I'd been doing my 1-2 hourly check for the Northern lights, consisting of sticking one partly opened eyelid to the window in our darkened room, without much luck when I decided to don some shorts and venture outside into the snow on the off chance that they were appearing out of window view !
About to head back inside I had a look above our guesthouse seeing an odd white cloud that seemed to be changing shape. My sleep deprived brain recognised that this shimmer just might suggest that we were about to see a display !
Now fully awake I raced back inside turning on our bedroom light yelling to Monika, "the lights", "the lights", while at the same time fumbling around for my camera. Back outside with the "greens" now starting to appear Monika now ran back inside banging on Tegan and Billy's door startling them and making them think that our guesthouse was on fire !
Finally all of us were outside looking up into the night time sky and out across the Fjiord with its silhouetted Mtns to watch a now full on display. Shimmering whites evolved into curtain like folds of moving green, while other crescent shapes would hold their shape then disappear. Others would simply just radiate and spread !
While our cameras were clicking away we were struggling to get a good shot given the proximity of the lights to our guesthouse and the street lights of Hofsos spoiling our long exposures !
After what seemed like a never ending series of "oooss and aaahs" Billy and Monika returned to bed while Tegan and I had one last hurrah driving out of town to shoot without the affect of the towns lights. With Tegan's camera battery finally dead, as well as most of her appendages after standing outside in the cold for so long in a coat and pyjamas, we called it a night going back to bed still with our beanies and gloves trying to get some feeling back to our now numb bodies !
We were abuzz when we woke the next morning recounting the previous nights amazing spectacle and decided to walk down the street on a beautiful -1C morning to visit the world famous Infinty pool of Hofsos. Despite being an insolated community and having only a small population, Hofsos' infinity pool is stunning (& thankfully heated) flanked by a fjiord with an incredible backdrop of snow capped mountains.
We were gob smacked by the view as well as the cold as we raced the 15 metres from the dressing room to enter the pool. What an absolutely amazing vista awaited us as we swam with our noses just above the water level to take in the incredible sights ! While Teg and I luxuriated Billy pulled out one from his bag of tricks by rolling in the pool side snow before jumping back in the pool to much laughter and our grimmace !
After reluctantly leaving the pool we returned for breakfast, cleaned up and took to the road again continuing our journey around the isolated peninsular on rolling roads witb icy / slushy sections that had Tegan looking nervously over the guard rails to the ice cold ocean below !
Our journey took us through the beautiful town of Siglifjordur which has now become a bit of a tourist town thanks to the Icelandic TV series Trapped which was filmed here. The village almost looked Swiss in narure with its multi coloured houses sitting underneath avalanche barriers by the edge of the fjiord and roads snaking there way through the white surrounds over the tops of the surrounding mountains,
Venturing on we finally made Akureyri the 2nd most populous city in Iceland and near the top part of Iceland. After visiting our favorite suoermarket chain " The Pig" we drove 30kns further around the fjiord to discover our lovely & petite accommodation in the picturesque former fishing village of Grenevik ! After finally offloading our gear and Billy digging out a pathway through the snow that had fallen the previous night we took in our lovely but strange accommodation.
3 storeys with a toilet dividing the ist and 3rd stories made this one of the strangest places we'd ever seen. Not only that but to ascend the top story you needed mountain climbing experinece on the steep steps while to reach the bedrooms on the ground floor (effectively a basement) you needed cave diving experience as you literally had to slide down the stairs on your bum whike crouching to avoid the 5 foot high ceiling !
With dinner taken Billy, Tegan and I were off on another adventure this time a night time plunge into the thermally heated nature pool of Myvatyn the sister to Icelands more famous Blue Lagoon.
Our 90 minute journey there was stunning as the mountain peaks gave way to a flat plateaux like landscape with the setting sun creating a magical series of pink and mauve panoramas against the white coloured snow and blue coloured rivers.
We finally made the Myvatyn nature pools no thanks to the lack of signs and once again plunged back into the hot water this time a more bracing experience with the night time temperature already plunging ! Tegan's pain filled movements on entering the pool were captured on video as was a snowball that struck her thrown by Billy - he expects to take an early plea and only get 6 weeks !.
We had time to enjoy the steam covered surrounds till 10p.m. throw out time and what an experience it was swimming in darkness with steam rising like a Jack Ripper fog, luxuriating in the heat while trying not to bump into people hidden in the dark. At one point we looked out over the edge of the larfer pool to an incredible volcanic landscape momentarily feeling like we'd gone back to the time of the dinosaurs !
At $50 the experience wasn't cheap but certainly worth it and i believe a much more snatural experience than the commercialised Blue Lagoon near Keflavik.
Of course we were just about the last to leave quickly showering and then taking the same long journey back with Tegan doing a great job of keeping me awake as our cars dashboard recorded an icy -13 C outside temperature.
Finally back safely at 11.30p.m. absolutely stuffed after one incredible day we collectively went to bed for the first time on tour all wishing that the northern lights "would NOT " make an appearance !
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