News from Norway

Ski Tour

2008-05-27T12:04:00.001-07:00

Sorry a long time but here are some photos from my ski tour. An Amazing trip and I wil llet the photos tell the story.

På Ski Tur

2008-04-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

På Ski Tur (prounounced poor she tour, on ski tour)

Well on Friday afternoon (4th April, DADS Birthday.... Happy Birthday DAD) I will be heading on Cross country ski tour across 120km of the Norwegian Countryside. Quite different to most weekends away that I am used to in Australia. The Trip will be over 4 days so will be returning hopefully on the Tuesday evening. A little apprehensive about traveling 30km a day on cross country skis with close to no experience. Hopefully what I lack in Experience I make up in Equipment (ALL THE GEAR NO IDEA). I have for the trip New back pack new skis multiple new GORE TEX pieces of clothing, new Shovel (to dig a snow cave if all goes bad…… quietly hoping to be able tto say I have slept in a snow cave :).

I am all packed, just cooked a loaf of bread to take on the trip and had a beer with Joel and borrowing his GPS for emergency case. We will be staying in Huts along the way that are dotted over the Norwegian countryside and can buy some food supplies, so only taking food for during the days. My pack weighs in at 15kg and that is including the essentials such as Jagermeister….. Weather is looking pretty good with light winds and – 5 degrees so hoping it stays like that with maybe a bit of sun would be great Hope to have some great photos on the next blog entry (Better than These ones anyway).

Most essential (transferred to light weight plastic container of course)

Freshly baked bread to take on the tour

All packed and ready

The Skis to get me there

Snø

2008-03-24T01:16:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of photos of outside now here on Easter Monday, looks like it will be a beatiful day.

Inflyttningsfest

2008-03-17T01:12:00.001-07:00

Hello All,

I have been very lazy lately with the blog and have many entries to make including Windwarior Australia Tour, Skiing in Åre Sweden, Ice Hotel in Lillehammer etc. For now I will put up a couple of Photos from my house warming party that was held a few weeks back (called a Inflyttningsfest). Had a bout 30 people over for the evening and turned out to be a great night ending around 0400 am. I will let the phoos tell the rest of the story.

A few of the part guests when they were looking sober at the start of the evening
A well stocked fridge at the start of the evening

Air Guitar on the dance floor

The Dance Floor
A few of the Guests (Kjetil and Lars) even prepared some food during the night

The Aftermath

France

2008-01-09T06:16:00.000-08:00

Hi There, here is some photos from the France trip, will post more soon,

Here is a picture of that Tower thing that they have in Paris...... I have forgotten the name of it.

And here is a photo of Joel , Em, Sal and myself under the tower

A picture of joel near the bus that was going to L'Alpe D'Huez, an Iconical cycling mountain

Lots of Excitement on the bus on the way to the Alps.

And some very 'Average' weather upon our arrival

The View from the window of the apartment.

The all important Jagermeister important for any Ski trip

Amazing Mountains

And More Mountains

To the top for a beer

View from the top AGAIN

Enjoying the beer

Words from a poor man

2007-12-12T04:40:00.001-08:00

Hello all,

Well an exciting morning and I have bought a house in Stavanger. The suburd is called Våland and I will be living just around the corner from Emma and Joel, which will be great for the occasional dinner. Finding it a little hard to work today feeling a combination between sick and excited. Here is a grand tour of the house.

This is the lounge room, door opens to the deck in the bottom right corner

Viewing from the yard back up to the house, I am the first floor and the cellar

Here is the mamoth kitchen that you could cook up a storm for a whole cricket team (or more appropriatly a Ice Hockey Team)

The Bedroom which is pretty small but the living spaces are huge.

The entrance hall, the left is the lounge and the right is the kitchen

The entrance again looking towards the bedroom and bathroom

The Bath room which is very new.

Another shot of the kitchen

From the lounge looking onto the living and kitchen space, The door leads onto the deck.

The living space, looking from the kitchen.

The living space again and the kitchen to the right.

And to enjoy the sun when it is out is the deck

And looking back up towards the house from the yard.

