On our way!

So the time has finally come to leave London life for the bright lights of New Zealand. The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of lunches, dinners, drinks and goodbyes squeezed in between packing up our life into boxes to send home on a boat. Its been an amazing four years and has been bloody hard to leave London, but that is how it's worked out. Now to make the most of being unemployed....

The day started early and a little hazy after Kath's birthday. After an overly emotional goodbye to Ben and Lisa (thanks again for letting us stay!) we jumped on a bus to Stansted Airport and left England. For

Michael, this was the last goodbye to England. After hanging around the airport for way too long we jumped aboard our Ryanair flight only to sit on the runway for another 45 minutes before heading to Oslo!

After flying for 1 hour and 45 mins we landed at Sandefjord Torp Airport. Confusingly called Oslo Torp by Ryanair, it turns out this airport is in fact two hours by train from Oslo. After finding the right train, including negotiating rail replacement shuttle buses, we made it to our airbnb in time to watch the last half hour of the football.

After settling in and catching up with our hosts Gustavo and Isa, we went out into the centre of Oslo. We left at 7.30pm, and were told that it wouldn't get dark until midnight. Brilliant. After getting lost a few times we found the waterfront and walked along. The waterfront area around Sorenga is undergoing a massive upgrade at the moment with office space, apartments, roads and everything else currently under construction. The wooden beach, literally wooden steps you can jump off, was packed with people and the area was buzzing. After walking towards the city some more, we came across the National Opera and Ballet House. A stunning new building right on the harbour front.

After a quick dinner and some celebrations with the hoards of French supporters, we walked up the Opera building for a view of Oslo and the fjord. I don't think I've ever walked up the side of a building to stand on the roof before but it was an amazing end to our first day in Norway. And there was still hours of light left to get us home!