Contemplating the flowers

Our very own Basil Brush!

This little guy came into the loungeroom this afternoon

Its really hot!

So today it feels really really hot. I have no clue what the temperature is, but it feels soooooooo hot! Have no idea how I'm going to survive the Australian summer when I have to go back!

Deer

Today when I went for a walk I saw a deer in one of the fields! It was a cute red deer! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera or anything, but it was cool anyway.

World Record Attempt

This afternoon in Fredrikstad a huge group of people
attempted to eat 1.6 tonnes of prawns!

Spot The Odd One Out

Over the past few days we have played a little game called spot the odd one out. We have been walking up and down the tracks in the fields and picking out the barley from the oats. We have had to pull all the barley crops up. 

It has definitely been exhausting! it was quite funny because Erik (my youngest host brother) was helping too. He would bend down to pull a crop out and would disappear because he's not tall enough. Everyone now and then he would disappear, then we would just see a plat coming up! 

6 months!

So as of today I left Australia 6 months ago! Seriously wouldn't believe it! The time has absolutely flown by.

6 months ago I said goodbye to these people! 

The places you see in a lifetime

I've decided that I'm going to mark all the places I've been to on a map. They're places I've actually stopped at, not just driven through. I'll put it on an actual map at some point, but for now its on my computer.

You realise that it adds up. All the little day trips, all the weekends, all the holidays, the camps and the school excursions. I've got quite a few marks on my map. Hopefully when I'm older I'll have pins all over the world! And when I'm old and grey I can look at my map and bring back memories of a great thing called travel. 

Dinner by the sea

Tonight we had a nice dinner in a place called Engelsviken. It is near Fredrikstad and by the sea. It was quite a nice place and the dinner was great!

Me and Erik, my youngest host bro 

Near where we had dinner

104 today!

So today I would like to wish a huge happy birthday to my Great Grandma! 104 today (and looking a lot younger)! What an amazing lady!

Missing the Australian Water

So today thank god the sun came out again! Its been a beautiful day. We went to the camping place again today. We went to go swimming but the water was kinda cold :(  One thing I definitely miss from Australia, warm water!

Using the weather while it lasts

Well its meant to be sun all week...........but this afternoon its raining a little again. We have visitors from Sweden so we've been doing some things with them.

Yesterday we went to a camping place near the water. We didn't do a lot, just relaxed mainly. We played some games and went down to the water. We tried to catch crabs and skipped rocks across the water.

Today we went to Gamlebyen in Fredrikstad. We walked around there for a while then had lunch. After lunch we went to a train museum. It had 2 big areas with displays. It was pretty cool. There were parts where there were tunnels under the floor and there was a bridge that went above where you walked.

But now....the weather taken a turn for the worse :(

The train museum 

Sun, summer and picnicking!

Well today was a great summers day! It has come at last!

We went with some of my hosts family and  some other people first to a place near Drøbak. It was by the sea. A heap of people were there tanning, swimming and picnicking. We set up our picnic baskets and all had lunch.

Then we drove to Drøbak and caught a boat to Oscarsborg Festning. A fortress on an island in Oslofjord. On 9th April 1940 a German ship tried to sneak up the fjord to Oslo. It had made it past the fortresses that were more Southern. When it passed Oscarsborg it was sunk by old torpedos (apparently it was quite lucky that these worked because, they were old).

There we walked around the fortress and saw the canons. There was a museum that had soldiers uniforms and old weapons and transmitting devices and things. It was pretty interesting. After that we had lunch in a restaurant on the island.

From there we caught the boat back and drove home. It was a great day!

Youngest host Brother

The first place we went to

One of the cannons

At the fortress

Another cannon

Oslofjord from the fortress

At the top of the fotress

The fortress

All my host family plus visitors from Sweden and another family

The fjord from the restaurant

youngest host brother on the boat

Oslofjord

Oslofjord

Crops and trees

Well this afternoon I went for a little walk through one of the fields and into the forest. On the edge of the forest there is quite a big beautiful tree.

Not sure what the trees called, but it was a pretty cool tree

Christmas trees!

So this morning we went into the forest and planted a heap of Christmas trees! They generally use them in about 10 years as a Christmas tree :)

This is the first tree I planted and I named him Steve

Preoccupied much?

Well today I had to go into Moss and then catch the bus home. On the way home I was thinking about something else so I completely missed my stop! I ended up in Fredrikstad!

Chicken maybe?

Well this morning at 7 the new chickens came. We had to put about 5,000 chickens in cages, 7 in each. It took a bit over 2 hours and there were lots of people helping. Some of the chickens were so hard to grab and put in. I got full on attacked by one! A few of them jumped out of the cages while you were putting more in, but luckily none got away.

And now I'm going to have a long shower as I have that oh so delightful smell of chicken poop. Nice ;) haha. Also the weather has not turned at all today, if anything I think its got colder!

The things you do

Well this past week my host family went on a trip. While they were away I have stayed with a heap of different people and done a few things in the local area.

I first stayed with my host grandparents. Then I stayed with some host cousins. It was a hep of little kids. I just played with them and in the afternoon we went to Mærrapanna. It is a picnic and playground area on the coast near Fredrikstad. Its quite nice there.

Then I stayed with my counsellor. It was a rainy afternoon so we went into Oslo. We went to a photography and sculpture museum. It was a little weird. The next day we went to Halden. It is a town near the border to Sweden. It is really nice there. There are some nice restaurants and cafes along the foreshore and a lot of boats docked there. There was this really nice sailing boat. It was an older one, made of wood. It was such a gorgeous boat!

We walked around the foreshore then walked up to the top of town where there is a fortress. That was really cool. It also gave a great view over the town. That was a great day.

Then I stayed with my third host family for the rest of the time. One day we had lunch at the lake at Råde. That was really nice, The rest of the time I read a book and rode a bike into Karlshus (the centre of Råde).

I just hope now that the weather gets better! Its hasn't been very good lately.

From the foreshore, the fortress is on top
of the hill

In the fortress

View over Halden

The river running through Halden

One of the cousins

Some of the cousins

At Mærapanna

Mærrapanna