Lathams News: DAY 34 - CRUISING INTO OSLO

We had a pretty smooth night's sailing and we woke up to a beautiful day. This morning we were able to meet up with Pete and Maria and the boys and all go to breakfast together. We decided to have an early breakfast this morning as we wanted to spend most of our time up on the top deck for the cruise into Oslo. There was no port window for us this morning at breakfast and so we had to settle for a table in the middle of the restaurant. Again, breakfast was buffet style and there was plenty to choose from.

Early morning breakfast with Pete, Maria and the boys..

After breakfast, we quickly packed our gear to be ready to grab once we were called to go get into our cars and then we headed up to the very top deck to meet up with Pete, Maria and the boys again to enjoy the lovely cruise up the fjord and into Oslo.

Although it was a truly beautiful day and the sun was shining, it was still very cold up on the top deck as there was quite a breeze still blowing. Pete, was right through, the cruise up the fjord was quite breathtaking, with homes built right down to the water's edge.

Stunning scenery as we cruise through the Oslo Fjord...

Surrounded by great nature, picturesque small towns and lush forest, the Oslo Fjord is one of Norway’s most captivating natural waters. It serves as the perfect backdrop for an Oslo fjord cruise and it was one of the highlights of our Scandinavian adventure to Norway...

As usual there is a photo overload as we snapped away at the beauty. Unfortunately the camera does not do the natural beauty justice. Just cruising in left you feeling in awe of the beauty and if anything, these photos are a trigger for the wonderful memories we made by doing this overnight cruise.

One of the things we noticed whilst cruising into Norway was the number of boats on the water or attached to houses built on the water or birthed in marinas and we were not surprised to learn that there are over 800,000 pleasure crafts owned by Norwegians. More than 25 per cent of the population in Norway own one or more boats and around 46 percent of the population have been reported as having used a boat , either renting or borrowing their buddy's boat. These are pretty impressive figures for a county of only 5.2 million people.

I read somewhere some stats on Norwegians and the water and it seems that for most Norwegian boaters, 28.9 percent responded that they hit the water because of "the nature experience", another 24 percent said it was for "relaxation" 19 percent said it was for the "fishing"and almost `7% took to the water for "social interaction". Interestingly in Norway, motor boats are more popular than sailing boats but the mostly Norwegian relish the more contemplative side of boating with the average Norwegian boat motor size only 30 horsepower. I must admit I did find all this rather fascinating...

Some pretty cute houses built along the water's edge.

One of the other things we noticed whilst cruising in through the fjord was the number of small islands scattered throughout the fjord. Regardless of the size of the islands, they all seemed to have homes built on them. Some of these islands appeared to be solid rock and people had still built on the rock...

Lots of islands in the fjord and they all seemed to have someone living on them..

Lots and lots of boats in Norway...

Whilst cruising we had a couple of helicopters fly fairly low overhead. Not sure what sort they were, but they were pretty big and there was three of them travelling together... We managed to get a photo as they flew alongside our cruise ship.

A couple of helicopters fly alongside of us as we were cruising in through the fjord...

Boats, boat and more boats where ever we look...

Flying the Norwegian flag now that we are in Norway....

This country is built on solid rock..

The many many islands scattered in the fjord

Everything is built on solid rock...

Maria and Elliot

Pete and his Dad...

There are lots of beautiful homes built on the water's edge...

The houses here all made from timber...

Another house built on solid rock...

One of the things we noticed coming into Norway was that there were a lot of tree. Nearly 70 percent of Norway i uninhabitable and covered by mountains, glaciers, moors and rivers. This might explain why most folk seem to live on the water's edge. The hundreds of deep fjords that cut into the coastline give Norway an overall oceanfront of more than 19,500kms.. one of the longest coastlines in the world...

This country is built on solid rock...

Pretty typical of homes built on the water's edge on solid slabs of rock...

More marina's for their boats...

We saw boats of all shapes and sizes...

Some beautiful homes on the water's edge and all the houses are wooden..

These buildings built on solid rock just amaze us....

It was quite windy and cold on the top deck and we had to keep moving a bit to keep warm. We also were backward and forwards from each side of the ship as it was hard to know which side had the best views. It really was a lovely way to enter Norway and I would recommend it to anyone...

The views were incredible.

I'm loving sharing this experience with my honey...

Norway is quite an expensive country to visit but Norway is one of the richest countries in the world. In terms of GDP per capita, they ranked number 4. One of the reasons for their advantaged economic position is due to the fact that they have little income insecurity for individual families, and the State is generous with parents, not least with respect to daycare and parental leave arrangement that make it easier for parents to combine work and family responsibilities.


Each of these little islands all have inhabitants...