I also have the cellar which is approximately the size of the house again below for bikes etc. Move in on the 1st of febuary so looking forward to then for the house warming.

Cheers
Ryan

Australia!

2007-12-07T02:33:00.000-08:00

As some of ou may or may not be aware I had a quick surprise visit down under over the last 2 weeks. Sorry to those of you in OZ that I did not get a chance to catch up with but it was a very quick visit. I will opst some photos early next week of the trip which included Perth, Karratha and Geraldton for the Wind Warrior tour 2007. Now I am back home in Stavanger and tonight will be atending the company christmas party.

Cheers
Ryan

Still Offshore

2007-11-05T22:58:00.000-08:00

Hello Hello, Still bouncing around offshore in the North sea. Have had some pretty bad weather lately so the whole crew has been struggling to sleep a little. We transitted into port yesterday as the weather was not that good and one of the girls on the Marine crew's father was sick so we went to port to let her off the boat. The transit to port took about 18 hrs as we had VERY bad weather, at the start we had 55 knots of wind and it was gusting to 65 Kts, thats pretty windy and the boat was only going about 3 knots. Needless to say we had some good waves aswell so no one got any sleep during that time. We stayed in a fjord last night so that atleast one shift (day shift) could get some sleep, luckily that was my shift so I am now fully recharged.

We have just left for transit again out to field and the Nav screen in front of me reads 11hrs to go and we are currently moving along at 8.5 Kts. I dont think the night shift will be getting much sleep again as it is still pretty rough outside and this boat moves around ALOT.

Have just completed the standard morning routine of a coffee with a couple of freshly made croissants’ (who really knows how to spell that word anyway) and a quick read of the morning paper. It looks like when we get back to field that we will have the chance to get some work done for quite a long period, unless the weather forcast changes. Unfortunately it is getting late in the year and we are loosing alot of time to weather.

Anyway thats it for now, still have a couple of weeks left out here I would say until the project is complete.

Until then Ha det bra.

Ryan

Kristiansund

2007-10-25T23:08:00.000-07:00

Hello all, well we have had a couple of days waiting on weather in Kristiansund. Have been keeping ourselves amused with a bit of poker of an evening, and some coffee and croissants during the day. Here are a few photos of the "horrible" weather we have been experiencing in a fjord near Kristiansund.

This is a photo from earlier in the campaign of sunset out on the North sea.

Full moon on a fjord near Kristiansund

Snow capped mountians in the distance.

Full moon again on a perfectly still evening

An amazing Sunset

Could not stop taking photos of this sunset.

Thats it for now, hopefully get back out to sea within the next day or so.

Cheers
Ryan

2007-09-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

Well Nothing new to report just thought I would post a photo of Aasgard B Platform at night. Still waiting on weather here and looks like we will get some good waves on Friday (up to 12m).

Offshore

2007-09-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Well I am back out bobbing around on the North Sea at the moment. The vessel got a bit of work done over the last couple of days, we installed a spool and tied it in to a manifold, it then was tied into the flowline at the other side by another company Technip and is now ready to transport oil to a platform near by so al,l you people out there can drive your cars etc. Though I am not sure if it all the way to OZ.

We now have some more work to do at another template, we have to change out a subsea manifold (43 tonnes) and a few other things like cutting and retrieving some pipe from the sea bed. At the moment we are waiting on weather and cannot do any work, it could be like this for a few days. So it is a nice easy shift tonight, just eating food and drinking beer (alcohol free of course).

I have also included a plot of the weather forecast over the next few days. At this stage I will be on board till the 3rd of October (although this will definitely change) and will come back on board again for the final week of operation in Mid to late October, but that all depends on when the project is finished.

Alcohol free beer on board the vessel. (actually does not taste too bad but will revert to the real deal when back on land)

Aasgard B Platform in the North Sea

An Ugly Technip Vessel doing the other end of the spool tie in.

The weather forecast for the next few days.

West Coast of Norway

2007-08-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

We are currently steaming up the West Coast of Norway to Kristiansund where I will depart the Skandi Bergen. Here are some photos of the sunrise on the Norwegian west coast on a perfectly calm day in the North Sea.

