With four of us, our little Volkswagen was near to the point of being over-encumbered as we set off on our Norwegian Road Trip!
We casually drove towards the outskirts of Oslo and identified a few landmarks which we waved goodbye to for the next couple of weeks. It was quite sometime before the car halted at a supermarket called Meny, which means Menu in English, where we found so many vegan options out in the middle of nowhere! There was vegan cheese, vegan mayo, vegan mock meats, etc.
One tiny detail about shopping in Norway is that for Australians, the exchange rate doesn’t quite make things fair, though if you are smart, well, let’s just say we were under our budget for this trip! We mostly bought food at supermarkets and made our own meals, which was cheaper than eating out. Sometimes it’s best not to think of the exchange rate and just enjoy the journey.
The car climbed up over a mountain pass called Tuddal – and we were trying to see the Gaustatoppen which we had to trust was a mountain in front of us. It was so foggy that we had held up an image of the mountain loaded on our phone to view it! The temperature up here had plummeted to 4°C and the wind was gusty. Not too many photos were taken as a result and we found ourselves back in the car before we could count to twenty.
Over the other side of the pass and a good depth below was a town that Arne was born in called Rjukan – home to an incredible hydro station power plant. Rjukan was developed specifically for this power plant. The population is around 3,400 in the town now and increasing quickly. An interesting fact about this town is it also houses its own giant mirrors. Because the town is set in a valley, it gets no sun in winter, so the mirrors reflect the sun down into the town during the winter months. It also has just been listed as a UNESCO area.
The drive from Rjukan to Haukeli was scenic and beautiful! We rounded corners and caught sight of gorgeous mountains, some with waterfalls and so green and idyllic, with lakes at the bottom.
It was around 6:30 pm when the car rolled into Flothy Camping. The land has been in the Flothy family for generations and they built the cabins on it in the 1950’s.
Arne’s Mum who helps run the show here had left us a lovely fruit platter with fresh strawberries, blueberries, apples, grapes and some vegan plamil chocolate bars, as well as a cask of apple juice. It was a lovely gesture and our appreciation for it remains unforgotten.
It was quick to unpack the car and dump everything on the floor of our cabin for the night. Our set up was in the beginning phase of being fine-tuned. Thankfully Norwegian cabins come equipped with most of the essentials for a comfortable living anyway.
It turns out that Arne’s brother lives just 15 seconds drive away up on a hill overlooking the camping ground. Even though 15 seconds sounds like a short walk, we actually drove. Remember, this is Norway and even in Summer up this high means incredible temperature drops. I saw the car as more of a hot bath than a vehicle on that day.
It was easy to spend quite a few hours up at this beautiful house. The view of the mountain and lake below were only humbled by how friendly and courteous Arne’s family is. Even with a language barrier, it was quite easy to fall into some fun stories at a warm table full of food and drink.
It was 11:30 pm by the time we left and it was only just beginning to getting slightly darker even with an overcast sky!
Conveniently enough, about 15 minutes after getting my pillow perfect for the best dreams, nature called. Thankfully I wasn’t in a dream during this mind alarm. Toilets were located a short walk from our cabin which meant I had to put on my metaphorical ninja costume, climb down the bunk bed, open the door, ninja roll through to the front door, spend a few heartbeats transitioning through the doorway and stumbling off like a troll through the woods in search for the closest toilet. It felt surreal walking toward this toilet block at midnight with nothing but cold wind in my face and a cold glow from the trees as the midnight mist gracefully crept its way around the valley.
Morning broke through the clouds and it was our first glimpse of golden light over the epic landscape. This made for an easy decision to be less ninja-like getting out of bed and grabbing our cameras. There was a bunch of small waterfalls just beyond the camping grounds that we were itching to see. What a wonderful first night at Flothy Camping in Haukeli on this already incredible road trip.