As we were getting closer and closer to Oslo, Pete encouraged us to go to the other side of the ship as we passed by what appeared to be a church built on a solid slab of rock in the fjord. It was one of the most photographed sites in the fjord around Oslo and I could understand why...

We gradually closed in on tiny Dyna Fyr, which perches atop a spit of rock like the lone survivor after a massive flood. Although it looks daity and fragile, the lighthouse has somehow managed to withstand almost 150 years of being battered by the elements. It's job of warning boats away from the hidden coastal reef that runs beneath it.

Although Dyna Fyr is no longer an active lighthouse (meaning no one lives there to man it ’round the clock), it’s still sports flashing lights to keep ships safe.

Dyna Fyr as it is called is a must see landmark in the middle of the Oslofjord. It was built in 1874 and it's belfry gives it the appearance of a small chapel perched on a rock in the middle of the harbour and, from a distance, it can easily be mistaken for a small ship at anchor. Although the light, in the small lantern on the corner of the building is still very much active, the tables and chairs clearly visible from up above give some clue to the present function of the original keeper's house. In 1992 the building underwent extensive renovations, in the course of which it was converted into a banqueting facility which can now be hired out by private parties.

We were to find out a little history of the lighthouse. Firstly in Norwegian , a lighthouse is simply called a "fyr" or sometimes a "fyrtårn" which mean fire tower. Dyna fyr translates to "Dune Lighthouse". It seems a funny name for a lighthouse sitting out on a huge rock in the middle of the fjord. The original lantern, installed when the place was built in 1874, consisted of an actual oil lamp reflected by the mirrors behind it, but the lamp was converted to an electric beacon in 1878. Several lighthouse managers lived there over the years, operating the lantern and fog bell by hand, until the equipment was automated in 1956.

Dyna Fyr's main room is just large enough to house two tables that can seat 40 folks. It still seems a bit small for large family's daily living...

Apparently one of the lighthouse managers who lived here had a family of six. His four children used to swim or boat to school during warm weather. But in winter, they walked across the frozen fjord carrying board or ladders with them in case they needed to hopscotch between floating chunks of ice. The school mistress on the mainland reserved the first row of desks closest to the fireplace for the kids, in case they fell into the ocean during their journey and needed to dry off. Something like this wouldn't happen today...

Meanwhile if was a stunning view, in all white, red and blue to behold as we looked down onto it as we cruised past and I can see why it is very popular with photographers..

Once we had passed the light house, Pete encouraged us to head back to our cabin as quickly as we couple to grab our belongings so that we weren't caught up in the crowds that would build up to disembark the ship. It was hard to not stay behind until we had pulled right into the berth.

By the time we grabbed our luggage and headed to the lift to head down to our cars, the crowds were gathering and in the end, we actually walked down the stairs as it was much quicker for us to do this than to try and line up and get in the lift.

Coming into to berth in Oslo..

We were in a different line of cars on the ship so as a result we existed before Pete and Maria and then we had to try and find a spot close by to pull off until Pete and Maria joined us as we needed to travel together today. It turned out to be quite difficult and we then had trouble getting back onto the road again. It was a little daunting driving through Oslo as you spend quite a bit of time driving through tunnels and your GPS doesn't always work underground.

Today we had to keep moving as we had a good seven hour drive to get to our destination in Tryland and we knew we would need a couple of stops with the boys to give them a break. As it was due to our late departure in Copenhagen yesterday, we were a couple of hours late in our arrival into Copenhagen, so rather than getting away mid morning like we were supposes to, it was now lunch time before we were into the traffic in Oslo...

Somehow we managed to make it and get out of Oslo. It is a bit of a shame that we really didn't have any time there to be able to explore it a little more. It is such a beautiful city and there really is quite a lot to do and see in Oslo. Perhaps another trip we could go back and spent a good week there.

Tunnels, tunnels and more tunnels.

One of the very obvious things you notice about Norway, is the amount of tunnels. Definitely on the main highways, there are no real winding road, even though Norway is full of mountains, but it is known its tunnels. They tunnel through everything..

In fact, Norway boasts the longest road tunnel in the world measuring 24.5kms long and is situated between Aurland and Laerdal.

Norway is also considered the world's leader in tunnelling with over 1000 tunnels and still many more being built. Even on our short trip we came across several lot of road works where tunnels were in the process of being built.

Not only is Norway reknown for their road tunnels but they have at least 33 undersea tunnels, most of which are fixed links, which replace ferries to allow residents of islands and remote peninsulas access to regional centres where water crossings are too long for bridges. It's certainly makes getting from A to B a lot quicker than travelling many kilometres around long and winding roads.

Mind you a lot of the minor roads though travel around mountains and wind and twist as they make their way down into the valleys, and I would have to say the views are quite breathtaking on a lot of these roads....

These are a common sight in Norway...

Constantly driving through tunnels.

