Bogging from Sooma

Today we were excited to be hitting the road again. Soomaa National Park had caught our attention courtesy of hostelbookers.com and so after sleeping in and a late checkout at 12pm we were homeless with two and a half hours to spare before the coach left. We spent our time doing what our Topdeck tour had trained us so well to do. We shopped for snacks and other essentials like hair-ties, nail polish and purple sunglasses with bows.



Before we knew it, the time had arrived to jump onto the bus to Riisa. Megan passed the time on the hour-long journey by alternately painting her nails green and pink. We were picked up at the bus-stop by our host Jaanus and his friend. Alarm bells should have rung when they looked at our luggage and laughed, but we were too busy admiring Megan's nails to notice.

We were out of the van, past a group of guys transforming tree trunks into furnitutre and halfway across a rickety wodden bridge (or 2 ropes with wooden planks to cross the river) before we realised that we were in the absolute middle of nowhere. The room we shared buzzed with the mid-afternoon life of mosquitoes excited by the smell of fresh blood. Our host took one last look and laugh at our excessive luggage and tried to express something about payment later before giving up on English and leaving us to it. We had no idea what to do.

We ventured back down the stairs, and down into the backyard where we found the bathroom. Or should we say the 'outhouse' with the rather short long-drop (We later asked Jannus where the shower was and he replied "In the river"). We walked back over the bridge and past the people busy with their chainsaws, hammers and wood until we got onto the relative calm of the 'bog walk'. It was raining, but at that stage the weather was the least of our concerns. And rain outside certainly beat mosquitoes inside.

We found a 'boardwalk' trail through the seemingly endless trees and found the single sentence of English following the paragraphs of Estonian information explaining that the boardwalk would take us through swamp forest and into the peat bog. We were sold, and bravely made our way deeper into the trees. This is when we decided maybe the idea of staying here for 2 nights wasn't at all bad. If fact. We loved Soomaa!

The bog was such a surreal experience. Looking at the ground from the boardwalk we couldn't figure out what was so special about it at all. It looked different from anything we had ever seen yet was just algae on grass right? Well one great big leap off the boardwalk taught us otherwise. Its much like what you would expect quicksand to feel like. You unexpectedly sink really really quickly. Luckily for us the bog we were walking on was fairly shallow. We learnt a few information posts later that the bog in some parts of the area we were hiking through ranged from 4m to 7m deep.

We made our way back to the farmhouse where we doused ourselves in tropical strength aeroguard before bed. We needed to get our some sleep before the action-packed day in Sooma National Park that awaited us tomorrow.

On holidays from a holiday

"Poor Kate and Megan, the travelling life is so difficult and hard. They must be so tired and weary after seeing nothing but beautiful churches all day as well as doing cool stuff like visiting Santa. Not to mention eating amazing icecream all the time."

Thats what you're all thinking,right?

Maybe, maybe not. But after 22 days of full-time touring we both felt like it was time for some scheduled rest and relaxation. Nowhere was better than the sleepy town on the Baltic Sea, Parnu.

We booked ourselves in for 2 nights in the seaside town famous for being the holiday location of Estonians, Finnish and Germans, yet on our arrival who did we find in our room? 3 Aussies and an American. Straight away we were in our comfort zone and willing to do nothing but play cards and drink vodka in our tiny little room for 6.

"No wait", we thought, "maybe we should walk up and down the main street first?" The guys couldn't understand that this was the decision we had made. Why did we want to see Parnu? Somehow 3 hours flew by as we strolled along the beaches, past the mudbaths, and uncovered many statues, sculptures and fountains on the way.

We were keen to see the beach. Some sand, some water. What we weren't expecting was a surreal landscape filled with play equipment for giants, chairs that faced away from the water rather than towards it or a basketball hoop. On sand.


Somewhere along the way we discovered the timing device on our cameras and good times were had by all - up there with the discovery of macro mode, possibly?

The next day we waited until just after breakfast before our first strawberry / marshmellow combo with hot chocolate poured from the chocolate fountain. Heaven in a cup.

