20 September to 28 September 2023

After travelling for 17 hours to London on the Qantas Dreamliner and then a further plane to Iceland we arrived in Rejkavik ready to start our next long travel adventure. After storing away our bags we went out to explore the city straight away. Tagging on to a walking tour we ended up on the famous Rainbow Street and exploring the main church.

The next day was day one of our coach tour that will circumnavigate Iceland. We headed of to spend a day doing the standard Golden Circle with our first stop being the Thingvellir National Park. Here the North American and Eurasian continents are going apart two cm py and currently about two km apart. After walking along the split and visiting a nearby waterfall we continued on to see the Gullfoss Waterfall. Starting at the top we walked along to see the expanse of this wide loud huge cascading waterfall fighting against tremendous winds. Struggling to keep our footing and leaning into the gale, it was hard keeping the camera still. At one stage I had to give up as I felt like I was going to go flying nun airborne. We went down to see the bottom part and it was a bit more sheltered but still gale winds at parts. Awesome waterfall. We then went to the Gullfoss waterfall. Next was the Geysir geyser.

Onwards to the Frioheimar Farm where they do everything tomatoes, Icelandic horses and restaurant. They had 9 greenhouses where they grow different types of tomatoes that they sell through Iceland and turn into everything from tomato beer to soups and an iced tomato latte. We were treated to some cherry tomatoes, tomato soup and gluten free bread. Very yummy. The process was very refined in the greenhouses using bumble bees from Netherlands, hydroponically without soil, heated from geothermal springs and 19 hours of daylight with special lights. We were then treated to a show of the Icelandic horses that have 5 gaits as against the traditional 3 of other horses. The last one keeping the rider so stable she could hold a glass of beer. The trainer and rider were German.

The next day started with a brief stop at Urridafoss Falls, a lovely shallow cascading set of waterfalls. We then went to the Seljalandsfoss Waterfall. A lovely big, wide waterfall with a cavernous area that allows you to walk behind it. Of course we did. Some parts were slippery but mostly not difficult. It was really cool seeing the water tumble into the pool from behind. This was followed by a trip to the Skogafoss waterfall which came with expansive rainbows in front of it whenever the sun was out. We then walked up a staircase to see the waterfall from the top.

After a brief stop at a Museum to see artifacts from Iceland's past we went to the black sand beach at Reynisfjara, with black volcanic sands, smooth pebbles, large column formations (like at the Giant‘s causeway), caves and rock formations popping out of the sea. That night we stayed in a chalet in Kirkubaejarklaustur and saw the northern lights dancing across the sky after dinner.

First stop the next day was at a place called Hamrafoss. Across the road on private property was a long truly majestic waterfall. The rest of the day was dull of glaciers. At Mt Hvannadalshnukur we stopped to see a tongue of the sprawling Oraefajokull Glacier. We followed that up with a stop in the Skaftafell region and took a walk up to the mouth of a glacier and the lake full of ice at the end. Awesome views of the glacier and floating ice.

We then went to the Jokulsarion glacier lagoon. This lagoon is only 19 years old and created due to the receding glacier. Every year it gets bigger as ice melt accelerates due to climate change and the mixing of salt water and fresh water as it opens into the ocean. We hopped onto an Amphibian vehicle that drove straight into the lagoon and proceeded to wind its way through the prolific amount of icebergs floating there. After it drove back out we had lunch and wandered down to the ocean. We then made several stops to view amazing scenery and a bright orange lighthouse on our way to free ice cream.

Next was a driving day with ever changing extreme scenery. Firstly the landscape was deep colourful mountains with lots of green and deep red scars and lots of orange as Autumn colours came through. This gradually changed to a rugged look and a white Christmas look as there was a lot of snow overnight. Snow capped mountains and white right up to the roads.

Our first main stop was the Dettifoss waterfall, the most powerful and loudest in Europe. It was a bit of a trek from the parking lot but it was a powerful waterfall. Similar to Victoria Falls, it was loud, lots of mist and wide. Not far from that is the Selfoss waterfall which was more Iguazu like and shaped like a horseshoe.

Afterwards we stopped at the Asbyrgi canyon. Looking a little like a borg cube but inside was a lovely forest and a lake with autumn colours. We went for a nice hike enjoying the varying colours.

