November was , as usual, very very busy for us and we're still trying to catch our breath.

It always seems like a bit of a family reunion when our Russian teams arrive. This year we had Alex Nazarov's National Russian Mens and Women's ( head coaches Tony and Miriam Boris ) ... Michael and the infamous Team 47 from St Petersburg ( The Dream Team ! ) Icelandic, Italian, Belgium , Michaela Smutná from Czech Alpine Team A and Jan Fiedler , Slovak teams, and many more. I will try to find the time to write more about November another time...

But for now .... I'll just tell you quickly about the crazy international guys from Pirate Movie Productions who have been staying with us for the last 6 nights. ( French, Austrian, American, Russian, Swedish and Norwegian ) There's no doubt you snowboard enthusiasts have seen all their films , 'Walk the Plank' is their latest and I believe 'Shoot your Friends' back in 2003 was their first. Well they're at it again and have been filming here in Tärnaby and Hemavan . They've just left heading to Lycksele for some more urban tricks and then I believe they're off to Åre for a premier-promotion night for their film. Some of the Swedish guys in the group write a blog on Transition.se . Check it out !

We have some of their art-book DVD packs in our book shop/café for sale. We played their movie on our new big screen ( Yes we now have a big screen for movies and sports nights !) in our café earlier in the week and I'm sure we'll be playing it again.

Well this weekend should be a fun with International students from Umeå coming up , the Tjej ( Girl ) Jam Snowboarding Camp is being held inTärnaby and on the music front, the sexy and talented Carolina Miskovsky is back playing with her band.

Must fly... I'll be back soon ........

Sunday 28th October ( ... Especially for Malin )

Where's the snow ?! It's just past midnight early Sunday morning. We've kept the guest house empty this weekend so I can continue with my new building projects without disturbing guests. However I had to stop working on our new bathrooms as Lindy wasn't happy with the noise I made drilling holes for pipes !...Typical ! I've been turning one of our bedrooms on the ground floor into two bathrooms. Despite losing rentable bed space, I believe guest comfort and convience with these extra bathrooms is far more important. Basically I'm dividing the bedroom into two rooms, making one of the bathrooms an ensuite off the 6 bed dorm room / family room and the other bathroom for general use for all guests . It will mean knocking a hole in the 6 bed dorm room to put a door in. As usual with any project I start doing, my plans change constantly ! ( * see below ) I'm running out of time before our Russian Athletes arrive , so I'm ( also as usual ) improvising a little as I go on. I might have to postpone the dividing of the room into two and just have it as one large bathroom for now. I'll then finish the job over Christmas .. Oh wont Lindy be happy with me !

I’m also in the middle of enclosing the carport under our café. I have the frame work and exterior panels on with the cut-outs for a large window and door. I couldn’t get any builders in to concrete/cement the floor as they were all just too busy building in Hemavan. So this project is also 'on hold' .. I know … you’re starting to sympathize with Lindy ! This large extra space ( about 6 by 7 meters ) will , like most of our areas, have multi purpose/functional uses. The intended uses are top secret for the moment … in other words , I haven’t decided yet ! ( *see above ! )

Ok, So yes the snow hasn’t arrived and the ski slopes wont be open until next weekend. That’s the latest season start since I’ve been here in Tärnaby. On a positive note, the lack of snow is giving the engineers and builders more time to finish off installing the new Linbanan on Hassebacken ( chair lift ) . Completion and opening is still planned for he 28th December for the Linbanan. Very exciting to have it back and working after being closed for 3 and a half years.

Tärnaby is heading back up towards it’s formal glory with new businesses and new developments in the area. A Norwegian family bought the former ‘Sunds’ building in the village centre and have exciting plans for the area. The forever-happy-and-laughing , Hans from Statoil and Fjäll Sports Tärnaby (www.fjallsporttarnaby.se ) has moved his very popular sports and clothes outlet center ( from Statoil ) to the Sunds building and opened it just this weekend. We have also started to manage four lovely apartments on the top of the building. It’s always great to have more ‘warm beds’ in Tärnaby as Tärnaby in general still has too few beds to let. These apartments are just being renovated and newly furnished and are very conveniently situated . I was helping carry new beds and mattresses in there on Friday night and the owners are working to get them ready and available to rent from this Monday . We have booked them out from about the 12th November to the 22nd to more international athletes for F.I.S competitions. We’ll soon have some photos up on the website. Prices for these Central Apartments are in our Tärnaby Apartment section….

