Iceland!
So Iceland... well it was a while away but we have been busy so this post is a tad overdue. Anyway, we left London late on Wednesday night and arrived in Iceland just before 12am... just in time to watch the sunset.... Kind of gave us an idea of what sort of levels of daylight we were in for. Lucky for us we all bought eye-masks! We found our coach and got a ride, via various other hotels, to the hostel. Took about an hour and a half in the end so we didn't get into bed till about 2am... just in time to watch the sun start to get back to full brightness!
We had a good few hours sleep then got up for a massive breakfast in the hostel before setting out to explore Reykjavik on foot. Its a really clean and modern looking town. We wandered around the coast and up into town, got a coffee and a cake, then headed off later in the arvo to go pick up our car.
We were quite lucky actually that the person who had been bringing our car managed to damage it when getting it cleaned, so we got upgraded to a Ford Focus Station wagon... much more room for 4 than our mid sized car we had booked. We hit the roads and boy what roads they are... The main road that rings Iceland is basically the only major road so it is maintained immaculately. We booted along then saw some other cars turning off at a sign that said Faxi... so we followed out of curiosity. Turned out to be a massive waterfall that was just stunning. We took a few pictures (we took quite a few this holiday for some reason :) then headed further up the road.
Our plan for the day was to get out to Geysir, the original spouting hot spring that gave its name to all other such natural features. Its not very active anymore but only 50 metres or so away is another smaller geysir called Strokkur that shoots water up about 30m and goes off about every 3-6 minutes. Very impressive. There are boiling springs and steam coming out of all sorts of holes in the ground all around... very cool.
After this we headed further up the road again to Gulfoss, and massive two step waterfall. In winter apparently this waterfall partially freezes. We then headed to a small town not too far away called Arnes to set up camp. Having so much daylight actually makes camping a breeze as you can keep sightseeing till like 8 or 9, then set up camp in full daylight, and cook dinner, be in bed by 11 or 12, then up again at about 7 or 8. You just hardly even seem to stop as its always light. That night however it did get very cold. I think it got down to about 5 degrees, but Gem was a big shivering bundle next to me. We learnt for next time though and put on more clothes before going to bed :)
Brekkie saw us fire up the burners and have a tasty batch of beans on toast, then we packed up camp and hit the road for Landmannalaugar for some hiking. When driving the scenery changes so drastically every few miles, from barren dirt fields, to lush green to fields of purple lupins. Its quite stunning. We also got great views of the most active volcano in Iceland, Hekla. Hekla has blown its top quite a few times, and since about 1970 has erupted about every ten years. The last eruption was in 2000 so they expect it to go again in 2010.
Landmannaluagar is one of the most geothermally active places in all of Iceland... and that's saying something! To get out there we had to take an "F" road. On these roads you are no longer insured in your hire car, but we wanted to go out there anyway. Its all gravel, which the quite low Ford Focus handled quite well in the end, and there are a few bigger rocks strewn around which we could avoid at least. Closer to the hut where the hike we anted to do was there was a river which we had no intention of trying to ford. We parked by it (along with a few other smaller cars) and walked up to the hut. We got our directions then went back to the car for a quick bite of food. There were hundreds of small flies around which were very very annoying, but they didn't car for food. They seemed to just enjoy sitting on things as they swarmed around the car and around us if we stood together. If you stood apart and in a breeze they all disappeared! After lunch we set out on the 10-12km round trip hike to the Ugly Puddle, a red dirt volcanic crater filled with bright blue water. The hike was good fun and alternated between dirt, spongy moss stuff on rocks, loose gravel and the odd patch of old snow! At one point the guide book said you could take a path over a hill or a path around it. Unfortunately we couldn't really see either so me and Grant headed up and the girls headed around. It was a fairly hard climb up but well worth it for the views. The girls technically beat us to the other side but the ground on the far side was this strange spongy rock stuff so we ran down the other side in no time :)
When we got to the Ugly Puddle it was really quite beautiful. Bright red dirt and the water was storybook blue. Apparently its full of trout though no one is quite sure how they got in there. We rolled a few rocks down the sides for fun then started the walk back. Back at the hut there is a natural hot spring that yo can get into. Its got a wooden walkway out to this natural pool where cold glacial water runs in from one side, and a small stream of boiling hot water pours in from the other. There is a small wooden platform to put your stuff on then you wade up the fairly cold water to the main pool. Trick is then to get as close to the hot water stream as you can stand :) Was awesome to sit outside in a natural hot spring just taking in the surroundings. After about an hour the weather looked like it was closing in and we didn't fancy driving back along that f-road in the wet so we ran back up to the camping hut and made use of their showers to wash of the sulfur smell and the algae (not much but there was some in the spring).
