Aruba; "One happy island"

After one month in cool New Zealand, I was ready to enjoy two lasy weeks of my vacation on the beach in Aruba....and of cource do a lot of windsurfing. But things did not go as planned. My new Venezualan sister, Susan, let me stay at her place for a few days, and then helped me find a really nice appartement, with my own swimming pool, to rent for the rest of my vacation....for local price (wich is half of the tourist price :D ) !!! I also managed to get local price in the windsurfing rental shop. The first days were amazing, with nice steady wind. I am very pleased that I managed water start during the second day :D But then the wind dissapared completely :(and there is not that much else to do in Aruba (if you don't like hanging out with rich American families, that is).

After some days walking around on the beach, I got an offer to go to Venezuela. So of course I joined the Venezuelan windsurfer, Leo, to his home town...a small desserted fishing village. Adicora is usually a great kite/surf/windsurf spot (the rest of the year :P) at the very tip of the Venezuelan coast. To sum up my week in Venezuela, I: tried to communicate in spanish with people who don't know a single word english, got stopped by military police with mashine guns because I didn't have my passport, ate "arepa" (corn bread), visited caves and a family living self sufficient in the mountains/rain forest, and did a little bit of surfing.

Lessons learned: water is almost more expensive than gasoline in V., never go anywhere in Venezuela without your passport, and for gods sake bring a stick to fight of the dogs in Aruba (they attack you!).

This must be followed. I got attacked.

Outside of the appartement I rented on Aruba. I had it all to myself.

After a great couple of hours on the water myself, I enjoyed watching the kite surfers in the sunset.

The cairn represent a wish (I made 4 :P ). You want to build the cairn as strong as possible so you wish will last a long time.

The Arubans like to dress up and party hard on Halloween.

Leo and a Brazilian guy after surfing in Adicora, Venezuela.

The landskape on the peninsula. Cerro Santa Ana in the background.



I don't know what the Venezuelan people do all day, but this boy was just standing there with his donkey.
A small concrete house up in the mountains. The goy living there guided us to the caves in the area.

North Island on my own

While bussing around and staying at backpacker places is ok, I still miss Inga and our van a little bit. After one more day of climbing in Takaka, I went to Nelson. Met some fun guys there and tried motor biking and then took the ferry over to Wellington. Since I like cities so much, I spent three whole hours there, at the Te Papa museum, and then went up to Turangi to do the Tongariro crossing the next day. And what a beautiful day! Blue sky and beautiful mountains. The crossing is very nice, but it sure smells on the way down.

After Tongariri, I went to Rotoroa and rented a mountain bike. The forest there was amazing and huge. I also went to the annual "Beer fest" (aka oktoberfest) but that was a dissapointment. Basically no people. Waitimo caves are famous for is glow worms and stalagtites, so I hade to try that of course. Before going up to Aukland and finishing my trip in NZ.

After a 12h flight to Los Angeles, I went right away to do some shopping. More specifically: find cheap climbing equipment and new running shoes. I sure spent a lot of money there; but luckily on sorely needed stuff. Tomorrow Aruba awaits me =)

Beautiful Flock Hill

Me at the summit of Mt. Tongariro with Mt. Ngauruhoe (aka. Mt. Doom) in the background.

Motorbiking in Nelson


Proof that Takaka/Nelson is the biggest hippie towns on earth (or at least in NZ)

Nelson "the Stilt capital"

South Rock Climbing

Paynes Ford is a really cool limestone crag; once you get used to slopers and run outs that is. We spent 5 days there, 4 of them climbing, and tried everything from slab to overhanging. On the rest day we rentet mountain bikes, and biked the "Kill Devil Track". It was great to back on a bike again, after just climbing for 6 weeks.

When Inga left for Aukland last wednesday, I tramped the whole Abel-Tasman track, a 52km long track along the beaches in Golden Bay. Back in Takaka after the tramping, I met some people that were going to Castle Hill, so I joined them. We have had 4 amazing days bouldering in the most beautiful surroundings. The arms hurt a bit, but the climbing is soo worth it. Tomorrow I'll go back north to Takaka, and then the North Island is next.

What do you do when Castle Hill looks like this? You go bouldering of course!

One of the thousands of fun problems at Flock Hill.

Another fun problem, just too hard for me.

Low tide in Abel Tasman

Seals and penguins in Abel Tasman national parc

Climbing at Paynes Ford

Driving around South Island, NZ.

Because of a lot of rain in Castle Hill, we headed first for Queenstown, the extreem sport capital of the world. We camped by the original bungy bridge, but in day light it looked too small, so of course we went for the big one. Nevis bungy jump is 134 m tall, with app. 40m free fall. It was an amazing feeling when falling.

We also climbed a couple of places around Queenstown. The rock i schist, which is really flaky, and not one of my favorites. But we did find a really cool roof to climb.

Driving north, we stopped a day in Castle Hill. The sun was shining and the place really showed itself from its best side, with green hills and snowy mountains in the background. The bouldering in Castle Hill is special and a little strange at first. And the friction is not the best, as it is polished limestone. But what an awesome place nevertheless.

We are now in Paynes Ford, close to Nelson. The climbing seems good, but its a lot of slopers, which is not really my style. And the weather here is not as stable as in Australia, so we might get more rest days than we want.Me on "Dream Thing" (21)

Me and Inga ready for NZ highest bungy. Inga is a little skeptical."I believe I can fly"Afterwards Inga was really happy.