We had been on the road for a good hour or so when Maria rang us to let us know that they planned to stop at McDonalds at Fokserod to give the kids a bit of a run around and play and also to feed them some lunch.

Stopping here for some lunch

Everything rang smoothly until we got out of the car and Steve went to lock it. Well lock it he did but at the same time it set the alarms ringing and they just continued to ring. The remote wouldn't work to unlock the car and so for the next half hour the anti theft alarm kept piercing the air and we were feeling incredible embarrassed as everyone was looking at us as if we were trying to steal the car...

McDonalds at Fokerod - Norway

Meanwhile, whilst Pete was with Steve trying to sort out the car, Maria and I had taken the kids inside and ordered some food for them. It was quite busy, so we found a table upstairs where we had a good view of the carpark down below...

Lunch at Fokerod - Norway

We had a good view of the carpark from our table

Pete and Elliot

The worst part about it all, was that it was quite cold outside and all of our jackets where locked in the car along with my phone and handbag. We really weren't sure what to do and in the end, Steve rang Hertz to see if they were able to get up some assistance from Fulck (the equivalent to our RACQ).

By now both Steve and I were really too stressed to eat and were trying to shelter a little in McDonalds whilst we waited for Fulck to arrive but at the same time, Steve needed to be vigilant and keep an eye out for them so that he could get back out to the car...

If the Falck Road side assist in Norway is anything like the RACQ in Queensland, we could have been there waiting for an hour or two so we made the decision that Pete and Maria should go ahead and we would get there when we could. We weren't sure whether we were even going to be able to continue our trip today, whether we would need to wait for a new car or whether our vehicle could be fixed...

Anyway whilst waiting for Falck to arrive I fiddled with the remote once again and the car opened. What a relief, we now could at least grab our coats and at least keep warm whilst we waited. We knew there was still an issue as although the car had opened, we couldn't get the car to start with the remote just sitting in the car...

The Falck truck arrived much sooner than we expected..

The road side assist truck arrived much sooner than we had anticipated arriving within half an hour of being called. To say we were impressed would be an understatement. Steve had rung Hertz in Denmark where we had hired the car and they organised everything. The fact that we were in a very small village had us thinking that they would have had to come from a much larger centre thus the delay in getting to us. We would have to say we were very impressed with Hertz's service.

The road side assist guy was very helpful, worked out that it really was nothing to do with the car itself but rather the battery in the remote. He also showed us where to find the key in the remote and how to find the key hole hidden in the handle of the door. As there was no place to put the key in to drive the car, it was just reliant on the remote being in the car to start, he did show us the spot in the drink holder where if you put the key in there the car would start even if the battery was flat so this was going to get us out of trouble and let us proceed.

He made the suggestion to us to stop off at Porsgrunn to call into the MG dealer there and see if we could get a remote battery as the dealerships at Kristiansand would probably be closed by the time we arrived there and as it was a long weekend we wouldn't be able to get one before Tuesday and even then we would have a good hour and a half drive back there on the Tuesday to get a remote battery.

The road assistance guy plugged the MG dealer's address into Steve's phone in Porsgrunn and we departed ways with Pete and Maria as they were going to make their way straight to Tryland whilst we tried to sort out the remote battery issue with the car.

Off the beaten track the scenery was spectacular.

It was only a 42 kms drive from Fokserød, to Porsgrunn with us mostly being on the main highway. The last 15 minutes or so we had to branch off the main highway south and this was when the scenery changed, the drive into Porsgrunn was stunning with light motorways connecting mountain to mountain, The road in was a little more winding but beautiful and we passed through several small villages all pretty close together...

MG Dealership in Porsgrunn

It was after 3.30pm on a Friday afternoon when we arrived at the dealership. We had no trouble finding it and I have to say, the guys were were extremely helpful and kind. They didn't have a new battery but to get us out of our pickle, they took a battery out of a remote of one of the cars in their showroom and gave us that one. It was so kind of them, as they really didn't have to do it and they even went one better and didn't even charge us for it. We were blown away by their kindness and helpfulness.

It didn't take too long to change over and once we refuelled we were off on our way again. By this stage Pete and Maria had stopped once again and we were now only about a half hour behind them.

An interesting house we saw on our drive...

There was rock everywhere we looked and tall trees growing on it

Tunnels everywhere - straight through sheer rock..

Even the tunnels have trees growing on them.

One of the very unusual buildings we came across.

Interesting sculpture on approach to a bridge - looks like it was full of plates.

The tall trees growing over this tunnel was mindblowing for us...

They just blast through the rock to build their roads...

WE followed the main highway pretty much to Kristiansand and then we branched off inland. At this stage Pete and Maria were still ahead of us. The road now was much more scenic and we had left the tunnels behind. Now the road were a lot more winding which became a bit of a problem for Pete, Maria and the boys. Elliot didn't cope to well with the winding roads and he ended up getting sick and throwing up. We came across Pete and Maria on the side of the road trying to clean up vomit and an upset child.

