Again, with only a day's notice I was called off to an overnight district camp at a health care facility south of the town of Åhus (home of Absolut Vodka, though we weren't allowed to visit the factory). Here I re-met most of the Oldies (exchange students from the district that have been here 6 months longer than me) as well as a few new ones. We spent our time socialising, eating candy and walking on the beach.
(Group photo taken in the reflection of Matt Krammer's (USA) sunnies. You can see me running to get in the shot)
(Matt and Liam contemplated going for a swim but decided it was too cold)
Standing: Tyler (USA), Tomoji (Japan), Me, Dave (NZ), Frieda (Germany), Demarree (USA), Matt (USA), Sitting: Marisa (USA), Liam (USA), Palo (Brazil)
The Next day Niclas took me to see Ängelholm's F10 flight museum containing all the different types of planes that have been flown by the Swedish Airforce.
(I've always wanted to be a pilot)
(Me pulling off a near-perfect landing on the museum's flight simulator)
The next afternoon I packed my bags and on tuesday caught a series of trains up sweden to the northern city of Kiruna. the train ride was 23 hours and incredibly uneventful save for seeing the northern light out the train window at around 2 o'clock wednesday morning. Unfortunately no-one could get a decent photo of them as they were too far away and to dim compared to the background light of the train. However this is essentially what we saw:
This was to be the only time we saw the northern lights during the Kiruna trip. We arrived in Kiruna the next morning around 11 o'clock and was met by rotary.
(A sculpture on Kiruna's train platform)
(Andrew from Oz waiting with everyone else for instructions from rotary)
We then went for a walk through the city of Kiruna
(Apparently this is the most beautiful public utilities building in all of sweden)
(the streets of Kiruna are covered and inch deep in ice and the entire area is under a metre or two of snow)
(This Church was named the most beautiful building in sweden in 2007. Its shape is based on the indegenous Sami peoples hut design.)
(Kiruna's main employer is the giant iron mine LKAB)
After lunch at the local school we all boarded a bus and travelled 20min out of town to Jukkasjarvi to see the Ice Hotel.
(The Chapel where over 100 weddings a year are held)
(It holds approximately 50 people)
(The ceiling over the information desk was made up of this intricate design)
(the Ice Bar)
(For 45 Krona you can buy fruit juice in ice glasses)
(By far the most expensive bar I have ever been too. As it turns out the bar tender had only just arrived back in Sweden after working in a bar in Darling Harbour for 2 years.)
It was incredibly difficult to get good photo's from within the Ice Hotel due to the dim light but I did my best. Each room had a different theme.
(the Kracken)
After the Ice Hotel, we were bused to the local Sami Village where we were shown how the Sami people used to [and still do] live)
(A traditional Sami tent. Yes, It is a Teepee)
(The Sami People are the natural farmers of Reindeer, herding them all over the northern parts of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia)
(We fed the reindeer)
(Then ate then for dinner. We were served Reindeer with Potartis (potato) and Lindonberries)
It turns out that Reindeer is sort of tough and tastes like kangaroo.
The next morning we all woke early and jumped on the bus to Narvik in Norway. This was a two and a half hour drive ending in a steep decent into the fiords of northern Norway.
Narvik is a small city which serves as an important port for the mine in Kiruna.
(So naturally they took us down to the port)
We stopped by the water and got out and ate a packed lunch and took photos by the port.
Danni (USA)
(some random person)
(Elise (USA) very confused as to why I was taking a photo of her. Mainly because I was bored)
(Awesome little buggie thing that drove past as we were eating lunch)
(Peggie the over-excited Taiwanese girl)
(Babushka dolls)
We moved on to a local shopping centre where we were allowed to buy souvenirs. I bought an ice-cream.
(After 2 months here the cold no longer bothers me. it was -2 degrees in this pic)
(killing time in a toy shop)
(Spencer being Spencer)
(really pointy mountain we saw as we drove back towards Kiruna)
(Sweden is very Environmentally friendly. I saw hundreds of wind generators on the train too and from Kiruna all the way throughout Sweden)
(We stopped at a Ski Resort on the Norwegian border)
(the view was stunning)
(10 heavily loaded trains such as this one travel between Kiruna and Narvik daily)
That night we were treated to a traditional dinner of Reindeer Stew accompanied by a musical performance buy a group of Sami students that attend the local high school. We were also asked to stand up and sing our national anthems and any other national songs we have.
(casually looking up the lyrics to 'Advance Australia Fair')
(Thankfully desert did not contain any Reindeer)
On Friday we were again driven out to Jukkasjarvi where we hoped into these sleds pulled by Snowmobiles and were taken for a drive along the Jukkasjarvi river/lake.
(The sled felt like it was about to fall apart at any moment)
(it was -6 and the wind chill factor at 70km/h is understandably unbearable [I was wearing 2 beanies])
Someone at Rotary obviously forgot the rule about no driving because we were allowed to drive the snowmobiles around the lake threw the metre deep snow (with Ice Hotel Staff riding shotgun).
For any Rotary Members reading this; I "did not" manage to get this thing to hit 90km/h in a straight line across the ice.
(Jukkasjarvi lake where we drove the snowmobiles)
(The VIP sled [with suspension] that the Rotary Members took)
(a couple of Students payed an extra $120AUD to ride dog sleds as well. I only found out that there was this option the day they did it)
We then had Lunch in traditional Sami huts beside the lake.
Lunch was a Salmon wrap with hot lindonberry juice, and of course... Reindeer soup.
In the afternoon we were taken on a tour down the LKAB mine in Kiruna. After 20min of driving down a steep slipway into the mine we emerged 400m below ground in the mines visitor centre. Here it was explained how the mine works and why the entire city of Kiruna will have to be moved in the next 5 years because of the mine destabilising the ground beneath it.
(Liam (AUS) chilling in the scoop of a decommissioned iron ore excavator)
On the last day we were given free time to shop and explore the city of Kiruna.
(Sunrise from my bedroom)
(Sunrise over the school gym)
(at the meeting point int he centre of town)
(Liam and Liam being an Australian Flagpole)
Before we were taken to the train station we were taken to a tobogan hill and let loose with a couple of sleds and tobogans. This inevitably resulted in a few of us (including myself) learning to fly of the jump at the bottom at high speed. A few bottoms were bruised but otherwise no injuries.
(I'm at the top of this photo, about to make my way down)
(Hannah (USA) and Frieda (Germany) posing with the statue)
(The train station)
(Sunset on Kiruna)
The train home was an hour late so we got to see the sun set on Kiruna one last time before we left.