We made it back out to the main roads again and started to make our way to our next camp ground which was nestled at the foot of a 62 metre waterfall called Skogafoss. It was quite windy here but really picturesque. We had a nice camp meal in a small alcove with a picnic table attached of the amenities block, then settled down to a warmer if noisy night, what with the waterfall and wind and all. Though we all slept well and I think it was quite relaxing actually.
In the morning we didn't have any bread left so we quickly packed camp then drove to a town called Vik. We found the only open restaurant and settled in for a breakfast/lunch at about 11. Burgers for breakfast. We continued our journey and later on came to a massive section of ruined bridge. That is kept by the side of the road. Basically, a few years ago a volcano erupted underneath one of the glaciers and melted heaps of the ice which poured out from under the glacier and down the river bed that the bridge spanned and out into the sea. This completely manged the bridge and it was testament to its power to see these massive steel girders completely bent at all angles by the power of the water and rock it displaced.
We continued driving east until we finally reached Jokulsarlon, a lagoon filed with icebergs that calve of the glacier Vatnajokull that comes right down to waters edge. It was absolutely amazing and we took so many photos. Some of the icebergs were small but there were some quite big ones floating around too. Some were amazingly blue too. There was a few small pieces that had washed to shore and when we picked them up they were very smooth and almost perfectly transparent. You could also take an amphibious vehicle out for a ride around them but we didn't bother... it was impressive enough from the shore.
After iceberg watching we headed back to Vik and found a campsite. We pitched our tents then went out puffin hunting :) We drove a short distance to the coastal cliffs and then walked down to the cliff edge. There were heaps of birds circling around in the air and coming in and out of the cliffs, but it wasn't until we got closer that we were able to pick out the puffins. They are the ones that were a fair bit smaller and flapping madly with their stumpy wings :) Walking further round the waters edge we found that we could climb up the boulders at the cliff edge and up a steep grassy section to get is closer. We were able to see the puffins from quite close from here. They are really cute little things, and again we got lots of pictures. Gem even managed to get one of a puffin that had just come back from the ocean with a fish in its mouth!
After this excitement we went back to camp and started some tea. Me and Grant "borrowed" a massive park table/bench from in front of a few small apartments and bought it to the front of our camp. We started cooking in beautiful blue sky but suddenly some very serious looking dark clouds came over the mountains. We watched them for about 10 minutes but they were very ominous and coming in fast. Lucky for us the camp site had a big kitchen area with benches and stuff so we took all our gear in there. About 5 minutes later the heavens opened and it absolutely poured down. Inside there was a group of about 15 Germans who had some serious cooking equipment with them, even including a drip filter for coffee! While we were cooking up our pasta they asked if we wanted to finish of their food as they had had enough and didn't want to waste it. We accepted and had a very tasty bowl of this curry and veg dish. After our meal the rain finally stopped so we headed off to bed.
In the morning the sun was back out and we had smoked bacon and eggs on our "borrowed" picnic table. We drove out to a geothermal power plant but the visitor centre didn't open until after lunch. We had a bit of a wander round but it was blowing an absolute gale so me and Gem retired to the car for a small power nap. Grant and Vic braved the wind and walked further into the hills for about an hour to see the bubbling mud. After this we headed back towards Reykjavik and skirted around to it and out to the western peninsula. There are two lighthouses our here, an old one which obviously didn't do a very good job as there was quite a few wrecks on the map at its foot, and a newer bigger one. It was even windier here that you could actually lean into the wind and stay upright. This was also the site of the free campsite, and judging buy the two flattened tents we thought it might be a tad windy to stay here comfortably. We continued on and went through a small village that supposedly had a really cool nature museum. Even though the opening times said it should be open it was closed. Poo. Further on we came to a place that you are, again supposedly, able to walk out across a sandy lava field for 30 minutes to get to a cliff edge where you can often see whales. After walking out for about 20 minutes we realised they had grossly under estimated that walk in our guidebook and it would be at least another 40 minutes to get to the edge for no real guarantee of seeing whales... so we turned around.