Breaking News ! I did manage to paint the front of the guest house early October just before it got too cold. I think it was the only two days in a row it hadn't rained for months . So the ugly mustard colour has gone from the front .. I just need to do the sides and the back now ! But even though it is now a multi-colored house, it still presents a lot nicer.

We also did manage to ‘close’ for two weeks in October . Well, we at least closed the café-restaurant for two weeks. The first week was used to catch up on paperwork, renovations, repairs and other tasks that we hadn’t time to do whilst fully open. Lindy then went to spend time with her family and left me behind again to look after our Vattenfall guests and other workers. It meant more getting up at 5.30 to prepare breakfast for them. Thanks guys, I loved making you breakfast on my supposed bloody break! I did though still escape from the business for 3 nights ! I Took the mini-bus to Ör-vik for it’s winter service and did some much needed shopping for the business and had a fantastic 4 course meal prepared for us by friends, Malin & Klas. Thank you so much guys, It made such a lovely change for us to have someone cook for us ... and the 'road-kill' marinated in vodka was especially tasty Klas - Cheers !

Well that will have to do for now. I'm sure I've left plenty of important updates out, so who knows, I might come back and dribble on some more soon ... or it might be another 4 months ...

Friday the 25th May. ( We now have Wi-Fi broadband ! Yes, finally. For about a month now. )

Hello once again ! I missed a lot of details in my last update as well as neglecting to mention some unforgettable guests. Namely French Adventurer Christophe Castillon and his rather beautiful ( Ok very stunning ! ) girlfriend Johanne Ilbert. Admittedly Christophe ( according to Lindy ) was pretty good looking himself ( " a knee-trembling sexy French man " I think she said ! ) Anyway .. Enough of that ! Let’s get back to Johanne ! She joined Christophe in Tärnaby for a week , so he could ' rest ' ( yeah right ! ) until he continued his epic solo journey on cross country skis pulling his pulka behind him. To get an idea for yourself, go to his fascinating websitehttp://www.wildtrekker.com/ and check out his ‘wild blog ‘. Follow his journey from the bottom of Sweden to Nordkapp at the top of Norway. The website is in French, but you can still follow his journey with maps and some wonderful photos. If you are French, reading this, then it's a perfect if you're planning a holiday to Sweden and Scandinavia in general.

Since then we’ve had some other ‘crazy’ adventurers ; A Danish couple who are doing the same type of journey, but had to swap their ski’s here in Tärnaby to continue their travel by bicycle. ( no more snow. Doh ! ) Apparently The Danes have very ‘special’ bikes there , so they ordered new bikes from Denmark and had them sent to Sweden. Yeah - whatever guys ! You can follow their journey on their websitehttp://www.knoell.dk/ .

Just last week a cyclist from Holland popped in , who is also doing the 3000 km’s or so by bicycle. Not a young man either… he even made me look like a spring chicken ! Obviously very young at heart and very fit. ( I’m just young at heart .. Or " infantile " says Lindy ! ).

Anyway, I always find these adventurers inspiring. Not inspiring enough to make me want to do it .. But inspiring enough to make we want to do the trip in summer on a motor bike ! .... On that subject, it’s approaching that time of year when we get a lot of motorbike riders touring Scandinavia. We always provide undercover parking for motorbikes to keep them dry and safe. So if you’re planning a trip by motorcycle , than pop on in ! We have undercover parking ( car port ) for about 12 motorbikes and also our double garage ( in winter it's a ski waxing room ) which can park another 5 or 6.

Back to the Easter wedding. Despite all the odds, it was a huge success. All were very happy with the food and service. I say " despite all the odds " , because gale-force winds and blizzards meant that the wedding had to be postponed until the next day ! Most of the grooms family made it the day before, after a very rough landing, but the bride’s family were stranded at Stockholm Arlanda airport all the day, waiting to catch a flight. So we were all on standby, at the mercy of Mother Nature.