We cancelled out the calories by walking and eating our way back to Supelrand Beach. We were die-hard rebels walking on the sand instead of the boardwalk down to the waters edge. Then we realised just one other group on the expanse of shoreline were sitting on the sand. Who were these creatures? On closer investigation it was, of course, our Aussie friends. After a quick dip in the Baltic we packed up our camp and sat in the cafe playing wonderous games such as 13 and 500 and eating dumplings.

That evening we decided to go check out the internationally renowned Parnu Film Festival. Our choice was limited to the one movie in English called 'Dust and Illusions' (preceded by an 'Elegy of Wood'). "Something cultural", we thought. "That's cool!" Instead what we got was a powerpoint presentation of photographs of wooden furniture followed by a history of the Burning Man Festival, held in the Nevada Desert.

Our eclectic evening was rounded out by a meal at the Argentinian restaurant down the street. Estonians don't provide the best of service, however the food is always brilliant.

It was back to playing cards and showing the locals a thing or two about pool - like Kate's patented 'I'm too short so i'll lie on the table' move. All in all, the perfect timeout from our 2month time out :) Oh, and if you ever get the chance, dance in a cage!

Touring Tallinn

Tallinn was the last stop on our Scandinavian tour, but it was hard to muster up any kind of excitement as we dragged ourselves onto the bus at 7am to catch the ferry from Helsinki. We used the 2 hour trip as an opportunity to catch up on sleep. The lack of chairs didn't stop 15 or so people from rolling out their sleeping bags and staking a spot on the carpeted floor.


Somewhat refreshed, we disembarked off the ferry and headed straight into the Old Town of Tallinn, where we saw plenty of old and interesting buildings (including the world's tallest building - or at least it was in the 1400s). We had picked up a few new people who were joining the tour that from here would continue onto Russia. They were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed eager to sprint around town and see all there was to take in. The rest of us however endured the walking tour only with the knowledge that once it was over we could stop for lunch. And Estonians roaming the streets in traditional dress were something to be marvelled at as well :)



To say that we had worked up an appetite would be an understatment and we enthusiatically headed to a restaurant that had been highly reccommended. While it wasn't quite traditional Estonian fare, we certainly did justice to the amazing food at the African Kitchen.

Feeling much more energetic we headed out of Old Town Tallinn to the shopping malls. A massive street parade was occurring right down the main street and with people everywhere we found it very hard to cross into the mall. It was easy just to get caught up in the amazing atmosphere of the people singing, marching, waving flags, cheering and generally swaying to the beat of the numerous marching bands. We didn't know the occassion at the time but later found out it was the 25th Traditional Song and Dance Festival. It spans one week every 5 years and Estonias gather from all over the country to sing and dance in concerts that occur each night. The parade was the opening ceremony in which all of participants - over 20 000 people - could participate and show their traditional village colours.

That night we headed back into Tallinn's Old Town for the tour's farewell dinner, where we said our goodbyes to those who were continuing on through Russia and who would certainly miss our excellent company along the way. As her way of saying goodbye Megan managed to demolish an entire plate of ribs (ok, maybe Kate helped a little).

Of all the friends we made throughout the 22 days of our tour from Berlin to Tallinn one goodbye stood out from all others. Just one person needed to be reminded of us throughout the rest of her travelling days. We both found it of the utmost importance to encourage Alex, no matter where in the world she would be, to be tourists in just our style. So we presented her a t-shirt. Hours (ok minutes) of decorative genius were mustered to create this fashionable masterpiece. A handmade design featuring the acronym WWKAMD - What would Kate and Megan Do. The design included 2 stick figures (clearly us) jumping in joy infront of a scenic background in order to encourage this single traveller to make the most of photo opporotunities presented to her on this tour. Clearly, in true Kate and Megan style, we took a photo to mark this historic occasion.

The night concluded with a visit to the bar with no name, where we danced to such classics as the Grease Megamix, the Macarena, Mambo No.5 and Midnight Oil. Needless to say, it was a truely heroic effort to get up the next morning in order to see off the Topdeck bus (although we were back in bed soon after).

