Leaving Norway

This is a bit of a leap from my last post, I have let my blog slip behind by about 3 months, and I feel I need to put up a time relative post. Don’t worry though I will continue to fill in the gaps for Norway and they will be seen chronologically, may make viewing a bit hard to find the new entry’s but we will see how we go.
Well it has been a great trip to Norway, a good mix of work, play, learning and knowing.

I am heading now to the UK, landing in Heathrow and heading to Bristol to catch up with an old friend Fiona and her Boyfriend Stu. From Bristol I plan to catch a plane to Split, Croatia, hopefully meet up with a friend Tania and her Boyfriend and go sailing for a day or two, I then plan to jump in my Trak and just Kayak out around the islands, explore, meet locals and see what can be found. I am in much need of my own space and a solo trip, so, though I sent out invites to join me, I was quite happy no one could take me up on it. Solo trips are a much needed journey and they tend not to happen enough! Split is in central Croatia and I hope to travel north wards to see some of the islands around Rab, then head south along the coast as far as I can get in my Trak, with hopes of making it to Dubrovnik ( a fair distance and maybe not possible, but thankfully there are always buses). It will be a nice contrast to the cold chilly waters of the North Atlantic and I look forward to being able to walk around in a pair of shorts and nothing else.
 
I will fly back from Dubrovnik Croatia to Heathrow again, from there, catch a bus to Cornwall where there is a sea kayak symposium happening, I hope to meet some new friends and learn some new open water skills with the English, before then heading back to Bristol via bus. I hope then to fly up to Scotland to meet up with some other old friends, and maybe kayak, though also maybe just enjoy a journey without lugging all my gear around. Traveling light is a wonderful experience; having lugged 60 kgs of gear around beforehand makes it even more so! Sea kayaking in Scotland looks amazing though and the storm paddling could be great in October, so we will see what shapes up!
Planning this next stint has been a bit of a fluster, as all my spare time over the last few months went into the Lofoten Trip I just got back from with my two great clients Lyn and Denise. I have spent a lot of time on the computer in the last 40 hours looking at what I want to do and trying to find the best schedule of flights, fairs, departure points, arrival points, bus times ,cost and time analysis of flights versus ground transport ,etc, though it seems to be all working out well. I find it a real novelty how flights in England can be far cheaper and of course quicker than taking a bus!

I had big plans for Europe (as some of you may remember), though time, money, personal life and the looming and exciting 4 month kayak trip along the east coast of New Zealand starting in December, have created a conservative view in my head now. I want to have quality experiences in Croatia and the UK, and not try and fit in Spain and Morocco and Greece and........ You can see where this is going. It is so easy to bite of more than you can chew and you never get the taste of what you are eating.


After Europe I will head back to British Columbia on the 19^th October and begin my training for my NZ Expedition which will be a very challenging 4 month trip along exposed surf battered coastline. The scale of the challenge is now hitting me and all I can now think about is preparing for it. BC in the fall and winter will provide a great training ground for me, with great surf beaches to train on, cold weather, storms, and expansive places to try out my gear and ideas on with loaded multi day trips. This environment should hopefully make the summer environment I will face in NZ quite enjoyable and have me prepared for the more challenging southern stretches on the NZ coast I will be hitting in the southern autumn.

The Site for the NZ expedition is up www.kayakdownundernz.blogspot.com, telling all the details so far of what the trip is planned to be, who could be involved. It will develop more as things come together so check it out regularly. I will also have updates posted to my “World Wild Adventure” blog and the “Yak’ About the World” Blog and my Face Book pages. Oh and if any of you would like to join me on the trip or part of it, let me know and we may be able to make it happen.
 
Keep dreaming, it’s what influences reality!
Jaime

Second Corporate Group

We had another corporate group trip to run the next weekend after the last; this one was for a local oil rig engineering company called Axess. It would be a family trip for their employees. They are quite a cool company, everyone who works for them are hard core into outdoor sports, primarily climbing, they work on testing standards of rigs and doing maintenance and repairs, via industrial abseiling. Most of them are engineers. The company gives the employees many corporate events with DID adventure every year and the employees are also free to take of as much time as they like to pursue outdoor adventures and expeditions. For this trip we were heading to Remen Valley; or Raumsdalen.
This valley is stunning, it is carved deep into the mountains by the Glaciers of ice ages gone, and the vertical rocks faces and peaks loom up on either side. On the way to our camp site for the weekend we passed under the Troll Veggen or Troll Wall, the highest vertical cliff in Northern Europe. It is a Mecca for Base jumping, though also the only illegal natural feature to Jump in Norway! Some have climbed the wall, but to stand directly below it is to be in awe!

The Troll Wall

Read More Here www.onayakabout.blogspot.com

Fishing for Cod

     
I headed out fishing With Lise and her brother, Andreas (who is a real Norwegian fisherman), on his commercial fishing boat. Was a lot of fun, fishing until 12 at night and the sun only just then dipped below the horizon? I both Lise and I caught big fishes, but not many all together unlike the day before where they showed me pictures of the boat filled with fish.

 
Back at port we cleaned the fish and I was given a lot of it to take home (very nice). Then Andreas asked if I wanted to go for a drink. Sure I said, not wanting to miss a chance to socialise, though I was taken back when we pulled up outside a Milkshake Stand!

“You know Andreas!” I stated with a smirk, “fishermen where I come from Drink beer! You guys are a funny bread of working man here in Norway!”
Andreas just laughed.

World Wild Adventure in Norway episode 2 Haholmen

Excuse the funny face, here is my next video installment for the first week in norway!


World Wild Adventure in Norway episode 2 from Wandering Wolf Productions on Vimeo.

First Week In Norway (part 2)

CORPORATES
   
The The first big task that my new job called me to do, was to be involved in facilitating a Corporate adventure weekend!
The millionaire Club of car salesmen and woman for Audi, Volvo and Skoda where coming to celebrate their annual sales. we where to provide a weekend of coastal fun staying on the wonderful island of Håholmen. Kayaking, Motorised RIB tours, Caving and hiking in the coastal mountains, and off course great food and drink!

Read  More on  The Yak About Blog

A little slide from Powell River kayaks, where i used to work

you may notice me in a few of the shots.

World Wild Adventure in Norway episode 1 Kayak Video

Been working late nights to produce a couple of short videos of Adventures in Norway, here is the first Episode!I hope you enjoy
J
A World Wild Adventure In Norway: Episode 1 Hustadvika from Wandering Wolf Productions on Vimeo.





See more on a Yak about adventures HERE