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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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