We have crossed the Arctic circle on midsummers day. So tonight we can see the midnight sun. We have found a very nice camping spot on a mountaintop (500m).
This area is a National Park and hydro electricity generation area. Although it is only 500m elevation it has a good snow cap still. There are lakes, waterfalls, and a number of very pretty little huts for the use of hikers and families.
When we arrived during the late afternoon there were people using the park, hiking, photographing, and just enjoying the view. One by one they left until we were the only ones there. Great!
Since it was mid-summer's day this was our first opportunity to see the actual mid-night sun. ie the sun should not set below the horizon. We thought of lighting a fire and dancing naked around it, but it was too cold! This was a new experience for us so we started to track the sun by making a crude sundial.
The sundial allowed us to predict where the lowest point of the Sun's travel would occur. Unfortunately since we were on a mountain top the sun did actually go below our horizon. We went to bed at 1.30 am without having observed the midnight sun phenomenon! Oh well there will be other opportunities I expect.
Tuesday 22nd June.
We have decided to get a ferry across to the Lofotens to Svolvaer, midway up the island group. This required a quick trip on the E6, which was not as boring as we had been lead to believe. We saw some great scenery (mountains of course), and we stumbled into a small town whose claim to fame is the REC company - which coincidentally made our solar panels! They are now located in Singapore though.
Having successfully reached the ferry on time we almost couldn't fit on! But we made a deal with the crew that we could be dropped off at the tiny island of Skrova, so they could fit on a couple of booked vehicles. Then we could be picked up again in 2 hours! So great! We enjoyed our time there. The main industry is Ellingson Sea Food - which processes more than half of the worlds whale catch! Today they only had salmon ships in though.
The water around the processing plant was red with blood of the salmon being processed. I wonder what it looks like when there is a whale being carved up! A passerby mentioned feeling a bit uneasy about the blood - well I don' t have any guilty conscience about it, only sadness.
We did a little tour around the island, probably being the first Australian vehicle ever on this island.
Dried fish is a major product of this island (and of all of the Lofotens), used for fish soup, and also export.
Then we put our table out on the jetty and had a great lunch with a sunny maritime view! While we waited for the ferry to return.
This shot shows the Lofotens proper behind a village as we left Skrova.
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