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Author: Hanneke

I started my first blog when I left the Netherlands (my home country) for an internship in Alaska in 2004, to keep my friends and family updated on my adventures over there. Little did I know it would be more than 13 years before I'd move back to the Netherlands! I spent a year in Toulouse (France) before starting a PhD in meteorology at the University of East Anglia in Norwich (UK) in 2005. That's when I started this current blog, first in Dutch but I soon switched to English. I really enjoyed life in the UK, and was actually planning to stay there after my PhD, but "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" and I ended up moving to Tromsø in Northern Norway in 2009. Tromsø is a photographer's dream, surrounded by spectacular mountains, with the light ever changing from the midnight sun in summer to the dark days compensated by aurora-filled nights in winter. I learnt Norwegian and got a job as a weather forecaster - I got thrown in at the deep end, doing radio interviews and speaking with fishermen with way-too-strong dialects straight from the beginning, before I was anywhere near fluent in Norwegian :D I survived though, and slowly started to do some research on the side. I got more and more involved in research projects and in August 2015 I moved 2000 km south, to Oslo where I started working 100% as a researcher. A year after moving to Oslo, I met Michiel at a music festival in Brussels :) and we started to travel very frequently between Oslo and Rotterdam, where he lives. You can't do that forever though, and I soon realized I found the perfect "excuse" to finally move back home, something I had been considering many times before. So since July 2017, I'm living in Rotterdam! I'm actually taking some time off before finding a new job, and I'm looking forward to lots of adventures in the near future - so stay tuned!
Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun

The midnight sun is back! I love this season 🙂 Last Sunday, we took the cable car up at 22:30. The cable car now runs until 1:00 in the morning so that people can see the midnight sun from there. What a view! This panorama is taken at about 23:00.

Panorama of Tromsø island from the top of the cable car, at 23:00

The weather was very calm and warm enough to sit down and enjoy the midnight sun with some chocolate and a cup of tea 🙂 The snow is slowly disappearing, but we still had to cross large patches and at times I sank into the snow until my knees! Not long though until I can go hiking… Ti pÃ¥ Topp is starting on Sunday, can’t wait!

The photos below are taken around midnight. I thought the sun might disappear behind the mountains, but it didn’t 🙂

Close to midnight, the light became very yellow Crossing a patch of snow - not really skiing conditions anymore!

We took the last cable car down at 1:00, what a magical evening! I’ll probably come back next week to watch something very special – a solar eclipse at midnight!! Fingers crossed for clear skies 🙂

Glorious Sunshine!

Glorious Sunshine!

How do you know Spring has arrived to Northern Norway? Unfortunately, not by trees turning green, lots of flowers and birds singing everywhere… It’s more defined by melting snow creating mud and floodings everywhere, the dirt and dead leaves from last Autumn appearing from underneath the snow, lots of screaming gulls (and a few oystercatchers :)) and unstable weather that can’t decide between snow, sleet or rain. No wonder I am most homesick at this time of year 😉 But there are other signs too… the first tiny flower to appear (not as pretty as tulips or daffodils, but it has COLOUR anyway :D) and the typical Norwegian Easter madness breaking out…

This flower is always the first to arrive in spring. It's tiny, and prefers to grow in impossible places - but I am always so excited to spot the first one! This one is in our parking lot. The name of the flower is hestehov in Norwegian, Klein Hoefblad in Dutch and Coltsfoot in English Easter is huge in Norway, and one of the traditions is a Mystery on the milk cartons. You're supposed to guess who committed the crime, but I NEVER get them!

Yesterday afternoon was really nice and sunny. It seemed like ages we had seen the sun, so we just had to go out and make the most of it. As the Easter break has already started here (Thursday-Monday are official days off, but most people take a week or more) there were lots of people with the same idea. Many were having their first bbq, we were a bit lazy and prepared some food at home before heading out.

The beach at Telegrafbukta. It looks empty but there were actually quite a lot of people enjoying the sunshine! Lovely evening sun

It was really nice to have dinner outside and feel the sun on our faces. It’s not very warm yet, I had my down jacket on and wore gloves most of the time, but still 😀 It was much needed, soaking up some vitamin D and dreaming of summer. Summer definitely is my favourite season, I can’t wait for the midnight sun to come out, and all that snow to disappear from the mountains so I can go hiking 😉 But I am sure Paul has a different opinion 😛

Our first meal outside! The view from our bench :) Paul enjoying a cup of tea :)

The weather was so nice, and the sea so calm that Paul was eager to go for a trip with the boat. We left from the south tip of the island, but Paul decided to pick me up from the beach at Telegrafbukta so I would be able to get in without getting wet – how nice 😀 The sun was setting while I was waiting for him, and it turned into a really spectacular sunset, deep orange with rays of sun coming from behind the mountains – so beautiful! There were 2 slightly drunk guys sitting at a campfire while I waited for Paul, and they watched in amazement when a boat appeared to pick me up straight from the beach… They asked if we were on a blind date 😀 and then one of them told me I looked so Dutch… random!! I hadn’t said much to him so I don’t know how he was able to tell 😀

Sunset at Telegrafbukta Spectacular sunset!

We went for a short trip around HÃ¥køya, where we did some fishing. Paul had a suspicion the fishing might be good there… and wow, it was! You could hardly reach the bottom with the fishing line and you already got one… In 5 minutes time we caught 4 cod, three small ones and one larger one. That was more than enough for us, so after 5 minutes of fishing we were done and we headed home 😀

Cod nr 3 :) We caught 4 in about 5 minutes! Cod nr 4... these were both quite small but we also caught a larger one

What a nice afternoon! I would say it was a nice start to our Easter break, but unfortunately I am working until Sunday. I won’t complain though, it earned me enough extra time off for a holiday in early May. More on that later though. Happy Easter everyone! 🙂

April Auroras

April Auroras

I was packing for my trip to Oslo when I got a text from Eelke to say the northern lights were out… I was so determined to go to bed early as I have to get up at 5:00 tomorrow morning to catch the first flight… but I couldn’t help myself, and went out to take some photos anyway. It will soon be too light to see the auroras, so I thought this might be my last chance this season! When we got to the jetty at Telegrafbukta, the lights were not so bright anymore but it was still beautiful. The sky was still light in the west, and the crescent moon was just setting. Wonderful 🙂

Beautiful auroras against the twilight sky. Note the crescent moon just about visible above the mountains. My lens has caused a weird diffraction in the middle

There were quite a lot of people out to watch the northern lights, it was nice to talk to them 🙂 And now it’s almost 1 in the morning, my bag is still not entirely packed and I have 4 hours left before I have to get up. Sigh… I do this every time!! Tonight was worth it though 🙂