At checkout time - 12pm - we met the remainder of the group in the foyer, stashed away our bags, and headed out for a last exploration of Tallinn. This was mostly dedicated to searching for the ideal lunch spot. Todays winner was Pizza Grande, and as the name suggests we ate grande sized pizza. This gave us the energy and enthusiam to climb towers. Really.

We navigated the mess of cobble-stone laneways that Estonians refer to as streets, back past a Kiek en da Koc to the tallest Cathedral tower and dragged ourselves with all the effort we could muster up the hundreds of steep stone steps leading to the top of the windiest, narrowest staircase imaginable. Luckily the view from the top was good, and we managed to burn off a few calories at the same time.

That afternoon we said goodbye to our new friends and said 'see you later' to Tallinn as we once again subjected ourselves to our favourite mode of transportation in order to reach Southern Estonia, and the beach town of Parnu.

Helsinki - People! Shops! Churches! Museums! Yay! (even for the boat ride)

After many many many countless days of riding the bus from campsite to campsite we were rewarded for our patience with the promise of a day in a big city. Admittedly, it is the smallest capital city of the Scandinavian countries but nonetheless we were excited. We were geared up for an extreme day of playing tourist!

After hearing that the Finnish people consume more coffee per capita than any other nation, we decided to get in on the action. As we stopped to visit the Sibelius musical monument we just had time to made a quick detour to a boathouse we could see in the distance, emblazoned with the word 'coffee'.


We raced back to the bus in record time. If it had been 1952 we probably would have won a medal in the Helsinki Olympics. The stadium itself was still standing - just - and after going up in the rickety elevator we were able to see the sights of Helsinki. Yes there were church steeples, amusement parks, the stadium itself and gorgeous lakes in this view but the most noteworthy sight would be the revolving McDonalds yellow arches, a real sign that we weren't isolated in the far north of the world anymore.

Lunch consisted of hiding from the rain under trees and fighting off seagulls the size of small cats. Then it was time to head into the heart of the city and begin a leisurely day of enjoying civilisation. When Australians go to Europe we get tired of all the 'ABCs' (translated: 'Another Bloody Church'). In Helsinki, however, we saw three pretty cool ones. Firstly, a church cut into the side of a rock face, and built out of rocks and natural materials.

Secondly, a large white Lutheran church with a great staircase, An impressive building with large steeple visable from all over town, very large but basic interior. Most of the excitment came from racing Kate up the stairs (she won). Thridly, the Russian Orthodox church built between 1862 and 1868, which challenged the Lutheran Church for the title of the most beautiful building in Helsinki. Inside, it was definitely the most ornate, with gold leaf everywhere.

Next stop was the free Helsinki Museum. We were greeted with ladies in traditional dress exiting the building (never found out why) and an awesome looking gift shop. Attractions inside the museum included shackles, artefacts from Finnish life over the last 100years and the most interesting comic about a distillery worker who turned up drunk to church in the 15thCentury. He threw up everywhere but refused to leave, was forced to repent and then blamed the whole ordeal on a stomach bug. How that has made history books is anyones guess!

After all this history and culture it was time to do what we do best - shop! Together we wandered down to market square with the unmissable red and orange tents and the enticing aroma of fried fish. While the fish could best be described as 'unusual' we were quite satisfied with the pastry stands. When one lady told us a particuluar pastry was traditionally Finnish we had no choice but to purchase the delicious item. We wandered around the souvenir stalls until it was time to catch the ferry across to Suomenlinna island. Luckily for us there was more than one boat, as we ended up missing the first two due to the distracting markets.

On the island we rested for awhile in a large park area surrounded by an old church and fortress walls. Then very casually we strolled the sights, including tunnels through the fortress, cannons overlooking the headland, the Kings Gate (best described as 'the Shire') and cobbled streets leading past memorials. We aren't entirely sure what an open prision is, however after following vague signs we think we came into very close proximity with convicted felons working in a labour colony hidden from the main tourist pathway. After almost 3hours we were very happy to see the ferry arrive so we could rest our weary feet on the trip back to the city.

