Tegans Word !

Iceland seems just a memory now as I sit in a warm (anything above 2 degrees) house and recover after running on empty attempting to see everything Iceland has to offer.

It was a holiday full of first experiences. Arriving to a snow covered country and immediately racing outside keeping a watchful eye on our suitcases as we ran through the snow that was still falling. That was the first experience.

Seeing the northern lights was the second. And to see them twice, even faintly is enough to make me plan my next trip to see them again. Standing outside and watching the ribbon of green light cascade across the sky with a white landscape, well and truly made up for the 2 hour shifts to check if they were out. (Thanks dad!)

Bathing in any kind of heated pool or lagoon was the third. Whether in the infinity pool looking out at the snow capped mountains in Hofsos. Or bathing in the naturally heated Myvatn lagoon and watching the sun set. Not to mention the beautiful landscape around every corner and driving through flat volcanic geo thermal areas with pockets of steam escaping into the air.

The fourth 'first' experience was riding the Icelandic horse, (not ponies!) on a freezing but sunny day in Grenivik. Then later zip lining through the canyons on a thankfully much warmer day.

And fifth, holding part of a glacier in my hands as the others wash out to sea from Jokulsarlon lagoon.

And in between all of these first experiences there was driving for hours through beautiful mountains and waterfalls, trying unsuccessfully to warm my fingers up between trips so I could still function my camera. 

So even though I'm now home somewhat poorer, paying $40 for a meal, and my fingers and toes may still be thawing out after -13 degree nights, Iceland was truly something special. 

The Finale !

The Finale !

All good things come to an end and this fabulous adventure that incuded nearly 2,000 kms circumnavigating breathtaking Iceand was no exception.

With a high Northern Lights forecast rating Tegan and I took turns on sentry duty (read looking out the darkened windows in the middle of the night with one partly opened eye) before going for one final drive outside of Keflavik at 4.00a.m. to check if there was any potential for the Lights.

Our fears that the night sky was fully overcast were confirmed when a growing white light broke through cloud to reveal itself to be an aircraft on approach to Keflavik Airport and seemingly only a few hundred feet above us.

Going back to sleep now was nearly pointless and we were soon up and packed having breakfast on the run before returning our well used hire car by 7a.m.

With an onward journey to family in the UK and with Tegan and Billy looking forward to their Spanish adventure it might be a few more weeks before we can all sit down and reflect on our whirlwind tour and incredible adventure which of course included seeing the fabulous  Northern Lights - mission accomplished !

Golden Circle More

Golden Circle

The Golden Circle !

After a week full on with touring and empty of sleep we awoke in our fabulously positioned cabin for breakfast on our last full day in Iceland. With supplies being consumed there was now enough room in our Volkswagen Estate to do away with our daily roll call, a ritual previously necessary to ensure that those on board were not buried under the cars excess luggage.

With the car secured we headed back up the road to the nearby Seljalandsfoss Waterfall. While absent of Spring colour and with the path behind the falls not open (too icy) it was still an impressive stopover.

After a few pics we walked past the adjoining waterfalls taking in a partially hidden waterfall with an unpronounceable Icelandic name, where the gang precariously balanced on river rocks to get close up to the falls icy spray !

Duly sprayed we drove on (80 kms) to the so called Secret Lagoon at Flouir, an outdoor thermally heated pool frequented by about half of Iceland and patrolled by a life saver in a ski jacket sitting inside something that looked like an upright Pope Mobile ! Anyone drowning here would be well gone by the time the life saver entered the pool !

From Flouir we took in the touristy Golden Circle frequented by bus loads of tourists from Reyjkavik. The beautiful Gulfoss waterfall at least provided some scenery relief in the icy cold winds while Geysir provided some entertainment as unsuspecting tourists were drenched by blasts of the high rising super heated steam !

Our final stop on our circle tour of Iceland included the historic Pingvellir national park famed for its clashing Continental plates and being the site of Icelands ancient parliament .

