Crazy day in the snow

Mark was our tour guide today driving us around the countryside near Voss. Another day of minus temperatures so we rugged up warmly to brave the cold - minus 14 degrees when we left home! Our first stop was a replica Viking village at Gudvangen near Naeroyfjord. Here a group of Viking enthusiasts live the way the Vikings did and you can do a tour of this real life Viking village. We didn’t do the tour but instead went into the café/souvenir shop where we sat by the open fire to warm up and have a hot drink. After buying a few

Norwegian souvenirs we had a look around the outside and enjoyed the beautiful scenic view down the fjord.

From here we went to the Myrkdalen ski resort for lunch before heading further up the mountain in search of snow deep enough for snow man building and making snow angels. Last night after a few wines we had come up with the crazy idea that Ian, Mark and I would wear our Mandurah surf lifesaving club bathers in the snow for a photo shoot. So before leaving the ski resort we put our bathers on under our clothes. Up on the mountain it was a 'balmy' -9 degrees and we found an area in the sunshine for out photos. We very quickly stripped off our clothes but decided to leave our boots on so as to not get frost bitten feet – it was a hilarious sight, 3 crazy adults prancing around in the snow in bathers and boots!! It was also very cold so we quickly got dressed again after Brianna and Lauren had finished getting photographic evidence. The snow was a bit crumbly for making a snow man but we managed to build one using some of the frozen snow boulders and then the girls made snow angels and had fun tramping around in the deep snow. We were all glad to be able to get back in the car again and warm up!

On our way back to Silje and Mark’s we drove up to the ski resort near their house and saw where they spend nearly every weekend in winter. Back home we left the kids playing games together and us 4 adults took a walk up the hill to a nearby farm that has converted a barn into a bar and restaurant. We had a couple of drinks at the bar and then walked back home and to the sauna! From one temperature

extreme to another – it was about 40 degrees in the sauna after being outside in minus 10!!

While dinner was cooking, Lauren, Abigail, Maddie and Mark all had a jam session together in their downstairs music room. Lauren was very taken with Edwards electric drum kit! They sounded really good and had lots of fun together. Dinner was a delicious meal of roast pork washed down with red wine and after dinner we sat and all played some games together – kids versus adults. After the kids had all gone to bed Ian and I sat up talking and drinking with Mark and Silje until nearly 1am!