We went on from there to the bay of Husain, home of Lars in the Eurovision, the Story of Fire Saga movie. On the schedule was a whale watching tour. It was a cold, wet day and getting worse so the tour was brought forward from the afternoon to the morning. It was a traditional looking fishing boat. They gave us full overalls to put on over our clothes to try to keep us warm. We went out into the bay, waves were high and the boat was rocking sideways making it difficult to walk and you had to have a hand on something at all times. We went upstairs and right out into the mouth of the bay, surrounded by other boats, we saw a Humpback whale. The whale would bob under several times and then do the traditional dive deep with its tail up and disappear for 10 minutes or so before coming up again. We would then peer everywhere to see where it would pop up and then the boat would chase to the area. At the last cycle we saw the whale quite close to the boat and it was really good and then we headed back in.

We then had a busy afternoon. We went to Hverir, a geothermal spot with smoke coming out of the ground, bubbling and blue pools with temps of 100 degrees Celsius on top going down a km to 200 deg Celsius. We went to Kafka, a barren active volcano caldera with a brilliant blue pool inside. Called hell, but actually freezing cold. The Dimmuborgir lava field with weird rock formations that were pushed up from underground lava rivers surrounded by lush foliage with stark autumn colours. Finally Skutustagigar, a series of craters formed by lava flows exploding when hitting cold water and now farmland filled with really woolly sheep.

From there we moved on to the Godafoss waterfall. Classed as the most beautiful waterfall in Iceland. Also called the waterfall of the gods due to a folk story where the gods are thrown into the waterfall. It was a really impressive horseshoe shaped waterfall. Next we went to the botanical gardens in Akureyri. Really lovely gardens with many plants we have never seen before and a huge array of colours due to the Autumn change.

Lastly we stopped at Siglufjordur and the Herring Museum. Apparently at the turn of the 1900’s this place became big in herring fishing, turning the town into a busy hub that became Iceland’s biggest industry making 40% of its export income. They got carried away and fished the herring into extinction in this area at around the 1960’s. The herring have never returned to this area although they still have an industry on the south coast.

Another day, another waterfall. Koluglijufur was a brilliant waterfall in a canyon with tributaries feeding into it all the way down the canyon. Next was Barbados’s waterfall, which was a series of waterfalls through a narrow passage of volcanic rock and some cooled lava flows. We then went to one of the biggest geothermal stations with boiling hot springs on show. Finally we went to the black church, Budakirkja Church. In a nice location with a cemetery and mountains behind.

Final day of the tour started with Arnastapi Cliff and Gatklettur arch stone formation. Fantastic cliff views on the ocean and massive stone arch over the ocean. Their was also a statue made of stones of a mythical half man/ half troll creature that is the protector of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. We moved on to the Londrangar View Point of more cliffs on the ocean.

Next up was the Djupalonssandurr or the Black Lava Pearl Beach. It was like a lava wonderland and had parts of a shipwreck scattered around the black sand and pebble beach with many rocky outcrops. Then came Kirkjufellsfoss, another fabulous waterfall with panoramic views. Finally we had the Selvallafoss or Sheep’s Head Waterfall. This was a brilliant waterfall which you could get behind if you want and then you could swing around for panoramic views of lava fields.

The tour was now over but we had one more day left. We decided we should visit a thermal bath as we had not done that yet. We settled on Sky Lagoon as it was affordable and available and we could get to it by public bus. After working out the public bus system and routes we set forth. The bus driver got us to follow an employee of the baths that was also on the bus, which made getting there easy. An Iraqi that had decided Iceland was a much better place to live.

The baths themselves were superb. Initially a bit complicated as to how everything worked we got into a very natural feeling, large, open bath area surrounded on 3 sides by volcanic rock with lots of nooks and crannies, filled with thermal spring water. The 4th side ended at an infinity ledge and overlooked the ocean. After resting in there for a bit we went into A caved area for the 7 step ritual. This started with a cold plunge, then a sauna, which was a wood panelled room with one wall all glass, so clean Elizabeth thought it was open air. After that it was a cool rain shower. Next was little dishes with salt and almond and sesame oils that you rubbed all over yourself and then went into a steam room that was almost so Smokey you could not see. Finally a cleansing shower before going into the pool for as long as you like. It was sunny by then and a mist coming up from the pool gave it an eerie feeling. A lovely experience unlike we had ever had before. No pictures as no camera allowed.

It was a very long and busy last day finished off by a night time walk around Reykjavik.