A shot from our Winter catalogue…

I don’t know why, but I’m fighting an urge to giggle at the photo above. I didn’t really look at it before I uploaded it to flickr and the fact that we’re smiling off into the distance and posing like that… I don’t know, maybe it’s just me and the fact that we’ve been in Reykjavik airport for several hours already and have a couple to go and I’ve only just stopped feeling awful from last night’s efforts to not waste out duty free allowance.

Anyhoo, icebergs!

Luke and I went to see the icebergs twice at the biggest glacial lake. It was far, far more interesting than I thought it would be.

The lake empties into the ocean and the tide also flows back into the lake, so there’s lots of movement to push the icebergs around and they crash into each other quite loudly. You can also hear the ice constantly cracking and melting and the splashing of the icebergs as they turn over. You could sit on the edge and watch them for ages, it reminded me of watching fish in an aquarium.

The colours and textures in the ice were interesting too. Some were jet black and full of volcanic ash and rock. Others were clear as glass, some were white and others light blue.

They were all different shapes and sizes. We saw one that looked like the Starship Enterprise.

After our second visit we walked across the road to the black sand beach, where icebergs sat in contrast on the sand. Sometimes it seems like nature cannot possibly be single-handedly composing all these perfect scenes by chance.

Looked like a cow skull to me.

These pictures probably give the impression that we were the only ones there, but by this lake was the largest number of people I’d seen anywhere outside Reykjavik. There were tour buses and several companies taking people out in zodiacs and those big amphibious truck/boat things. Still, it did not really seem crowded and parking spaces were easy to find.

There was only one cafe on the site, selling the usual tiny range of filled rolls, one kind of soup and cakes and muffins. It’s hard to tell whether the businesses have some kind of official monopoly on places like this or that Icelanders aren’t very tourist-savvy, because if there’d been a guy with a hot dog stand or someone selling hot chips they’d have made a killing. The differences in the way tourists are catered to in different countries we’ve been to is fascinating and it’s hard to say if anyone’s doing it completely right but Iceland certainly errs on the side of under doing things. That being said, if not being able to buy interesting food is the price I pay for no billboards, no hawkers, no rubbish and peace and quiet then I don’t mind… for a few weeks.

After we left the ‘official’ glacier lake the second time we were driving back west and saw some cars parked off the road near a glacier tongue. We turned off and discovered another lake of icebergs, this time with almost no one around and no movement in the lake at all, as it was not joined to a river. That’s where we took the new header photo at the top of the page.

Not really knowing a whole lot about what there is to do here, and not getting much direction from the company we booked the car and hotels through, we weren’t sure what we’d find to do each day. But the way to see Iceland is to just drive and then stop whenever you see the sight-seeing symbol or a space to pull off the road – no matter where you are there’s something amazing to see and hardly anyone else around. Sometimes you almost feel like you’ve got the country to yourself. It has certainly been the only place in the world where we’ve felt like the only Australians. In fact nearly everyone, on hearing our accent, commented on the fact.

“You’ve come a long way!” was the frequent response.

Indeed we have… and only a few weeks from now we’ll be in Africa. Onwards and southwards!

It’s ALL about nature in Iceland. You’re in it, it’s huge, it’s dangerous, and it’s everywhere you look.

The only real way to get about is to drive. We chose the smallest car in Iceland, a Nissan Micra. Some people here are driving things that make monster trucks look like Tonka toys. Tomorrow we’re going on a ‘super jeep’ expedition so I’m hoping that we get to go in something you need a ladder to get into and wheels taller than me.

Luke couldn’t believe how fast this is compared to Van Failen. I hope this gives some insight into exactly how slow Van Failen is.

In the last few days we’ve driven through such a variety of scenery it’s hard to put it all into words. One moment you’ll find yourself driving along highway that is edged by a cliff so high the top is lost in cloud, the next you’ll be driving across a plain of black volcanic sand. One of my favourites is the one we’ve dubbed ‘moon cheese’ – where huge lumpy rocks are all coated in a yellowy soft moss that looks like melted cheese. Then there’ll be steam shooting out of vents in the ground and around the next bend there’s a 100m waterfall pouring off a cliff.

One of my favourite photos so far.

Houses here are small dots on the landscape, with little around them – maybe a line of tiny trees – and not much else but a few tractors and bales of horse feed. We’ve seen almost no gardens outside the capital and all the trees look less than a few years old, giving the countryside a very spartan look. The houses are really plain too. There’s no gingerbread cottages here as there were in Slovakia. The outside of homes are sometimes brightly coloured but everything seems very functional.

But back to the landscape.

Just up the hill behind the hotel we stayed in the first night.

We spent most of our second full day driving the Golden Circle, which I had originally mistaken for the ring road that goes all the way around Iceland. Fortunately it’s much smaller than that and it’s a circuit that covers most of the major scenic attractions, not far from Reykjavik.

First stop for us was a volcanic crater with a lake inside it. We stopped for a few photos, read the information boards and moved on.

My awkward and uncomfortable expression was not because of a premonition that this was going to be a bad photo of me, but because I was being tormented by a million flies.

Next was Thingvellir. The most important landmark in Iceland as for many centuries it was the meeting point for all Icelandic people and the site of their government, the Althing. It is also a place where the meeting of the North American and European continental plates is at its most obvious and there’s a big rift in the valley. I neglected to take any photos here – distant, wide plains are quite difficult subjects for photography as there’s nothing to really focus on, you just end up with lots of sky. Nevertheless, as the site of the world’s longest-held democratic process it’s an interesting place to stand.

Third stop was Geysir and I’m sure you can guess what’s there. The place stank horrendously but the sight of the bubbling pools of water and the jet going off every 5 minutes was impressive. I was still sick and it was starting to rain so I let Luke hang around to get it on video 3 times. I spent the few minutes in the gift shop goggling at the price of everything then we moved on to Gulfoss.

Gulfoss is not the largest waterfall in Iceland but it’s definitely the best known and it certainly is impressive. Only slightly less wonderous in driving rain (hooray for waterproof trousers!) the noise and power of it are intense. Luke, I have discovered, absolutely loves waterfalls and so I got a few photos of him in front of it on his phone but I didn’t take my camera out because it was so wet.

The sky cleared as we headed towards the south coast and our next hotel, which was quite a bit further away than first calculated and since the sun was still well up in the sky we hadn’t really been paying attention to the fact that it was getting towards 6pm and we may have about 3 hours of driving left.

Fortunately we arrived around 9:30, while the sun was still above the horizon and the reception  was still open. It was Friday night, the Summer solstice, and I was determined to stay up as late as I could. We unpacked then got back in the car and drove a little way back down the road to where we’d passed a waterfall. Taking the camera gear and some glasses and drinks, we followed a trail beside the stream and ended up on the pebbly beach in the half-dark. I took some long exposure shots and we toasted our travels. Another couple arrived just as we were leaving but it had been nice to have the place to ourselves for half an hour. While you may be picturing a very peaceful romantic scene in your head let me remind you that waterfalls are thunderingly loud – we did a small piece-to-camera after we left and it was still roaring in the background.

As loud as it was beautiful.

I think, after all that, I managed to stay awake til about 1am, which is when the sky was at its darkest – dark enough for headlights but not dark enough to need a torch or anything.

I still haven’t really seen the midnight sun as it’s been cloudy every night, but experiencing daylight that late has been interesting. Luke’s found it harder to sleep than I have, but at the same time I do feel more like staying awake later. My natural inclination as I get older is to go to sleep at about 9pm, so happily staying awake til 11 or 12 must be the result of all that light. I think, were I here in Winter, I’d sleep 18 hours a day!