Aussie Rules Footy Tipping
Many of you out there will have participated in a hockey pool or something like it. I've only ever done that once in my life and I did terribly. Shift to Australia and I find out about AFL
Footy Tipping Competitions. My flatmate's office runs a tipping comp during the regular season, which just ended this weekend. It turns out that emotionless, conservative tipping by a Canadian in an Australian footy tipping competition can result in a winning combination. I won the competition by 2 points.
If only I knew how to play footy...
Norgefjorden
Norway's topography is, in a word, profound. I travelled by train on my last day in Norway to two fjords on the west coast, Aurlandfjorden and Naeroyfjorden. The train ride west from Oslo already travels through some astonishing countryside, which set the tone for the coming fjords. But to kick it off, this first photograph is during the bus ride on the 18% grade road up out of the fjords. Seems fair to begin the story with the last part of it.
The journey was in five parts: train from Oslo to Myrdal, Flamsbana train from Myrdal to Flam, ferry through the fjords from Flam to Gudvangen, bus from Gudvangen to Voss, and return train from Voss to Oslo. While I did this trip in about 18 solid hours of travel, it could easily be spread over a week. I wish I could share the look, feel, and ambience of the journey and the spectacular scenery in their full three dimensions. I suppose that the train trip is a little like the Rocky Mountaineer in that you feel like only the train is capable of getting you out to this particular patch of countryside. There is a road alongside the rails sometimes, but you tend not to notice. Also, the throng of Norwegians biking, hiking, walking, and playing in the outdoors along this stretch of land is remarkable. Norwegian literature would have you believe that Norwegians are an outdoor species and I would definitely agree with that.
These are the beautiful surrounds at the train station in Fjellstova, which is on the way to Myrdal:
Arriving into Myrdal train station, one sees this before starting the descent on the Flamsbana down to the fjord cruise, which starts from Flam:
Now the fjords, which speak for themselves. Very loudly.
Yes, that's a house near the top of the first fjord picture. The highest nearly vertical ascent is somewhere between 700 and 900 metres in these fjords, which is really something else. The Rockies are pretty, but Norway's fjords are truly deserving of an award. Everyone book a trip and go see them. The two fjord pictures above are in Naeroyfjorden, which is on the UN World Heritage list. For the entire length of the ferry trip, I stood on the top deck, rotated slowly to face one direction then the other, staring. Were the fjords women, I would have been slapped. I have never seen so many waterfalls in such a short span of time in my life.
Fair readership, that is Norway in a Nutshell.
Oslo Wandering...
By late Saturday, everyone's brains were smoking and the brannmelder (smoke alarms) were going off all the time. The evacuations were starting to frustrate everyone, so the conference organisers called for Sunday to be a rest day. Henning, Michiel, and I formed an ad hoc Monash gathering and wandered the rain all day checking out the sights of Oslo. We toured around the centre of town, then walked to
Akershus Fortress, a ~700 year old Norsk structure built on Oslo Fjord. From there we wound our way to the Henrik Ibsen Museum, which is devoted to the life and works of Norway's greatest playwright, Henrik Ibsen. He was a fierce looking man and wrote prolifically until the late 1800s when he shuffled off this mortal coil. Famous man in these parts, very famous. Following this, we went around to find a warm and dry place for coffees.
Post drink we found our way to a sculpture park where there are over 200 bronze, naked sculptures of humans. It was really quite profound. The sculptor was able to detail the musculature of the human form so convincingly that you'd swear some of the forms were simply bronzed humans. Marvellous. My favourite, a man holding a baby, is below. The picture, unfortunately, doesn't do it justice.
After that we ended up back at the hostel and cooked dinner. Conferencing followed on Monday and carried on apace. Tomorrow I'm doing a lightning trip to two fjords in western Norway, which means I have to hit the train at 0635. Hopefully some stunning pictures from that... afterall, next to presenting at the conference, my goal was to see a fjord. I want to see what Slartibartfast was so proud of.
Let the kroners fly...