I have to thank Jacob and Eva for their very professional organization and standard of service. They put the bride and groom at ease .. and, yes , me and Lindy at ease ! It pays to bring in people like Jacob. He runs the restaurant conference centre at Arctura in Östersund Sweden. I recommend stopping by there on your journey. It is an amazing concept ; A restaurant on top of a water tower that supplies Östersund with hot water. Have a look here at www.arctura.se . If you're driving that way, have a coffee break or lunch or dinner break ... Ask for Jacob, when you go in. You can’t miss his Californian big white smile ! ( I still think he's gay ! )

Ok, A few more things :

Miriam and Ann have turned out to be truely wonderful assets to our business and for our guests. Ann has been cooking mouth-watering Thai meals and despite Miriam's tender age of only 18, she is also a whizz in the kitchen. She has also been fantastic with marketing. But what else can say about 'our Miriam ' ? Well, she has that whacky ( slightly deranged ! ) Gothenburg sense of humour and a personality that just fills the air with exuberance. Positive, inspiring and yes totally mad !

She and Ann have been running the café themselves this last week as Lindy has managed to go and spend some time with Mary her grandmother. All in all we have been blessed to have the girls helping us. Unfortunately their time with us is about to expire, in about 3 weeks. I'm trying to think of ways to keep them here ? Perhaps we could steal their passports, legally adopt them ( Well they already call us " Daddy and Mummy ! " ) or possibly kidnap their family ? If you have any suggestions, feel free to email me !

Whoops I forgot to mention the celebrities that have graced our café ! Womens World Champion and gold history maker , Anja Pärsson ( www.anjapaerson.com ) herself sat comfortably on our sofa giving interviews to one of Sweden’s big newspapers, Expressen and enjoyed Lindy’s home baked quiche. Like Ingemar Stenmark, she is also born and bred in Tärnaby. Swedish Singer Tommy Nilsson also sat on our sofa with a latte and cake. Tommy ( I chatted to him for a good hour … so I can call him ‘ Tommy ‘ ! ) has been recording hits for over 25 years and has produced countless albums. Unfortunately I think I was about the only person living in Sweden who didn’t know who he was .. So I had to apologize to him !

Oh yeah and also .. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and even Kylie herself turned up … Ok so I’m lying .. sue me !

I think it’s time for me to sign off again ! Until next time ….

P.s. In summer we always welcome drop in guests .. even if it is after 2 am ! Yes you know who you are ! ( two nights ago at 2.07 am , ( Yes I remember the bloody time ! ) a Norwegian couple who I thought were burglars and they thought , I was a ghost ! ) When they strolled in for a coffee at 11.30 am, I pulled the Basil Faulty card , making them feel suitable guilty after their good nine hours sleep .. and I about 2 hours ! " Sleep well did you ? Lovely ! .. Me ? No I don't need any sleep... Mahogany, teak or ... what wood would you like your breakfast tray served on .. ? ! "

They may be coming back later on in summer with their 4 kids ... and a dog ... Oh wonderful ! ( Just kidding guys .. or am ! ?! )

However for our future guests, please remember it's not just us you wake up with your bell ringing, phone calls and then carrying your bags in ... but our already comfortably sleeping other guests ! So please plan a little better. I know with the 24 hour daylight during the summer months it's easy to lose track of time, but please try and call ahead and I will wait up for you... Lindy wont - but I will ! If you still manage to forget, we usually have a note on our café restaurant / reception door asking guests to call a mobile number, or a sign to say if we are full or not ... So go ahead and wake me up, but if you do happen to wake Lindy up .. be afraid .. be very bloody afraid !!

Safe traveling !

Monday the 02 April 2007

The Easter Rush is upon us .. Help !!!

It's been over 3 months since my last informal 'blog' and what a hectic and hard season so far .. especially with our Winter Café in full swing. We hadn't quite recovered from cooking every day for our November ski athletes, before we threw ourselves into December Christmas dinners and functions. Lindy did manage to go home to her family for a few days over Christmas to recharge a little, leaving me to take care of our international guests. When she came back we started to prepare opening our Winter Café to the drop-in public.

