We had a fantastic weekend just recently, our Swedish friends (who will be at the wedding btw) Regina and Ulf invited some of us to Regina's parents house on a property about 50mins out of Stockholm. It was a lovely weekend, really relaxed. Some pics here:
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Mari's Hens Party
As we’re more than half way though July now Mari and Kev’s wedding date approaches (31st July). So while Kev was off to London for his bucks weekend, the girls took Mari out for the day for her hens party. The forecast was terrible actually – heavy rain all day. So we were so happy to start the morning with overcast skies but no rain (at least for a while). We took full advantage motoring down to Grassholmen to jump onto Nordvik (Ryan, Pete and Mitch’s boat – ref earlier post) to kick off the day. Champers and OJ started things off beautifully and a little cruise around Hundvåg and over to vågen (the barbour) in Stavanger. Unfortunately half way through the trip the anticipated rain started, so we finished off the tour in the cabin.
We then headed off on the ferry over to Tau and drove about 40mins to a spa hotel (Spa Hotell Velvære in Hjelmeland). We had booked a table for lunch followed by a spa treatment. It was lovely – we each had a 50 min treatment and spent some time in the general spa/pool area together before/after the treatment. Later in the afternoon we returned to Stavanger and after a short break when Mari and Merete went home to feed their bubs we all reconvened back at our place for a bbq dinner (cooked by me in gumboots and a golf umbrella while it poured with rain!). It was a really lovely evening with some good food, drinks and in keeping with proper hens party tradition – a few games and quizzes to keep everyone laughing. To me it really felt like this was the beginning of the whole wedding period with now less than 2 weeks to go. We’re really looking forward to the big day – it’s amazing it’s almost here and really brings home for Joel and I that our wedding will be here in no time!
We then headed off on the ferry over to Tau and drove about 40mins to a spa hotel (Spa Hotell Velvære in Hjelmeland). We had booked a table for lunch followed by a spa treatment. It was lovely – we each had a 50 min treatment and spent some time in the general spa/pool area together before/after the treatment. Later in the afternoon we returned to Stavanger and after a short break when Mari and Merete went home to feed their bubs we all reconvened back at our place for a bbq dinner (cooked by me in gumboots and a golf umbrella while it poured with rain!). It was a really lovely evening with some good food, drinks and in keeping with proper hens party tradition – a few games and quizzes to keep everyone laughing. To me it really felt like this was the beginning of the whole wedding period with now less than 2 weeks to go. We’re really looking forward to the big day – it’s amazing it’s almost here and really brings home for Joel and I that our wedding will be here in no time!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Summer Days
We've been having a stretch of magnificent weather here in Stavanger, July has been awesome. Joel and I joined Mitch, his girlfriend Hanna and Pete on the boys boat Nordvik last weekend. We putted out of Stavanger and headed towards a little island called Kvitsøy. It's a beautiful, picturesque spot. We did a bit of fishing and caught enough cod and mackrel to feed us all for lunch. We caught up with Merete, Åsmund, Trym, Mari, Kev and Oscar who drove to the island. It was a perfect day.
Joel has been working some major overtime so it came down to me to stain our deck. It's something we've been meaning to do since Joel built it at Easter 08. We're hosting a pre-wedding bbq for Mari and Kev in a couple of weeks so that has given us the push we needed to get the job done. I think the finished result is great. What do you think?! As usual double click and select 'slideshow' to see the pics in large format in picassa.
Joel has been working some major overtime so it came down to me to stain our deck. It's something we've been meaning to do since Joel built it at Easter 08. We're hosting a pre-wedding bbq for Mari and Kev in a couple of weeks so that has given us the push we needed to get the job done. I think the finished result is great. What do you think?! As usual double click and select 'slideshow' to see the pics in large format in picassa.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Kuala Lumpur, New York and Toronto in 3 weeks
I have just returned from a marathon 3 week work trip which included joining a meeting in Kuala Lumpur with some colleagues from the Asia Pacific region, then on to New York to spend a week with my US colleagues, and finished off with participation at a simulation user group meeting in Toronto, Canada. It was a fantastic trip but as expected quite exhausting. Here are some of the photos to give you an idea of what I got up to for 3 weeks!