Ha det bra.

Ryan

Offshore

2007-08-07T03:09:00.001-07:00

Hello all,

Well there will be no updates in the comming weeks as tommorrow I am going to head offshore. I will be getting onboard a new vessel called Skandi Bergen tommorrow night. We will be alongsiode getting the boat ready for departure for about 4 days then out to the North Sea. I will be out there for 2 weeks then return to land for 2 weeks then go out for a final three weeks or until the project is complete. Hopefully all goes smoothly and should do if we have all done our job properly over the last months. I will post some photos next time of some big offshore stuff (probably very boring photos to most of you) I will leave you with a couple of pictures, one of the new vesssel (the blue one) and some of the vessel I was offshore on last time. Speak to you all later.

Darren Hanlon

2007-07-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

Well hello everyone, A real quick blog update today. Had a good weekend, went to a Darren Hanlon concert and for those of you who dont know him he is a really good Australian singer songwriter. The last time I went and saw him in Tassie Joel and I got him to sign a beer coaster to say he would come to Stavanger Norway and Joel and Ryan would be on the door list. Anyway he was quite suprised to hear G'day Darren called out to him when he entered and more suprised to see the coaster. Anyway to cut a long story short he took up the offer to get a lift back to stavanger with us (Joel, Emma and I) and stayed at joels house that night before leaving to Estonia the next morning. I suggest you check out his music if you have not already at http://www.darrenhanlon.com/ Here is a photo below of us all on the couch at Joel and Em's with the coaster.

Anyway, work is getting really busy now so must be off to do some, Sorry to those of you I have not been in contact with for a while.

Ha det Bra.
Ryan

Volley Ball

2007-07-01T22:46:00.000-07:00

Stavanger was blessed with good weather for the finals of the beach volleyball championships. A large stadium was constructed in town and sand dumped in to form the court. A large barge was also in the harbour dumped with sand for all the earlier matches. See pictures below

Joel with his large zoom Fully extended during the womens matches.

Cheer leaders to keep the crowds cheering

Warm enough in stavanger to take your shirts off, there were a few sunburnt people after the match.

The USA won, China second and USA third

Lots of boats on the vågen with people drinking beers and enjoying the day.

Em and I on the Vågen, heaps of people around, a great atmosphere

This should give you an idea of how long the days are over here, clock reads 22:45.

Thats all for now,

Cheers

Weekend in Haugesund

2007-06-24T22:49:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

I was lucky enough this last weekend to spend it in a cabin by a Fjord just north of Stanger near a plce called Haugesund. There was also a celebration for midsummer as the longest day of the year here in the Northern Hemisphere was during the weekend just gone. We celebrated with a bon fire on the beach as the photos below will show. The weeeknd also included Skiing (water), lots of drinking, swimming and even got to sit in a Hot tub and drink some beers.

A View of the cabin from the fjord and The boys sailing their modified "surf boat" as they like to call it.

The High tech skis used to carve up the waters of the Fjord.

Carving up on the Fjord. I had a huge smile on my face after this ski as I have not done it in a while it and it was great fun. My body is still aching a little today though.

Night one and here is Marius having a drink on the boat, a few of us standing around the fire.

A perfectly still evening on the Fjord.

Christian the host and Jørn cooking up a bit of a feast for the midsummer celebrations

The feast and the starting of the bonfire.

The bonfie being continually fuelled through the night.

The crowd watching on.

Well thats about all I have for now.

Ha det bra.

Ryan.

Offshore

2007-06-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

I am offshore at the moment in teh North Sea and all is well. The weather is very good, about 16 - 20 knots which does not bother us for our work, we are hanging around a platform doing some prep work for a flexible lay a rigid lay and an umbillical. All other vessels arrived last night so there are now 4 subsea 7 vessel operating close by. I am on nightshift so just starting now 6pm (on my Birthday) and finish at 6 am tommorrow morning. If all goes well the campaign should be finished by the time I wake up for next shift........... but things dont normally go to plan.

