Sophie

I miss this kid.

-and all of the Barges.

Sorry Lu, you miss out

Golf

bowling

Matty's 'winner' face

Chevin

Chinese Lantern

Ben and Matty have wanted to light a chinese lantern since I got here so tonight we drove to a nearby school and lit the lantern. The lantern was lit and floated off into the air, all was running smoothly until the wind picked up and pulled the lantern towards some nearby houses so we made a run for it and never looked back.

Go-Karting

Betty's

After a delicious breakfast at Betty's we went to the park

Hello Leeds

This morning I woke up early to make sure I was all set for my departure.
Melanie and Edgar also got up early (that never happens) to say goodbye, they really are the nicest people you’ll ever meet.
After skyping the fam bam Luani and I walked out the door at 9;15 and made our way to the airport.
On the way Luani’s hand went numb because she was holding a smoothie in her bare hands in the freezing cold.
There weren’t any dramas, Luani spoke norwegian to the man at a cafe at the airport and sounded like a true Norwegian, I was very impressed and with that I set off for the UK.
Despite the poor service and absolute lack of standards, my take off and landing were the smoothest I’ve ever had. Job well done ‘Norwegian‘

After flying over the UK I now know why it was once thought that the world was flat, I also decided that a country estate would be excellent.

On the train from the airport I saw the bridge off Harry Potter so that was pretty exciting.

A big thank you to Luani who decided that waiting for four hours at Kings Cross was better than spending 40Pounds.
In saying that, all hope is not lost, every single person I’ve crossed path with here have been wonderful.
They’ve all gone out of their way to help me without my having to ask, far nicer than norwegians.

here is a list of my top encounters
1.

Customs - a plump lady helped me ha
2. At Gatwick airport I decided to buy some food to get me through my eight hour journey from Gatwick to Leeds (thanks again Luani ha) at the store the gentleman was brilliant, best customer service ever!
3. When I picked up my train ticked the woman gave me two tickets and mumbled something about crossing the road so I went to the information desk where a young man was so great and explained in detail what I had to do and where I had to go and then printed me out an explaination of it all (listing stops I’d pass and how long it would take. He was excellent.

1. I hadn’t walked 20m from encounter three when I ran into a metaphorical road block, I wasn’t allowed to take my bag trolley into the train station, I had a little freak out (inside my head of course) but before I even had time to find where to leave my trolley a lovely mad ran up to me with a different type of trolley and offered his assistance.
   5. On the train a kind man put my giant suitcase in place so it wouldn’t roll away and I could take a seat.
2. When I got to pancus station I went to the bathroom and just left my bags unattended, when I returned my bags were still there, with a man and his wife.
   The man was watching his wife’s bags while she was in the bathroom and noticed that I was leaving my bags unattended so when his wife returned they both waited for me to come out.
   (he didn’t atually tell me this, but when I went in he was by himself and when I returned he was with a woman watching my bags (in a nice way, not a secretly plotting to steal them way) and gave me a reassuring smile when I came out.
3. I was then given directions by a very polite man, I guess he was just doing his job but he did it very well. Once inside Kings Cross I sat by some elderly ladies, we didn’t talk but I could tell we were friends.
   
4. after about an hour of sitting there a man sat to my right, by this time I was dying of dehydration and hating myself for not buying water at the airport. So after scoping out where to buy water I asked my friendly neighbour if he could watch my bags while I bought some water, he polietly obliged. When I returned he asked if I was on holidays and where I was heading, I told him I was Australian but had come from Oslo and was heading to Leeds
   “oh, so you must be on the 5:03 train”
   “No, I’m on the 8:03 train ha”
   “Oh...”
   “my sister and I thought it would be better to save the 40pounds and just wait until peak hour was over”
   ha laughed a little and told me he was in a similar position and had spoken to ticket sales and asked to change to an earlier train, they upgraded him for 18pounds and highly recommended that I do that. So I thanked his prefusely (he also offered to help me venture to the ticket place because as everyone knows I’m very strong and he had already helped me enough)
   After getting to the ticket people I decided I should probably call my uncle before changing my ticket to see if he could pick me up if I arrived early.
   After finding a phone and calling the same wrong person three times I finally decided that Luani had given me the wrong number so I tried calling home, in Australia but it wouldn’t connect and I later realised it was super early in the morning at home.
   I was then in a predicament because I couldn’t return to where I was before because then I’d have to face the man a failure so I hung around until 5:15, his train left at 5:19, and then I found a new (better) seat - it was better because it had a back.
   so here I sit, on my better chair, writing.

I just heard a woman talking on the phone about what she was making for dinner, now I feel like Jamie Oliver haha, I’m on top of the world, naked
There’s an overweight woman sitting infront of me and another sitting adjacent, the one adjacent is shaking her fist at the other woman, it’s pretty entertaining.

Having a bladder that’s the size of mine does have it’s setbacks so I had to make another trip to the bathroom.
as with anything I encountered several setbacks

Setback One

It’s 30p to get into the bathroom, I had 50p but it only accepts 10 and 20p pieces so I had to change 5pounds only to realise I wouldn’t be able to get into the bathroom with my bags (it was an exceptionally small turnstall entrance) so I used to exit and ended up not having to pay at all, harrrrrdcore.
When I was leaving I got one of my bags out and was holding the gate, ready to pull my other bag through but everyone thought I was just holding it open for them to exit through.
fools

So now it’s 18:48 and police just sprinted through the station and there was a voice over saying Kings Cross is currently closed

by 18:49 the next trains were being announced as though nothing happened
18:53 there was another announcment asking everyone to move to Euston station because Kings Cross was closed.
no one moved
and all went on as usual.

So Long Oslo

Hiking day two

I woke up a 0900, well after the sun had risen.
No one got up to see the sun because it was very cloudy and would have been freezing.
All in all I had close to 15 hours of sleep and woke ready to face the day and hike back home.

Apparently the middle aged man was very concerned about me and asked Luani if I was okay many times, she told him I was only visiting norway and had not climatised yet.
I also managed to go the entire time without saying much to anyone, that could have been because I was asleep....
back to day two.
We set off down the cliff face after a hefty breakfast
I did take a fall (which evened out the playing field) but recovered swiftly and so we powered on.
we made it back to Grua just in time for the 2pm train.

I sat with Voldy to my right, knitting a beanie and Wolfie in front of me taking a nap.

BEST HIKING TRIP EVER

In Grua I san on the wet ground so when we arrived back in Oslo my backside was still wet, as were my toes so I was was freezing so Luani and I caught the trikk home while Edgar walked so he wouldn’t have to buy a ticket.
We caught the wrong trikk so Edgar beat us home but Luani and I had some excellent bonding time.
When we got home I showered then broke into a hardcore fever which was fixed by Philippe’s recommendation of paracetamol (he will go on to do great things)

I went on to finish my packing and set the table with a keen sense of anticipation, Luani had made my favorite!

Dinner was super and the rest of my evening wasn't terribly exciting, although I did beat Luani in a game of speed.

I also chatted with Melanie and Hanne, said goodbye to Philippe and wrote my letter to hang on the norwegian wall of honor.

All in all, a fantastic final night in Oslo.