It all started off very well with the help of our chef friend, who we were really hoping would become part of the team. However unfortunately , he couldn't dedicate enough time to our business due to overbooking himself to other hotels... a good chef is always in demand. .. so we had to struggle on with out him. Lindy is an exceptional cook herself, but of course it's very exhausting 7 days a week 13 hours a day in the kitchen. So we both suffered, but we're pretty sure our guests didn't !

We were saved by a friend coming over from Australia who became our 'right-hand man' . We couldn't have made it this far with out Tim. Whilst I was helping Lindy in the café, he took over a lot of the outdoor tasks ; clearing snow, preparing saunas for guests, cleaning our apartments .. sorting the snow scooter rentals, picking up guests .. sorting computing problems .. and much much more ... you name it .. and he did it. Tim has been invaluable in every way. He will be leaving us in 2 weeks ( sob ! ).

Now as indicated above, we are getting ready for the busiest time of the year. So what do I do at this crazy period ? Agree to organise a wedding ! Yes tomorrow the Bride and Groom arrive with a few friends. On Wednesday close family to the Bride & Groom arrive and on Thursday the rest of the 40 or so guests fly in just a few hours before the wedding. I have a friend, Jacob, arriving on Wednesday who has had much more experience than me, as a wedding planner ( I'm pretty sure he's gay ! His 'girlfriend' Eva is just a smoke-screen ! ) so I'll hand most of the responsibility over to him ! Lindy and I will still have to take care of other guests ( who aren't party of the wedding group ) and customers in the café during the day and then it'll be all hands on deck to make Christian and Hannes Special Day , even more special and unforgettable .. unforgettable in a good way , we hope !

So what's next for us ? Well another two or three weeks to the season ends and then we'll start preparing for Tärnaby Bed & Breakfast Spring Café . We will introduce/replace some menu items, taking advantage of seasonal treats !

However the real great news for our business ( and guests ) is that we will have two girls helping us for 10 weeks ( part of an international exchange initiative ) Fantastic ! It means Lindy might be able to take a few days off and spend some time with her grandmother and I might also be able to 'escape' for few days !

One of the girls ( Miriam ) is Swedish and the other ( Ann ) is Thai. So we might just be having Thai food nights as well .. LOvely !

So that's about it for now .. until next time ...

Matt, Lindy, Tim, and soon Ann and Miriam !

Sunday the 19th November

Hello again previous guests and soon-to-be-guests ! I will have to keep this short as I must help Lindy feed our hungry athletes. Yes it's that time of year again when Tärnaby plays host to more Federation of International Skiing competitions. ( F.I.S ) The village is buzzing with International teams from Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, Belgium , Japan and Norway to name a few. We have been fully booked with Russian and Czech teams. Our friendly Federation of Pakistan Team didn't join us this November , however they have booked for the end of January and early February to train. It will be lovely to see the guys back in Lapland and I believe Zahid their leader is bringing his wife to meet us !
Ok Let me tell you about our changes quickly.... Our new building which has been used as hostel-style accommodation as well as for conferences and also a luxury apartment has now become our Café-Restaurant ! It was built and designed with this in mind, so the transition/ evolvement has been relatively simple. Now to compensate for the loss of beds we have purchased our neighbours house and have already furnished and redecorated . This is an exciting addition to the accommodation we can offer our guests . It is elevated slightly higher than our main house so it also has spectacular views . It Enables us to have more separate bedrooms for our guests , more communal areas internally and externally with a wonderful large decking area for BBQs. It will serve as bed & breakfast rooms or as a large apartment , depending on seasonal demands.