Will see how it goes, all in all having a great time. I have never eaten so much, slept so much or been paid as much as I am at the moment so all is very well.

Cheers,

Ryan.

Dalsnuten Hike

2007-06-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Just a quick update this week with a couple of photos from the weekend, This is from a little spot on the other side of the Fjord from Stavanger called Dalsnuten (not 100% sure on the spelling). It was a graet day to get out in the sun and was almost 20 degrees, I even got a swim in.

Sopia (left) and Kirsti (right) taking a look over Stavanger.

Barbeque Master Jørn on a disposable grill that you buy from the supermarket called an engangsgrill.

Proof of swimming in Norway, I was the only one to get in the water but was not too cold. A guy from work Jørn on the background not brave enough to swim.

A typical coastline in Norway, not a straight line to be seen.

Looks like I could be offshore next week so there may not be an update for a little while.

Cheers,

Ryan

A Weekend in Stryn.

2007-05-28T23:00:00.001-07:00

Well it was another long weekend last weekend in Norway and I got the oppurtunity to hop in the car with a guy from work Kjetil and his roommate Lars for a drive to the mountains in a place called Stryn. We Left just after work on Friday afternoon for a LONG trek north not arriving at camp until 4 am the next morning, it was quite a drive but the scenery was something else. The team in the car stuck together and we did not have our first beer until arriving at the campsite at 4 am while setting up camp. Most of the people at the campsite were still awake and partying.

Anyway we were to go skiing at the resort which was to open this weekend however due to the risk of avalanches the road to the resort was closed but as you will see from the photos below we had an absolutely amazing weekend any way. To hike to the top of a mountain and ski down making your own tracks is one of the most amazing things in the wotrld. Cant wait till next season. I will let the photos tell the rest of the story.

I guess this is why the roads are closed... A small avalanche as seen from the campisite.

Kjetil preparing dinner, We didnt exactly do it tough with a BBQ and a espresso machine.

Just a lazy 6-8m of snow on the side of the road as we approch summer.....

Kjetil on the way up the Mountain

A spot to rest halfway

The view from the top

A Good spot for lunch at the top

A short drive to a place called Geiranger Fjord

The Norwegians will find any mountain and scramble up it and ski down, here you can see all the tracks.

I could bore you with another 100 photos just like these but I will leave it at this for now. Had an absolutely amazing weekend and the photos dont even begin to explain how good it is to climb up these mountains and ski down again, and the landscape over here is very impressive.

Dont forget to click on the photos for a better look.

You can now post comments on the blog without being a member as well so it would be great to hear from you. (I just found the setting for this and how to get the blog updater out of Norwegian which makes updating the site alot easier)

Cheers, Ryan

House Pictures

2007-05-20T23:01:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of where I live. Kitchen, Bathroom, Bedroom, Entrance etc. I am sure you know which is which. We are on the second floor of a little house, a pretty cool spot a little way out of town.

17th of May

2007-05-20T22:58:00.000-07:00

Norway’s national day and quite a contrast to Australian January 26th celebrations. We were treated to Norwegian pride at its finest. The day consisted of three parades in Town, The morning being the young kids, Midday was the school leavers and the end of the day was the sporting groups and companies etc. The national costume the Bunad is seen in the photos below. We were luckily invited to start the day at some friends Marietta and Åsmunds for breakfast then headed into town for the celebrations. It was great to see everyone from the community involved and an amazing number of Norwegian flags.

Weekend Away

2007-05-20T22:53:00.000-07:00

Off to a company cabin for the weekend with joel and Em to meet up with a work friend Mari and her Aussie boyfriend Kev. An amazing spot on a fjord, I will let the photos tell the rest.

May 1st

2007-05-20T22:49:00.001-07:00

May 1st,

Norway’s labour day and a public holiday were we hoped on the bikes with our BBQ equipment and down to the water front at the fjord and had a great BBQ and played a Swedish throwing blocks at other blocks game. Kind of like Bocce. A great day and great weather.

The Vågen

2007-05-20T22:46:00.000-07:00

An afternoon relaxing down at the Vågen (harbor) on one of the few weekends when I have stayed in Stavanger. Once again Great weather and just relaxed with a few beers.

