Fiji, never been further from home and closer to get home

Yep, this could be the last post. My plane leaves from Fiji international airport the 5th of july, and we are leaving for Vuda Point where we will leave the boat tomorrow. So the last days will probably consist mostly of cleaning and prepping the boat for takeover - there hasn't been sun since we arrived in Fiji and I'm very worried about loosing my tan before i come home, so i hope well get some tanning inbetween!

So all that's left to say now is - see you soon (some of you anyway)

party at my place the 8th of july!

BULA

Tonga The Friendly Islands

Yep yep.
After staying in Bora Bora for what seemed an eternity, we left for Tonga. After 10 dreadful days at sea we arrived in what James Cook called "the friendly islands". Absolutely a wonderful place, and I'm just happy wherever the locals don't speak french! The first dude we met when we went ashore in Tonga was Norwegian Kjell. Felt rather strange talking to another norwegian. Last time we met norwegians was back in the Carribbean! Tonga was Andreas' last port of call. so we said our goodbyes with lots and lots of beers while Niels and me welcomed our new crewmember - Lucy - on board. (she threatened to beat me up if I didn't write anything nice about her in my blog, had to scour my computer to find a photo where she doesnt make a face - this was as close as I could get). Lucy is staying on board untill Fiji (next stop), where the three of us will all leave the boat. Tonga has been a lot of fun, dinghyracing, soccermatch (england vs the rest), drinks, bbq's. The places just get better and better the closer it comes to the return home. Strange stuff.

Arild

Stuck In Bora Bora

oh yes.. on our way into Bora Bora we blew the starter engine. We tried to get one from somewhere in FP, but we ended up ordering a new one from New Zealand... Something that has proved difficult. Right now the starter is stuck in customs in Tahiti and we are waiting for it here. been stuck here for two weeks now (well i guess there are worse places to be stuck) and really want to get moving.. Andreas has to leave from Tonga the 20th of june so we are in a bit of a hurry actually.

Get out your flags, the boys are coming home.

Young goodman Brown.

17. Mai Er Vi Sa Glad I

The 17th of May is a huge thing in Norway. We all dress up in our finest and go out in the streets to cheer our wonderful country on. The quietness of the french Polynesia (stupid French) was unheard of for us Vikings so we decided to put on a big party for all that were in our vicinity.
The day started with the CP (Captains Punch) - well, at least for some of us... Andreas has already been drinking aquavit for 5 hours so he had to sleep over the CP. After a lot of CP (ingredients only known to the captain e.g. Niels) we started the games. We had the famous "potatorun", the infamous "sackrun", and not to forget the fishing competition. The only fish that bit this day was beer (un)fortunately... After this everything just was Havoc. We rented the local bar for a BBQ and completely took over the place. Then we had the "Rape and Pillage" game, here are some of the pctures from that (for more take a look at the msn site)

Anywaay, a very memorable 17th of may to say the least.

For the moment we are in a place called Raiatea. Our plan is to move on to Bora Bora tomorrow but plans do change a lot down here.

Store 17. mai klemmer fra Arild og Nielsen - Vikinger i sommarland. Stay Cool.

13 stitches, a bird out of water and goodbye to a friend

Tahiti has proved to be a very happening place indeed. Now we are back in Papeete after a few days in Moorea, and we have successfully put the boat on ground for cleaning the hull and putting on new antifowling (thats so that the boat can move faster).After three days on land, the blackbird is finally back where she belongs - and boy does she move! Moorea was very beautiful, very nice lagoon where we anchored. One faithful event tho happened in the lost woods of Moorea. On a junglesafari where jousting was one of the main events, i was attacked by a bamboostick and I will be scarred for life! Niels put 13 stitches in me, after I had been proper taken care of by my jungelcrew deep in the jungle. There's a first for everything, and as my mom says - bones heal, chicks dig scars!
Also, after staying on the rally since sweden, out good friend Pieter decided to return home to Holland. People leaving is never fun, and the rally wont be the same without you! See you in Amster this summer bro! All the best from Nielsen and Arild.
Thats it for now. Stay cool

peace out arild

Tahiti

Hi hi hi
This blogthing is starting to be a bit of a problem to me. The internetconnections around here are not very good (now that we are in Tahiti they aren't that bad actually, but still) and im lagging behind on my "assignments"... Its like being at school almost, now that we arrived in tahiti I posted an entry from Nuku Hiva, which was just after the Pacific crossing. So instead of delivering crappy papers that are way overdue, it's now time for a quick update. Well, we left nuku hiva and blabla blablalsalsab bsllasdl then we pulled up the thingamajig and jacked it through the whatchamaycallit for the grosh to become a bit better. After that we just gajhjfdsn mot the jagaa. (does anyone ever read all this bull anyway) ;) And it wass all good. Nuku Hiva was brilliant in many ways, the Tuamotos was beautiful and coming to Tahiti was just absolutely great. I'll give you some pictures that can hopefully describe it a bit better. Oh yea, and I just had my birthday - I got a delicious cake and lots of greetings from back home - thank you thank you!Nielsens new addition - a traditional Polynesian tattoo!

Nuku Hiva

After a brief visit to Heyerdahl’s paradise, we moved on to Nuku Hiva. Here we met up again with the rest of the Blue Water Rally guys, and had a few days of partying. Not a very big island though, but at least they had a restaurant so that we didn’t have to make dinner on the boat again – SICK of cooking and doing the dishes when everything is thrashing about. We spent a week almost in Nuku Hiva, and it has been very good. We rented a car and drove around the island (felt good to move fast again) and we also got to see one of the world’s highest waterfalls! Next stop is the Tuamotos, "sunken islands" or atolls, looking forward to it they’re supposed to be amazing!

Nielsen, Lucy, Arild, Peter.