Just got back from a weekend of hiking, canoeing, rappelling (or abseiling for those of you who prefer that term), and orienteering across the sound in Sweden (or Sverige, if you will)! It was an amazing (and surprisingly short/action-packed) weekend. Sweden is gorgeous and I definitely got to try some new things! We left early Saturday morning and took the 15 minute ferry ride from Helsingør (in Denmark) to Helsingbor (in Sweden). We then did a three hour canoe ride, before starting our hike down to Nimis in the Kullaberg Reserve on the Southeast coast of Sweden. Nimis is an extremely awesome rock beach littered with what is best described as driftwood structures. Thirty years ago, a Swedish man decided to take the driftwood he found on the beach, and nail it all together, into what is now essentially an adult-sized playground. We spent about 2 hours climbing all over the (surprisingly solid) structures, which are actually a lot taller and cooler than the pictures give them credit for. Unfortunately, nobody really thought about the hike back up...
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| The view from the top of our rappelling cliff |
After we survived the hike (and somehow all 33 of us did), we went to the nicest hostel I've ever seen, in the middle of the Swedish countryside. We had a barbecue, talked, and played card games, before heading to sleep and getting ready for today.
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| One of the many Nimis driftwood structures |
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| And his newest project, involving little stones |
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| Me at the top of one of Nimis' driftwood structures! |
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| Climbing at Nimis |
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| A single changing tree on the canoe ride |
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| Bridge on the river |
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| The rowboat Odysseus on the river |
So our Sunday started out with a delicious breakfast (because they were also really good cooks at this hostel) followed by a return to the Kullaberg reserve, where I tried rappelling! There were two cliffs, one 15 meters and one 30 meters above the ground, the taller one being nearly vertical. While I didn't quite reach our guide Christian's level of 5 seconds to get down in 2 jumps, I did manage some pretty impressive baby hops. It was a really thrilling experience, and I definitely want to try it again!
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| Some of our group with our awesome guide Christian |
After rappelling we had two hours of orienteering, which consisted of my group (who proudly named ourselves The Swedish Meatballs) deciding to sort of do the tasks but mainly wander around. Which, in my opinion, turned out great. We definitely won, even if Christian gave us zero points...
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| New friends with cake! |
The day ended with carrot cake at a great cafe, followed by our return bus ride. All in all, it was a pretty great trip!
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| Sweden's kind of pretty |
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