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Hiking in the mountains
We have been enjoying some gorgeous spring weather - none better than last weekend which fortunately happened to be a long weekend too. Joel and I had the brainwave to go for a hike and stay in a cabin. It turned out the 16km hike over tricky (but beautiful) terrain stretched my hiking capabilities to the limit and then some. We hiked from Vindalen to Flørlistålen. It was a lovely weekend but I think about half to two thirds that distance would have been perfect! We'll know for next time!
Also Joel spent some birthday money on a new camera lens, a Sigma 10-20 ultra wide angle F4-5.6 (for those of you who are into cameras...). He's pretty excited about it and has been bothering everyone with it! Even as I write this he's waving it in my face! Not annoying at all! Enjoy the pics!
Also Joel spent some birthday money on a new camera lens, a Sigma 10-20 ultra wide angle F4-5.6 (for those of you who are into cameras...). He's pretty excited about it and has been bothering everyone with it! Even as I write this he's waving it in my face! Not annoying at all! Enjoy the pics!
Birthday & 17th May
We've got a bit of catching up to do on the blog! Since our last message Joel has had a birthday (kjempe gammel mann!), and we celebrated the Norwegian National Day, 17th May with a lovely breakfast at Aud Trude and Kristian's house. Here are some photos, double click on the pic to see the web album.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Easter at Sauda
Easter in Norway is a great time of year. Last year we stayed at home and Joel built the deck while I finished off painting the guest bedroom, so this year we were keen to join the rest of the norwegians and head to the mountains. Our friends Mari and Kev were spending the holiday with Mari's family up at Sauda, so we thought that sounded like a great idea and asked friends of ours Louise and Charles if they wanted to join us renting an apartment beside the ski field at Svandalen, a few minutes drive from Sauda.
Easter this year also coincided with my birthday, which was excellent timing. Thanks everyone for the messages and phone calls, it was fantastic to hear from you. We went out for dinner to the Sauda Fjord Hotel to celebrate with Charles, Louise, Mari, Kev and Mari's sister Ingvil. The skiing at Svandalen was good, unfortunately as Easter was quite late this year the weather was a little warm and the snow quite slushy, but we still had fun.
Joel, Kev and I were joined on a cross country trip with Mari's dad Alf-Gunnar which was beautiful, blue sky and sunshine, we couldn't get the grins off our faces even despite the fact it was bloody hard work getting up some of those hills (not to mention down them...!). It was good practice for Joel who is now off on a cross country skiing trip with 5 mates, they are trekking across mountains for 4 days, staying overnight in cabins along the way. It'll be a tough trip but I'm sure they'll be having a ball. The weather at least was on their side - we've had some beautiful sunny days over the weekend and looks pretty good for the next couple as well. Joel's out of phone contact which feels quite strange but Coobs and I have plenty to keep busy with while he's away. Enjoy the pics, you probably know the drill by now but click on the album to see them in a bigger size (select slideshow once you get to the picassa page).
Easter this year also coincided with my birthday, which was excellent timing. Thanks everyone for the messages and phone calls, it was fantastic to hear from you. We went out for dinner to the Sauda Fjord Hotel to celebrate with Charles, Louise, Mari, Kev and Mari's sister Ingvil. The skiing at Svandalen was good, unfortunately as Easter was quite late this year the weather was a little warm and the snow quite slushy, but we still had fun.
Joel, Kev and I were joined on a cross country trip with Mari's dad Alf-Gunnar which was beautiful, blue sky and sunshine, we couldn't get the grins off our faces even despite the fact it was bloody hard work getting up some of those hills (not to mention down them...!). It was good practice for Joel who is now off on a cross country skiing trip with 5 mates, they are trekking across mountains for 4 days, staying overnight in cabins along the way. It'll be a tough trip but I'm sure they'll be having a ball. The weather at least was on their side - we've had some beautiful sunny days over the weekend and looks pretty good for the next couple as well. Joel's out of phone contact which feels quite strange but Coobs and I have plenty to keep busy with while he's away. Enjoy the pics, you probably know the drill by now but click on the album to see them in a bigger size (select slideshow once you get to the picassa page).
