Drive to Kiruna - 3 - Luleå (29-Dec)

 Our next stop was Luleå, the capital of Norrbotton County and about 9 hours drive from Gavle.

This was our longest drive of the trip and the weather was pretty bad, with snow, icy roads and darkness, but Kris did a great job with the drive and we arrived at our accommodation in Luleå around 6pm after a stop in Umeå for a late lunch.  We were checked in at the First Camp Arcus, which is mostly a summer camp but the cabin was cozy for a night's stay.

We also came across reindeer crossing the road as a herd with their reflective collars - the photos weren't the best as it was very dark:

Our cabin

Part of the campground

The next morning we had our final push to Kiruna, but we didn't need to be there until 3pm, there was a blizzard expected in the morning and we were all tired, so we planned to have a later start.

For dinner, Kris whipped up a macaroni cheese with the leftovers we had.

Drive to Kiruna - 2 - Gävle (28-Dec)

The next morning was raining in Karlskrona and so we formed a chain line to carry the bags to the car. It was a bit of a battle to get them all in, but Kris is the Tetris master and managed to get the boot shut.

Our next stop was Gävle - about 7 hours north of Karlskrona.  We also decided to make a brief stop at Örebro to check out Sweden's largest Lego store - Ebrix.

With the kids crammed into the back of the car and the back filled with bags and a mini fridge we started the drive to Gävle 

We arrived at eBrix around lunch time and had a look around at the selection of Lego bricks. We also checked out a Lekia toy store and made sandwiches for lunch:

Danish Landmines

eBrix also sold custom lightsets for the Lego kits:

and a big selection of loose bricks:

It was getting pretty dark by the time we got into Gävle:

Our accommodation for the night was a downstairs area of a house and was nice and warm and a decent size for the family.

After a rest, we headed out to look for the Gävle Goat.

The Gävle Goat (Gävlebocken) is erected each year on the first Sunday of Advent and removed after New Year (unless it is burnt down first).  It is about 13m tall, 7m long and weighs 3.6 tonnes.

We left early the next morning as our next drive was the longest one of the trip.

Drive to Kiruna - 1 - Karlskrona (27-Dec)

 On the 27th we were out of our apartment early and starting phase two of our holiday - a drive from Malmo to Kiruna - essentially from the further south point in Sweden to the furthest north:

Since the drive was over 20 hours without stopping, we decided to break it into several parts - a drive from Malmo to Karlskrona:

Then the next day, a drive from Karlskrona to Gävle:

The Gävle to Luleå (8 1/2 hrs)

and finally Luleå to Kiruna.

The drive to Karlskrona was pretty straight forward and we arrived just after lunch. We decided to check out the Marinmuseum (Maritime Museum) before heading to our accommodation.  Admission was free and the museum has lots of cool displays including a hall of figureheads and the Neptun Submarine which can be walked through:

The entrance

Alana and Kris fish watching in the shipwreck tunnel

Some of the figureheads

Tomas trying out the balance board

HSwMS Neptun was the 2nd of the  Näcken-class submarines and launched in 1980. She was decommissioned in 1998 and donated to the museum in 2008.

Inside Neptun

After checking into our hotel - På Hörnet - we went for a walk around Karlskrona to check out the town and the naval base. Unfortunately it got dark very quick, so our view was limited.

The statue of Rosenbom outside the Admiralty Church.

The sign reads:

I humbly beg you

Although the voice is probably dull

Come put a penny down

But hats off to me

~ * ~

Lucky is the one who allows himself

Care for the poor

You can lift the hat to make a donation.

The statue is based on Old Man Rosenbom (Mats Hindiksson Rosenbom) who was one of the first settlers in Karlskrona. The story is that Rosenbom was out begging when a sculptor hit him and threw him out into the snow. Later he went looking to apologise, but Rosenbom hid by the church and froze to death. As an apology the sculptor created the poorhouse.

Central Karlskrona

 After our walk we stopped for a pizza for dinner and an early night as we had a big drive the next day.

We had booked a single large room for our accommodation, but unfortunately the hotel had an urgent request for a large room and we were split into two. Cameron, Tomas and I took one room and Alana and Kris took the other.

The boys watched Clone Wars and were asleep by 11:00, however Tom woke at 2am, stood up out of bed, said "Yes, we have two of them." walked over and turned the TV on then got back into bed and continued sleeping.  It took Cameron and I a little to get back to sleep after that.

