Finland, Sweden & Orca

orca at lyngenfjord, skjervoy

We are still above the Arctic Circle, an area of about 20,000,000 km² (7,700,000² mi) that covers roughly 4% of the earth’s surface.  It is an area populated by some 4 million people across the countries of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark (Greenland), Russia, Canada, the United States (Alaska) and Iceland and a quick calculation shows that population density is 1 person for every 5 km², which would explain why we are not bumping into too many people.  Our experience so far of this region has solely been in Norway which has far exceeded any expectations we might have had and having literally driven until land ran out it is almost time to head south. 

Almost…. there was just one more item on our list before saying goodbye to Norway for good but as this was date sensitive we had some time to kill beforehand.  With a small window of a week or so we decided to spend a few days in Saariselka, one of the Finnish Lapland winter resorts.  Driving from the North Cape towards the Norway/Finland border, a distance of nearly 300 km, was straight-forward until we reached the small town of Karasjok, one of three crossing points between the two countries.  Just as we arrived, late afternoon, it started to snow and within minutes the landscape transformed into a winter wonderland.  Unlike our previous limited experience of snow which either disappeared on contact with the ground or quickly turned into a brown mush, this stuff stuck and transformed everything it touched into a crisp white image straight off a Christmas card.  It continued to snow throughout the night and temperatures plummeted, so much so that poor Bob’s central locking system froze.  Moments before we lost our extremities to frostbite, Ian managed to get the passenger side door open and we breathed a sigh of relief as Bob started and we set off cautiously to cover the remaining 200 km to Saariselka.  We certainly felt a long way away from South Australia, our home for the last 26 years, and were, without doubt, way out of our comfort zone as we made our way along roads that were disappearing under thin layers of snow and ice.  But Bob pushed on slow and steady and we crossed over into Lapland, the largest and northern-most region of Finland, roughly the size of Portugal and almost entirely within the Arctic Circle.

saariselka, finland

If Norway is the land of mountains and fjords, then Finland is the land of reindeer and lakes and we were ridiculously excited as we waited for our first reindeer to cross the road in front of us.  Home for the next few days was at a secluded cabin, complete with sauna, just outside the small town of Saariselka and it would have been difficult to imagine a more authentic stay in this remote and beautiful part of the world.  Away from the lights of the town we were again treated to the most fantastic display of Aurora Borealis, something that neither of us will ever forget

Keen to get up closer to a reindeer, we arranged to visit a nearby reindeer farm to meet with some of the Sami, inhabitants of large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia and the only indigenous group within the EU.  Despite being out of season and the farm typically closed to tourists, the Sami had agreed to meet us and we were fascinated to learn a bit more about these people whose way of life has been dependent on the reindeer for over 1,000 years.  Traditionally, the Sami lived in a lavvu (similar to a Native American Tipi), a temporary structure made of wood and hides that enabled the Sami to follow/herd the reindeer on their annual migration between the coast and the high winter grazing grounds.  They were totally dependent on the reindeer for clothing, meat and trade but this nomadic way of life was forced to change during the 17th century as a result of the formation of new country regions and border lines restricting movement of both reindeer and people.  Taxes were introduced and placed on the Sami people who, with no monetary money, paid in the form of reindeer hides and meat.  Only Sami can legally own the 200,000 or so reindeer that roam Finland and it just so happened that our arrival coincided with the arrival of large numbers of reindeer as they were herded by snowmobiles to their winter grazing land on the plateau.   High wooden temporary fences had been erected to temporarily hold the reindeer in order to identify ownership (made possible by ear notches particular to each Sami family) and for decisions to be made as to which reindeer would be used for meat/hide/trade and which would be taken back to the farms to pull the sleds with the remainder left to do what reindeer naturally do.  The reindeer we were introduced to were surprisingly stocky with big thick necks and huge antlers and we were surprised to learn that both male and female reindeer have antlers that fall off and take just six weeks to grow back each year.   It is an incredibly humbling experience to spend time with people that continue to do what generations before them have always done (albeit now with snowmobiles), despite the world changing around them.  Climate change is also starting to have an effect on their way of life as warming winters are causing build-up of ice where there would normally be snow which makes access to the winter feed of lichen much more difficult for the reindeer – a subject covered on David Attenborough’s Frozen Planet 2 that aired recently.

