Xmastime in Norway

Even though it was quite a shock to fill my lounges with air holding just a temperature of -5 degrees celsius after spending two weeks in +40, I quite quickly got used to the Norwegian cold and culture again. Business is as usual up north, and this xmas my familiy has celebrated at Skarnes @ my grandmother's.

Double-Moe-7 all dressed up and ready to eat xmas porridge and open his presents.

Look what I got! A plastic bag with chocolate pieces glued to it! (It was a nice shirt in the bag)

Familiy dinner on xmas day

My sister guarding the xmas tree and the presents from the dogs and her brother

The world's greatest grandmother!

Other than that, it has finally started snowing! Yesterday, me and Audun went on a 35km cross-country trip at Skei, a small skiiing resort in Gausdal. I had quite a few discussions with kiwis and aussies abouth xmas is suppose to be snowy or sandy. I prefer snow - the below pictures get me in the xmas mood.

View from my house

Christian with his afternoon smile

An average afternoon in Øyer

At xmas, I prefer this view to beaches. All other times of the year, I prefer the beach, though.

New Years Eve will be spent with friends - we are planning sledgeride into 2007. I will of course bring pictures from this event @ later stage. Happy New Year!

Dining & vining - our last night in Sydney

Yesterday night we had dinner at the waterfront @ Darling Harbour - a nice way to mark the end of a wonderful vacation filled with thrilling experiences. Mari has a burning desire for woodfired pizza, so when we found a cosy place serving just that she went straight in and ordered the biggest veggie pizza they offered. After a nice dinner we went for a walk around the harbour area, chewing on dark australian chocolate as a dessert. Life is good!

Christian admiring the view at Darling Harbour

Mari waiting in exitement for her woodfired veggie pizza

Yum!

A little flirting is part of the game

Xmastree (left) and Mari (right)

In 4 hrs our flight leaves Sydney, and even though we've had a lifetime experience down under, we are looking very much forward to meet with our familiy and friends again! See you soon! Hugs from Mari & Christian

Coogee Beach

As we woke up to another hot day in Sydney, we figured we'd check out another of the beaches, Coogee Beach. Coogee is a beachside suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 8km south-east of the Sydney central business district, is part of the City of Randwick local government area and considered to be part of the Eastern Suburbs region.

Coogee is said to be taken from a local Aboriginal word koojah which means "smelly place", or "stinking seaweed", a reference to the smell of decaying kelp washed up on the beach. Although at certain times large quantities of seaweed are still washed up, it is usually removed before it gets a chance to stink.

Some evidence suggests that the word "Coogee" may in fact be the original Aboriginal place name for the next bay to the north, now known as Gordon's Bay. Nice to know, huh? Anyway, here are a few shots:

Christian upon entering the Coogee area. Does the term "Beach Plaza" even exist in Norway?

The beach itself was quite crowded, as the public holiday has just started. Christian is wondering where to lie down.

Toes chillin' out

Mari reading her novel & relaxing in the sun

Christian swimming Dressmann-style

Pretty nice, huh?

Seasons greetings in the sand!

Back in Sydney - visiting Manly Beach

After a streneous busride with Premier Motorservices through the night (ie no sleep) we are now back in Sydney and are staying at YHA Glebe until Tuesday 19, when our flight leaves for home, sweet home.

Today we've been doing some xmas shopping and, as todays expedition, we took the ferry to Manly Beach, which is an approx 45 mins ferry ride from Sydney CBD. Situated seven miles north-east of Sydney on the lower Northern Beaches, Manly was named by Captain Arthur Phillip after his encounter with the confident and manly Aboriginal people of the Kay-ye-my clan who lived here. Surrounded on three sides by water, Manly is the perfect destination to enjoy both the habour and the 18 ocean beaches, coves and inlets to swim, sail and surf.

Nice view, eh?

The view you get of Manly Beach if you are really tall or take a chopper ride

After a couple of hours working on our tan and dehydrating we we had a little look around just to conclude that the only sort of residence we can afford at Manly as of today is a cardboard box - a used one.

The small things in life...