After checking that they were all OK, they suggested that we continue on our way as by now it was after 7pm so we were running quite late getting to our AirBnB.

The drive was breaktaking especially as we came down from the top of the mountain to a beautiful little town called Konsmo in the valley below...

Konsmo is a former municipality that was located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The 107sq km municipality existed from 1911 until its dissolution in 1964.

The municipality i named after the old Konsmo farm since the first Konsmo church was built there. The name is a corruption of Longsmoen which means "King's Moor".

The village was small but very picturesque. It was stunningly green and with the white and red building was really postcard worthy. We loved it.

Konsmo is only about 8 kms from where our AirBnB was situated at Tryland and it was the closest village for us to visit for our shopping...

The views of Konsmo as we drove down from the top of the mountain...

The original little white church in Konsmo

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1335, but it was not new that year. The medieval church was torn down and replaced with a new building in the mid- to late-1500s. This church was built in a long church design with a short tower on top. Some records show that the church may have been remodeled or expanded in the 1730s. The old church was described as being old and in poor condition and constantly in need of repair. So, in 1802, the older church was torn down and replaced with a new building on the same site. As the old church was torn down, many of the best materials from the previous church were saved and later reused in the construction of the new cruciform church.

The thing that struck us with Konsmo was the buildings, all with v shaped roofs. All made from timber, and most were painted either white or this red brown colour. This is pretty typical of the colours that houses are painted where ever we went in Norway.

From here it was only another 10 minutes until we were at Tryland which is where the house we were staying at was located.

Our AirBnB was quite secluded at the end of a one way road, right next to a mini Power station right on the banks of the Audna River. This 55 kilometre long river runs from the lake Grindheimsvatnet jut north of the village of Byremo in Lyngdal municipality, south through the Audnedalen valley to its moth at the nigfjorden in Lindesnes municipality. The river is also regulated for hydroelectric power with a total of eight power plants along the river and it tributaries.

This river is also famous for it's salmon fishing. Approximately 35kms of the River is suitable for salmon fishing and has plenty of good pools, rapid and small waterfalls. To fish for the salmon though you must obtain a fishing permit and whilst Steve would have been keen normally, the salmon season only started the day before we were due to leave. The fishing permits were particularly cheap either so to get one for just one days fishing wasn't really worth it...

Our AirBnB in Tryland in Norway...

Front yard of our AirBnB is right on the banks of the Audna River...

We even had a picnic table on our front lawn

The Audna River was in our front yard...

Spring flowers were in full bloom

Beautiful tulips

Views from our front yard...

View from our bedroom window..

Our house was over three levels, and was built into the side of a hill. Our front door bought us into the house to the laundry and mudroom, and on the first level, was our bedroom, main bathroom, Kitchen and living and dining areas and a lovely front deck that overlooked the river..

Stairs up to each level from the front door...

The main lounge room

Lovely lounge area overlooking the river..

Main dining room

The lounge room had large deep windows and glass doors that opened out onto a lovely large deck that looked out over the river... Such a lovely area to sit and relax and it was so nice that we could easily have spent our whole holiday not going anywhere but just enjoying our surroundings right here...

One side of the kitchen

The other side of the kitchen.

Dinner in the kitchen with beautiful views of the river..

The kitchen was very different, it was quite old but an element of new was also added with new cabinets on one side. It was large enough though for us all to eat and have our meals in the kitchen rather than the dining room where the table was on carpet. Not a good place to eat when you have little boys...

Getting dinner ready for the boys...

Looking from the lounge room to the main staircase...

The main bathroom

Large two person spa

The main bathroom was amazing. It was new and massive, a double person spa, double shower recess and large double basin vanity unit. Each night we would bath the boys in the big spa and they loved it. They thought it was a swimming pool and treated it as such, which meant we would always have a floor to mop after their bath.

Our bedroom was the only bedroom on this level, and we had amazing views of the river from our bedroom. The only down side to our bedrooms were the sheer curtains. They were not really practical in summer in Norway. When the sun never really goes down, it would have been nice to have had heavy drapes to keep the light out particularly at night when you needed your sleep. We also had a street light right outside our bedroom window which also shone in our window all night.

Our bedroom on the second level..

Relaxing after a long day..

Views from our bedroom window...

This photo was taken after 10.30pm at night..

On our front deck..

We can't get enough of this view...

It was a late night. We didn't get to our AirBnB until after 7.30pm and by the time we got our gear inside, the boys bathed it was quite late for them. Whilst Pete and Maria got the boys bathed, Steve and I dug around and found some baked beans and got a quick dinner ready for them..