You know when people talk about the country they are from and everything is always bigger and better?  When Moose told me that the ‘mygg’ (mosquito) was so big in Finnmark, Norway, it is called the national bird, I said ‘ ‘Yeah, right.  You haven’t been to Kakadu, Australia, yet!’  But boy, did I have to eat my words.

Not only are the Finnmark mozzies big little-suckers, they are awfully hungry too!  The males (which don’t actually bite) fly around in huge swarms and seem to follow you like a personal dust cloud.  The feisty females have no shame and even chase you down the road.  It can be impossible to do anything if you are caught out at the wrong time of night.  Unfortunately the prime time for mozzies is in June during the beautiful Midnight Sun when it is a little more humid – the exact time when you want to have a bonfire on the beach to see the day continue into the next.

We thought that maybe if we had a game of beach volleyball that we’d give the mozzies a run for their money.  No matter how fast we moved or how much we zig-zagged each of us had our own little swarm to contend with.  After ten minutes we were so puffed having to keep moving from the mozzies that we ended up in the car waiting for the food to cook.

It wasn’t all bad – sitting in the car was like eating dinner at the drive-in.  And the movie… the Midnight Sun, of course!