Laundry and laptop problems

Yes, problems with both laundry, and laptops!

First of all, the laptops. My Asus 15.6" laptop has done me well. I bought it five years ago so in laptop years it's pretty much an antique! But it's become really slow to start up, and the network adapter is acting up and it takes several tries and resets to connect to WiFi. It's still working, but it's annoying and I've tried all the easy fixes. Not worth paying someone to look at it. Time for a new one.

We might have rain, but at least we don't have bugs

Because the location of Norway is close to that of northern Canada, and they have similar climates, we assumed there must be the same type of black fly and mosquito problem that Canada has. 

How happy we are that this is not the case! In fact, we haven't had a single issue with bugs of any kind. Even since we left Turkiye. No bugs at all!

A little frustrated with our travel medical insurance

We thought we had found the perfect solution to our travel medical insurance last year when we started with Heymondo. It was relatively inexpensive, and valid for anyone up to age 70 so we figured this would be our "go to" insurance for the next ten years or so.

Unfortunately it was too good to be true! They have now changed the terms and conditions so that the long term policies are only good up to age 50. You can still buy a short term policy for a trip of up to 30 days that is up to age 70, but that doesn't do us any good.

Tourist ferry from Geiranger to Hellesylt, Norway

Many of Norway's ferries are part of the highway system. Others are part of the tourist ferry system, yet they also allow a number of vehicles. We took one such ferry yesterday.

The route from Geiranger to Hellesylt leads through Geirangerfjord, one of the most scenic fjords in the world, and of course this is the fjord that is very popular with the cruise ships.

Behind the waterfall

Another gorgeous day in Norway. 

So to take advantage of it, we planned a hike up to a waterfall. But this waterfall is somewhat special because you can actually walk behind the falls. It's really quite something!

The hike was not that far in distance... but it's quite a bit of altitude gain. Only 4 kms (2.4 miles) from where Max was parked, but it gains 553 meters (1,800') so it's a bit of a climb. 

4 Reasons Why You Should Visit Australia at Least Once in Your Life

 A trip begins when we consider our options and try to decide where we are going to go. This is not as fun or easy as it might sound because the amount of destinations available can be overwhelming. 

As you might have already guessed from the title, we passionately believe that a trip to Australia is a safe and awesome choice. We have to be clear and say that most of the time it is pretty expensive and tiring to fly there, but it is totally worth it. Australia should be on every self-respecting tourist’s travel bucket list. Why? 

June Expenses

Norway is well known to be one of the most expensive countries in the world. 

And we are normally known to be "budget" travelers. But there is nothing saying that you can't do an expensive country on a budget! And by bringing our house with us, at least we don't have to pay for accommodation, which is a category that can really add up in an expensive country.

We were in Norway the entire month of June, so let's see how we did on the expenses...

This is as far north as we go

We got up at 6:30am Wednesday morning and started driving right away. It's so much nicer without as many vehicles on the road. 

We didn't have far to go... only 79 kms (49 miles) from Stryn to Geranger. But it's a varied route with a lot to see!

Every drive is a scenic drive

There isn't a road we've been on in Norway that wouldn't be considered a scenic drive in any other country. 

And of course, that's what we came here for. We didn't come to Norway for the local cuisine, or the culture, or the people. We came for the scenery and the hiking. And the scenery impresses us... every single day!

To go, or not to go...

We woke up to rain and fog Monday morning. And the forecast for the rest of the day was calling for 90% chance of precipitation. We contemplated simply moving on, but we really wanted to do the bike ride along the fjord.

For the balance of the morning, we tossed around the idea of leaving. To go, or not to go?

Just enough for a change of scenery

We're finding it hard to get anywhere fast here in Norway. Not that it matters really! Yesterday, we managed to do 56 kms (35 miles)! Just enough for a change of scenery.

But we ended up at the prettiest little village, with the prettiest view from our overnight spot.

There is so much to see and do

Saturday was a bit of a rest day. We liked our spot at the ski hill. There were very few people coming and going, and even overnight we only had one other motorhome and they were parked quite far away. 

So we decided to just hang out for the day. 

The amazing 900 year old wooden stave church of Urnes, Norway

A stave church is a type of medieval wooden church that used to be widespread throughout Europe. Most of them were built between the years 800 to 1400. But due to a variety of reasons including poor original building techniques very few remain in existence today.

And the vast majority of the remaining stave churches are located in Norway. In fact, they think there used to be as many as 1,000 of them spread across the country, but now only 28 remain.

The pretty little town of Laerdal, Norway

We used to think that Iceland was the most photogenic country we had ever been to. But Norway has now taken over first place in that category! The gorgeous scenery just never stops. It's just simply beautiful here. In fact, someone mentioned the other day that I'm running out of descriptive terms to express what we're experiencing.

So we found ourselves in the town of Laerdal, and decided to take a relax day and just hang out. But of course for us that means we only did a short 6 km (3.7 mile) hike on a trail above the town!

Cruise ships in the fjord

We were parked at the trailhead and the weather turned out better than expected. We weren't originally planning to do the Prest Mountain trail, but I did some reading on the internet and even though it's a fairly short hike, it sounded like it was a good one just for the views of the fjord.

So we set off at 10:00am, headed uphill.