Some of Australia's Finest

During the last couple of months of our time in Australia, Katrine and I experienced some of the beautiful landscapes and cities of Australia. We went to Sydney for a long weekend, seeing legendaric Stevie Wonder in concert, surfing and getting sunburned on iconic Bondi Beach, taking the ferry out to the beautiful Manly, eating grøt (traditional Norwegian rice porridge) at Sjømannskirken (the Norwegian church in Sydney), enjoying a jazz symphony (!) in the world famous Opera House, and wandering around Sydney. A few weeks later we went south to the capital of Victoria, Melbourne, and the surrounding areas, enjoying breathtaking scenery along the Great Ocean Road, walking on top of the rain forest (tree top walk), feeding weird animals, watching the Fairy Penguins as they returned home after a long day in the sea at Philip Island, and waled the streets of Australia's cultural capital. Then after the exam we flew up to Australia's third largest city, Brisbane, to walk along its river and swim by its artificial beach, before spending three stormy days in the flashy and trashy Surfers Paradise. Next stop was the all time favorite Byron Bay, offering an overdose of the relaxed and enjoyable Australian beach culture and good surfing. Before getting back to Canberra we also had a night in the sleepy city of Newcastle. Following are some pictures from these places. Please click the links for more pictures. More detailed updates on our Tour of Asia will come soon, until then please enjoy some of Australia's finest....

BRISBANE / SURFERS PARADISE /
BYRON BAY / NEWCASTLE
See more album 1/album 2

Brisbane's artificial city beach and rainy Surfers Paradise

My beloved surfboard and fiance

The spectacular beach in Byron Bay

The 'far east' and 'ocean meets sky'

Although a very nice city, there isn't too much to do in Newcastle...

MELBOURNE / PHILIP ISLAND /
GREAT OCEAN ROAD
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One of the more lively koalas and some lush rain forest

The so-called 'Twelve Apostles' are amazing natural sculptures, shaped by time, sea and wind

Breathtaking view of some of the 'Apostles'

SYDNEY

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Stevie Wonder was wonderful, and James Morrison Quartet together with Sydney Symphony gave us a memorable evening at the Opera House.

The Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge by night. The pink is for the breast cancer campaign.

The Opera House by day. Sydney's harbour is definitely a 'must see' if you're ever in Australia.

Bondi Beach is perhaps Australia's most famous and iconic (as the Australians would say) beach. Katrine is about to find out whether Bondi is good for surfing....

Magnificent Hong Kong

After spending five magic summer weeks in Norway with my fiancé, my family and friends, it was time to work my way back to the southern hemisphere again. But instead of going straight back to Australia I put in a three day stop-over in Hong Kong. Here are a few photos from a very busy and crowded, but interesting and awesome city.

Hong Kong is an amazing city with an impressive skyline.

Every night you can go down to the Victoria Harbour and witness the spectacular multimedia display ' A Symphony of Lights'. It is described as the 'world's largest permanent light and sound show by Guinness World Records, and it includes 44 buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbour. (It obviously looks more impressive in real life than on this photo...).

I also visited the 'Big Buddha' on Lantau Island. It is the world's tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha... You can either walk, take a tourist bus or jump on the cable car. I'm very glad I didn't decide to walk.

After three hectic days of being constantly blinded by neon lights and designer shops, sweating like crazy and being laughed at by Chinese teenagers for my unconventional use of chop sticks, it was time to leave. Although surrounded by millions of people all the time, it did feel a bit lonesome to be there on my own. However, I can warmly recommend all of you to put in a few days in Hong Kong if you ever have the chance. Katrine and I are going back for a three days in the end of February. Come join us;)

Check out this photo album for more pictures of my Hong Kong experience.

Torstein's World is back on its feet...

Although 'torsteinsworld' has been very silent for a long time, I can assure you that Torstein's real world has been far from quiet. Since I last 'blogged', I have been back in Norway for a few weeks, I have walked the streets of Hong Kong, Katrine has moved 'down under', we have traveled a bit of Oz, and I have gone through some extremely intense and demanding months of essay writing and exams. However, it's all done now and I finally have my Master of International Affairs!