Castle Hill

Acting tourist and partying in Sydney

We finally got to climb a little in the Bluies, and realised that we have to go back there some day. The climbing there is totally different from Araps, with a lot of small crimping and friction that eat skin faster that I though was possible.

Friday night we drove to Sydney and visited Lina, a friend from Trondheim. As we were going out to a place with "dress code", and me and Inga just have climbing clothes with us, we ended up borrowing dresses and shoes from the girls there. It was quite a shock going from staying in the bush for 5 weeks, to a hip night club in Sydney. On Saturday we went to see the famous Opera House + Sydney Harbour Bridge, and we took the ferry over to Manly, just to be a "normal" tourist for a day. Sydney is a nice city, and I would say it has a beautiful harbour, but one day was enough.

We have now landed in Christchurch, NZ, and spent the afternoon jogging in the city park. Chistchurch is the size of a city that suites us much more than Sydney. We also found the most amazing restaurant: "Octagon Live". It's an old church wich has been turned in to a beautiful restaurant, and they had live music with both guitar, piano, organ and singing. The food was really good, and we even got a lot of discount, just because the people were so nice there. It was the perfect way to spend the night in Christchurch. Now we can't wait to go back to the bush, and first stop is Castle Hill for some frictionless bouldering.

Lina enjoying the ferry to Manly.

Whoa. Clean and dressed up girls. That's the first time in 5 weeks.

Sydney Opera House. Been there, done that.

The cool restaurant which used to be a church.

Last week in Aussie land.

After two weeks in Araps we have accomplished our first goal: to climb 19 (6/6+) on trad. And since we still haven't really climbed in the Bluies yet, it was time to drive back north. It was sad to leave our french guy Joris and Thu & Dave from Calgary, but we're looking forward to more sports climbing again. Yesterday was warm and sunny, the total opposite of the 5 degrees we had three weeks ago, but unfortunately, a storm hit the mountains today, and we got an unwanted day of rest. Sadly we just have three more days in Australia...time passes too fast.

Amazing Arapiles!

Monday we drove further south, passing trough Melbourne to buy climbing guides, and ended up in Arapiles. We have now spent 4 days climbing both single and several multi pitches and we are liking trad more and more. Arapiles has become of my favourite places. It has funny birds and kangaroos, a superb campground (the Pines) where we have met a lot of great people from all over the world, and of course: TOTALLY AWESOME CLIMBING. We now head for the Grampians, one hour away, where there are enough hard routes for a life time (both sport and trad).

Mmm. Brownies made on the fire is good!

The Woody. V4. Really cool tree boulder.

Inga on Tannin (19)

Bluies and Nowra

Finally arriving in the Bluies, it was freezing cold and a lot of wind. We climbed there for two days, but then we decided to go to Nowra in stead, and come back later when it is less windy. Of course, I forgot my wallet (or it is hidden vey well somewhere in our van) in the petrol station on the way down. I have not managed to contact them yet; they have no excisting telephone number! Nowra is a boring town, but a great climbing spot. We stay at a camping area where we can just paddle over the river, and then we're at the crag! We have had two perfect climbing days with 20 degrees and sunny weather. The sandstone has amasing friction, Fontainebleau is not even close, but you feel it in the fingers after a couple of days. The plan for tomorrow is of course more climbing, and then we might drive south to the Arapiles. It is just unfortunate that it might rain the following days. Check out Inga's blog for more photos at ingavatne.blogspot.com.




Spinning Blades of Steel. Utrolig kult takoverheng. Grad 20 (ca. 6+/7-).

Driving South

First stop along the coast was Surfers Paradise. We stayed for 10 min, because it is really just a city of hotels and tourists, and the beach wasn't even that nice. Then we drove a little in land so that I could run up Mt. Warning. From the top, you have a great view of the whole region, and it is the place where the sun first rises in the winter. Since Inga was still sick, we camped in the small town Lennox Head for a couple of days. Its a nice little place just south of Byron Bay. I rented a surfboard, and surfed all day. I manage to stand up, but the conclusion is: wind surfing is much more fun. The small coast of South West rocks is supposed to be one of the best places to dive outside of Great Barrier Reef. I was suppose to dive saturday morning, but I could't. Apparently, I'm not in the Padi system any more ;( real bummer! The whole day was spent driving to the Blue Mountains

Crack climbing in Frogs Buttress

Tueday morning Inga woke up feeling really sick, so I joined a Tassie couple jamming in Frogs Buttres. This was my first experience with natural crag climing and a lot different from the crimping I am used to :P I even lead my own root, even though it was just a 12 (3/4?). More updates's comming soon...

Beginning of the tour Down Under

Friday at noon me and Inga met at Gardermoen, our backpacks filled with little more than climbing equipment. Our climbing/surfing/doing all sorts of cool things is finally here, and first stop, thats Brisbane. Not surprisingly, it takes time to go to Autralia. Around 36 hours! We middle landed in Heathrow before boarding the 13 hour place to Singapore. Inga slept almost the whole way. Vibeke watched 3 moovies, read spanish, knitted a little and selpt max 2 hours. The couple of hour in Singapore were spent well on getting a massage and, of all things, a FISH SPA!! This is a spa where lots of small fish such to your feet and remove dead skin. Inga was too afraid, while I enjoid it a lot. But it does feel bizarre at first. Arriving in Brisbane, Inga did not get her luggage. But no worries. It arrived at the hostel later in the evening. We have done all the shopping needed, and are already tired of city life. So now we head for the beach before going crag climbing in Frog Buttress.