51. Day 46 – A wonderful gathering of friends near Oslo

Sunday 20 May 2007

We were up at about 8.00 am at our beautiful campsite with the sun peeping through every now and then.  After hot showers – heated the day before by the Earthroamer engine, we sat studying the maps and the Lonely Planet.

We departed at 9.15 am turned onto highway 362 to Rauland taking many photographs on the way of the beautiful scenery.

Of course, there are many modern houses but it is great to see that the Norwegians have kept and even rebuilt some of their small houses with the earth and grass on the roof to provide insulation.

The area we were driving through was obviously a major ski area in the winter – not huge mountains, there were some small ski tows but Norwegians love cross country skiing and this would be one of the best cross country skiing areas in the world.

We had taken this route – a bit of extra distance – to go to the Vemork power station.

This is the famous power station sabotaged by the Norwegian and British Freedom Fighters in World War II.  It was the plant, which the Nazis were using to make heavy water for their nuclear program. 

As we drove down a mighty hill which overlooks the power station we were following the route of the freedom fighters after they had parachuted in on their way to blow up the heavy water plant at the power station.  There is a small bridge across the river, which is not designed to take the 7 tonne Earthroamer, however we noted that permission could be gained to drive up to the power station if you were handicapped.

Pip was with her bad leg but we decided to walk anyway.  It only took 15 minutes and the scenery was magnificent.

The power station now contains a museum – it is no longer operating as a power station.  We could see the huge turbines built just at the turn of the last century with excellent engineering and a wonderful interpretive centre.

Those who have seen the film the Heroes of Telemark will know the story of this power station and the terrible loss of life that took place to prevent the heavy water from getting to Nazi Germany.

The sun was now out at 62°F and we were at 673 feet in altitude.

Dick noticed that the power station was not built at the bottom of the valley – quite strange, as quite a few hundred feet of “head” would be lost.  There must be a reason for this but it was not clear.  After such an interesting stop we moved ahead through Rjukan and then on to the beautiful lake of Tinnsjø.

By this time, we were in regular communication with our friend Frithjof who calls himself Norway’s Dick Smith.  Frithjof had arrived in Australia as a young man and had seen the Dick Smith stores.  He had gone back to Norway using the similar line drawing/photograph of himself and started up a chain of electronic stores, which were very successful.

Frithjof had arranged to meet us at a little town called Ask.  Sure enough, he was there parked with his beautiful 350-horse power Porche.

With him was Vibeke who is our other friend Ola Tronrud’s wife.  They led us through to Eggemoen Airport, which is just to the north of Hønefoss.

Ola and Vibeke own the airport which is an extraordinary exciting project.  Beautiful hangars built to the Norwegian standard, all heated with a major office complex.  Ola told us that he will be building his new factory near by.

Frithjof’s daughter Janicke who had been to stay with us in Australia a few years ago was there with her boyfriend Jacob.  Also Frithjof’s wife Line and young son Jon with Ola’s son Borgard.  We all had a wonderful barbecue dinner together and then Ola took Dick for a fly in his EC120B helicopter to the original and existing factory this is about 20 kilometres south of Eggemoen airport.

Ola landed the helicopter in the car park at exactly the same place that Dick had landed the Sikorski S76 on the world flight with Uncle Pete and Anne.  Dick was given a tour of the factory, which makes highly technical production equipment and is specialising in automated equipment to make solar cells.  A very exciting project!  While the men were flying, Vibeke showed Pip, Line and Janicke her special weaving machines that run from a computer and create magnificent fabrics.  We were also able to use Ola’s factory wireless internet to send a few emails from our computer.

We spent the night in the car park, at the airport – nice and secure in a beautiful location.

291kms Today                16,474kms Total since Anchorage, Alaska

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