Over the next few posts I will show you some of what have been going on for the last six months, and I will start with some good memories from the few weeks of Norwegian summer. I hope these pictures will bring some warmth to those of you who are freezing in the cold Norwegian winter... If you want to see more photos, there will be links to photo albums at the end of each post.

BBQ and 'Per i solnedgang'. Always good times at Tore's summer cabin in Gamle Hellsund.

Traditional houses in southern Norway and a perfectly performed swallow dive...

After some nice and relaxing days in Oslo, Skien and Kristiansand it was time for a road trip through the mountains and up to the west coast, or more precisely, Bergen and Øygarden. We drove via Hemsedal and Lærdal, making it a long but extraordinarily scenic detour.

Crossing Hemsedalsfjellet

Aurlandsfjorden; Katrine and I; the view from Stalheimskleiva, near Voss.

In Øygarden we stayed at our modest summer cabin with the whole family. The first picture is the view from our summer cabin; the North Sea as far as you can see. (2) Katrine and I in Bergen.

I guess these pictures disprove the myth that it always rains in (and around) Bergen....

And finally, a traditional family photo...

Check out these photo albums (album 1; album 2) for more pictures of the Norwegian summer 2008.

Holiday! Part 3: Western Australia

OK, this has obviously taken too long, and I apologize for that. But, since I'm here to study...eh...no excuse... Anyway, here's the final part of a holiday that is already in the history books.

After a couple of days in Perth it was time to explore a bit more of Western Australia, so we decided to go on a combined ‘camping’ and surf safari. We borrowed Hugh’s dad’s 4x4 (firehjulstrekker), tied four surfboards to the roof, put on some ‘Rage against the Machine’ (even though we had a representative from the main ‘Machine’ in the car – Tom, sorry about this bad IR joke. Tom is American if you didn't get it) and headed south. After about 3-4 hours we reached a small town called Yullingup. Yes, it sounds really Danish, but we were still in Australia. After ‘checking in’ and unrolling the sleeping bags in our own private little caravan (in other words, no hard core camping) we were off to meet King Ocean. The conditions for surfing were not the best, but a sunset surf was too appealing to turn back.

Tempted to go for a surf...?

...Oh yes!

The following days were spent on different beaches, surfing, playing poker with cardboard chips, playing the same songs on guitar over and over again, discussing the relations between Realism and Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War (!), and basically enjoying time away from Canberra. We also went further south to a lighthouse where we got some wind in our hair.

The area around Margaret River is famous for two things, surfing and wineries; a nice combo some would say… Let’s start with the surfing. The area has something for everybody, beach breaks, reef breaks, nice round waves as well as choppy, mad waves. All this combined with magnificent sceneries is all you can ask for. One of the more interesting incidents was when Francesco managed to break a massive soft board in two… Enjoy the pictures! (sorry Fra)

Me trying to drop into a wave

Hugh is cruising on a nice little wave

Game over for Fra. We came to the conclusion that it was
better with a broken board than a broken neck...

On the last day it was time for some wine ‘tasting’ around Margaret River. Our designated driver was Hugh and he did a good job showing us around five different and very beautiful wineries. It cannot really compete with South African wineries, but close enough. We also manage to stop by a liqueur factory and a coffee ‘distillery’. In other words, a good end to a perfect expedition.

The group and a red flower...

The days went by too fast and we were, unfortunately, a bit unlucky with the weather. But as we say in Norway, “there are no bad weather, only bad clothing”, and what clothing is better than a wet suit when it rains?

As in Melbourne it was really convenient to have a local guide. Thanks Steve and Hugh for showing Tom, Francesco and me around!!

This is it for now. In a couple of weeks I'll return to the social-democratic Utopia for a little while. I hope to see ya'll there! Take care till then!

Some people might wonder how it is in Canberra as well. The next post will be about life in Australia's 'bustling' capital...