Next stop was "The Bridge Between Two Continents". This is a bridge at spans the Alfagja rift valley, the boundary of the Eurasian and North American continental tectonic plates. This bridge is about 30 metres wide and the two plates are moving apart at a rate of 2cm a year. Quite a massive amount when you think about the size of these land masses.
Following on from this we got to another very geothermally unstable area called Gunnuhver, named after the witch Gunna who was trapped by magic and dragged into the boiling water to her death :) There were massive plumes of stinky sulfurous steam coming out of the ground and huge pits of boiling mud. We went for a walk round this area but in some areas we sunk in a few inches into the soft soil and left steaming foot prints, so we sort of thought it best to leave. We found that we were covered in small dots of dirt and all smelt faintly of sulphur so we found ourselves a guest house to stay in for our last night. The one we found was brilliant, proper beds, a full kitchen to use, proper blackout curtains and breakfast in the morning. Heaven :) The owner also lived in Tom Price for a few years when she was younger so knew all about WA. We showered and relaxed then about 11:30pm we got in the car and drove out towards the coast. We wanted to get photos of the sunsetting over the water at midnight, but the coast was slightly farther off than we calculated so we ended up with just as pretty shots of the midnight sun over fields of lava. On the way back we passed the edges of the Blue Lagoon, where the waters come right up to the roads edge. It really is spectacular to see this azure milky blue water against the grey lava rock. We headed home and fell fast asleep in comfy beds.
After a big breakfast we headed back to the Blue Lagoon. We thought it would be very touristy, and it kinda was, but it is done brilliantly. Not too expensive and very well thought out. You get this rubber bracelet thing with a microchip in it, which you use to lock and open your locker. You then stash your stuff, and head outside, The bracelet will also allow you to charge food and drink to it so you don't need to carry money. The Blue Lagoon water is kept at about 38 degrees but massive steam vents. There are also pots of this white silicon mud stuff around that you are supposed to put on your skin. We did but it kinda burnt (well me and Grant thought it did) so we washed it off. There are also waterfalls, a steam room, a sauna and areas to get massages on lilos.
We hung around here for a few hours then had a rushed if tasty lunch. Next up it was back to the airport,after filling up the car and putting back on a mudflap we nearly ripped of the f-road. When we had boarded the plane we saw a lady walk down the aisle that looked suspiciously like Bjork... but we assumed she just "looked" like Bjork as she was flying cattle class like the rest of us. Though we did think it odd that we knew she was doing a concert in Rekyjavik the night before. However, when we were clearing customs in Heathrow she came by us again and some Icelandic girls in front of us started taking pictures and a agent of hers came and asked them not to.. so it was Bjork! Whats the chances of seeing the one Icelandic person I could sort of pick out of a line-up on our flight!
We were in for a fairly nasty surprise when we finally got home about 10:30pm that night. We knew a painter was coming in to do the bathrooms while we were away, but he had also decided to do the rest of the house. We called the landlord and she was pretty mad. She had told him to do some more if he knew he could finish it and leave the place looking untouched. Yet there were spots of paint EVERYWHERE. On the floors, the best spreads, the laptop lids, all the stuff around the sink, the plants, the futons, our snowboard boots, the sleeve of Grants leather jacket, everywhere... Only small tiny spots but still... And it was a shoddy job too. I'm glad I wasn't paying for it. Though I'm not sure our landlord was going to pay for it either. Lucky for us they own and run a dry cleaning company so she came round the next day (Grant was home) and took all out sheets and stuff to wash for us. The painter had taken down all our maps and stuff off the walls and hadn't put anything back in its place, and obviously didn't use any sort of drop sheets at all. He even had the nerve to use one of our good containers to mix paint and leave it on the sink with a few dirty mugs! Not what we had in mind to come home to at 10:30. Still it was an awesome holiday, one of the best really, right up there with dog-sledding.