So there you have it ! That was the big news . A new café-restaurant .. and another building ! For the moment we haven't opened our café to the 'public´. It has just been for our lodging guests.. For the last two and half weeks we have been serving breakfast, lunch and dinner for our skiing athletes and other guests. The transition to a Winter café (open to non-guests ) will be happening very very soon with the arrival of our chef to help us with Christmas plates and a Scrumptious Winter Menu. I still haven't found the time to update our main website however you can click here to see some pictures on our old site. ( it's easier and quicker to update this site )

Friday the 29th September

Well Hello there !
It's been almost 6 weeks since my last update. The summer has gone by so quickly with a very good season for our business and our guests. We've met a lot of interesting people and have made many exciting changes to our business with even more expansion going on at the moment in preparation for the ski season . Yes, I know, "I really should finish off the painting of the old house before I start with new projects ! " Lindy agrees with you !
We have had a steady stream of guests which has made it difficult to finish the exterior painting. Unfortunately we may have to wait until next year now as the temperature has started to drop . It's actually snowing lightly today , the first snowfall of the season . I think we may have to close the business for a week or two next year so we can really concentrate on the exterior decorating.
I can't use the excuse of not getting the painting done due to 'socializing too much with guests' as I suggested in my last update, as Lindy instructed me " To behave ! ".

But back to our changes and expansion .... I'll tell you about them soon ! One thing I can tell you though, is that we are going to be so busy getting everything ready over the next month ... and this expansion plan means that the day is drawing closer to where we may have to start employing people to help us for the ski-season . It will be a year earlier than I had anticipated , however as I indicated in a previous update " When we feel that the comfort and enjoyment of our guests may start to suffer , we will obviously start to employ someone to help. " So there you go ! I'll come back soon with the details and at the same time update / change the website with new pictures and two new additions to Tärnaby Bed & Breakfast and TarnabyLapland.com , in general .

Thursday 17th August 2006

It's been an interesting last two weeks since my last update . Little has changed in the way of our painting project of the old house, so I've been feeling a little guilty in that respect.
Lindy spent a much needed week relaxing at her Grandmothers whilst I held the fort. Some very busy days and nights whilst she was away and then there was one night with no guests, giving me time to catch up on washing and drying the sheets and towels . Oh the joy ! All of the accommodation businesses in the area send their laundry to Norway to be washed and pressed, but we have always done our own washing ( well mainly Lindy ! ) . We figured initially that the extra cost of sending our linen and towels to Norway would be too high and would thus reflect the price we charge for our guests . As we have been running for one and half years now and have expanded creating more than triple our beds, ( and occupancy levels ) it is becoming much too time consuming to do our own laundry . Even though a lot of guests do bring their own linen, in the summer where most guests are just here for one or two nights, the majority tend not to. Our time can be much better spent focusing on improving other parts of our business. ...
Firstly our cafe side ; Lindy's home-baked cakes were a real hit at the start of our business but unfortunately ( due to time and energy restraints ) we haven't kept up that tradition as often as we would have liked. Secondly our evening meals ; Again at the start of our business we had more time ( and energy ) to prepare evening meals. That has also suffered. Coming into Autumn now, time spent doing the laundry could be spent picking Mushrooms and berries in the mountains. Relaxing and enjoying nature whilst we work , passing on fresh produce and ingredients to you . I should be fishing more , so we always have a fresh supply of fish available ... Of course this is all idyllic in theory but still difficult to put into practice as someone has to be here all the time... until we can afford to start employing staff. We are still just a two-man show. When we feel that the comfort and enjoyment of our guests may start to suffer , we will obviously start to employ someone to help.
The time I could have spent painting the house, admittedly, I've been socializing a little too much with some of our guests ... I wont mention names .. but you know who you are ! 2 Motor cycling brothers who kindly shared their single malt with me ... A Danish Joiner who liked his piped tobacco and hip flasks of snaps .. Make mine a 'Single' sir ! ( Private joke ) Our Fishing guru from Stockholm ( www.sportefiskbutiken.se ) who liked his wines and woman ! A man after my own heart ! ... and of course not forgetting ourworld travelling Peruvian guest ( www.sixmonthsminimo.blogspot.com ) who just loved life . ( and his beer ! ) ... But had a tendency to walk into the mountains to camp forgetting to take with him the very basics .. such as a tent and sleeping bag ! He's also famous for his BBQ's ( another private joke ! ). Yes our Peruvian friend is sadly missed, however I'm sure he doesn't miss me ! I played the Bazil ( John Cleese from Faulty Towers ) a little bit too much calling him 'Manuel' ( ¿Que ? ! ) too often and just generally being an annoying smart-ass ! I also got him helping moving furniture around, moving wood pellets and anchoring our pier ! Will he dare to come back !? Please come back ... Mr Faulty promises to be nice !

