Dry Sunday
Kristiansand – 2nd June
Arendal was just a stopping point to break up our journey to Kristiansand, however we discovered it had something to offer geocachers on a a Sunday morning. Arendal’s town hall was in a small, old part of town, by the wharf; they had outgrown the area and therefore built much larger offices up on the hill overlooking the harbour.
To allow easy access for the residents they installed an elevator from the old town centre to the new. Access is by a tunnel, then an elevator that goes 40 metres up through the hill and then travels a further 20 metres in a glass elevator shaft, allowing panoramic views. From the elevator there is a bridge connecting you to the new town hall area or, for the faint hearted, just drive up to the free car park.
We walked around the harbour and came upon the young person’s Marie Celeste, a boat littered with beer cans, cigarette packets and other signs that the boys had had a good night, but not a sole in sight, just the creaking and bobbing of the boat on its moorings.
Next geocaching stop was at the coastal town of Grimstad, famous for their award winning craft beer. Unfortunately it is Sunday and strict liquor laws means Roger will be unable to sample any products. We did enjoy our stop here with lunch, a stroll around the harbour and a big geocache travel bug hotel.
Our next and unplanned geocache stop was at Lillesand, an old ship building area. Another beautiful harbour with a geocache in a book exchange made from an old ship’s wheelhouse. Book exchange caches are our nemesis, this is our 5th one and finally we found the cache. You couldn’t miss it; like the one in Grimstad it was a big box with geocaching written all over it, at eyelevel, straight ahead from the doorway. We swapped a book and went off to view the Viking ship replica being built.
Our latest apartment is a vast improvement on the last; this one is modern with an underground car park. There is a supermarket on the ground floor, but unfortunately because of government controls only supermarkets of a certain size can open on Sundays and with restricted hours. As Roger had drunk his last beer the previous night, and we needed milk, we went in search of an open supermarket. Found one, got the essentials and dry Sunday has been partially sated with a zero alcohol (null) can of beer. Bonus – they are only NZ$2.25 per can, not $4.80 which will be the price he will pay on Monday.
Today’s ABBA tribute is ‘Move on’ (1982). Last night’s apartment wasn’t bad, but it was the owners main place of residence and he and his family left for the bach, leaving a fridge overflowing with old food, some pushed aside to barely make enough room for a 6 pack. Luckily Roger only had one can, because food chilling was a priority. Small compensation it was the cheapest on our tour; it had everything we wanted, and was mostly clean.
The words of this verse kind of sums up how I felt as the day rolled on.
The morning breeze that ripples
The surface of the sea
The crying of the seagulls
That hover over me
I see it and I hear it
But how can I explain
The wonder of the moment
To be alive, to feel the sun that follows every rain