Bergen
Wednesday July 19, 2017
Stockholm to Bergen was extremely early in the morning, but since we're so far north, the sun had already risen when I left Rafael's apartment at 4am. By the time I got to Bergen, it was close to 9am, and I managed to contact my accommodation who said my room was ready to check in to. Excellent!
It was pretty wet that day. I had lunch at the seafood market - it had such an appetising smell that I couldn't resist. I also made it up the funicular to Fløien, with a magnificent view across the city. The rain was in and out during the day, but that didn't deter me too much - it pretty much just felt like home in Wellington. I walked around the various tracks and went up to the Skomakerdiket Lake, then took the funicular back down. I was cold and tired, so decided to take a nap back in my room.
I had an action packed day the next day. I took the train from Bergen to Voss, an hour train ride through some of the most scenic parts of Norway's fjords and lakes. The weather was still slightly inclement, but the low clouds hanging under the hills made it so majestic. The rain had also made the waterfalls that little more spectacular, but more importantly, the rivers were much more fun for white water rafting!
After suiting up and getting our safety briefing, we went to a nearby spot to practice our moves, as well as a forced swim through the rapids to make sure we knew what to do if we capsized. I'll tell you now, the water was incredibly cold; it would have definitely been unbearable if we didn't have wetsuits. Our bus driver (a guy from Turangi in New Zealand!) took us further downstream to begin our actual rafting. What a rough river it was, but so much fun. There were tons of exciting and thrilling moments, much more than the time I went rafting down the Wairoa River. Some of the drops were incredibly high too, but we all survived without capsizing. We had one man overboard from our boat, and we also plucked a swimmer from another boat in a dramatic rescue. I had so much fun on this one.
After a nice warm lunch, I was dropped off at the Voss Wind Tunnel, an indoor skydiving building. It's quite different to outdoor skydiving, as you can imagine, since you're not strapped to anyone. You control your own movements (to an extent) and I found it quite difficult to figure out what was going on, and ended up flying like a potato most of the time. The sensation was quite thrilling though, and I still had fun, but deep down inside I was disappointed that I couldn't maintain my flight unassisted.
The sun is out today, and it's actually really nice seeing Bergen in two completely different lights. I also realised that Bergen was the inspiration for Arendelle in Disney's Frozen! I wandered down to the aquarium and chilled out in the park for a bit, but there's not much else to see in Bergen. I really do want to come back one day though, Bergen is the closest airport to the famous Trolltunga, and there's tons of other awesome activities to do around here, and also around Norway - I didn't even get to go to Oslo! I also don't even know if I'll come back during summer or winter, as the country is completely different. Despite it being horribly expensive, I still had a good time.
Posted by Jeremy at 1:14pm on Wednesday July 19, 2017 :: 0 comments :: 
One with the Wind and Sky
Monday December 22, 2014
The last week of work was a fun but hectic mess of frantic game jamming, as we pulled together to stick code, art, design and sound into an enjoyable experience that would wow our colleagues. Jimmy, Linda, Jayde, Nathan and myself were Team Four for Game Jam 2014 and unfortunately, four is also where we placed - just outside of prize money contention. Nevertheless, we produced something we were quite proud of so that's something we can take away from the week.
On Saturday, Mike, Will and Phil bundled into my car and we began our journey to Owhango, on the west side of Lake Taupo near National Park. Mike had kindly offered us the use of his holiday home for the night, so we took advantage of this and enjoyed the fireplace, pool table and spa pool. It was good to break up the road trip to Auckland, especially since we had a big day the next day...
I had been keeping close tabs on the weather for Taupo all week. The forecast had consistently said showers for Sunday, but as we drove towards Taupo, the clouds in the sky began to open up to brilliant blue and sunshine. We had one agenda in mind only: skydiving. This was an idea that began during the Great Kayaking Trip in Motueka but didn't happen because of strong winds. Two months later, this crazy idea became a reality as the four of us committed ourselves to the wind and sky, leaping out over the Great Lake Taupo with the most fantastic scenery around us. Mike, Will and Phil chose the 12,000ft jump; I opted for the 15,000ft jump. I watched them as they were forced out of the plane into the air below, becoming increasingly nervous as my time approached. My tandem master signalled and I shuffled forward to the exposed hatch, and then with no time to be scared, I was shunted out.
The few moments are completely terrifying, but once the free fall kicks in, you're much more relaxed and can start enjoying the scenery. I remember the glittering blue waters of the lake below, the greens of the forests around the area and the clouds in the distance that were covering Ruapehu. It was exhilarating but over too soon as the parachute deployed. I gasped and hyperventilated as my brain started to acknowledge just what I'd done, and as we continued our descent, I was still trying to get my head around just how lucky we were with the weather and conditions. It was absolutely fantastic and such an amazing experience.
We continued our journey to Auckland and I arrived back home around 7pm, in time for some soup kambing and sambal seafood that my parents had made for dinner. I rushed off to Massey badminton courts for a few hours of high-intensity badminton before finally hitting home and taking a well earned rest.
What an awesome start to the Christmas holidays.
Posted by Jeremy at 4:51am on Monday December 22, 2014 :: 0 comments ::