lyngenfjord

We left Saariselka just as the resort was starting to wake up for the Christmas season and headed back into Norway.  We couldn’t believe the difference a few days had made, all the lakes we had driven past just five days previously were now completely frozen and the snowy landscape accompanied us all the way back to Skjervoy, a small town on Skjervoya island, linked to the northern mainland by a 2 km long undersea tunnel.  This sleepy fishing village with a population of 2,500 was thrust onto the tourist map in 2017 with the arrival of large schools of herring (a single school can contain over 3 billion individuals) into the surrounding Lyngenfjord.   Previously the herring had been spawning in the waters around Tromso but in 2017 they migrated further north, followed closely by the whales.  Fin whales, Humpback whales and Orca followed the herring deep into the fjord and close to the shores of Skjervoy, a pattern that has been repeated every year since.  We were booked onto a 12-passenger rib boat (rigid inflatable) along with nine other people, all of us hoping that our trip would coincide with the arrival of the whales, that had so far been absent.  We had been on the water less than 15 minutes when our guide pointed out the huge blows of two gigantic Fin whales.  The second largest animal on the planet weighing up to 80 ton, they are also the fastest of the whale species able to travel up to speeds around 40 kmh.  It was easy to see their 6m high blows but they were travelling too quickly for us to get a good look at them - unlike the pod of Humpback whales that next appeared.  These magestic creatures seemed quite content for us to drift alongside them for some time as they glided gracefully on the surface of the fjord before diving down and giving us a fantastic show of tails.  Already we had seen more whales than we could have realistically expected to see but the best was yet to come.  Orca – a pod of at least a dozen killer whales suddenly appeared and unbelievably they were herding a large school of herring directly towards us.  Orca live within their pods for their entire lives and each pod typically contains both young and old male and female members.  They are the largest of the dolphins and immediately recognisable by their distinctive black-and-white colouring.  We couldn’t believe our eyes as these intelligent, powerful predators manoeuvred the herring into a tight ball which ended up directly under our boat.  The Orca ducked and dived around us and spotting the opportunity to get a free feed, it wasn’t long before the Humpbacks were heading over to join the buffet.  We watched in disbelief as more Orca and Humpbacks approached from all directions.   The feeding continued for over half an hour and during this time we were completely surrounded by the whales as well as on top of them as they swam under the boat.  We were always hopeful that we might see Orca but not for one minute could we have imagined such an experience. 

The music on the whale video is Orca, The Killer Whale (original soundtrack), Ennio Morricone, widely considered to be one of the most prolific and greatest film composers of all time with soundtracks that include ‘A Fistful Of Dollars’, ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’, ‘The Untouchables’ ‘Cinema Paradiso’ and many more.

finnmark plateau

It was now well and truly time to start heading South.  Hours of daylight were down to six and were decreasing by about 15 minutes per day and in another couple of weeks or so the polar night would be well and truly upon us.  There are many options south with routes through Norway, Finland and Sweden but keen to stick a new flag on Bob we headed for the Swedish border.   First though, we had to climb over the Lyngen Alps and up onto the Finnmark plateau, a large expanse of wild, desolate mountain plain, an area greater than 22,000² km.  Bleak would go some way to describing the landscape, isolated and desolate might also help to conjure up more of a picture of the 300 km drive to Kilpisjarvi, Finland and then on to Karesuvanto where we could cross over to Karesuando, Sweden.  Although not a huge distance to cover along E6 and E8 roads, the driving was slow, not just due to the poor road conditions but also the narrow single lane roads which necessitated a ‘sharing’ of the middle section with oncoming logging trucks travelling at speeds of over 90 kmh.  We couldn’t help but wonder, “do they have better tyres than us, more of them or just a different set of driving skills?  Regardless, they didn’t do ‘sharing’ which meant that we were continually forced off a road that we couldn’t see into snow drifts at the side, ever grateful that the drifts weren’t concealing a deep ditch.  Still above the Arctic Circle we made it into Sweden without mishap and the only stop we wanted to make was at Jukkasjarvi, home to the original and largest of the world’s Ice Hotels.  This hotel complex is 200 km north of the Arctic Circle and sits on the western bank of the Torne river, one of the last untouched rivers in Europe, that for half its length defines the border between Sweden and Finland.   Each year between November and April the usually free-flowing river freezes, leaving a crystal clear ice that since 1989 has been harvested for the purpose of creating an art exhibition/hotel made entirely of snow and ice. 

