It's The End of The World As We Know It, and I Feel Fine

Not in the sense of time or epoch, but if the earth was flat, this would be pretty close to the edge. Kirkenes isn't quite the northernmost town in Norway, but I think it could be described as the most remote on the mainland. Past the 'hump' of the northern bit of Europe, north of Finland, and only a handful of kilometres from the Russian border lies a a very sleep, yet seemingly industrial town of around 7,000 inhabitants. This is the last stop of the Hurtigruten ferry - a transport which has been the lifeblood of many of the 34 towns and villages it stops at along its journey from Bergen right up here into the Arctic Circle. At times, especially in years gone by, when roads became impassable and planes had no chance of landing - the Hurtigruten ferries made there way here to deliver goods, deliver mail, and ferry passengers. Today, although still working boats with a practical purpose, passenger cabins have been created for those 'tourists' who want to simply experience the beauty of the Norwegian coastline. This is where my parents and I start our voyage.

Fantastic panorama of Kirkenes thanks to the wall outside the local shopping centre.

After a ridiculously early start in Copenhagen, and two mishaps on the way to the airport (the first one was my dear friend Rejseplanen starting us off at a bus stop which was closed due to the stupid international bicycle race in the city, and then taking a taxi to a metro station which happened to be in the middle of where track repairs just happen to be going on until 4:45am) we finally made it onto the plane. We had further delays taking off in Oslo, this time due to four passengers who had to have their baggage removed from the hold after the captain determined they were too intoxicated to get on the plane - at 9am!


Once we got close to the Arctic Circle, the clouds had cleared and the beautiful landscape below became apparent. My first thought was: a wet Australian desert. The land was barren - barely a tree, not many shrubs - just rock and what I imagine the tundra to look like. The ground was hilly, but not mountainous. Craters dotted the landscape and provided holding spots for puddles and lakes alike. In the distance, vast inlets from the Barents Sea could be seen. Where the sea become an inlet and where an inlet became a river was impossible to determine.

The 2 hour flight from Oslo did, however, remind me that although Norway is considered an extremely 'long country' North to South - one really has to put it into perspective when coming from a place where I could not even cross my home state (never mind the country) in the same time. We finally landed at an airport which could have been a moon-base. It was akin to landing at Coober Pedy, or White Cliffs in Australia - only the terminal building was slightly larger and the outside temperature was a cool 3'C in the sun. But yes, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.

The afternoon gave us time to explore what there is of Kirkenes. And there really isn't a heck of a lot. There is some kind of shipping industry, iron ore mining, a military outpost and I'm not sure what else. We wandered through this remote town, not seeing many locals, but marvelling at how people could live in a place like this. Where the sun never sets for 2 months of the year and never rises for 2 others. Where you literally are, at the end of the world. There is a nice lookout just to the South of the town centre - the kind of climb that in any other country or tourist destination would be off limits due to being too dangerous, but here, there are no signs telling you not to climb up to the weather station on the top of the hill. So that's what we did.

I'm left, watching the sun set over the hills to the South West as I gaze over the perfectly calm sea to the north, only imagining the Arctic ice shelf to the North and the voyage that awaits us tomorrow. Maybe this week, I'll finally get lucky enough to see the Aurora - now that would be the icing on the cake!


The day had a pretty perfect finish to it. We happen to be in town on the night of a concert. Picking through the Norwegian poster, my mum and I decided to go. It was a North-Norwegian band supporting the most amazing Russian quartet. A few pieces were also played together with an up-and-coming Norwegian folk singer. The music was a mixture of Russian, Norsk, folk, classic and a whole lot of character and enthusiasm. There was music I recognised, and lots that I didn't, even though I knew the style. It was all very catchy and extremely entertaining. Even the vocals, something I normally do not enjoy that much, were fantastic. It was great seeing a packed theatre - albeit a small one), in this tiny little town in the middle of nowhere listening to some amazing music. What a treat.

At the entrance to our hotel in Kirkenes.

Oh wait, you want more? Well I'll give you more! Walking back to the hotel, I gazed up at the sky. Wondering whether I was seeing remnants of clouds that almost totally covered the sky a couple of hours earlier. As we got closer to the hotel and further away from town light I realised that no, it was the Aurora Borealis! The Northern Lights, although putting on a fairly weak performance tonight according to the scientists, presented slow moving clouds and streams of fluorescent green light in the sky towards the north and trailing into the horizon. Sure, not as spectacular as photos one sees in books and online - those are the 'perfect nights from the perfect spots', but I finally saw it in person. I finally felt like I saw the magic that is nature - one of those things that you don't appreciate when you see every day, but you sure as hell think is amazing when you see it once in a lifetime. Makes me wonder if someone who has never seen the moon suddenly saw it after 31 years, whether they would be in awe? It's just another one of nature's performances, but one that is presented to a very limited audience.


Oh, one last thing, thanks to Wikipedia, I found out that Kirkenes is a geographic anomaly. As it lies East of part of Finland, if you travel directly West from here, you need to turn your clock forward instead of backwards an hour (since you hit Finland). Yet if you travel directly East, as soon as you cross the Russian border, you need to switch your clock forward 2 hours! Cool huh?