Thursday 17 October 

For all my complaining, the bed is very nice and no sooner had I laid my head on the pillow I could hear myself do a little snort then it was lights out in deep sleep till shortly after midnight. When I went to the bathroom I checked out the window as it is northerly direction, (as has been my habit in the Arctic circle) and I was sure I could see an aurora.  I grabbed my phone quickly in the dark, and sure enough a decent one began to dance above me.  

My photos are not very good, being hand held but you have to make the most of the opportunity when these moments happen, especially as the sky had a small window of clear amongst the clouds.  As it was so impressive, I found some clothes also in the dark, set up my camera and then woke Vern to tell him so I would not be locked out as I ventured outside. I saw from my bathroom window that there were a few others out there taking photos too. You can see how the light pollution affects the image.

Unfortunately the show was over in those few minutes, so the real beauty will have to stay in my memory and as recorded by my fuzzy hand held toilet window pictures.  This is the 4th time I have seen the lights, so I feel pretty lucky. The photo below is a previous night in Ballstad just before bed there was a brief show towards the North before it clouded over and started raining…

This is an interesting note, whilst I have seen the lights four times, three of the times have been quite typical where they do not appear for that long, and you are extra lucky to see them ‘dance’. We still are so amazed at the first nights experience and can’t believe how fortunate we were.

We relaxed over breakfast, packed down and set the navigation for Svolvaer. We took our time travelling and took a little detour off the E10 for a short trip around a peninsular. Unfortunately the weather was not great at all, despite the promising forecast earlier in the week.  This evening rain is expected in Svolvær which is sad as I am really wanting to practice my aurora photography.  I know I probably sound greedy as I have seen Aurora more than once, but I have the addiction now. 

The scenery was enjoyable despite the intermittent rain and constant clouds, albeit always with a longing – come expectation to see it at its best.  We managed to secure an early check in at 2pm, and after a cuppa did a trial run to the airport.  It is only about 4km, and took 10 minutes.  

The airport is situated in a most scenic spot, so much so we pulled over to explore a bit further and take in the quintessential Lofoten ‘nature’ – which I think means ‘natural environment’. We admired the shells, seaweed, mosses, mountains and clear water.

Encouraged by a wee break in the weather we drove a little further north, stopping at a scenic fjord (one of a thousand) to take some photos.  Vern struck up conversation with a lovely Austrian couple who had a drone and we shared travel experiences as the last light disappeared behind the mountains.

When we got back to the hotel there was an expat Kiwi on reception, and again Mr Chatty got chatting until I hinted that it was time to have dinner. We asked for recommendations and choose the closest and most economical which was a Chinese across the little harbour.  We needed our umbrellas and windbreak jackets for the short walk to dinner. And then enjoyed a simple but tasty meal without using up all our meagre funds.

Clearly there was to be no aurora this evening so we packed and double checked our timings for the morning’s early start and flight across the water.  We are looking forward to our scenic rail journey tomorrow and new things to discover.