The Big Arrival

... aand here we are. Bit of an anticlimax really. Having been on the road and looking forward to something for so long was kind of intoxicating. But, here we are, this is it, ordinary life can resume. Yuhu.

The car arrived late on the 13th, but it isn´t released until real soon now, so we´ve lived the camping-life for another night. Only difference is we don´t have any cooking gear and hardly any cutlery, and of course no bed linen, and almost no clean clothes. The washing machine is running full steam.

But Svalbard is as I remembered (only less white), that is, wonderful. And the house has a good size and a nice feel to it. We´re situated near the fjord, close to UNIS, and can see as far as the airport. And of course we can see mountains and a glacier and wide open blue sky.

We´ve encountered the first practical problems that will need solutions fairly quick. No post box. Bad internet-connection (this is the neighbour´s - the only open line, but weak). Broken lamps (there are four cheap, ugly-bugly ones, two that work only partly, and two that doesn´t work at all) - but the lamp problem can wait a little, I suppose. There are several that work too.

Otherwise the house is quite comfortable, but empty (lots of space to fill up).

But, I promised you photos from Engeløya. Here comes.


First evening was warm and quiet and lovely, and we were euphoric when we went to bed. This is what we woke up to, though:
Storm and rain and the bleak realization that Thomas had no waterproof foot wear.

Luckily the weather improved a lot, but didn´t get as good as on the first night. But we did spend some quality time at a nearby beach, Bøsanden.

William looking for exciting marine life.

Peter building castle.
Isn´t this a wonderful beach? Almost deserted too. Note the Lofoten mountains in the background.

Crab fishing from the terrace outside the rorbu where we stayed.

We hiked to the top of mount Prestkona, 646 m altitude. Highest peak on Engeløya.
Thomas was the only one of the kids who could be bothered to conquer the last 200 meters.

And this is the view.
And more fishing. This time we actually caught something (3 cods, 1 mackerel and 1 coalfish), enough for dinner and a little extra.


We found a little island (Sandøya)to picnic on. Here´s the view from there:


And finally, here´s two for the road -
Rear end of Lindströms Tivoli, travelling the E6 to Bodø...


... and early monday morning at Bodø Lufthavn.