Re-built from scratch each November using huge blocks of ice weighing two tons apiece, the ice hotel comes to life courtesy of the fifteen to twenty invited graphic designers, architects, industrial engineers and artists who turn their concepts into reality.  As most of the art work is transparent, a lot of attention is then given to creative lighting that best interprets and enhances each art work.  The entire process typically takes six weeks, after which the hotel is open from mid December to April.  In 2016 the hotel expanded its facilities and introduced the IceHotel 365, a resort offering accommodation in both traditional warm rooms and cabins as well as the opportunity to stay in 18, all-year-round, ice rooms which maintain their sub-zero temperatures using solar power.  The complex also has an ice bar, ice cinema, heated restaurants, an ice-sculpting studio and ice chapel.   We weren’t at all tempted to stay overnight in one of the ice rooms but the standard of the ice sculpting was right up there and if you happen to be passing it is well worth stopping to have a look. 

swedish forests

Given the freezing temperatures and fading daylight, there was nothing else really for us to hang around for and so we drove off into a 12.30pm setting sun back towards the Arctic Circle.  This imaginary line that circles the North Pole acts a bit like a portal and almost immediately on crossing over we found ourselves back in a more familiar world.  There were people around, and lots of cars travelling easily on snow-free roads and we were able to progress at thrilling speeds above 35 kph as we drove south through hundreds of kilometres of dense, green forests.  Relieved to be back on solid ground, we were also grateful to be leaving before this area too would be covered in snow and ice, a state that could continue for the next 6 months or so.

cabin at sipoonkorpi np, finland

Umea is a university town in eastern Sweden and the only port outside Stockholm to provide ferry transport between Sweden and Finland across the Gulf of Bothnia (the northern arm of the Baltic Sea).  The crossing takes 3 hours on the brand new Aurora Botnia which was designed and built in 2021 specifically for this route.  To date, it is the world’s most environmentally friendly car and passenger ferry, primarily using LNG as it’s fuel source, and offers more of a cruise ship experience than your typical car ferry.   Like most ferries operating so far north it is an icebreaker, operating across a semi-enclosed basin of water that is 300 km long, 100-150 km wide and, on average, 41 m deep.  The ice can reach a thickness of 70-120 cm and last from 130 to 200 days a year but being slightly ahead of the curve and with no ice to hinder our crossing, we docked, exactly 3 hours later, at the port of Vaasa, Finland and immediately made for Helsinki.  Our 90 day allowable stay in Europe was, again, almost up and it was time for us to make another visa run in and out of the UK.  To facilitate our comings and goings, we rented a log cabin in the Sipoonkorpi National Park, just 30 km north of Helsinki and relatively close to Vantaa which is where Helsinki’s airport is.  Ian went first and was in and out of Gatwick airport the same day, leaving Helsinki on his Australian passport and returning on his British one with a minimum of fuss.  I left a couple of days later and again flew in (British passport) and out (Australian passport) of Manchester airport, arriving back to Helsinki at midnight a few days later.  So far, our system of swapping passports seems to be working but surely there will come a time when all individual information is collated into one system and we will have to explore other avenues if we want to stay for any extended period within the EU. 

Fortunately, not something that we currently have to deal with and with another 90 days in our passports we are now ready to leave Scandinavia and head to the Baltic States.  There is a very convenient two-hour ferry that links Helsinki with Tallinn, Estonia and excited to be heading into a different part of Europe we splurged on a €40 upgrade to the business lounge which included unlimited alcohol and a superb buffet.  Important to note here that, for the past three months, a similar sum of money would have struggled to purchase a couple of coffees and a pastry each!