Whoever first said that “Greenland is ice and Iceland is green” obviously hadn’t been to Iceland at this time of year…there was plenty of ice and the bits of green we saw were mostly mosses growing near the warm geothermal vents. Despite this, or indeed because of this, Iceland was beautiful!!!
We hired a car so that we could drive right around the island on the Ring Road. Our poor Hyundai Getz (read as ‘teeny’ and very much 2 wheel drive) got the ride of its life as we circumnavigated the island and pushed it well past its supposed capabilities.
The first day we drove from Keflavik in the southwest up to the north of Iceland. We enjoyed the views of the farmland, fishing villages, fjords and mountains. Logan particularly liked the engineering of the Hvalfjörður Tunnel – 5762m long, reaching a depth of 165m below sea level (you drive downhill for about 4 minutes just to get to the middle!), and cutting the journey by 62kms. Keryn particularly liked the very woolly sheep and the decidedly short horses!
We awoke to a chilly minus 6.6 degrees INSIDE the tent (brrrrrrrrrr) but the day came out glorious and sunny. The day was filled with waterfalls, craters, lakes, lava fields, rivers, bubbling mud pools, roaring vents, and steaming fissures in the Earth. Beautiful colours, wonderful formations, and many reminders of the power of nature. That night we pitched our tent across the valley from a vent ejecting millions of cubic metres of steam every few seconds – kind of like sleeping next to the exhaust port of a fighter jet…but great to see the Icelanders making the most of it to generate electricity.
The next day was more natural wonders but the weather slowly started to deteriorate. Undeterred, we decided we would take the more scenic coastal road to the East Coast (an extra 250km). Unbeknown to us, the condition of the road in this area reflects the few people that use it…oh, and a snow storm was on its way! We’re not sure at which point we should have turned around but a few hours later we were crawling along the road in 10cm deep snow, laughing (nervously? hysterically? it was hard to tell), and still trying to convince ourselves it was just about to get better. We made it to the signpost for the northern most point of Iceland and could see the lighthouse on the headland but decided it was definitely against our better judgement to take the even dicer road to the actual point. It was not much later, however, when the little Getz finally couldn’t cope and we got stuck. We were determined to get through but it just wouldn’t do it. After some dodgy manoeuvres and man-handling to turn the car around, we back-tracked to the last village. After kindly laughing at us, the locals told us that a snow plough was on its way and that it was only 20km to the next village and from then on it wouldn’t be snowing and the roads would be clear. Two hours later we were thrilled to see the lights of the grader and we were on our way again. Strangely it was 80km to the next village and it snowed for the next 3 days but at least we knew the graders were never far away! Logan did some amazing defensive driving and was never fazed by the snow, ice, rock falls, wind, sheep and other obstacles that all made the journey such an adventure!Wednesday we celebrated our Birthdays by going for a glacier hike including some ice climbing. It was a beautiful morning and the sun on the glacier was spectacular. We loved the challenge of the climbing and both learnt some new techniques.
Southern Iceland is filled with waterfalls, lava fields, sand deserts, basalt columns, and small farms built into the banks and cliffs. It is not full of people, trees, or cars. Not until we hit the town of Selfoss (where we encountered traffic lights for the second time in 9 days) did we see a real town. The roads improved no end and even the driver was able to relax a little and enjoy the view. Almost all of central Iceland is closed to non four wheel drives and all rental cars so we missed the interior, but to do it justice we would have had to stay another week – maybe next time…Before returning to the capital we had a couple of essential tourist stops nearby: Gullfoss – one of the biggest waterfalls in Iceland, Geysir (yes, it is actually an Icelandic word), and Thingvallavatn – the site of the original parliament dating from AD930. All beautiful sights but we preferred the isolation of the other areas.Our last full day we went to the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa. We had had a few geothermally heated hot pools on our journey but this one is set amongst a black lava field and filled with super heated sea water rich in blue-green algae, mineral salts and fine silica mud. The result is warm, milky blue water and a wonderful way to while away a few hours or an entire afternoon! Luxury!
Our final kooky stop before flying home was the Bridge Between Two Continents…a rift in the earth between the North American and European tectonic plates that is expanding at a few centimetres per year. The bridge spans the black sand gulley – Keryn found it a kind of a scary place to be (what happens if the plates decide to speed up?) but Logan just wanted to know who was responsible for extending the bridge every year.
It was a fabulous trip and we loved the beautiful scenery and the challenge to stay warm! Highly recommended! (But perhaps pay the extra $$ and get a 4wd, just in case!)