Puplett Family Trip to Sweden (6 Dec - 23 Jan 2022) - 5 - Liseberg (17-Dec)

 On Saturday we headed up to Gothenburg to the Liseberg themepark.  This time we had booked ride tickets for the kids (including me, the big kid), but unfortunately Kristine was unable to go on any of the rides due to her shoulder injury.

We had a great day riding the rides and exploring the Christmas markets at the park.

Liseberg is split into several sections, a viking themed section, a kids area (Kaninland) a harbour and a traditional themepark.  Since it was winter, a few of the big rides weren't working but there were still plenty to try.

It was a snowy drive up there

Entering the park

Christmas Tree

Pretty much as soon as we entered, the boys jumped on the Mechanica, a swinging ride that rises 30 meters and spins a full 360 degrees on three axes.

Buckled in

Tom and Cam are on the leftmost arm

Once they finished their ride we headed into the Viking section of the park.  At this time there were very few people around and the kids were excited by the fact they could get on the rides with almost no queues.

The next ride was the Valkyria, Europe's longest dive coaster, which starts with a 50m drop into a tunnel. It then has several loops and corkscrews.

A loop

Our Ride Photo

Next up, Alana, Kris and I stopped for a hot chocolate and cinnamon bun while the boys rode the Loke, a swinging gondola ride that goes 42m up.

The Loke

That's Cam and Tom at the top with their arms out

It was a bit more quiet and relaxing for Kris and Alana

This video is the start of the Loke, when it is still swinging low, it gets up quite a bit higher:

The next stop was the Balder, a wooden roller coaster that goes to a height of 36m and is 1070m long.  Alana was happy to join the boys on this one:

After these rides it was time to slow down a little and explore the other areas of the park.  We started by heading into the Tomtehuset (Santa's House).

This was a long path through a snowy forest leading to a house full of animatronic gnomes creating the presents in Santa's workshop:

Tomas saying hello to a Tomte

Tomtehuset

Wishlist writing area

The kids very not happy with Santa's travel map - "He doesn't even go to Adelaide!"

The present conveyer belt

The naughty and nice list

Gnomes processing the Wishlists 

Present manufacturing - the kids were annoyed that the gnome with the spanner kept tightening and then loosening the same bolt

Manufacturing (Tillverkning)

I liked the fact that built the fences around the rocks

I believe this was the site of the summer log-flume ride.

Next stop was the harbour area, but by now the kids were getting hungry, so it wasn't a long stop - well more like a stroll:

The harbour

From the harbour we walked down the main street and checked out a few shops before ending up in the food hall to get a kebab for lunch.

After lunch, Cameron tried out the Bilar bumper cars while the rest of us checked out the Christmas stalls:

The next ride was the Jukebox - a spinning car ride that we remembered from our last trip:

By this point the crowd had started to build and the ride queue times were getting pretty long.  We let Cameron and Tom go off to ride the Mechanica and the Loke again, while we checked out the rest of the the market.

The main walkway to the entrance

The globe fountain was a little frozen

The crowds kept getting bigger

and bigger

We found a nice fire pit to wait at while the boys rode a few more rides

The massive Christmas tree was impressive!

As was the lighting on this one

We ended up leaving around 5pm and beginning the 3 hour drive home.  We stopped for Chop-Chop for dinner and we were all pretty exhausted when we got back.

On Sunday had a sleep in then Cameron and I visited a few shops in Malmo before heading to a friends place for video games and dinner.

The next week was back to work again and Kris and the kids did a little shopping, but Kris ended up with a pretty nasty cold so they spent most of the time resting at home and preparing for our big Kiruna trip.

The kids ratings for the rides:

Mechanika:

Tom - 8 - It was very cool, especially when we went on with no-one else on it. And it went upside down.

Cam - 8 - It was thrilling and went upside down.

Vakyria:

Tom - 8 - Pretty scary but not that cool. 

Updated after 2nd ride -9 -  It is a lot more thrilling than the other rides and I liked the drop. Really quick but short.

Cam -  7 - Too short but the drop was cool

Balder:

Tom - 9 - Super Fun. Better than the Valkyria because it was longer.

Cam - 9 - Was fast, had bumps and I lifted out of my seat a few times.

Loke:

Tom  - 7 - It was more packed than the Mechanika but it was cool floating. Not as good as Mechanika.

Cam - 8 - It would be a 9 if it went upside down, but it was cool tat it teased like it was going to.

Bilar (Bumper Cars):

Cam - 3 - It was cool bumping people but I didn't like being bumped.