Hilarity100

Driving around Norway we've seen plenty of houses (and bus stops and letterboxes for that matter) with grass growing on the roof. Makes plenty of sense from the insulation perspective, but the question remains, would you have to mow your roof?

Walking around the residential backstreets of Trondheim, I emerged from the end of a leafy walkway up a hill, turned to the left and had that question answered for me:

Yes. Yes you do.

If it were me, I'd just buy a mountain goat and sit it up on the roof.

Posted by Si at 11:15 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Oh what a berry beautiful day,
some cloud berries found their way.
They bunched together orange and ripe,
As the Hilarity crew tried to contain their hype.

Piled on top of vanilla ice-cream,
the Cloudberries began to scream.
Past the tonsils and into the tummy,
Norwegian Cloudberries are so yummy!!!

Posted by Ness at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

If it wasn't so cold you could be tempted to go swimming.

Posted by Ness at 11:54 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Even when the weather is miserable this place looks fantastic.

Posted by at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Nearly every day we turn up at a new campsite and as a general rule we don't have a lot in the way of life's little luxuries. There's no internet, no TV and limited electricity for anything else. So we have to make our own fun.

Norway's general abundance of water has meant that we've been camping in front of it most nights in one form of another. Accordingly, most of the campsites are now devoid of all smooth flat pebbles.

But what to do with some of the bigger rocks?

The beautiful glacial water of Norway's rivers was just crying out for drinks to chill and after a few minutes we had a superbly engineered, free-flowing beer fridge.

Obviously we needed something to do with the empties afterwards...

Now we'd hate to perpetuate some of the traits of the stereotypical Aussie, but for the record, drunken cheering will not get you kicked out of a camping ground in Norway.

Posted by at 10:54 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

As any good high-school chemistry student knows, you don't describe waters as "clear" because it's technically "colourless". Here in Norway not only can the water be described as "hand-numbingly cold" but as as extremely colourless. It's amazing how crystal clear water is when it's fresh off a mountain glacier.

And even in towns, where rivers tend to be a brownish (aka Thames brown) colour the water-ways here are still completely transparent in a rather creepy way. As you cross bridges you can count the many bicycle carcasses on the river bed below.

Posted by Matt at 10:53 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

As any good high-school chemistry student knows, you don't describe waters as "clear" because it's technically "colourless". Here in Norway not only can the water be described as "hand-numbingly cold" but as as extremely colourless. It's amazing how crystal clear water is when it's fresh off a mountain glacier.

And even in towns, where rivers tend to be a brownish (aka Thames brown) colour the water-ways here are still completely transparent in a rather creepy way. As you cross bridges you can count the many bicycle carcasses on the river bed below.

Posted by Si at 10:53 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I'll admit I've never been so entertained by a milk carton as the bizarre history-of-milk series that Tine milk in Norway are running.

Click on the pic above for a closer look. Bonus points if you can work out all the text under each drawing.

Posted by Si at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

We knew we were lugging excess electrical equipment around Europe for a reason: the first Hilarity podcast is here. Experience all the fun and excitement of a Toyota Townace struggling up the longest underground traffic tunnel in the world just as if you were squashed in the back between Mot and Ness. You'll have to imagine your own overpowering diesel fumes though.

Podcast Episode One (MP3 format, 2MB)

Posted by Matt at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I've got to admit that I was expecting some pretty spectacular views as we drive around Europe, but I think Norway caught us all off guard.

It's just unrelentingly beautiful.... day after day of stunning picture-postcard views.

Every bend in the road or tunnel opens out to a stunning new scene of montains, fjords and blue skies. Even the bad weather brings spectacular views of mountains shrouded in clouds and blue-grey colours.

After an afternoon of driving through tunnel after tunnel—and this was the non-tunnel option of the two routes described in the Lonely Planet guide—we decided that tunnels were strategically placed to give your eyes a break from the scenery, otherwise you'd go into some kind of visual-sensory-overload.

When I get a chance I'll post some more photos of the freakishly beautiful scenery, right now I need to head out and see some more of it.

Posted by Si at 9:37 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The first thing people seemed to tell us when we said we were starting in Norway was that the beer is terribly expensive. Sadly I can neither confirm nor deny that rumour as we're yet to actually buy any here. As it turns out, Norway's customs limits are pretty generous and without the concerns of weight limits like air travellers on the Spirit of Tasmania MS Fjord Norway, the Townie rolled off in Bergen with no less than 16 litres of beer.

Our Aussie flag stubbie holders will come to good use.

Posted by at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Off the ferry and into the townace we climbed,
to a camping ground we would hope to find.
Navigating in the dark,
whoops over a speed hump... we lost a part!

A spare tyre fell out off the townace,
what can't be fixed with Gaffa tape??
The fun of a euro safety sign,
and a fluoro vest to keep the traffic in line.

So we fixed the townie with sticky tape,
and found a camp spot next to a lake.

Posted by Ness at 12:15 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Our Townace passed its first Hilarity100 challenge when it successfully drove from London to Newcastle without any parts falling off. Simon and I did have to make several calls to Mot and Ness, who were waiting to be picked up in Newcastle, to put back our time of arrival an hour at a time; but the Townie's all about class, not speed.

Then while we were waiting in the Townie to drive a board the Fjordline ferry we noticed something odd about the side of the the ship. It you look closely you can still see the outline of the previous name of the vessel. If you looked even closer again, because you have an hour an half wait to board the ferry, then you could resolve that outline as the letters "Spirit of Tasmania".

Yes indeed, the good old Spirit of Tasmania that had once faithfully ferried people - including thirteen year old Mot - between Melbourne to Devonport is now zipping backwards and forwards between Newcastle and the fjords of Norway. And with that realisation we had Day One's official moment of hilarity. Only ninety-nine equally hilarious moments to go.

I've heard that my ex- colleagues have started a sweepstakes as to when the first day of non-hilarity will occur (feel free to add your own prediction). I'm not sure what the pot is up to, but I hear that Day 32 is the current favourite. What argument do you think it will take to turn our European fun into awkward driving silence?

Posted by Matt at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)