Lofoten

One thing that I have not managed to blog about yet is the trip J and I did to the Lofoten islands. We had heard about a surfing competition being held on this crazy set of islands above the arctic circle and as soon as we knew that a friend of ours would be competing, we decided we had all the excuse we needed to visit this spectacular place nestled in the far North Sea.
Fortunately we happened to visit in autumn. All the islands were painted in yellows and reds. It was truly beautiful.Every corner we went around just seemed to offer another stunningly spectacular view!
Water, mountains, autumn colours and occasional splashings of snow.
It was lucky it was so stunning though because the weather was horrendous! Gale force winds, literally! The flight on the small plane in was heart stopping. As soon as we got in the plane, the hostess announced that we were expecting extreme turbulence and that we should not undo our seatbelts at any time. Not even she left her seat from start to finish! Just sat there with a smile pasted across her face as we bounced around the sky. Weirdly something went wrong with the aircon system too because it just kept getting hotter and hotter in the plane, with everyone playing with their vents trying to get some air. J and I were actually supposed to land and then take off again and head to another part of the island group, but J flat out refused to get back on the plane and we hired a car from where we landed :) It was bad! When we got there, the caravan park where we had arranged to hire a cabin told us that because the surf competition was on and it was going to be noisy in the park they were putting us in our own little house 100m down the road. So funny! It was a real little shack and suited us down to the ground. Here is the kitchen to give you a sense of its shackiness.
The weather was so incredibly bad the whole time, there were many times when we thought the roof would blow off the house and when we thought we would literally blow off the road. Clearly this weather was normal for the locals though as there were quite a few houses that had concrete walls facing into the breeze.
The funniest thing was was that the surfing competition went ahead despite the weather. In the beginning the waves were big but okay, but the swell built continuously throughout the day and in the end it was total madness! Surfers were being washed down the beach by the current as soon as they got in, they would then have to get out and run back to the start again. If you could catch one you stood a good chance of winning the heat! In the end I resorted to taking pics from the car :)
Despite the weather, J and I had a fantastic time! And in a way, the weather was exactly as it should be on islands above the arctic circle! To cap off the weekend, our mate won the longboard competition. Unfortunately he is the rep for ocean and earth in Norway and therefore could not use any of the mechandise prizes that he won. All those near death experiences just for the fun of it I guess ;) It was some consolation though that one of the kids he sponsors as part of the ocean/earth team won the shortboard comp, while another took out the free surfboard prize for best young talent.
Seriously though, if anyone reading this ever gets a chance to visit Lofoten, surfing competition or not, don't hesitate, just go, it will be one of the most incredible places you ever experience. xxx