What a year it’s been!

We are really sorry that the year has come to a slightly premature end, and that we are going to be missing our much-anticipated Sardinia trip. But let’s not take anything away from a year that was more life-saver than simply holiday. Certainly, at regular intervals, Niki and I had conversations about how we hope this year off will add very positive years to retirement – whenever that arrives again.

Budgets:

We had budgeted €1958 per month for a total of €23,496 for the year, excluding the cost of the van. We’ve ended a few months short – like a lot! But our budget goals have been well met:

Budget for 7 months: €13,708

Spent over 7 months: €11,747

Budget breakdown:

So, big blowout on the cost of diesel, but our two very expensive months (first and last) were really exceptional, and in other circumstances we’d have spread the mad dashes over a couple of months. Regrets? Yes! We should have eaten out more 🙂 However, in Greece we ate almost every day, and a month of this cost €192!! Also, we’ve grown to love 5 litre boxes of wine for €12.

Some Thoughts:

1. It’s really important to spend a trip like this with someone who puts up with all your nonsense! Niki has been fantastic at making the van home – she has done this in South Africa, New Zealand, the Philippines, China and Switzerland as we taught around the world, but this was a bit special. She was unfailingly positive about my ordinary driving, worse parking, and absolutely awful sense of direction. The pressure on her to direct us on unknown roads, down crazy narrow tracks, in foreign languages, all while we headed off to unknown destinations was immense. None of this would have worked if not for her!

   

2. Don’t wait! We agonised over anticipated costs, worries about where to go and what to do. We worried about future jobs and how we were going to pay mortgages … and then we simply got on the road. It’s helped to have inspirational friends- The Langston’s took a year off and did this with teenage kids – and all survived! The internet is replete with websites of folks detailing their experiences, including cost breakdowns, mapped routes etc etc. These have been so helpful in proving that this could be done.

   

3. Friends from all over have been great – Thanks Dave for the help, Lloyd for being such a faithful reader, family and friends from all over sending in comments that were, without exception, helpful and supportive.

   

4. We are a little tearful at saying goodbye to the van, and to the end of our year. To counteract this we are quite committed to doing this again in the near future. This time round we’ll buy a second-hand van in the UK, and then ship it over to NZ when we’re done, whenever that might be.

   

   So, that’s it: We are looking forward to seeing our kids in New Zealand next week, starting a new adventure in Angola in August, and continue to live, rather than exist.

   

It’s been a slow couple of days, brought on by occasional showers, frequent downpours and torrential, heavens-opening, deafening, so this is what real rain looks like kind of sessions. Good days to catch up with some reading, some accreditation stuff, and start a series of taped shows. Today has been better, allowing us to walk around Kristiansand, only occasionally taking shelter under trees and, once, more expensively, in a coffee shop.

To end the day we are parked next to a greened area, lovely large park with lakes for swimming and a real network of walking trails. The area used to be a real dump (literally) before being cleaned up in the mid-1800’s by troops – cheap labour – and is now a great resource. Lots of people of all ages running, some obviously keen on beating a previous time, others more inclined to use a calendar for timing purposes, but all having fun.

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Kristiansand has been an interesting stop, particularly along the waterfront. We visited one of Norway’s largest cathedrals – for free (SO unusual). The building itself is quite simple by Gothic church standards, but has that usual Norwegian sauna feel. The air is warm, the church smells of wood, it’s dry (not so saunish I know), and generally relaxing. I was particularly interested to see a model ship hanging from the ceiling – a gift from Denmark’s hereditary prince in 1964 on the 100th anniversary of the battle. The ship, Jylland (Jutland) is currently berthed in Denmark and is the last remaining wooden screw driven warship.

Also … Sorry we missed the organ recital this morning – we would have loved to hear this monster at work. How any one person can control all of this is simply amazing!

We are going to try find a less direct road to Oslo, but so far this is proving a little difficult. It’s also interesting to see that ferries from here to Denmark will probably be cheaper than driving south from Oslo – thinking for another day.

We’ve been taking our time to travel down along the coastal route 44 after Pulpit Rock, rather than the shorter and quicker E39. We are very happy to have done so as it is a completely different landscape, and well worth the time. The road has been unexpectedly good – wide, little traffic, excellent viewing points, which has made traveling in torrential rain a little easier. We are currently enjoying a free carpark right next to the sea, and in the coastal centre of the Norwegian Magma Geopark. Along the way we’ve passed through Norway’s agricultural heartland, before the Anorthosite intrusions noted below.

The area is characterized by Anorthosite outcrops, which give the area its very distinctive topography. Forming the base of a Himalaya like range and formed as a huge magma chamber some 930 million years ago and 20km below the earth’s surface (tough luck to any ‘young earth’ nuts). This has now been exposed, and recently glaciated, so the landscape has all the characteristics one would expect. The rock itself is exceptionally poor in minerals, and therefore is only minimally vegetated – and that leaves fantastic views of a myriad of lakes (hello Minnesota) and countless high outcrops. We’ve had a great day cycling through the area around Egersund, making great use of a break in the rain – and well-timed too as it pelted down again after our return.

Our parking spot is also unique. This precise area is the contact zone between the tidal waves from the English Channel and from north of Scotland, resulting in no tidal range – an ‘amphidromic point’. Live and learn. And apart from all the science, it’s just a really pretty place to be.

With a bit of luck with the weather we’ll follow up with a different cycle route heading out from Hauge and Sokndal – looking forward to this!!