Summer of Fun

Ladies trip on the Raundel (myself and Christy) - photo by Silje

Mark and I had an incredible summer in Voss. The paddling was epic... one amazing run followed by the next. So many beautiful sunny days. Nothing like I remember from last year... that was all rain, rain and more rain. Voss has so much to offer in terms of paddling (check out Mark's trip on the Teigdal), hiking, climbing and any other outdoor activity so we kept busy. Voss Extreme Week occurred in late June, it was a blast with good kayaking and even better parties. I can't wait till next year.

Good Friends (Michelle & Melissa) - photo by Silje

I think I'll pass - Photo by Silje


Church Drop on Raundal


Slide on the Upper Myrdal - photo by Silje

Scott flew out to visit us at the end of July and so we did a short road trip with Silje, Benji, Eirik and Dag. We had some sunny weather and amazing paddling. Who could ask for more?

Benji hiking out of the Lower Rauma

Trollstigen


Eirik and Mark on the Upper Valdall


Silje on the Upper Valdall


mmm... Strawberry Cake


What a view!


Mark on the Bygdelva


Breakfast - Photo by Benji


Silje & Michelle on the Longedalselva - photo by Benji

Now summer is slowly drawing to a close. Friends have started leaving, with the promise that we'll see them next year. I have now moved to Bergen and have started my new job with OTG Consulting. So far so good... Mark is in Canada for a few weeks. He's gone to visit friends and family, do some paddling in northern BC and to pick up some of our gear (mainly skis and winter clothes). We are both looking forward to spending a winter in Norway. Lots of skiing I hope and I can't wait to paddle some of the local kayak runs in Bergen... let it rain!

Good times.

Home Sweet Home

It took us two days to drive from Switzerland to Norway. We went straight to the Telemark region to get in some paddling. The rivers were just beginning to drop down to manageable levels, though there was still a lot of snow pack high in the mountains.


One of the highlights of the region is Goyst river. As of this summer half of the run (including some of the best slides) will no longer be kayakable. They are in the process of building a diversion dam. One of Norway's gems lost to development.

One of many fun slides on the Goyst

After a week in Telemark we made our way to Voss, which is to be our new home for the next few months. We fell in love with this area last year and decided to return for at least the summer. It has numerous world class rivers within half and hours drive, beautiful surroundings and great people.

Mark is raft guiding for the summer and I am slowly beginning the search for an engineering job out of Bergen (80 km away from Voss). We have rented a small place and are enjoying the fact we have a shower and a kitchen. Living a year on the road was fun but it is nice to be out of the van and into a room.

Mark on one of our home runs, the Brandseth

The view from our doorstep

Hiking close to Voss

Back to Europe

After Kenya Mark and I flew back to Canada for a quick trip home. We visited with friends and family, did some skiing and ate lots of sushi. The month passed by quickly and before we knew it we were back on an airplane heading to the UK.

Sweet day skiing at Revy

Hanging out with my bro at Whistler

Quick stopover in New York

We bought another van for the next leg of our adventure. Meet Daisy, the badass Mitsubishi Delica. Pretty much our dream van from the past and low and behold there she was in a Manchester UK driveway for less than some people are buying TV's.

We got off the island of blighty as quickly as possible and made it to mainland Europe. After a brief stopover in Uster to visit family and to pick-up our kayaking gear we headed to Val Sesia (Northern Italy) and Tessin (Southern Switzerland). We met up with some old friends and came across some new ones and spent the last couple weeks enjoying the kayaking and beauty of the area.

Crazy looking Swiss Cow

Mark running the first drop on the Egua

Small village in Tessin Alps

Beautiful day on the Egua

Daisy handling the mountain switchbacks

Michelle on the Middle Sermenza

We participated in a couple kayak competitions (Teva Extreme Outdoor Games and Straight Down Striit) and paddled down some classic rivers (http://www.liquidbeta.blogspot.com/). Now we are cleaning up Daisy and preparing for our long drive (by European standards) up to Norway.

Michelle competing in the Teva Extreme Outdoor Games

Mark racing in the boater cross in Straight Down Striit

Sailing and Sea Kayaking

After a quick stop at Tiwi beach Mark and I headed to Kilifi, where we met up with Mark and Markus Savage, Camilo, Kris and Bender (the dog). Mark Savage, owner of Savage Wilderness Safaris, has a beautiful 42 foot sailboat which we were going to sail up the Kenyan coast to Lamu.

Loading up the sailboat

Once the boat was loaded we were ready to go. Mark S. had devised a rack that would enable us to tow seven sea kayaks behind the boat. Unfortunately about six hours into the journey the rack broke and we had to haul all the sea kayaks onto the boat. At about this point in the journey I started to feel sea sick and I would not feel better until the next day when we dropped anchor just off of Lamu Island.

Once we reached Lamu we spent four days sea kayaking before heading back to Kilifi. We were joined in Lamu by James and Liam.

James and Bender

Camping on a sandy beach

Dinner in Shela

Camilo sailing back to Kilifi

After returning to Kilifi, we got back into our car and headed to Nairobi. Within four days we managed to sell our car, change our plane tickets and convince BA to take our kayaks home. So on March 14 we were on our way to Zurich. After a brief stopover in Switzerland we flew back to Canada. We will spend about a month here visiting friends and family before continuing on with our adventures.

Marathon to Kenya

So the end of February was in sight and Mark and I were still in South Africa. But after a call from James in Kenya asking us to join him and a few friends on a sailing and sea kayaking trip we decided to pack up the car and head North. We had less then a week to make it up to the coast of Kenya, so the driving marathon began… 4000 km to go.

Elephant in Botswana

The drive through northern South Africa was uneventful. We hit Botswana in the evening and continued driving into the night. A flat tire at four in the morning slowed us down a bit but we reached Zambia later that afternoon. Another flat tire close to Livingstone forced us to stop and get a couple used tires so we could make it back to Kenya. The drive through Zambia was beautiful, although we arrived the border just as it was closing. We made it out of Zambia but did not get into Tanzania. So we had to spend the night in a hotel before continuing on the next morning.Tanzania was stunning. Lots of animals, friendly people and gorgeous scenery.

Flipped truck - a common sight

Catching a ride

Baboon - evident in every country we visited in Africa

Selling baskets on the side of the road

We crossed over into Kenya with a day to spare. Five days for us to travel from South Africa to Kenya. We were a little worn out from the driving so the best way to recuperate was to spend some time on a beach. Tiwi beach was just the place. A cute little cabin with an ocean view, warm sun, snorkeling, and an awesome fish dinner… paradise.

The view from our cottage