The furnuture moving really helped us out as it's usually just Lindy helping me. We had to prepare our new building for 15 kids to run havoc for 5 days ! So 'Manuel' ( " Si , mr Faulty !" ) helped to carry Bunk beds back in and double beds back out .... Cheers mate, I couldn't have done it without you !

Tues the 1st August 2006.

I forgot to mention above that whilst we were building the pier, we had 7 Italian fly fisherman staying in our new building for 6 days. So it went From Honeymoon Lodge to Fishing Lodge . A Lovely bunch of gentleman ( I naturally wouldn't let Lindy meet them ! ) and very keen fisherman. I might just add that luckily before they arrived, I had forgiven the Italians for kicking Australia out of the World Cup .. .. But only because they stopped France from winning it ! ( I only mumbled a few insults about their diving tactics under my breath ... I don't think they heard me ?! Well they're coming back in Autumn .. so obviously not ... Or are they just coming back for Lindy ???????? )
Unfortunately the weather was pretty bad for them , until typically the day they left. Beautiful day and it's been fantastic weather ever since. ( No poetic-justice there guys?! ) Now, normally when you get 7 men together especially for a fishing holiday, you would imagine our new building after six days to smell of fish guts and B.O ! But we are talking about Italian men here .... Do they like their perfumes ! oh yeah. Wow .. two weeks later and it still smells like roses ! Thank guys. It's a pleasure for our new guests . See you again soon for a stunning Lapland Autumn .

Back to the pier-pontoon .... Göran Larsson saved the day ! Yes Mr Polaris himself came back from his little Norwegian trip to lend a helping hand and finally take our beached pontoon-pier to the water. I thought I'd have to wait for the flood of the century to get it to the lake ! So it was Wednesday last week ´for 'Victoria's' maiden voyage. Despite choosing a windy day to move it, it went very well without any problems . We attached it to Göran's machine , with me hanging off the side, Göran of course driving and Lindy driving the mini-bus ahead of us flashing the hazard lights . We took it 500 meters up the road to the boat ramp. Once dropped in the water , we then towed it behind our little fishing boat against a strong head wind to Tärnaby Bed & Breakfast ( Adventure Centre Tärnaby ) Göran sat on ' Vicoria' Holding the ropes high whilst Lindy and I steered the boat in front.
So a very big thank you to our super-hero MR POLARIS !

19th July 2006

Yes, I'm back again burning the midnight oil !
So our pier / pontoon parts arrived through customs toll house on the rainy afternoon of Friday the 14th. I started to build it saturday afternoon, with the help of Lindy's second cousin, Victor. He didn't know he was going to help ! It was pure chance he turned up and with some gentle persuasion I managed to make him stay for the weekend ! I couldn't have done it without him. Only 17 years old, but strong as an ox and very hard working. Not only did he help build the pier , but he also on Sunday helped to finally take apart the old garage roof that has been sitting very untidily next to our carpark. His Parents Oliver and Katinka have done an exceptional job raising him !
Per from Nova Artic Dogsleds will be using the old roof to build a new section to keep his dogs warm and store dog food, so he was also part of the dismantling team .. and the building-the-pier team. Well he was there , so why not rope him in to help finish the pier !
We made it slightly longer and wider than the above dimensions, so we ran out of wood decking. However most of the hard work was done.
The project was put on hold for a few days whilst Per and I transported the iron and trusses from the old roof to his property.
Tonight I am pleased to announce that I finished it today ! I dragged it on wooden crates from under our car port to the front of the property by mini-bus and by hand. My back just about held out .. but where was Victor when I needed him this time ?!
The problem I face now, is that the big market starts on Friday and I really wanted to have it in the water and secured firmly by tomorrow ( Thursday ). What's stopping me ? Well the original guy I was hoping would help out has gone to Norway for a holiday ( How dare you Mr Polaris Man ! ) and my other choice was with the builder of our new building, but his ingenious vehicle ( The incedible Hulk ) is grounded with two punctures that need to be replaced with two new tyres ... and they wont be arriving for two weeks !
Solution ? I'm working on it !

