1 Adventurous Life: September 2012

Norwegian Days

So it is around 4 months that I have been living in Norway, And its nearly time to leave.

Time goes relatively fast when you are working seasons. I arrive in a place looking forward to hanging out, meeting new people, experiencing a new culture and at the end of it all make some money to continue living this lifestyle.

So what has happened in the last 4 months?!!?

If you haven’t noticed already, I have changed the name of the blog. Because some big American company said I had infringed copyright on their company name. And I wasn’t sure if I wanted to splash some cash on going to court. So I took the easy option and changed the name, which is now “1Adventurous Life”.

I haven’t gotten fired working for Heidal Rafting, so things here are going well. There is a bit of a Laissez-faire style to the job here. It’s a good style here that suits the work that nobody is looking over your shoulder.

Tora looking on at the waterfall. Photo:Greig McColm

Already the high part of the season has passed and we are back into the low season. The good thing about that is there can be a lot more kayaking to be had. The bad side of it is not working so much, mainly working weekends. So the costs will have to be low until I leave Sjoa.

Like many of the places I’ve been to since I started travelling and working in valleys is, you have to make your own scene! It’s pretty easy for me because I have been doing that since I stepped into this world, so no problems there. Surprisingly enough I have been living quite cheap here too. I go to the market maybe once a week, spend a couple of quid. In comparison to Ireland it is probably 2-3 euro more expensive.

The one thing you don’t buy in the market is beer and here in Norway the stop selling alcohol after 8(mid-week), 6(Saturdays) and usually on Sundays nothing is open. Maybe one shop but its usually pretty expensive. So back home don’t feel so hard done by with our drink curfew. I heard the reason behind alcohol being so expensive here in Norway was because a politician wanted to rid Norway of alcohol so he made it expensive (don’t take my word on that, it is what I heard).

Hoddevik, surf spot.

In June, I was training for the Gene 17 Sweet Rumble in the Amot gorge. So in a day that I had to work, it consists of Eat, Work, Eat, Kayak and Sleep. Or if I was pretty keen, I would get up early and walk 30mins with my boat to the put in and get on the water for a good session before work. After all that training I never even competed in the race because I flipped my raft that day and had to take a customer to hospital. Don’t worry he is fine! But there always is next year! I got some time to watch the finals on the Saturday, Good show while drinking a home brew. Nice!

Dropping in, Photo:Greig McColm

Wasn’t a lot to report on in July, that was our busiest month for work. So I got the head down and didn’t do a lot of paddling. The cousins came over on a recent visit. I invited Colm and Aife as part of Colms’ birthday present to come and do some rafting on the Sjoa. They never did anything like that before so I thought it was an awesome idea to bring them on one of the harder sections we do. I think they digged it.

Bhupi and Myself, Photo:Greig McColm

We headed down to Oslo for a few days before the jetted back to the Emerald Isle. It was nice to get out of the valley, I was getting a bit cabin feverish. So some A&R in Oslo was needed. We checked out all the Museums, Nobel peace museum, The Kon Tiki and Viking museums as well as just chilling and hanging out in Oslo. It’s a pretty “Small Town”. Not much of a city but a really cool vibe around the city.

Hanging out in Oslo with Colm, Photo: Myself

We went surfing on Norways western coast in a small place called hoddevik. And also to the most westerly point in Norway, Vestkapp. The weather wasn't that great. I haven't been graced with good weather when I have gone sight seeing.
We ran a big enough waterfall a while back called, "stuttgong fossen". Everybody was fired up to run it so all 7 of us got in down in an hour. It was around a 15 meter drop. I was pretty nervous running this, I haven't run alot of waterfalls. But I am keen to run some more and get the confidence up. This is reason why I am in Norway. On this drop I actually did a kickflip off the rooster tail but did land flat and thats why the deck popped.

Popped deck but on ecstasy, Photo: Greig McColm

And now to the present day, here in the Sjoa valley you can feel the valley slowing down, getting that little bit quieter. Just means more time for going boating! Happy Days.