So it appears that I have taken a break from my blog. But as I have a four-hour train ahead of me I thought it would be right to provide those interested with an update.

As far as I am aware, my last entry was just after I left Greece some 5 or 6 months ago. Well a lot has happened since then and I will do my best to recount the events of recent times.

From Greece I made my way up to Norway where I was to meet Ragnhild and Emily in Bergen. Blessed with near perfect whether throughout my weeks stay, we were able to get up to plenty of activities. We spent the first couple of days in Bergen staying at Ragnhild's friend Marita's house, where we managed to get out and see a bit of the city. Rags and I made our way up to the top of the mountain (can't remember the name of it) which gave us a magnificent view over Bergen. After only a day or two, we made our way over to Stord, where we spent a night at the Valvatne residence before heading over to their cabin on a different island. We spent the day fishing, reeling in a couple of fish along with about eleven or twelve small sharks. After we had eaten our catch, we made our way over to Marita's holiday cabin on the other side of the island. Here we were to spend a few days with a bunch of Ragnhild's friends. The days were spent playing games, swimming, jumping off small cliffs and generally having a good time. Night times were filled with drinks and more good times. Of course this was after we had indulged in a variety of fresh seafood for dinner. After a few fun days with an amazing group of people (Ragnhild, Karolina, Simon, Geir, Glen, Vivian and Marita), we made our way back to Stord where we were to meet Emily. It's always nice to see another friendly face abroad. We spent the day back at the Valvatne's house where we played a few games of croquet on the lawn (I obviously won all of them!). Em and I took a walk around the river down by the house which was amazing. We were then joined by Steven's friend Brett and his girlfriend. It wasn't long before we made our way back over to Bergen where we were to stay at Marita's again whilst we celebrated her birthday. Of course, we had to make our way through the seafood markets in Bergen again. The shrimp baguettes were too hard to go past.

It came time to part ways with the crew. So after all the goodbyes, I hopped on a bus and made my way to the airport.

I apologise for the poor quality of this section, it was a long time ago, and as you will soon read, I'm sure I've lost many brain cells since.

Flying via London where I had a nasty ten hour stopover at Gatwick, I made it back down to Lison where I hastily made my way to the bus station in order to get back down to Lagos. I arrived back at the Rising c*** hostel where I was to spend the rest of the summer. It was great to see my great mate Shadd*** again who was still working there. He was to leave only a week or two after I arrived, and I was then to start work. Starting off with night shift, I was to spend a few nights a week sitting at the desk letting in all the drunk guests between 21:00 and 08:30. Plenty of time was spent looking at pointless things on the internet, not to mention the mindless conversations with the drunken guests I was forced to endure. Fortunately I was only on nightshift for a few weeks before a few more friends from back home checked in. Ali, Nick and Wes were booked in for two weeks in the hope that they would find work in Lagos for the summer as well. Upon their arrival, we caught up on recent times over many brews. It just so happened that Pendulum were playing at Duna Beach Club that night. Needless to say this was a great event to be arriving to. A BIG night of dancing and drinking welcomed them to the Lagos lifestyle. Ali was the first to get a job on nightshift, and shortly after, Wes was on the payroll as well. This was good news for me, as it meant I was moved to day shift where I would work about 2 days a week at the desk checking guests in and welcoming them to the hostel. As well as this I was to help run the booze cruises that the hostel ran twice a week. This involved loading copious amounts of booze on to an old fishing style boat, followed by serving drinks in a very irresponsible fashion to the guests. Of course this did also mean drinking a lot myself…. I know, tough job right?! Soon after, Nick managed to get a job across the road at Nah Nah Bar helping in the kitchen.

The following few months were to be up there with the best times of my life. It's hard to explain what we did over the few months to make it so good as most days were very much the same. This consisted of waking up relatively hungover around lunchtime to find that Mamma had cooked all us employees lunch. We would then spend the afternoon down at the beach soaking up the rays. Come 18:00 people would generally find the four of us sitting at the bar over at Nah Nah bar, blessed with the presence of the lovely duo consisting of Natalia and Dee. If we were up to it, beers would start flowing, if not, coffee was in order (with a touch of Baileys of course). It wouldn't be long before we reached out for a menu, despite knowing full well every item that was on there. This came the hardest decision of the day, what to get for dinner. The burgers on offer would easily be up there with the best burgers I've ever had. In an attempt to mix it up, nachos were often ordered, along with the likes of chicken salads, mozzarella sticks and delicious pastas. Huge props go out to Raffa, Miguel and Joao for cooking us these excellent feeds day in day out. On quiet nights, Raffa would be generous enough to let us suggest meals for him to cook, which were just as good if not better than the menu items. Following our dinner we would make our way back to the hostel to set up drinks for the guests in the upstairs common room. This consisted of Cergal beer and Sangria (mixed by us). Needless to say it began to get difficult to drink these beverages every night. Come 23:00 we would head back over to Nah Nah Bar with the guests for happy hour. For the guests, this involved one euro shots and cheap beers and cocktails. For us, this consisted of whatever drinks we felt like, for free. The rest of the nights were usually a blur, but from what I understand, we spent a lot of time at Three Monkeys, DC's, Inside Out, and Grand Café dancing the night away.