Oh yes, one more thing .... We are naming the Pontoon-pier " Victoria " as a BIG THANK YOU to Victor of course ! Let's hope it will still be there in 40 years for his grand kids to see !

7th July 2006

Who was it who said May to mid June were supposed to be " the slow months " ?! Ok, granted the large hotels are closed and it seems to be only us that's open , so that helps... and of course our reputation for our first year of business of providing friendly, affordable, cosy accommodation with wonderful views also helps ! And let's not forget the beautiful Lindy !
In between guest arrivals and departures we did manage to gravel our gardens/driveway and make the area look more presentable. We also have started some of the painting around the windows and have oiled our new building. We will still endeavour to paint as much as we can during the summer months, so long as it doesn't disrupt guests enjoyment of staying here.
Our boats have been setting a calming view ( even if that's just for my sake ! ) gently rocking in the waters and we have had some wonderful midnight trips in the light skies. One very memorable one with a Canadian guest, Stuart.
Last year we intended to have our jetty/pier built but unfortunately delivery was delayed. So delayed infact, that the lake was soon to freeze over again ! We subsequently cancelled the order, and this year have chosen to go with a Norwegian company. A floating pier 8 metres long and 2.5 metres wide with wooden decking. It is being delivered in pieces some time next week, so yet another job on my never ending 'list of things to do'. I'm hoping It wont take more than a couple of days to build, launch ( about 500 meters up the road and tow it up the lake to the front of our Guest House. ( fingers crossed ! ) Regardless it will be in place in time for the Cross-border Markets here in two weeks.
Exciting for us and our guests to have much easier access to the lake to swim, fish and for just simpler and quicker launching of the boats. So bring your fishing rods ( however we do have some rods you can use ), your swimmers and your sunscreen !

Other exciting news is that we are very happy to be spreading some romantic cheer to Tärnaby Bed & Breakfast. We turned our new building into a wedding/honeymoon lodge for the lovely Kristina & Marcus ! They are staying here as I'm typing this, getting ready for their big day tomorrow. Love and Adventure in Tärnaby ! They arrived by motor-bike ( one each and Marcus's is fitted with a camera to record the journey ! ) and on Sunday they are riding to Scotland to continue their Honeymoon. Now that's what I call a Honeymoon .... Makes this old Australian feel a little romantic himself.. ( for his Honda VF750 Sabre back in Australia !)

So to cap this little epic update off, don't forget we have the Annual Cross-border Markets July 21st to 23rd and the Multi-sports Adventure Racing World Championships ( ARWC ) August 16 -23rd . We have great specials with accommodation canoe and mountain bike rentals, so you can feel part of the action ! Give us call or email.

16th May 2006.

Well what a season ! Busy, busy , busy ! Spring came early and the snow melted quickly and even though the lake is still mostly frozen , the ice is breaking away steadily and within a week the boats and canoes will be gently rocking in the crystal clear waters ! After the building work of our new Hostel section in winter, our gardens and driveway were destroyed. Quite a shock to see after the snow melted away! We are now just waiting for the earth to thaw sufficiently so we can start landscaping the gardens and driveway.... So please excuse the untidy appearance from the outside.... We hope to start the beautifying process next week...

16th March 2006

As usual I've been too busy to update the website(s).... But you can click on this link to see some pictures of our new section !

1st November 2005.

To see a sample of our summer café-restaurant menu press here . We also have daily lunch specials and dinner specials .

Lindy and I have learnt from guest feedback to realise that the Bed & Breakfast theme and the Backpacker theme has been equally as popular in all seasons ... So we've started building a separate Backpacker / Hostel !
Due to open in Mid January 2006 ( but hopefully sooner ) the new Backpacker Complex will cater for our larger group bookings and/or individual travellers. It will accommodate 14-22 guests ( depending on specific group requests and/or seasons) and will have three bathrooms, a kitchen , lounge, ski-room/laundy and a downstairs 'chill-room'. The layout will be flexible and ever evolving so we can further learn from continued guest feedback.


Come and check it out and tell us what you think !