After settling in at the campsite we headed back into Helsinki to sample the Friday night nightlife. After a couple of attempts (apparently some nightclubs have an age restriction of 24+) we managed to find a place where the whole group could enjoy themselves. The highlight? Glitter-confetti :)

I think I just saw Santa

Finland is essentially made up of three things: water, trees and mosquitos.We saw a lot of these things during the couple of days it took to descend back into civilisation (also known as Helsinki). And to help us survive the long journey south we invested the last of our Norweign Nok wisely - snap crackles!


We like to think that the excess sugar was to blame for our extreme excitement over the prospect of crossing back over the Arctic circle in a very important location. The highlight of our Lapland experience. We were happy to be straddling the invisible line that encloses the Arctic region but ecstatic about being at the home of Santa Claus himself. Thats right. We met the real Santa!

After passing through his office (which unfortunately was nothing like the 'its a small world' ride we had envisioned) we got our official photos taken with Santa. He was very friendly and even promised to visit next time he was in Australia (although he might have to stay on the couch). We then wandered around Santa-land, taking some unofficial photos and sending postcards from the post office which each year processes many many letters to Santa from children all around the world, and in return is responsible for ensuring that children recieve personalised Santa messages from the man in red himself.

Once the sugar high started to recede it was time for lunch and one again we stopped to stock up on snacks at the local supermarket. Just as we thought everything was well and we were on our way out again alarms began to ring and a supermarket check-out guy took it upon himself to stop, interogate and search the bags of our very own shoplifter - Kate. After emptying the contents of Kate's bag we were all still confused as to what was triggering the alarm. Item by item we sent the contents of Kate's bag through the scanner until finally the culprit was found - the spare batteries. After finally convincing the guy that the batteries had been purchased in Sydney he called off the security man who was making his way down to apprehend us and Kate's name wasn't scratched from Santa's good girl list after all.

After a long day of travelling on the bus we decided that an exploration of the new campsite before dinner was in order. We soon found that the campsite wasn't so big and with time to kill set out to meander the tree and lake filled countryside of Rovaniemi. We walked along the road and decided to circle around back to the cabins instead of just returning the way we had set out. Unfortunately things didn't go as planned. The map clearly did not indicate lack of bridges across the lake that separated us from the campsite, or maybe our sense of direction just wasn't up to scratch. The track was muddy and the moisture attracted the mosquitoes. We had already walked it once and we now found that we had to cross over it once again. With mouths clamped tightly shut and waving our maps furiously to move the swarms away from our hair we squatted and flapped like lunatics back to the safety of the road.

We ended the night in the relative comfort of 'the mansion'. Two girls on our tour had accidently been given luxury accommodation instead of cabins like the rest of us plebs with their own shower, sauna, kitchen and more bedrooms than the people staying there. And they decided to generously share this experience, hosting a big group shindig. The perfect end to a strange and troubled day

Laundry Day

Brunch 10am. Well we would have all preferred a few more hours to lay in bed but the promise of pancakes, egg and sausages was enough to get us up anyway. Isolated in the middle of nowhere, with just busloads of tourists to entertain us as they pulled in to the campsite for a toliet break every few hours, we turned to the only facility available to us. The washing room.


We washed, surfed the net, hiked a bit, then relaxed in the common room with snacks. Kate documented everything in macro mode. It was almost time for dinner when we heard the news.

Reindeer sighting. Ok, so we have witnessed many reindeer here in Norway while gazing out the bus windows and of course at the zoo, but this reindeer was on our turf and he provided us with a mission. To get a photo. Armed with our cameras and carrots (ok, maybe not carrots) we crept steathily up the beach, tip-toeing over the large and strangely angular rocks. We reached the jetty without a sighting, so we headed up to the road and started heading back to the camp for dinner. And thats when we saw it in the distance. was it a large dog or could that be a raindeer standing in the middle of the road???

We quickened our pace, then tragedy struck, a car came and scared the reindeer into the bush. We hightailed after it in quick pursuit.

After practising for this exact opportunity all day Kate snapped some great shots of our subject. Mission completed. We left the reindeer in peace and headed back to the site only a few minutes late for dinner.

