Julie and I were sitting in the sunshine having a sandwich at a café in the main square of Tromso.  The fjord’s blue waters lapped against the docks nearby, snow-patched mountains surrounded us as background, short-sleeved Norwegians and rugged-up tourists were going about their business on this beautiful blue-sky day.  The disconnect in this scene is that we were at 69.39 degrees north latitude, about 350 kilometres (220 miles) above the Arctic Circle.  If we were at the same southern latitude we would be smack dab in the middle of the frozen Antarctic continent.  Go figure.

Tromso is said to be the northern most city in the world and also hosts the northern most university in the world.  With almost 70,000 hearty folks and a rich history in polar exploration and fishing with great museums and a very cool modern church it is worth the detour to explore.  And the drive along the string of fjords to get there was magnificent too, by the way.  We checked out the sites, including the Polar Museum which celebrates the Norwegians’ extraordinary accomplishments in polar exploration, and soaked in those arctic rays.

But speaking of latitude, our target was the northern most point in Norway, called Nordkapp, and it was still a few days away.  So after camping on the shores of Lyngenfjord with the usual spectacular setting before us onward we travelled in a northern direction.

This far north there are very few roads.  The Arctic Highway, aka the E6, is the only option for land transportation between northern Norway and the rest of the country.  The road hugs the coastline of the fjords but these waterways create other challenges.  On one occasion the road had to detour 25 kilometres down one side of a fjord and the same distance back again in order to keep on its northerly trajectory.

The land also became sparser, less trees, more scrub, more rock.  Towns became smaller and fewer, even the occasional rural home or barn were few and far between.  This was the land of the traditional Sami people, the semi-nomadic people sometimes referred to (incorrectly) as Laplanders who became famous for herding reindeer across these vast northern spaces.  The Sami people have lived for thousands of years moving with the seasons across land that is now Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.  Like many indigenous tribes worldwide, were discriminated against by these countries and have only recently found legitimate and legal footing in the complex modern world.

We stopped at a roadside stall to see the clothing and craft items the local Sami people were selling.  They were colourful, warm and unique boots, gloves, hats and the like, probably not idea for Australian weather and at prices for many items in the hundreds of dollars, definitely not in our budget.  We also stopped to see some of the Sami traditional homes, domes made with a wood frame but covered in sod, a hole in the top to let the smoke of the warming fire escape.  Very cool.

And finally, after a few days of looking, we saw our first herds of reindeer.  They were a bit far off and their antlers were only just starting to grow for the mating season in the Autumn months but it was fun to see reindeer in their original habitat.  And here’s a fun fact – caribou and reindeer are the same animal, caribou are wild (more common in North America) and reindeer are domesticated (more common in northern Europe).

Eventually we made the town of Alta, a thriving town of almost 20,000, still a wonder to us that so many people can live so far north, but it was a warmish summer day and we headed straight for what has made the town famous over the last 40 years – the ancient rock art of this land’s original inhabitants.

Between 7,000 and 2,000 years ago people lived on these shores, fished and hunted to help them survive the harsh winters and flourish in the short summers.  They took to carving figures, objects and scenes in the hard granite rock that was exposed from the last ice age.  Today this UNESCO World Heritage site provides a fabulous museum to explain the lives and activities of these ancient people and allows visitors to walk to many sites and see the rock carvings in their original form.

Julie and I spent hours at this place, fascinated by what life must have been like here so long ago and amazed at the drawings that were etched in the hard granite for us to see and enjoy after all these years.  Really good stuff.

We camped that night in a grove of pine trees near the shores of the nearby fjord, thinking about where we were on the map, enjoying a mild evening around the fire, relishing the day’s events and anticipating those still to come.

Our last day of driving north on this trip started over the low mountains, only a few groves of scraggly trees, reindeer frequently seen grazing on the nearby slopes.  There were very few towns to pass through, mostly just small Sami communities or bunches of homes scattered on the hills.  It wasn’t uncommon to see a snowmobile or even a sled resting between the winter months.

We followed a fjord and crossed a bridge to the island of Kvaloya, home to the very special town of Hammerfest.  Hammerfest, with its population of 10,000 arctic dwellers, lies at 70.40 degrees north latitude, the northernmost town in the world.  It has a colourful history as a fishing and trading port, partly due to the warm gulf stream waters that ensure the bay does not freeze over and the snowfall is not too bad.  It also has the dubious distinction of being completely obliterated by German bombing near the end of the war and needing to be completely rebuilt.  Today it hosts cruise ships and determined road travellers who are prepared to make this long journey.

Julie and I explored the town on a sleepy Sunday afternoon, enjoying in particular the Polar Bear Museum, which carries intended irony as no polar bears are anywhere close to Hammerfest, but it does provide an excellent snapshot of the history of this frontier town and the people who traded, fished and explored from this base.

But wait, there’s more.  The road wound ever northward, along another fjord, across stunning treeless terrain, up and over the low mountains that make up this rugged and inhospitable coast.  The journey included the Nordkapp Tunnel which is one of the longest subsea road tunnels in Norway covering almost seven kilometres and at its lowest level was 212 metres (700 feet) below sea level.  It included very steep descents and ascents deep under the sea, quite a disconcerting and disorienting experience.  These Norwegians know how to build tunnels…even under the water.

 

Finally we had arrived at Nordkapp, the most northerly point on the European continent at an astonishing 71.10 degrees north latitude.  By comparison, the latitude of Prudhoe Bay Alaska, which we drove to last year and took our shoes off for a wade in the Arctic Ocean, is at ‘only’ 70.25 degrees.  And ten years ago on our Antarctic cruise our Russian icebreaker crossed the Antarctic Circle and made it to 66.66 degrees south latitude before turning around due to thickening ice.

We paid our outrageous entrance fee and then walked along the edge of the cliff, 307 metres (1000 feet) above the Arctic Ocean.  Amazingly, the weather was mild, there was almost no wind and the seas were glassy flat.  It was about 7.15pm and the sun was still high in the sky, adding to this surreal experience.

We took our photos at the large globe that marks the spot before exploring the museum, hitting the gift shop, seeing the documentary movie and having dinner before returning to the cliff’s edge again at midnight.  The clouds had moved in but the sun was still obviously above the skyline and about to start its slow arc back into the sky.  At this time of year at Nordkapp the sun does not set at all for about ten weeks and it stays light for a full four months.  Crazy stuff.

During the evening 16 tour buses magically arrived, mostly from the two cruise ships in nearby Honningsvag, and the 60 or 70 RV’s and campers like ourselves who were camping in the huge  carpark all descended on the protective rails of the cliffline to witness the midnight sun.  There was almost a party atmosphere as probably 600-700 people were celebrating the moment, taking photos, everyone excited and happy to experience this special moment.  It was carnival, adventure and wonder all mixed in together.

This milestone moment at Nordkapp ended a key goal of our European leg of Follow the Sun.  From here the only way to go is south and we planned to now turn around and make our way – slowly – to Spain.  And while we’re there we might as well hit the southernmost point of the European continent.  But that’s a long way away and there’s much more to see and do between now and then.