And thats about it. Bloody long post this... sorry 'bout that. Photos to come soon.
Ciao for now (brown cow).
Duncan.
We had a good few hours sleep then got up for a massive breakfast in the hostel before setting out to explore Reykjavik on foot. Its a really clean and modern looking town. We wandered around the coast and up into town, got a coffee and a cake, then headed off later in the arvo to go pick up our car.
We were quite lucky actually that the person who had been bringing our car managed to damage it when getting it cleaned, so we got upgraded to a Ford Focus Station wagon... much more room for 4 than our mid sized car we had booked. We hit the roads and boy what roads they are... The main road that rings Iceland is basically the only major road so it is maintained immaculately. We booted along then saw some other cars turning off at a sign that said Faxi... so we followed out of curiosity. Turned out to be a massive waterfall that was just stunning. We took a few pictures (we took quite a few this holiday for some reason :) then headed further up the road.
Our plan for the day was to get out to Geysir, the original spouting hot spring that gave its name to all other such natural features. Its not very active anymore but only 50 metres or so away is another smaller geysir called Strokkur that shoots water up about 30m and goes off about every 3-6 minutes. Very impressive. There are boiling springs and steam coming out of all sorts of holes in the ground all around... very cool.After this we headed further up the road again to Gulfoss, and massive two step waterfall. In winter apparently this waterfall partially freezes. We then headed to a small town not too far away called Arnes to set up camp. Having so much daylight actually makes camping a breeze as you can keep sightseeing till like 8 or 9, then set up camp in full daylight, and cook dinner, be in bed by 11 or 12, then up again at about 7 or 8. You just hardly even seem to stop as its always light. That night however it did get very cold. I think it got down to about 5 degrees, but Gem was a big shivering bundle next to me. We learnt for next time though and put on more clothes before going to bed :)
Brekkie saw us fire up the burners and have a tasty batch of beans on toast, then we packed up camp and hit the road for Landmannalaugar for some hiking. When driving the scenery changes so drastically every few miles, from barren dirt fields, to lush green to fields of purple lupins. Its quite stunning. We also got great views of the most active volcano in Iceland, Hekla. Hekla has blown its top quite a few times, and since about 1970 has erupted about every ten years. The last eruption was in 2000 so they expect it to go again in 2010.
Landmannaluagar is one of the most geothermally active places in all of Iceland... and that's saying something! To get out there we had to take an "F" road. On these roads you are no longer insured in your hire car, but we wanted to go out there anyway. Its all gravel, which the quite low Ford Focus handled quite well in the end, and there are a few bigger rocks strewn around which we could avoid at least. Closer to the hut where the hike we anted to do was there was a river which we had no intention of trying to ford. We parked by it (along with a few other smaller cars) and walked up to the hut. We got our directions then went back to the car for a quick bite of food. There were hundreds of small flies around which were very very annoying, but they didn't car for food. They seemed to just enjoy sitting on things as they swarmed around the car and around us if we stood together. If you stood apart and in a breeze they all disappeared! After lunch we set out on the 10-12km round trip hike to the Ugly Puddle, a red dirt volcanic crater filled with bright blue water. The hike was good fun and alternated between dirt, spongy moss stuff on rocks, loose gravel and the odd patch of old snow! At one point the guide book said you could take a path over a hill or a path around it. Unfortunately we couldn't really see either so me and Grant headed up and the girls headed around. It was a fairly hard climb up but well worth it for the views. The girls technically beat us to the other side but the ground on the far side was this strange spongy rock stuff so we ran down the other side in no time :)
When we got to the Ugly Puddle it was really quite beautiful. Bright red dirt and the water was storybook blue. Apparently its full of trout though no one is quite sure how they got in there. We rolled a few rocks down the sides for fun then started the walk back. Back at the hut there is a natural hot spring that yo can get into. Its got a wooden walkway out to this natural pool where cold glacial water runs in from one side, and a small stream of boiling hot water pours in from the other. There is a small wooden platform to put your stuff on then you wade up the fairly cold water to the main pool. Trick is then to get as close to the hot water stream as you can stand :) Was awesome to sit outside in a natural hot spring just taking in the surroundings. After about an hour the weather looked like it was closing in and we didn't fancy driving back along that f-road in the wet so we ran back up to the camping hut and made use of their showers to wash of the sulfur smell and the algae (not much but there was some in the spring).We made it back out to the main roads again and started to make our way to our next camp ground which was nestled at the foot of a 62 metre waterfall called Skogafoss. It was quite windy here but really picturesque. We had a nice camp meal in a small alcove with a picnic table attached of the amenities block, then settled down to a warmer if noisy night, what with the waterfall and wind and all. Though we all slept well and I think it was quite relaxing actually.