It does not take much more than travelling to the other side of the earth, summer, sun, a sunbed by the pool and eating strawberries from a rock melon to make us happy.

Barbeque party!

YHA in Coffs Harbour celebrated their 2 years anniversary yesterday so to celebrate, they throw a party. For $ 10 we got as much beer, wine and sausages as we wanted, so off course we joined in:) Most of the people in the hostel joined in, so it was a really great night! We met a lot of cool people and had a really fun night.

Christian toasting with Lars & Susan (both 26 from Germany) and David (41) from New Zealand. Really nice people!

People enjoying their beers, their wine and the summer

Prost! Lars showing the photographer how to toast in a german manner.

Muttonbird Island wildlife reserve

It has been raining quite heavily in Coffs Harbour the last couple of days, ie we have had to come up with things to that don't involve beaches, waves and surfboards. After growing tired of sipping tea with milk & reading @ the hostel, we set off to Muttonbird Island wildlife reserve, situated on a peninsula just west of Coffs. We did not see any Muttonbirds, nor did we see any whales out in the sea despite that Muttonbird is said to be quite a good spot for whalewatching. But at least we got some fresh air.

Two norwegians upon entering the wildlife reserve

Mari taking a break - it was after all a 3.5 km walk on Swedish tiles!

Viewing Coffs Harbour from the peninsula

Just as mamma, Mari likes chillin' out with Pepsi Max

Christian enjoying life on top of the concrete blocks in the marina

Christian whalewatching. Of course, no whales ever showed up.

Some random pics from Byron Bay

This is John (22), who we shared a doorm with. He lives from playing poker on the Internet and had a net income of $400,000 last year, which he now spends on travelling the world. He is a really cool guy - though a little less risk averse than the average norwegian student travelling on a limited budget.

Mari smiling

Christian in the streets of Byron Bay

Mari hydrating - very necessary when the temperature in the shade is 33 degrees celsius

The YHA hostel we were staying at.

Surfing Byron Bay

Byron Bay is known to have one of the best waves on the north coast (all the places we've visited tend to tell us that they've got the best kickass wave), we of course had to give a go. After hard negotiations we cut off a good deal with the local surf shop and strolled down to the beach, hoping to get up on our boards and avoid being eaten by sharks. Surfing the waves on Byron Bay proved to be hard, but still great fun! And take it easy mum & dad - we saw no sharks.

Byron Bay essentials: Surfboard, sunscreen, sunnies, flip-flops

Rookie surfer I ready to surf

Rookie surfer II ready to surf

Wonder if I will catch this one?

Yes, I'm gonna give it a go!

Jeee, where did that wave come from?

Christian looking for a good wave

Coffs Harbour

We arrived Coffs Harbour around 21.30 last night after having a great day in Byron Bay first. We rented surfboard and tried to cruise the waves today too, but with less succes than monday. The board we rented this time were not that stable so most of the time we were just struggling in the water, but it was fun anyway.
The hostel we are staying at here in Coffs Harbour has it own pool and its only a 5 min walk to the beach, so we will probably have some nice relaxing days here before we are going to Sydney. We have planned to stay here until Saturday night, when we are taking the night bus back to Sydney. Coffs Harbour is famous for its gorgeous beaches, white water rafting, diving and its wild life, and Russel Crowe has a ranch not far from here:)
Coffs Harbour is also famous because it has the worlds largest banana; The Big Banana is 11 metres long, 5 metres high, and 2.4 metres wide, so we might take a trip there to watch the big banana if we want a break from the beach life.

Afternoon trip to the light house in Byron Bay

On Monday we went on a minor afternoon trip from our YHA hostel to the lighthouse - approx 8 km return. Mari & Beth got some bikes from the hostel, whereas Christian, as the crazy bastard he is, chose to test his new Nike sneakers and run instead. The view and sunset was great - here are a few pictures.

The Lighthouse

...and Mari was there with her rented bike!

Just behind the Lighthouse lies the most easterly point of the Australian Mainland. Been there, done that.

The view from the lighthouse was not the worst we've seen.

Yup, we could definetively get used to this .