Friday, April 17, 2009
Snow Angel
I just had to share this photo of my snow angel… after about a million beers up at Røldal on a team building trip. This bedtime present was delivered by Ryan who was a little put out that Joel had headed to bed before the partying was over.
Emma.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Welcome to the World - LENNY IRELAND
We are so excited to welcome our beautiful nephew Leonard John Ireland, born on 26th March up in Bendigo. Lenny’s parents are Simon, Joel’s eldest brother and his wife Clare. We wish so much that we could be there to go and visit them and meet gorgeous Lenny, but can’t wait to see him in November. Here are some photos of our gorgeous nephew, we are a very proud aunt and uncle!
Spring in Stavanger
We have been enjoying a really lovely spring here in Stavanger. It’s amazing how quickly the days become longer and you emerge from the long dark winter and all of a sudden it’s springtime. The change of the seasons is so much more pronounced than in Australia, here there is genuine excitement when in February you start to see the little snow flowers grow, and tiny green buds start to form on branches and bushes.
We are lucky to have a beautiful forest area right on our doorstep, called Våland Skog. We take Coobs there for walks all the time. Joel has just bought a new lens for his digital camera, a 50mm prime F1.8 (whatever that means) and a tripod, so we tried it out in the forest the other day (and many days since).
What have we been up to? Well Joel had a trip up to the north of Norway to a place called Verdal, north of Trondheim for work. He was visiting a jacket up there, it’s 100m tall and it will be installed this year by a ship that can lift 14,000 tonnes. He seemed to think that was pretty impressive!
He has also been on a ‘teambuilding’ (read: junket) with work up to a beautiful place called Haukeli, and they also went downhill skiing in nearby Røldal. It’s about a 5 hour drive from Stavanger. He said that Haukeli is the kind of place you imagine when you think of winter in Norway. There is snow about 3m high, everything is absolutely white and they were spoilt with fantastic weather, blue sky and sunshine. I hope to get up there myself some time soon.
We were invited up to Joel’s work’s cabin for a weekend in Sirdal with Rob and his lovely girlfriend Inka. We had a great time up there cross country skiing.
We’re spoilt here in Norway with 5 days off over Easter (Thursday is a holiday) so we are going to head up to Sauda (about 100km north of Stavanger) for some skiing over the easter break. We’ve rented an apartment and will be joined by friends of ours Louise and Charles. He is Aussie, she is American and they lived together in London for the past 8 years or so before moving here. We’ll also be able to catch up with Mari, Kev and Oscar who will be staying with Mari’s family who live there.
We are lucky to have a beautiful forest area right on our doorstep, called Våland Skog. We take Coobs there for walks all the time. Joel has just bought a new lens for his digital camera, a 50mm prime F1.8 (whatever that means) and a tripod, so we tried it out in the forest the other day (and many days since).
What have we been up to? Well Joel had a trip up to the north of Norway to a place called Verdal, north of Trondheim for work. He was visiting a jacket up there, it’s 100m tall and it will be installed this year by a ship that can lift 14,000 tonnes. He seemed to think that was pretty impressive!
He has also been on a ‘teambuilding’ (read: junket) with work up to a beautiful place called Haukeli, and they also went downhill skiing in nearby Røldal. It’s about a 5 hour drive from Stavanger. He said that Haukeli is the kind of place you imagine when you think of winter in Norway. There is snow about 3m high, everything is absolutely white and they were spoilt with fantastic weather, blue sky and sunshine. I hope to get up there myself some time soon.
We were invited up to Joel’s work’s cabin for a weekend in Sirdal with Rob and his lovely girlfriend Inka. We had a great time up there cross country skiing.
We’re spoilt here in Norway with 5 days off over Easter (Thursday is a holiday) so we are going to head up to Sauda (about 100km north of Stavanger) for some skiing over the easter break. We’ve rented an apartment and will be joined by friends of ours Louise and Charles. He is Aussie, she is American and they lived together in London for the past 8 years or so before moving here. We’ll also be able to catch up with Mari, Kev and Oscar who will be staying with Mari’s family who live there.
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