Hi................We bid farewell to Shuhei in his plane that he flew from Canada, pic attached, and set off to Kalvik. We had been told of a music festival in this "special" settlement on and island a short distance away. It turned out to be a wonderful ride, with many fjords, vilages, towering hills of rock and still patches of snow and yes the inevitable ferry ride.
That was where we met the local reporter who put a picture in the paper and made us a bit of an oddity in this small community. I will try a link to this site under links. What wonderful friendly people. The people I meet say NZ is friendly but these people are special. We were made welcome, greeted, taken to drinks, given a free campsite, and even shouted breakfast at the restaurant where the owner says he has not had a holiday for 29 years. As well we attended the two concerts which were great fun.
So we had a great time here and so did everyone else. The harbour fills with boats, the camp sites fill with people and they have a great party. One of the events is running on a floating boardwalk. A little chilly for my tastes but the kids enjoy it. I hope the pic captures the flavour of the event and the place.
So two nights flew by and the memory of this spot will remain special. They do have an advantage in that Norway is exceptionally wealthy from its North Sea oil revenues. However they still face the same problems of the drift to the city, but in this small town it is more difficult because those that leave do not sell their homes which they keep for holidays, so the town is suffering from a lack of people, except for this week where they hosted the "Tall Ships" that are having a regatta here and their annual festival.
nzl04