In the morning we didn't have any bread left so we quickly packed camp then drove to a town called Vik. We found the only open restaurant and settled in for a breakfast/lunch at about 11. Burgers for breakfast. We continued our journey and later on came to a massive section of ruined bridge. That is kept by the side of the road. Basically, a few years ago a volcano erupted underneath one of the glaciers and melted heaps of the ice which poured out from under the glacier and down the river bed that the bridge spanned and out into the sea. This completely manged the bridge and it was testament to its power to see these massive steel girders completely bent at all angles by the power of the water and rock it displaced.
We continued driving east until we finally reached Jokulsarlon, a lagoon filed with icebergs that calve of the glacier Vatnajokull that comes right down to waters edge. It was absolutely amazing and we took so many photos. Some of the icebergs were small but there were some quite big ones floating around too. Some were amazingly blue too. There was a few small pieces that had washed to shore and when we picked them up they were very smooth and almost perfectly transparent. You could also take an amphibious vehicle out for a ride around them but we didn't bother... it was impressive enough from the shore.After iceberg watching we headed back to Vik and found a campsite. We pitched our tents then went out puffin hunting :) We drove a short distance to the coastal cliffs and then walked down to the cliff edge. There were heaps of birds circling around in the air and coming in and out of the cliffs, but it wasn't until we got closer that we were able to pick out the puffins. They are the ones that were a fair bit smaller and flapping madly with their stumpy wings :) Walking further round the waters edge we found that we could climb up the boulders at the cliff edge and up a steep grassy section to get is closer. We were able to see the puffins from quite close from here. They are really cute little things, and again we got lots of pictures. Gem even managed to get one of a puffin that had just come back from the ocean with a fish in its mouth!
After this excitement we went back to camp and started some tea. Me and Grant "borrowed" a massive park table/bench from in front of a few small apartments and bought it to the front of our camp. We started cooking in beautiful blue sky but suddenly some very serious looking dark clouds came over the mountains. We watched them for about 10 minutes but they were very ominous and coming in fast. Lucky for us the camp site had a big kitchen area with benches and stuff so we took all our gear in there. About 5 minutes later the heavens opened and it absolutely poured down. Inside there was a group of about 15 Germans who had some serious cooking equipment with them, even including a drip filter for coffee! While we were cooking up our pasta they asked if we wanted to finish of their food as they had had enough and didn't want to waste it. We accepted and had a very tasty bowl of this curry and veg dish. After our meal the rain finally stopped so we headed off to bed.
In the morning the sun was back out and we had smoked bacon and eggs on our "borrowed" picnic table. We drove out to a geothermal power plant but the visitor centre didn't open until after lunch. We had a bit of a wander round but it was blowing an absolute gale so me and Gem retired to the car for a small power nap. Grant and Vic braved the wind and walked further into the hills for about an hour to see the bubbling mud. After this we headed back towards Reykjavik and skirted around to it and out to the western peninsula. There are two lighthouses our here, an old one which obviously didn't do a very good job as there was quite a few wrecks on the map at its foot, and a newer bigger one. It was even windier here that you could actually lean into the wind and stay upright. This was also the site of the free campsite, and judging buy the two flattened tents we thought it might be a tad windy to stay here comfortably. We continued on and went through a small village that supposedly had a really cool nature museum. Even though the opening times said it should be open it was closed. Poo. Further on we came to a place that you are, again supposedly, able to walk out across a sandy lava field for 30 minutes to get to a cliff edge where you can often see whales. After walking out for about 20 minutes we realised they had grossly under estimated that walk in our guidebook and it would be at least another 40 minutes to get to the edge for no real guarantee of seeing whales... so we turned around.
