Southwards we go, towards Helsinki where we are to meet Jirka, Joe's cousin and our friend.
We have had quite welcome success finding camping spots by looking for dead end roads, and we have seen that all roads heading eastwards towards Russia stop at the border. These make great camping spots, with no passing traffic, no foot traffic, and absolute quiet. We can even have campfires without worrying anybody.
We also appreciate these areas because they contain the most forest resembling wilderness we have found in Finland. The "wilderness" here consists of three species of conifer and three species of broadleaf trees. These are mostly in monoculture plantations. There is logging everywhere. Wildlife is very scarce. One hunter told us that moose have bigger antlers in Norway - and later admitted that it is because the Finns have hunted the big antlered moose to excess.
We saw many of these hunter hides in the "wilderness" areas. This one is a bit more elaborate, with camouflage gear in place. We saw these every 500m in some places close to the Russian border - presumably hoping to catch animals from the Russian wilderness over the border.
I hope this ability to find quiet camping continues into Estonia, but we have heard that the border area is considerably more dangerous there than here.
We saw another example of Russian influence here...
Yesterday we came across this little fellow crossing the road.
He is a hedgehog, and an example of convergent evolution. He is similar to our echidna and to the American porcupine, but not related genetically. There 17 different species of hedgehog. He scurried across the road as quickly as his little legs would carry him, seemingly unaware of his remarkable biology.
The other major event of yesterday was our first flat tyre! There was a slit in between the lugs. Getting tyres off a truck is quite a different matter to changing the tyre of a car, but Joe managed it admirably. Then we had the opportunity to try to mend the tyre with our tyre mending kit (made by ARB).
This tool inserts a strip of "self vulcanising" material into the hole. After insertion there remained a slow leak, but we decided to drive on it to see whether the heat and vulcanising process would be sufficient to seal the hole. So we drove on it for a couple of hours, losing only a few PSI of pressure. And this morning the tyre remains inflated!
Some other Earthcruiser owners reckon that this kit is so good that it is not worth carrying more than one spare tyre. However we feel that a trip such as we are hoping to do across Russia might test that idea to its limits. In remote areas where specialised tyres like ours may not be available we prefer to have two spares as as well as the ability to mend tyres.
Both Norway and Finland try to discourage alcohol consumption by limiting sales to a single government owned outlet. -"Vinmonopolet" in Norway and "Alko" in Finland. They also price the drinks on the high side, but not much higher than in Australia. The opening hours are also restricted so it is not so convenient to get supplies.
Joe reckons that the fruit juices here are far too sweet so he adds yeast to reduce the sugar and make them healthier! This also reduces our need to find the government owned monopolies!
Some other scenes from southern Finland...
Olavinlinna castle from medieval times - twice repelled Russian aggression but succumbed in 1700s.
Silver birch trees
Scott's pines.
This is a sand sculpture depicting the Finnish sport of "wife carrying". Apparently the "wife must weigh more than 49 kgs, and the course includes water 1 m deep. Somehow I don't think it will catch on in Australia! 
Jirka has successfully joined us and we spent the day seeing a bit of Helsinki, and then some of the countryside. It was a lovely day, with some quintessentially Finnish scenes.
Including this charming fellow..
We are on the ferry to Estonia tonight. It is huge, and has free wifi! The trip takes 2 hours across the Baltic Sea. The next 9 days will be in the Baltic States. So watch this space for updates.
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