but we werent impressed with the standard at Dunes, but it was ok. We went for a walk around town and found the tourist office. The lady there was very helpful and booked for us all the different activities we wanted. Then we visited the snakepark. The park is really quite small, but has some interesting snakes. Mostly nice ones, but the black mamba is kind of creepy when since you know a bite from it only leaves you 20 minutes to live. You can also hold a python for a little fee. Well worth a visit if you are in Swakopmund. The house snake and egg eater was also fun to see.

We ate at a restaurant called Napolitana. Excellent food there. The next day the others went sandboarding, and Wulan and me went for the “Living Desert Tour” to see the little five. That is the Shovel-Snouted Lizzard, Peringues’s Adder, Web-footed Palmato Gecko, Namaqua Desert Chameleon and the Dancing White Lady Spider. I we saw all of them and I got pictures of everyone but the White Lady.

Our guide Chris had a fantastic knowledge of the desert. He told all about the ecosystem from the ‘musli’ dry plant residue that gets eaten by the silverfish and insects to the top predator the snakes. From a distant, it doesn’t look like the desert is a place where there is life, but on closer inspection you can see thousands of tracks of little animals and insects. Chris found the animals right under the sand, and took great care not to harm them. In addition to the “little five” we also got a bonus. We found the track and Chris caught a Sand snake. This is the worlds fastest snake, but after a short while it calmed down and I got to hold it too!

The tour ended with a scenic drive through the dunes. It’s really a shame that much of the life in the desert are in danger because of all the illegal 4wd ATW driving. Let’s hope the work in progress to save the Namib will be successful.

Sunday we went for a boat trip out to Pelican Point outside Walvis Bay. The Atlantic ocean had some waves and the sun was shining from a perfect blue sky. On the trip we saw dolphins, the seal colon, pelicans and a lot of other birds. A very nice daytrip.

On Monday Ola, Brita and me went for a paragliding introduction course in the sand dunes before our bus left in the afternoon. It was a nice end to the weekend, but very hot to walk up the dunes!