Midnight Sun Fail

The whole tour group was asleep on the bus but for some reason we were wide awake. With little entertainment to occupy our restless minds we were happy to finally reach our first stop of the day, Kvaenangen Commune. This is where we finally let our resolve to resist chocolate muffins collapse and shared a little piece of paradise overlooking the gorgeous Nordic scenary. We then worked off the calories by climbing a signpost that was clearly confused and thought it was a tree and jumping around the little mounds of stones piled up to ward off trolls.

After browsing the traditional Samii souvenirs (antlers and reindeer hide) Megan walked off in search of a reindeer glimpsed from a distance. But all to soon it was time to jump back on the bus. Our destination was Olderfjord, from where we would take a night trip to see the midnight sun. All day we watched the sky anxiously for signs of midnight sun-destroying clouds and no one was allowed to mention the w-word: weather. Instead we referred to 'marshmellows'.
It was here that we witnessed the moose. We think. It was a shortlived experience but out the window of the bus there was definitely a large brown animal sitting casually on the side of the road. We both count it as an opportunity to tick wild-moose sighting off our Norway check list.

The marshmellows were looking good when we boarded the bus at 8:30pm. It was going to be a 2 hour drive to Nordkapp, The most Northern Point of Norway that can be reached by car or bus. With a few drinks to keep us lively for the late night we made our way further and further north, marshmellows the last thing on our minds.
We emerged from the bus at our destination and were very very glad to be wearing layers. Many layers: stockings, tights, socks, boots, jeans, singlet, thermal, long sleeve shirt, jumper, jacket, beanie, scarf, gloves and the hood up. Yes, we resembled large black beachballs, but on the plus side we weren't going to be blown away.
We turned in expectation to the sky. Where was the blue sky that we had experienced all day? Unfortunately all the talk of marshmellows had been a forerunner of things to come. The sky was literally a giant fluffy marshmellow. Of which somewhere behind was the midnight sun.
So while we should have seen this.

We instead saw this.

Regardless we are now educated about the midnight sun and the science behind such an event (explained in terms of knuckles revolving fists). And tomorrow we get to sleep in. Yay!

The Polar Plunge

We started the day a long way from anywhere, however the increasing patches of snow by the side of the road was a strong indication that we were still heading north. Braving bitterly cold winds we stoped off in the remodelled town of Narvik. Historically significant, Narvik was the site where the allied troops in WWII took a stand against the Germans to stop them from getting any further north where they would have had access to communication cables. In the process however, Narvik was completely destroyed and consequently, not a whole lot to see or do. According to Lonely Planet - as our fellow travellers read it daily and like to keep us updated, Narkik is the ugliest town in Norway. We really didn't think it was that bad.

Our next stop was at the Polar Zoo for lunch. We didn't enter the zoo but entertained ourselves the old fashioned way, by kicking around a well battered soccer ball and pretending we were world class jugglers.
We arrived in the Skibotn campsite with only one thing on our mind: joining the polar plunge society. When stuck in the middle of nowhere with a bridge, a river and a 80 degree sauna, what choice did we have?

After much debate (the 'plunge' was a hot topic of discussion for many days previously) on the best way to approach the icy waters of the artic circle it had been decided that the bridge was scarily too high so we would have to just bite the bullet and run in. Until the fearless Kate decided that no height was unconquerable and courageously (and alone - the object of many pointed cameras), climbed onto the top of the bridge, took a deep breath, and jumped.

From then on it was the only thing to do and after many jumps (Megan a record 5 times), brain freezes, and photos we hit the sauna.Crammed tightly into a small room with little fresh air we just had to hit the water again. Of course the hot water ran out that night but we still mangaged to find one more way to stay warm...

Marshmellows!

After inhaling a few packets of marshmellows toasted on the fire, we spent the night playing cards. However, the constant sunrise is extremely deceptive. After realising that it was actually 2.30am (even though the sky looked like mid-afternoon) we decided to stay up and watch the "sunrise" at 3. In other words, the sun went down behind a mountain, and came back up a few minutes later.

Now the hot water had reheated we could shower and pack for the early start the next morning. The bus tomorrow would have to serve for catching up on sleep.