Oslo is the most shockingly expensive city I have ever experienced. Kr (that's Norwegian Kroner) 27 for an espresso equates to about $5AUD. Eeek. However, yesterday evening was the first time that I was able to get into the city to try and experience a little of the real Oslo. In a short course I did back in February in Canberra, the one that was extravagantly funded by the EU, I met a fellow who's studying for his PhD in Tromso (northern Norway). As it turns out, he is in town for the Congress and we ran into each other. He took me off the tourist strip and into a couple of back-Oslo pubs, which made for a great night. However, the volume of the music at these pubs necessitated yelling and I woke up this morning with a case of what I'll call beerandnoise-induced laryingitis. There was finally some sun yesterday; it has been cloudy and rainy since arriving. This is not a problem, really, I like the rain.
After the days activities, a companion and I went to the supermarket to grab some Heineken cans, which grow out from the supermarket shelves in the 500 ml variety. Then, to drink them, we went to the brand spankin' new Oslo Opera House, which is made of Italian marble the colour of cosmetically-whitened teeth and Norwegian granite with green mica throughout. In this place, you can literally have a drink ON the house. It's a shame it isn't free. Take a look at left... Unfortunately at this point, the six separate pieces of my sunglasses would have been most useful as a single whole.
Probably the highlight of my morning was due to my acorn bladder, which required a stop at the WC (toilet) in the train station before heading out to the conference venue for the day. I've heard of pay toilets in Europe, but wasn't sure when I would experience them for the first time. It turns out that that time was yesterday and it costs Kr10 to answer nature's call in downtown Oslo.
The major sponsor of the Congress is the recently merged Norwegian state oil company called StatoilHydro (that's Shtat-eel-
heedro). I was wandering in the corporate expo space when I stopped at the StatoilHydro booth and started flipping through an interestingly-shaped pamphlet describing the company, employees, reserves, production, and corporate values. One of the booth staff came over and started chatting to me about my history, giving the hard sell about living in Norway, the benefits of working for StatoilHydro, and that with "expertise" (a phrase I've never thought applicable to anything related to me), migration is not a problem. I was basically told to apply for one of their exploration positions by explaining my current situation in their e-mail contact form. He gave me a send off with the whole: "here's my card, if you're interested or have more questions don't hesitate to call or e-mail, and let me know if you need me to get in touch with HR for you."
Couple this with the in-class visit at Monash by Apex Minerals on Thursday 31 July asking the students to come up for a chat in the tea room if they wanted a job, and the employment picture in Earth Sciences regarding resource exploitation is very rosy indeed.
Update two...
IGC 08, Oslo
Setting aside that fact that these newfangled Club lounges at all the major airports are an extravagant way to fly, what with their showers (body spray and rainfall shower heads rock!), free alcohol (it's not plonk, says the 15yr Glenlivet and 2002 Merlot), nice food, and great views of the airfields, Oslo is an adventure already. The influx of people for the
International Geological Congress snowed under the customs people last night, holding up the line so long so that I didn't find my way to my hostel until 0100. Then, the hostel people didn't seem to have my booking for that night and were otherwise full. After a mildly despondent walk to a full-priced hotel and a phone call searching for me from the original hostel, it turns out that the hostel did in fact have a bed for me. I was stuffed when I fell asleep last night.
This morning I registered for the Congress and had a bit of a wander... wow are there a lot of people here. From the foreground of the picture at left to the faded distance is all conference venue stuff. Eeek. More importantly, Oslo smells of northern hemispherian trees and water. My first impressions were that it is a soft-edged land, it's corners having been worn away by relentless ice. I have yet to see some fjords, but they are certainly on the list. I like it here, but brings lots of Kroner.
Now, time to work out which talks I'm going to go to, which to slough, and to where to sneak off between times.
Ciao!
Qantas Club Lounge in Hong Kong:
Total sweetness...
*****
Update:
British Airways Club Lounge in London:
Total wicked sweetness...
Trippy...
Yes, believe it or not, I'm off to another far-flung part of the world. I'm going to Oslo, Norway to present at the
33rd International Geological Congress. If you wish to bludgeon yourself with what I'm talking about, you can find my abstract
here: search the page for "MRD-02". My talk is titled
"Magma mixing and sulphide production in the mid-crust in southeastern Hokkaido, Japan: Insights into arc metallogenesis". I leave tonight via HK and LHR, then I return via Helsinki and HK on 17th August.
I'll post while I'm away and hopefully I'll be able to fulfill promises for posts from long ago... This was up at the train stop a few months ago; I doubt such an advertisement would escape prudish North American censors, which is why we love Australia:
TTFN!
