Norway, Sweden, Norway

June 2th we arrived at Storfjeld gård, close to Åfjord, where we were welcomed by Desire and Sturla. Desire is a very nice Dutch lady who lives in Norway (with her Norwegian husband) for 8 years now. We spent two nights at this very quiet and peaceful place. We were allowed to use the toilet and bathroom in the newly renovated guesthouse which was a great pleasure (a real bathroom, yeah!). If you are searching for a very nice and clean place to stay with up to 10 people, look no further (http://www.storfjeldgard.nl)! We didn't do much becase we wanted to have some peace and quiet and it was the perfect place for it! We took a walk to a dam, where the kids played in and with the water and Gijs even catched a (very small) fish. We also watched Desire and Sturla milk the cows and got some fresh milk, which we turned into oat porridge the next morning. 

After this welcome break we moved on to Namsskogen familypark, a zoo with Scandinavian animals. We camped on walking distance from the park. Although the weatherforecast wasn't great it turned out better than expected and we had almost no rain. We mostly followed the zookeepers feeding the animals. Unfortunately the wolverines didn't show up and to our surprise the bear wasn't interested in meat, but only wanted cinnamon buns... Both Ilan and Gwyn passed their tractor drivers license test, drove the toboggan run four times and made a little watercycling tour around a giant troll. Back at the camping place, we grilled some burgers in a nice little 'grillstuga'. 

The next day it was time to make a small detour into Sweden again. On June the 6th, the mountainplateau of Stekenjokk on the 'Vildmarksvägen' (wilderness road) opened so we were one of the first this year to drive this road. It's one of the highest roads in Sweden and runs through parts of Jämtland and Lapland. There still was quite some snow and there are parts where you can even go skiing around midsummer. We decided to stay on a 'naturcamping' close to Fatmomakke churchtown. The camping hadn't opened yet, but we camped there anyway. Fatmomakke is an old Sami meeting place and we thought it was very impressive and special. The first church was built as far back as the 18th century. A church town was built up around the church and there are now approximately 100 Sami huts and cottages here. At the campsite Gijs and Ilan built a sailing boat and we watched it sail away.

Time to drive back into Norway again! But because we didn't want to drive all day, we made a stop in Tärnaby for two nights and visited 'Naturum'  botanical garden in Hemavan. 

On the 9th of June we drove to Fauske and passed the arctic circle center and we had to take some pictures. 

In the afternoon we arrived in Fauske, where Anne Grethe was so nice to invite us to camp on the farm where she works. As if that wasn't enough hospitality she and her 'sambo' Jens also invited us for a tour on their old fishing boat! That was quite an experience! Ilan didn't dare to fish because he was afraid the fish would drag him overboard :-D. Anne Grethe helped Gwyn with the fishing and they catched two (cod)fish. Luckily for the fish they were too small and were set free again. Gijs did catch a codfish that was big enough though, and the owner of the farm helped him to make two big fish fillets. 

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On our way back to the farm, we stopped at a WWII graveyard, where German, Russian and Joegoslavian soldiers were burried. The morning we left we got fresh eggs and milk! We are very thankful to Anne Grethe, Jens and the farmers for our amazing stay in Fauske! The friendlyness of this people is hearthwarming!