ICELAND

Iceland was a great surprise with amazing volcanoes, glaciers and waterfalls. I flew into Reykjavik the capital and spent a night there before heading to Akureyri the second biggest town in Iceland. The town was celebrating their 150th anniversary so there was live music and fireworks all weekend long.

Icelandic music on the steps of the church in Akureyri

There were some great days in Akureyri and I spent most of the 2 days there outside exploring their "forests", which are few and far between. I got a lift to and from Akureyri from a local called Gestur. He was a great guy who was my own personal tour guide for the 4 hour drive between the two towns.

On the cliffs overlooking the town and snowcapped mountains behind.

The Icelanders are very proud of their horses as there have been no horses imported in over 1000 years meaning they are very pure. A lot of the Icelandic horses had the Justin Bieber look.

Two very confident horses checking out my camera.

My new friend Gestur who was really generous showing me all the sites.

 Once I got back to Reykjavik in was time for some day trips to see some of the more tourist spots. The first day trip was to the golden circle, which involved visiting the blowhole, Geysir, which pushes up huge amounts of hot water from the ground every 5-10mins. After that it was onto the beautiful waterfall Gullfoss before heading to the tectonic plate divide between the American and European plates. The plates are moving apart by 1-2cm yearly, which means Iceland is continuously getting bigger.

Geysir squirting up 100 degrees Celsius water

Bigger explosion from a distance

Waterfall Gullfoss on a cold rainy day.

The american plate are the cliffs on the left and the European plate is off in the distance on the right.

The next day it was off to one of the largest Glaciers in Europe, Vatnajokull, along the south shore of Iceland. The first stop was a glacier lagoon with huge chunks of ice floating out to the ocean.

Big ice blocks on there way out to the ocean.

One of the big blocks of ice that washed ashore on the black sand beach.

amazing scenery along the shore. Icebergs, black ash sand, big surf waves and seals all in one.

On the way we stopped at a town called Vik for dinner. This town is at risk of a volcano erupting and melting the glacier cap causing a big flood to swallow up the town.

The small town of Vik with the volcano behind the mountains.

Beautiful views from Vik's beaches in front of the town.

 The tour had many waterfalls along the way but the one below was particularly good as you could walk behind the falling water.

Seljalandsfoss waterfall, which we walked behind. 

After the day tours I had a day to rest in Reykjavik before heading onto the airport via the famous blue lagoon. 90% of all tourists that visit Iceland go to the Blue Lagoon. Before I left for the Lagoon it was a good morning so I went up the Hallgrimskirkja Church, which has great views over Reykjavik.

View from Hallgimskirkja looking at downtown

The Blue Lagoon

Relaxing having a Gull beer in the Blue Lagoon.

After the Blue Lagoon it was onto the airport and sights set for London. Iceland has been a great surprise and definitely worth a repeat visit sometime in the future. A good tour would be to bring a bike and tent and spend 3-4 weeks riding around the country during June/July at the peak of summer...maybe sometime in the future.

Anyway i've just arrived into London and waiting for Lloyd and Ashley to arrive. Ashley was a counsellor at the summer camp who is coming over here to work/study and has generously let us stay with her for a few days. Looking forward to exploring London town. Back home in 6 weeks !!!