By the time we post this we will be in Norway, but we had to write about Finland while we were still in it. It is a fabulous country and the history quite extraordinary, how the early people survived in Lapland with its winters we could only guess. We found the people to be a lot like Australians, easy going, relaxed, friendly, willing to help and overall happy. It has been a great trip from the south to the north, on the way we travelled through some beautiful forest and wilderness and we have seen so many lakes and swum in some of them, all fresh enough to drink. With all the good though there had to be something we didn't like and that was a ski resort we visited. We know they are probably all the same, but that doesn't alter the fact that they destroy mountain sides to put in ski runs, they may look OK in winter and nobody thinks about it, but in summer you can see what they have done and it isn't pretty. That said, the remainder of what the Fins do appears to have the environment in mind. One more thing that struck us was that they complain that they are over taxed (don't we all?), they even have a dog tax, but lots of Fins have dogs, they drive late model cars, but no big 4WDs, and their road network is second to none. Compare that to Russia where they drive very expensive, big, fast cars and 4WDs, but the roads are generally crap. Interesting we thought. And lastly, it is really hard to adjust to the sun setting at eleven and it never getting dark, I woke at 3am and thought it was time to get up until I checked the time! It was light enough in the tent to read Julie's watch. Nordkapp should be even more interesting.