From the Sky

Greenland is amazing! We flew in over cloud all the way. And suddenly the cloud broke, and the coast of Greenland appeared. Just awesome. Icecap. Icebergs. Glaciers. Then there was cloud again, and when we flew under it, green appeared.

There is no internet here (the Greenland cable needs to be fixed, and will be on Wednesday when I will be long gone). I went to the hill and there is an arboretum that has been developed with trees from the northern tree line from each northern country. And it is all in glorious autumn shades!

Iceland Review

Iceland is a pretty special place, one that has a lot of beauty, a lot of resources and a lot of challenges.

Just about everywhere you go is stunning. Every person I have met has been nice - even the woman who was telling me off for camping in the wrong area (one that she thought had been roped off to prevent further damage). The geology has been amazing. The museums are good. I drove 4000kms and saw more than I expected. There really wasn't a high point - there was so much that was good.

Everyone says Iceland is very expensive. Petrol has been more expensive than it is on the east coast of Australia, but I have paid more in remote areas, and Iceland uses 95 rather than 91, so I would say that it compares. Food, on the other hand, is definitely expensive. Last night, hamburgers at the place I ate were $36 each - at other places they have been a bit cheaper, but not enough. Fresh food from supermarkets is a little more expensive than Australia, but not much - and it depends on the food.

Having a camper was perfect. It allowed me to go wherever I wanted to, and avoid bad weather. The wind can definitely be strong. Once I changed my plans because the wind ahead was too strong for you to drive through in a rental. Other times I was being blown about a bit, so I definitely wouldn't have liked the really high winds. Being able to follow the sun allowed me to have a better time.

There were a few things I would have liked to do, but didn't - because of the weather, because it was too late in the year, or because I passed by only to realise later that I had wanted to see them. The worst was that all the textile places were shut. Otherwise, I saw examples of everything I wanted to see - better than I expected.

Underground

Last night I went to the thermal baths called the secret lagoon, and lolled around in them, gazing at the thermal spring no mud pools gushing only metres away. No pictures. I thought that mineralised water, steam and cameras weren't a good combination.

So what does one do on ones last full day in Iceland? Evidentially one explores the fourth largest lava tube in Iceland and gets immersed in the national museum for hours. The lava tube was great! We saw some very interesting rock formations. The national museum had a display on the history of settlement of Iceland. This included all sorts of things that had been found in archeological excavations, and even had an exhibit on the houses in the valley of Strong. I only saw one floor, as I was kicked out at closing time. I might go back.

Tomorrow I return the van and catch a plane to Greenland. I don't think there will be much wifi availability in Greenland, as only one place I am going to advertises its availability, and most definitely don't have it, so you may need to do without posts for TWO WHOLE WEEKS, until I arrive in Canada. So if you have become addicted to my poor posts, you may end up with withdrawal symptoms. On the other hand you may get a lot of posts at once and become overwhelmed.

Rounding the Golden Circle

Yesterday I started the area known as the Golden Circle. It isn't a Circle and only contains three things - the part of the Rift Valley where the original parliament sat, the Gullfoss Waterfall and Geyser.

Having stayed the night at the Rift Valley, I looked around properly this morning. They fly the Icelandic flag where they think the original speaker stood. There is a river that flows through part of the rift, with a waterfall fromAmerica into the rift, another within the rift and a third from the rift to Europe. Unfortunately the third is under a bridge, so I only photographed the first two. The one in the middle has a big pond at the bottom of it where they drowned women. There is also a picture of a part of the rift where they hung men.

Then I went to geyser. The original doesn't explode any more - it stopped after a volcanic event, so all you have of it is a steamy pool. There is on that is supposed to explode every 10 to 15 minutes, but it was doing its stuff every 3 minutes and 18 seconds.

Gullfoss is supposed to be the most spectacular Waterfall in Iceland, as it falls one way, then at 90 degrees. There are several shots of it because you cannot get the whole splendour in one. There is also a glacier close by.

Lastly I went to Strong, where they recreated a longhouse. In this valley a number of farms were destroyed by a volcanic eruption a number of centuries ago. Recently they have excavated the ruins, so they have a really good idea of how they looked. One of these was used as a model for Strong. Unfortunately it was closed.

Water

Today was wet - it still is, and I had a long look at the campground to try to find the least sodden spot.        It rained quite vigorously, so a number of the pictures have rain spots on the lens.

I started by visiting the largest hot springs in the world - Deildartunguhver. With all the rain, the steam probably isn't that impressive. Nearby are two strange waterfalls, the Barnifoss, which really doesn't look like a waterfall, where there used to be a rock bridge above the turbulence, but it was removed after two children drowned there. The other is Hraunfosser, the lava falls, which all enter the river from springs over 900 metres.

The Icelandic sagas were largely recorded by Snorri Sturluson, and I visited where he lived. They have unearthed the building, and there is also a pool, garden and turfed cattle shed.

 Then I visited the Settlement exhibition, which was quite interesting (and a relief from the constant rain). I travelled around Hvalfjordor, and saw another waterfall and where the British and American navies had their main bases in Iceland during WWII.

Then I came to Thingvellir, where the first Icelandic parliament was, and where the rift between the continents is very visible.

Where Everything Happens

Today I saw lots of waterfalls, lots of rocks, icecap, rain, rainbows, islands, even a beach with normally coloured sand!

I wandered along the north coast of the Snaefellsnes peninsula and saw several Waterfalls as well as a lot of rain. Then I went on a boat tour around some of the innumerable islands in the area. We caught scallops and urchins and ate them with wasabi and soy sauce.

Then I went along the south coast to Hellnar and saw the two volcanoes.