Elysha came and stayed for a week or so during her travels. Again, always nice to see a friendly face. Being the 'local knowledge' I felt as though I should attempt to show her around the sites and undertake in some activities. We visited the local beaches along with heading down to Sagres for a day to check out the scenery down at the most south west point of Portugal. Apart from this we did the usual and ate like kings and partied like animals.

It wasn't until the last three or four weeks of our stay in Lagos when it began to quieten down that we really became close to the chefs over at the restaurant and some of the other bar tenders in town. These last few weeks were amazing. It really kicked off when we went on a camping trip with all the staff from the hostel and restaurant down at a beach on the west coast. Here we spent a couple of days playing football, Kan Jam and surfing. Followed by what would have to be the best camping food ever, cooked by the lads from Nah Nahs. The next few weeks, we often woke up to the sound of Miguels van horn. To which we would then pile in the back and make our way over to the west coast to spend time at the beaches. We even hired our own car for a couple of days to go explore some of the nearby towns.

By this time the partying had slowed down considerably. I don't know if it was because the hostel was quiet, or whether our bodies were just struggling to keep up with the task. This did however mean that when we did go out it would more often than not be a very big night. Often we would end up sitting around after the clubs had closed just talking nonsense and having too many laughs until the early ours of the morning.

By the end of October, although I knew I was going to miss the lifestyle and good times, not to mention the friends we made (Mika, Selmo, Abi, Christelle, Natalia, Dee, Gonzalo, Monique, Tom, Sarah, Cal, Jen, Paddy, Skuta, Jacko and Charlie!! To mention only a few) so much, I was ready for a change. Ali, Wes, Nick and I made our way up to Lisbon where we were to spend a few days at the G-Spot hostel (run by a guy by the name of Nick who worked at the c*** for 3 year). Here we celebrated our last few days in Portugal by partying hard, unfortunately it was raining a lot of the time so we didn't get to see too much of Lisbon itself.

It was time to head back to the UK. Over the next 5 weeks I spent my time in and out of London crashing on couches all over the place.

I spent the first week or so around London before heading up to Richard and Grace's to spend some time there while Sophie and Chris were back from school. Always a good time catching up with the cousins!! Weekends were spent outside London. Ali and I went up to Newcastle for an excellent weekend with Khalid, who I met in China, where we partied and just caught up on everything from the past year or so. We also made our way down to Bristol for a weekend where we were to be attending a surprise party for Sarah, which Tom had organised. We met Tom and Sarah down in Lagos and they turned out to be some of the best guests that came through. A few amazing nights out and good lunches around Bristol before heading back to London. In the last week I made my way back up to Richard and Grace's (where I had been spending all my spare time). We made our way up to Rugby School to see Christopher do his fencing. I can now say that I have visited the birthplace of Rugby, and I even have a photo to prove it. Richard and I then made our way down to Cornwall to visit Grandad for a couple of days before I was to leave the country again.

Thanks to Jen, Cal, Harrison, Khalid, Tom & Sarah for giving me a place to stay for a night or two. Not to mention the amazing hospitality provided by Uncle Richard and Auntie Grace. Thank you so much! My time in the UK would not have worked without you!

And now I am on to another chapter of my journey. Back up in Norway, I spent the first few days in Oslo staying at Marita's house whilst I sorted out permits to work etc. I then made my way out to Hemsedal where I am to be working for the winter season. Its hard to believe that I have already been there for almost four weeks. But so far it has been amazing!!! So far I have only had to do about 6 days of work as it only starts to get busy after Christmas. So I have had plenty of time to spend on the slopes and I must say that my snowboarding has improved ten-fold since I've arrived. Unlike last winter I spend a lot of my time in the park hitting rails and jumps which is too much fun! The vibe here is quite different to the resort back in Canada. Hemsedal is obviously full of young people, here to work and have a good time. There is a lot more socialising and it is safe to say I've already made a large bunch of friends who I will undoubtedly miss immensely once I leave. Finally a destination that is not full of Australians. I think there is only three or four of us in town which is good. Lots of Swedish folk who are amazing, along with the Danish and Finnish.

Steven and Raghnild were up at the beginning of the week for a few days which was amazing. Strange to think that after not seeing each other for over a year that we would be snowboarding together in Norway. They couldn't have timed their trip to Hemsedal any better as we had copious amounts of snow over the time they were here so there was plenty of fresh powder, heaven!!