In the gathering gloom Billy, Tegan and self got in some much needed exercise (not according to Tegan) while Monika wislely guarded the vehicle citing that she needed to be there in case the cars handbrake disengaged causing the car to roll uphill !

With our touring agenda  complete it was a 1 hour drive back through peakhour Reyjkavik to the airport satellite town of Keflavik where with a bit of dedicated searching we finally found our non signed b&b.

There was only one more task now left and that was to find a restuarant where we didnt need to mortgage our house to have a meal.

Mission achieved it was back to our b&b to look forward to another 2-3 hours of sleep with a rating 5 forecast for the Northern Lights tonight the highest we've had  on the tour to date.

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The Ice Day - 3

The Ice day - 2

The Ice Day 1

The Ice Shines !

At this pace Tegan and I were going to be walking zombies by tour end. After breaking into our overnight sleep by regularly checking for the lights (no success) we on the road by 5.30 to drive to the famed "Diamond Beach" on the Jokularslon Glacial Lagoon in time for sunrise leaving Billy and Monika to have some semblance of a normal lie in !

Jokularslon is a glacial lagoon with huge chunks of ice breaking up in the lagoons blue waters before floating out to the Atlantic Ocean and leaving chunks of ice on the beautiful black sand beach. 

We were up against it right from the start. The skies were overcast, the wind chilling to say the least and the ice shapes uninspiring with the best blue chunks lolling about in choppy waters just off shore.

Depite our best endeavours and the obvious breathtaking setting of Jokukarsarlon, we struggled to get that oft posted perfect blue coloured ice shot of broken of glacial ice washed up on the perfectly contrasting black sands.

One of the main challenges was setting up the camera tripod close enough to take the features of the ice but not so close that you were likely to be swept away by the next large wave. On a number of occassions mid shot i had to quickly retreat leaving tripod and camera still in place on a longer exposure while waters lapped the tripod legs.

With enough shots taken we tore back to our accommodation to join Billy and Monika for breakfast before again returning to the lagoon proper this time with the sun finally appearing to provide a beautiful aura over the lagoon. This has to be one of the wonders of the world with calved glacial ice providing for a surreal jigsaw puzzle across the picturesque blue water against a backdrop of snow covered peaks.

While I flew my drone over the lagoon Billy tried to get a pack of ice sleeping seals to perform only succeeding in scaring them back into the water. My drone expedition ended successfully despite the drone reappearing from the opposite direction from which i was looking while Billy continued his circus stunts by jumping across packs of ice in shallow water with Monika at the ready with camera and life vest should he fall in !

With our senses fully overloaded we flew across open roads through the amazing Laki volcano fields (the remnants of one of history's largest eruptions back in the 1700's) to Vik to make time enough to allow Billy and Tegan to venture off on their death defying zip line excursion over nearby canyons.

Monika and I were far more sensible walking nearby Reynisfjara beach famed for its incredible geological structures while at the same time being notorious for its rogue waves which have swept a number of tourists to their deaths over the years. 

A quick head count back at the car though showed that we'd all made it back safely with Billy and Tegan still abuz from the thrill of their open air experience.

With respective adventures completed we moved on from picturesque Vik picking up the Reyjkavik tourist traffic as we worked our way past the Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss waterfalls to our beautifully isolated cabin accommodation at Bru with 360 views of nothing, a good panorama to check for the Northern Lights !

After little sleep and big hours on the road we fell asleep early ... well at least until my midnight sentry duty which revealed faint white lights. A check with the cameras long exposure confirmed them once again to be the northern lights ! Whike not as spectacular as our night in Hofsos it was still unique enough to get the gang out of bed, Billy lasting for 2 minutes in the cold, Monika for 15 and Tegan for 30 before I carried the flag in the hope that they might turn into something more spectacular.

It was not to be, but i was certainly not disappointed at being privileged to get another chance to see this wonderous spectacle !

 

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