Fair warning, there’s one or two panoramas in the photos below… As always check out the captions for an update on what I’ve been up to (and maybe some info about the photos).
We’re now on day 9 of our Topdeck tour, our last full day in Norway, and boy has Norway put it on. My friend Caitlin has written a really good post here weighing up the merits of package tours vs DIY travel, and so far for me prepackaged has been ticking all the right boxes. I’m super glad to not have to think about the plan for each day, but more importantly to not have to drive. The scenery we’ve been passing through is absolutely incredible and my eyes have often been fixed out the windows.
Next up is Finland, and hopefully somewhere to actually upload this post…
The first two nights of our Topdeck tour were spent in Oslo at a campsite only a short walk away from this absolutely gorgeous lake.
After starting to get to know everyone on day 0 (we were joining a coach part way) the tour kicked off for us with a day in Oslo, first stop was a sculpture park that explored the human form.
There were a lot of really interesting sculptures…
Looking back at the park.
Looking back at the park.
Keeping on the ship theme we stopped at the Fram Polar museum, lots of info about the first Antarctic expeditions meant I ran out of time to read all the signs and see all the things =(
After lunch we were set loose to explore town, this was one (allegedly of several) mini public art setups highlighting how public space could be better used.
The inside of the Town Hall was fairly amazing, cool art all over the walls, including some surprisingly surrealist portraits of royalty #zombieking
There was a whole corridor displaying official gifts that had been given to either Oslo or Norway. Lots of fancy metal and glassware, and plaques and shields, and then these two little fullahs.
The Oslo opera house is possibly my favourite building I’ve seen. The roof is walk-able and open to the public at all hours, and the whole building is designed to look like an iceberg, with the people on it as penguins.
The view from the top of the opera house. There were a crazy amount of cranes in Oslo. with 10-15 of them outside the right of this shot.
Walking up to the Palace. Super stoked to be travelling with these two.
Day 2 we were on the move, this was a quick snack in Lillehammer on the way to…..
…the bobsled track!
It was summer, so no real bobsledding, instead we got to go wheel-bobbing. Just over a minute to get down the track pulling up to 3.5gs!
Our bus is pretty photogenic. Maybe Topdeck will start paying me to take photos for them.
This was a cute little church we stopped at. We didn’t go inside but the grounds were adorable. Pretty good view too.
Yep
This was our campsite near Trollstigen (Troll’s Pass). There’s a bunch of reasons for the grass on the roofs (super common in Norway) including insulation and sound proofing, but my favourite is that it helps increase happiness in the population because it looks cool.
We had a couple nights in Trollstigen, with a day trip out to see the iconic road and Geirangerfjord. The weather wasn’t particularly playing ball (this became a bit of a thing in Norway).
Fog rolled in pretty soon after we got there. So instead of view photos, I got some nice not a view photos.
There was a stupid amount of pretty to look at. The coach shifted between shocked silence and oohing and aaahing, pretty much no-one knew where to look. Photos really don’t do it justice.
But I’m going to post them anyway. Looking down at Geirangerfjord.
Absolutely gorgeous (scenery).
Pretty much couldn’t stop grinning for the main ferry ride. So much pretty to look at. Waterfalls and mountains all over the place. And the low cloud sitting on the hills just added to the atmosphere.
There were a lot of comments being made on the similarity to NZ, I think the biggest difference is how steep the hills are and the solid rock they’re often made of.
There’s a casual massive waterfall running through this tiny town.
More water and rocks.
Definitely helps to be travelling with other people who are just as excited to be in freaking Norway!
Can I have a Topdeck job now please?
Campsite had a fire bucket. We couldn’t not.
This is Jeff Plank.
Which day are we on? This was a free library in Trondheim.
Just across the road from a little bar, that had blankets for the outside seats. Which we needed when it suddenly started pouring #goodtimeforabeer
Most the places we went in Norway had different manhole covers. I’m pretty sure this one in Trondheim is the only one I remembered to take a photo of.
Stumbled across a photoshoot in Hell.
View from one of the campsites we were staying at. The owner forced us all to play petanque for two hours in the rain. 1/5.
Ancient carvings. This was by far the clearest of the four we “saw”.
If you look just to the right of the left-hand water, below the main crack, and squint you might see a bear…
Found a couple cool forest trails on the way back.
It’s pretty great travelling with this dork.
Caught a boat out to see a glacier. The scenery on the way was incredible. As was par for the course in Norway, lots of water and rocks and mountains.
Pretty great travelling with this dork too.
I strayed a wee bit from the track on the way up to the glacier. I kept seeing hills and wanting to know what the view was like from on them.
The climb was always worth it.
Some of the others from our Topdeck group.
Slightly sad to see the 1976 marker for the glacier edge.
This was more of a mountain than a hill climb. 100% worth.
Coming down was way harder than going up. Lots of water around so it was pretty slippery.
Low cloud is still just adding to the mood.
Yep.
One of our group had an injury on the way out, so Caitlin and I stuck around to help her out.
The boat did not wait for us… fortunately there was another one not too much later (and our amazing friends left us chocolate and a note).
The weather started having the odd clear moment. This is midnight at one of our campsites #midnightsun
Another photo with water in it. In my defence there’s a lot of it in Norway.
#unashamedelytourists
The view everyone was looking at. Can you blame us…
Went the Polar Park, saw lots of animals. Didn’t take many photos but saw this wolf just chilling as I was about to leave.
We heard there’s usually a really good view from here.
On the way to Nordkapp, the northern most point in Europe to see the midnight sun. Cairns were all over the place at a lot of the tourist spots.
Almost the midnight sun. We were super worried about the weather on the drive up, but it turned out amazing.
About to watch the panorama film for Nordkapp.
Which showed people sitting on top of the globe. And there were no signs saying not to so I had to give it a shot. We later ended up with about 15 people in the globe.
The midnight sun.
This was such an intense and spiritual experience. Partially the lack of sleep, partially the amazing people I was with, partially the Valhalla we’d found at the bottle shop, and partially the absolutely incredible surroundings.
Had to take some slightly posed photos too.
And then some very posed photos #majesticasfuck
Damn. That photography skill.
To cap off an amazing night, we stopped and saw reindeer up close and personal on the way back to site. Nordkapp is definitely going to stick with me.
Roving Kiwi 
Amazing photos. Thank you for sharing.
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