Tue, 05 Aug 2003

author Tim	location Inari, Lapland, Finland
posted 01:05 EEST 07/08/03	section Europe2002/Europe/Norge ( all photos )

Nordkapp ( 20 photos )
Hitting the road, we drove not too far down the road to the town of Alta. On the outskirts on the way in, we found what we were looking for. The target was another thing on the World Heritage List (we are collecting quite a few now) - the Prehistoric Rock Art.
First though, we had a wander through the more-interesting-than-expected Alta Museum which the rock painting entry fee also covered. Topics were mostly local, but presented in interesting ways and worth the time we spent.
Wandering out into the cold to have a look around the rock art, we decided to just look at half of them due the to the size of the place. The works have been dated back to 4000 BC, with the typical stick figure being supplimented with plenty of reindeer, moose and boats. Most of them have been painted in red-brown in recent years to make them more viewable to the un-trained eye.
As is altogether too common, we were presented with a guide which told us "what the paintings meant". Is it too hard for people to say "well, we don't actually know, but here's a few educated guesses"? We had a decent look around before hitting the road.
By now we needed coffee badly, so we pulled into a service station where I managed to put the machine out of order with only one coffee in hand! We shared this as we pushed on towards our major goal - North Cape.
The first shock of the day came when Liz squealed as she was driving along while I was reading about where to go next. It turns out she had nearly driven into the antlers of a huge reindeer just off the road! By the time we stopped, it was a bit hard to get back along the narrow windy cliff road, so we let our zoom lenses do the important work.
Nothing we should have worried about however, as coming on our way into the Skarvbergtunnelen, our jaws dropped at the sight of about twenty reindeer just off the road looking at the scenery! We parked not more than ten metres away from them, and noted that the tour buses all slowed to a halt for their contents to get shots. Not that we were much better - this was what hundereds of signs since we had started heading north had shallowly promised we would see, now right here in front of us.
Driving the final sixty or so kilometres to North Cape (including an 8km tunnel across the island of Mågerøva where North Cape itself is which had a huge toll unexpectedly attached), it turns out that the entire area is set a side for Reindeer Husbandry, meaning we saw plenty more and even had do dodge them on the road in Honningsvåg, where we stopped for information. They were eating from people's front gardens!
It was here that we learnt that North Cape was not just a piece of land where you could sit on the edge of the continent and soak it all in. It has gone the way of Land's End and John O'Groats in the UK and turned into North Cape Land 2000 Plus. Or something. The brochure it says that this was "in response to increasing demand for new experiences and facilities". What is that? We just want to go as far as you can, and expected nothing more than a bit of land and maybe a seat.
We have to admit, the extortinate fee charged to enter this place was actually almost worth it. Driving over the mountain pass to get there, it enters your sights and before you know it you are forking over money to the guy on the gate. Here the blow was greatly softened - the tickets are valid for two days, and we could camp for free in the grounds. Much better than expected.
Walking out to the top end of Europe, we were suprised just how few others were there at the time. It was quite an amazing experience - a turning point for us as we often looked at maps and thought we wouldn't make it all this way. Other people's most common reaction was "do you know how far away that is??" Well, here we finally were, and it felt great to have made it.
After taking in the panoramic video experience, looking in the obligatory souviner shop and then travelling deeper into the bowels of the complex (well, we had paid by now, so it seemed silly to not have a decent look around), we sat with a cuppa at a bar called The King's View. This looked straight out at the water, due North. Nothing but water until you hit ice and then, in 2,100 km (only twice the distance from Sydney to Melbourne), you hit the North Pole. For reference, it was 2,160km south as the crow flies to Berlin, so we had driven a long way just from Deutschland, and were now closer to the pole. Wow.
Next task was some dinner, and it had to be cheap. Luckily earlier in the day we had grabbed some steaks and baking potatoes in foil, so we put the little barbie together again and fired it up (far less nailpolish remover needed this time - we are getting better!). In no time at all, were were freezing cold, huddled like crazy people over the coals blowing them to get them to catch, blocking the wind, and of course flying the Aussie flag, beer in hand while we looked out off the end of the continent into the vast emptyness.
The result was one of the greatest meals we have had for ages, probably because of the effort required, or maybe that we haven't had a BBQ since Australia Day back in Golders Green.
Not too suprisingly, we got lots of strange looks, although we made friends with a Deutsch family parked next to us who must have thought we were totally off our rockers. Perhaps we were, but it will remain a fantastic memory to the end of our days.
Having saved money on dinner, it was time to spend it again. This was easily accomplished by heading back into The King's View for two special souviner glasses of champaigne, sipped very slowly as we reflected on our travels so far for hours.
We would have liked to see the sunset (23:30), but that was not to happen due to the heavy cloud cover. Same for the sunrise only two hours or so later (01:30). We missed the midnight sun by a few days but it is still very light all night.
We are so glad we made it here, and had such a great night we don't think it could have been topped. It's all downhill from here, well down the continent anyway.

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