A skype call to James and Kai-ti a couple of days ago came with excellent news. So happy to here that they are engaged!!! I just wish I could be there to wish them congratulations in person! But unfortunately I can't so once again, CONGRATULATIONS!

I am currently sitting on a train down to Bergen where I will then jump on a bus to Stord to spend the few days over Christmas with Steven and Raghnild along with the rest of her family. I am very excited to experience a Norwegian Christmas. I must say the Christmas spirit here is far greater than that in Australia!

And as my battery is about to die I bid anyone readers farewell and hope to keep this updated regularly.

I arrived in to Bergen at 19:05, only to realise that the last bus to Stord left five minutes earlier. But after a few phone calls, and a couple of buses/ferries later, I finally arrived. Picked up by Steven, Rags and Steven's friend Ian, we made our way to Valvatna, via the pizza shop to pick up a glorious kebab pizza. Made our way to bed not long after that.

After a scrumptious breakfast, we ventured down to the lake, where the novelty of running on water was overwhelming. Many photos were taken of us running/sliding/falling on the lake. Ian and Rags went back to the house, only to return with an axe and some fishing gear. After talking about it since Canada, it was finally time to cut a hole through the ice and sit down for a bit of ice fishing. Unfortunately the fish weren't biting (although we told everyone that the fish we caught were just too big to pull through the hole).

After warming up, we made our way over to Marita's families house where a big group of us piled in to the living room to watch Home Alone, despite our best efforts to push for Limitless to be put on. Another day over. And then it all began, Christmas! (celebrated on the 24th) Awoken to yet another delicious breakfast of cold meats, salmon, cheeses, herring, bread, coffee and juices (the norm as it seems!). Needless to say I ate enough to keep me going for the day. Little did I know that lunch was to be served only a few hours later. Again, we stuffed our faces with more excellent food. We then attended a church service at Stord church where we sung a few hymns between speeches all given in Norwegian. Needless to say Steven and I didn't understand a great, if anything at all. Following the service, we made our way back to the house where we were joined by Rags' brothers and their families for dinner. We had a traditional Norwegian dish (I won't even attempt to spell it out), but it was salted, smoked lamb on the bone with all the extras on the side. Needless to say it was amazing! And following desert we left the table exceedingly full. We then gathered in the living room where it was time to open Christmas presents. Might I say that I have never seen so many Christmas presents around a single tree. It took a good THREE HOURS to get through all the presents. I KNOW!!! Steven gave me some money towards a dog-sled tour and has requested photo evidence so that I don't waste it all away. A few packs of well-needed socks and jocks along with a new thermal style top and a couple of cards was my stash from the tree. Very happy with it all, I was not expecting any presents at all but everyone was very generous!

Following this, Steven and I had a good chat on skype to Mum and Dad who had just woken up on Christmas day in Tasmania. Missing mum and dad a lot, and quietly, I think they miss us as well! I will make sure to spend Christmas with them next year after three years of Christmas without them. After saying our goodbye's to the rest of the Valvatne family, Steve, Rags and I sat down for a game of Settlers of Catan (amazing board-game we had recently been introduced to). One game turned in to two, then three, then four. Before we knew it, it was four in the morning. Time for bed! I awoke to Steven entering the room with his IPad for a skype call to James and Kai-ti. More Christmas wishes, only to find that their Christmas was full of food as well, only the temperature outside was about fourty degrees hotter. Before we knew it, we were back at the table with loads more food. The day was quite relaxed, visiting a few people before another big dinner of Pork Belly, sausages and potatoes. Delicious!! We then went to Rags' cousins place to dance and sing around the Christmas tree before being picked up by Marita and Ian and taken to another friends place for some drinks. Christmas had been alcohol free up to this point, so the wine was going down easily. After several glasses, we went out to town for some more drinks. By two in the morning we were rather drunk. Fortunately Rags' cousin was generous enough to come pick us up after their girls night. We went back and chatted some more crap before heading to bed. An early rise rather hungover left me in a bit of a rush to pack, eat breakfast and leave. After saying goodbye to Reinert and Solveig, we rushed off to the bus station where I made it on with about a minute to spare. And so that was my Christmas. It was amazing to be able to spend it with Steven and Rags along with the rest of her family and I appreciate the amazing hospitality hugely!!

Now I am on the train back up to Gol, I was lucky not to have to buy another ticket as I didn't realise that the one I had bought online was actually for yesterday. The conductor still had the Christmas spirit and was kind enough to let me stay on board. I'm looking forward to getting back to Hemsedal to see the crew and start doing some work, and snowboarding. Although I have been having trouble with my knee, slipping on ice isn't helping it much at all! Hoping the pain will subside within a few days so I can get back out on the snow!

Until next time. GOD JUL!!