Next stop was "The Bridge Between Two Continents". This is a bridge at spans the Alfagja rift valley, the boundary of the Eurasian and North American continental tectonic plates. This bridge is about 30 metres wide and the two plates are moving apart at a rate of 2cm a year. Quite a massive amount when you think about the size of these land masses.Following on from this we got to another very geothermally unstable area called Gunnuhver, named after the witch Gunna who was trapped by magic and dragged into the boiling water to her death :) There were massive plumes of stinky sulfurous steam coming out of the ground and huge pits of boiling mud. We went for a walk round this area but in some areas we sunk in a few inches into the soft soil and left steaming foot prints, so we sort of thought it best to leave. We found that we were covered in small dots of dirt and all smelt faintly of sulphur so we found ourselves a guest house to stay in for our last night. The one we found was brilliant, proper beds, a full kitchen to use, proper blackout curtains and breakfast in the morning. Heaven :) The owner also lived in Tom Price for a few years when she was younger so knew all about WA. We showered and relaxed then about 11:30pm we got in the car and drove out towards the coast. We wanted to get photos of the sunsetting over the water at midnight, but the coast was slightly farther off than we calculated so we ended up with just as pretty shots of the midnight sun over fields of lava. On the way back we passed the edges of the Blue Lagoon, where the waters come right up to the roads edge. It really is spectacular to see this azure milky blue water against the grey lava rock. We headed home and fell fast asleep in comfy beds.
After a big breakfast we headed back to the Blue Lagoon. We thought it would be very touristy, and it kinda was, but it is done brilliantly. Not too expensive and very well thought out. You get this rubber bracelet thing with a microchip in it, which you use to lock and open your locker. You then stash your stuff, and head outside, The bracelet will also allow you to charge food and drink to it so you don't need to carry money. The Blue Lagoon water is kept at about 38 degrees but massive steam vents. There are also pots of this white silicon mud stuff around that you are supposed to put on your skin. We did but it kinda burnt (well me and Grant thought it did) so we washed it off. There are also waterfalls, a steam room, a sauna and areas to get massages on lilos.
We hung around here for a few hours then had a rushed if tasty lunch. Next up it was back to the airport,after filling up the car and putting back on a mudflap we nearly ripped of the f-road. When we had boarded the plane we saw a lady walk down the aisle that looked suspiciously like Bjork... but we assumed she just "looked" like Bjork as she was flying cattle class like the rest of us. Though we did think it odd that we knew she was doing a concert in Rekyjavik the night before. However, when we were clearing customs in Heathrow she came by us again and some Icelandic girls in front of us started taking pictures and a agent of hers came and asked them not to.. so it was Bjork! Whats the chances of seeing the one Icelandic person I could sort of pick out of a line-up on our flight!
We were in for a fairly nasty surprise when we finally got home about 10:30pm that night. We knew a painter was coming in to do the bathrooms while we were away, but he had also decided to do the rest of the house. We called the landlord and she was pretty mad. She had told him to do some more if he knew he could finish it and leave the place looking untouched. Yet there were spots of paint EVERYWHERE. On the floors, the best spreads, the laptop lids, all the stuff around the sink, the plants, the futons, our snowboard boots, the sleeve of Grants leather jacket, everywhere... Only small tiny spots but still... And it was a shoddy job too. I'm glad I wasn't paying for it. Though I'm not sure our landlord was going to pay for it either. Lucky for us they own and run a dry cleaning company so she came round the next day (Grant was home) and took all out sheets and stuff to wash for us. The painter had taken down all our maps and stuff off the walls and hadn't put anything back in its place, and obviously didn't use any sort of drop sheets at all. He even had the nerve to use one of our good containers to mix paint and leave it on the sink with a few dirty mugs! Not what we had in mind to come home to at 10:30. Still it was an awesome holiday, one of the best really, right up there with dog-sledding.
And thats about it. Bloody long post this... sorry 'bout that. Photos to come soon.
Ciao for now (brown cow).
Duncan.
posted by Duncan at
6:32 AM
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