Iceland: the land of fire and ice. Need I say more!

I could have written this blog in so many of the weird and wondrous places that makes Iceland so unique. Almost unique enough that, "At any moment you could expect a mythical creature, like a griffin, to just pop out of nowhere." in the words of an almost as surreal traveller as the island itself, Justin.

I contemplated writing at the harbour, where the ships have lingered for many days since the sea festival. But, at a mere four degrees, I thought better not! 

I could have stayed in my 16 bed hostel room, which is actually the second dorm I have occupied, as the second night six room shaking snorers drove at least four people out.

Then, I thought why not at 4.30amin the morning, when the suns out and and it feels like two in the afternoon? Or while I'm rubbing elbows with my fellow party-goers in the bar, that's full to capacity mid week?

... Then I thought why not be civilised and write it in the little shabby-sheek sand-holt bakery just down the way? Where I can not only immerse myself in the culture, but also marvel at the unique and superb food that makes this country so amazing.

Okay, the food, 

For the record, Icelandic ice cream does not go with raw herring, pate, whale blubber or sour shark! Icelandic ice cream does, on the other hand go amazingly with hand made cones and waffles, rye bread and of course, any lolly or chocolate you could possibly think of!  

Fermented shark and cumin shots are not as bad as you think they would be! Whale blubber is! Whale steaks and salmon are amazing, let me say this again... AMAZING! 

Icelandic hotdogs (not entirely sure of the meat) but the two unique mustards and two types of onions are a winner. Icelandic meat soup... Meh! But, the rye bread, skyr cakes and dairy produces here are to die for.

The people I've met......so far!

John Dingeman; 

Is in the army, job description; purchases things and moves shit! He grew up in Detroit, owns a condo in DC but is stationed near Venice, Italy. Definately going to take you up on the offer to stay. Top bloke, introduced me to southern comfort and lime. We all stayed up until5.30am just to see what it was like and because we could. Let me tell you the night life here is feral...

Erik... Aka shorts and Kyle... Aka American.

Canadian and American... we met in the carpark and soon enough we were all trekking buds up to the hot river, and spent the night sharing travelling stories and conversing on topics probably best left to the males locker room... But all in good fun!

Angie and Derrick: a couple from DC, who had never tried, let alone heard of wheatbix! 

Justin and Chloe:

Young-uns, fresh out of college and graphic designers travelling the world to find themselves and get inspiration! Justin you almost didn't seem real...

And Melanie and Greg: somehow we always, accidentally on purpose end up in the kitchen at exactly the same time for meals, maybe it's just meant to be!

The most EPIC road trip around Iceland!

Okay, to briefly sum up the 4-5hour trip up to the Snaefelles Peninsula... it was a bit meh! Other than the 6km tunnel under water, which rocked! Until we found out (at the end) we had to pay $10...

But I can tell you now, from night one and beyond it was magnificently, amazingly, absolutely, crazy amazing and that's an understatement!!!

Night one, we wild camped down stream from a 700,000 year old strata volcano with a glacier on top. Just next to a waterfall and the glacial winds made it subzero temperatures. But, the view certainly made up for it :)

The next day we took a 3hr ferry to the west fjords, 

We went right and bypassed the hour trip out to one of the fjords to the left simply because it was puffin mating season and they were all out to sea having a good time. 

Heading right meant we travelled on gravel road down 8-12% declines, where snow was piled at least 3m high on one side with a shear drop on the other. 

Every second turn was a blind corner and I saw my most favourite waterfall in the world.

All I have to say is this was the coolest road I have ever driven and probably one of my favourite places in the world. Oh, and did I mention it was bucketing down with rain.

That night, yes we did make it to Isafjörõur where we had some inside goss on the best place to eat. Seriously the meal lived up to expectations, actually far exceeded them, I'll give 100/10.

The next day we went around so many fjords I lost count, but, managed to count 94 waterfalls on half of a fjord. And these weren't tiny ones! We may or may not have nearly run out of petrol... Thanks to the random farmer who called an English speaking relative who informed us it was only 60km away... Thank goodness, was all I could say when I knew we'd make it!

That night we camped in one of the more northern fjords. It was noted to be one of the best places to see the midnight sun. 

The next day we made it onto the round road (a single road labelled 1 that covers the circumference of the whole island). The road from the west fjords to the round road was spectacular, all of the roads coming off the main road were impassable due to snow and every lake was frozen with the most amazing blue gleam. 

At times visibility was about 15m and all I could think was that I had seen a couple of cars pass in the opposite direction so it must be passable.

Once on the round road it was a bit, meh until Akeyri. And then again until lake Myvath, which was spectacular. It was an active geothermal area. We galavanted in late evening in amongst the crators, formed by lava that emerged during a submarine eruption many years before. 

At midnight we drove during sunset

and found a hot pool inside a cave.

Some Canadians we crossed paths with told us that a tour guide informed them then that they use it all of the time and that we should just ignore the no swim signs. Given, we knew not to put out heads under and it was about 44 degrees so it took us a good 15 minutes to slip in. Even then you didn't want to move around to much as the heat just intensified significantly. 

We continued onto bubbling mud, steam geysers and water ponds 80-100 degrees. 

Then trekked a few km through 3-4 foot of snow to a volcano. This volcano erupts every 12-15 years and was actually overdue to pop it's top!

With a pretty green lake at the top...

And I'd never pass up the chance for snow angels...

We also made it to Europe most powerful waterfall, Dettifoss.

And Dettifoss' shadow: Settifoss,

That night we stayed in a small town in the east fjords, where we found a trapeze strung up. But, it had been so weather damaged it was unusable due to one of the cotton ropes hanging by a few threads. 

By the end of that day we had made it to the Vatnojukull glacier, the largest in Iceland making up 8% of Iceland's land mass, with 3% visible from the road it was huge. We found the glacial lagoon where icebergs broke off the glaciers and floated in the inlet and out to sea, where the salt water preserves the icebergs. Which essentially meant we could play on them when they floated onto the beach at low tide. The seals also made an appearance!

Over the next day or so we saw magnificent waterfalls. One of the waterfalls a couple got married at, they literally turned up with a photographer as witness and a marriage officiator. People around, myself included just clapped... It was magnificent!

It was the last waterfall of the round road and I think that Sam was happy we had finally made it there as this was the waterfall I kept asking her about. We could actually walk behind it... All I can say is I didn't need a shower that day and it was more of an intermittent jog behind.

The next day we made it to the hot river, and as you already know found some crazy Americans and Canadians to trek the 4 hour round trip to a hot stream that we spent a good 2.5hrs at. This made the blue lagoon seem so insignificant and touristy that it was actually off putting. We poked our head in just to check that the lake was really blue. 

After that we made it back to Reykjavik! Safe and sound other than the gigantic dent in the side of our car and a $1800 excess. Luckily, mostly covered by insurance... Thank goodness for travel insurance! 

This trip has been one heck of a lot of fun, with memories that will last a life time! 

With a few more to come, as I am ticking yet another item off of my bucket list. I am going horse riding on an Icelandic horse tomorrow and Sam has already set off on a five day horse trek. 

I also managed to purchase a custom made double trapeze and hot pink silk, so this trip has been memorable in many more ways than one.

Until next time.

Kim.