Preikestolen 2

2007-05-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

Preikestolen Number two. I have ventured to prekestolen again and it is still an amazing spot. Despite family members advice I was still drawn to the edge to get another photo with legs dangling over. But if you look down at the pictures there are stupider people around, Yes that man is doing a hand stand on the edge of a 600m cliff…… CRAZY… Some people refused to look.

Sauda Adventures

2007-04-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

Well I just wrote a long entry for this blog which was some how swallowed up by the internet. I will endevour to write an entry to go with the photos soon. In brief we headed with two mate from work, Anders and Åsmund to Åsmunds families cabin in Sauda, day one included skiing at the skisenter in Sauda which provided some much needed time on the slopes for your truely to get some more practice. Day two was a trip into the mountainsbehind the cabin and included an 800 m climb and about a 7 hour adventure. Great Fun

For more pics please visit this site

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodland/sets/72157600091744060/

Anders took some photos on the day and has posted them on his site.

Looks like some more sking this weeekend at a place called Røldal, so will have some more pics for you next week.

Ha det bra,

Ryan

P.S. Feel free to post comments and send me an email.

2007-03-25T23:09:00.000-07:00

Well again a long time between updates but here it is. Went on a day walk on Saturday just gone to a place called Prekestolen, It was absolutely amazing. A cliff that is 600m above the fjord below, the photos can tell the rest of the story. It is quite amazing sitting on the edge with your feet dangling and the next thing below them is 600m down. Joel was a bit nervous about me getting close to the edge, said he has been there done that and no need to do it again.

The weekend prior we tried to go for a weekend of skiing in Sauda which turned into watching the rain come down, however that did not stop a good weekend. The journey there included a short ferry ride, some windy roads, lots of waterfalls and some deep long tunnels, some very picturesque countryside. On our arrival Kev and Mari had prepared a huge platter of food including cheese, fruit, biscuits and other goodies, from this time forward the weekend became a festival of eating food. This was helped out by Mari grandma who thought it essential to cook us 15 meals a day.

Joel and I have also found possibly the best beer in the world called Nøgene Wit. A wheat beer that has to be tasted to be believed, see photo below. They have been a little hard to get a hold of in the quantities that 2 thirsty Australian require but a quick email Joel sent to the brewery as assured us that good stocks will be now held in supermarkets both close to Joel and my house so hopefully this brewery comes through with the goods.

That’s all for now, check out the link to joels blog as he also has some cool pictures on there. Will put up some more photos of the weekend as soon as I get them

Ha det bra,

Ryan

2007-03-05T06:19:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

Sorry about the lack of updates but I will endeavour to keep updating the blog regularly and keep it interesting with a few pics here and there. Don’t forget to post comments people. Well a lot has happened since my first day in Norway (First day in Norway shown below with other Aussies Joel, Em and Cooba).

Below are some photos out of the window of my temporary accommodation here in Stavanger, an amazing spot above a French Café right in the middle of town. I have since moved out from this location to somewhere a little further out of town with a Norwegian girl from work, Kirsti. Hopefully this will help my Norwegian language skills a bit, we have a house rule of only Norwegian speaking on Tuesdays and Thursdays, could be very QUITE at our house on those days.

Plans of going to a Cabin of a friends place this weekend coming or some skiing and or red wine drinking. It will be a mini Australia with 4 of us Aussies and 1 Norwegian (who is almost Aussie) attending the weekend. I have been allocated as the groups entertainment for the weekend as my lack of skiing ability will ensure that all others will be entertained at my expense. Photos will be posted here next week so stay tuned.

A little pic below showing I havent forgotten where I am from, Joel and I about to have a Dark and Stormy thanks to Waar's postage effort of a few home comforts.

Anyway stay tuned and don’t be afraid to send an email.

Ryan.

New Blog

2007-02-16T00:59:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

Well this is the first posting of probably many on the new blog. I will try and keep you all updated back in OZ. Here is where I will upload photos for you all to see how life is here in sunny Norway.

Cheers, Ryan