Disembarkation day.

Friday 5^th October.

At around 4am, Trevor is up clicking off photos out of the window. The sky looks light, just as it had the other night. Is this more Northern Lights? The photos are a deep blue, which our eyes couldn’t see, so who knows. Maybe it is?The orange part definitely is.

We have to be out of our cabin by 8am. Suitcases went last night, so we only have our carry-on bags to worry about. Vadso looked like a nice place, so I ducked upstairs to take some photos. There is no wind and it’s not as cold as yesterday. I’m wearing thongs and haven’t got my big jacket on and I reckon it’s not too bad.

We’re on our way to Kirkenes now and we’re in some sort of no man’s land. There is no internet or mobile phone service. There’s a concert by a local Sami woman, in traditional clothing and singing Sami folk-songs. Sami singing is called Yoik and I’ve seen it on a TV show so knew what it was like. I told Trevor he should go and check it out and he came back doing his best Sami impressions. The song about the woman’s mother dying yoiked everyone’s hearts out.

Arrived at Kirkenes more or less on time and of course there was quite a line to disembark. There was no staggering disembarkation according to where you’re going or what you’re doing, so the people staying on for the southbound leg but going on tours, people heading to the airport and others heading in to town to make the most of their time, are all in the line. It wasn’t too bad and once the doors were opened and the staff started scanning cruise cards, it all happened fairly quickly. We saw the Americans from Bergen and said our farewells, hugs all round. That’s 4 Americans we met and got on really well with.

Various buses were waiting and we quickly found the one doing the town run. 25NOK each to be dropped at the Thon Hotel on the edge of the waterway and the edge of town. It’s the newest hotel in Kirkenes and certainly has the best view. I didn’t realise it was so new, but based on location and price, it was my pick.

the view from our room in Kirkenes

Thon Hotel, Kirkenes

Breakfast is included as well, hope it’s good. We have to be up and out, standing on the roadside by 9am tomorrow to get the bus to the airport.

Kirkenes is a small town with all the basic shops and a couple of very upmarket looking homeware shops. Of course, one of the first ones we found was the Salvos. Score!! Trevor got a furry hat to wear on night shift, should keep his noggin nice and warm, a couple more bottle openers to add to his fledgling collection, one is Mack and the other, Heineken. If you’ve been keeping up, we did a tour of the Mack Norwegian beer brewery the other day in Tromso, so the Mack bottle opener was a top find. I bought a plate with a pretty Norwegian design on it. Jen F, you’ll know the sort, it’s got the F//F mark on the back. A few other bits and pieces too, nothing special.

Found a fair sized supermarket so stocked up on a few things, and it looks like pizza for dinner.  It really is easier if you just hand over your money without converting it back to $ AU, definitely less painful! There seems to be a lot of things to do here. There’s a boat tour to the Russian border 8km away, a quad bike tour, a king crab fishing boat tour, scuba diving (brrrrr!!!), bathing in the Barent Sea (double brrr…..!!), as well as waiting for the Northern Lights to make an appearance.

It’s been a good day today, very little wind although it’s picked up a bit in the afternoon, and the sun actually graced us with her warm presence. The cloud cover is thin and will hopefully break up before it gets too late.