Day 11

Good evening from Iceland!

Well, my fall from yesterday has left me a little sore this morning.  I have quite the bruise on the hip from where I fell on my camera.  

Another quieter day today.  We got up this morning, packed up and made our way back to the bird place to see if we could see puffins again.  Well, the night time viewing was much better!  Only a couple puffins this morning.  I'm guessing they go out on the ocean during the day and come back at night to sleep on the rocks.  We then hiked the cliff for a while.  It was weird.  You could see different peaks.  I set my eyes on the highest peak and off we went.  Thing is, you get up to a peak, thinking it was the peak you had your eyes on, but just beyond, there was another peak... you start thinking was that the peak? So then you hike up to the next peak and what do you see when you crown the top?  You got it, another peak!  By the fourth or fifth peak, I turned around and started back down.  I had walked up for almost 3 km by then and I knew Sophie wanted to go down and see the birds.

After this, we drove to the beach.  Y
ou are supposed to be able to swim in the ocean - problem is we got there at low tide... which means we would've had to walk probably 3 km to get to the water - we didn't really have time so we looked at the beach, had a hot chocolate and got back in the car - our mission: finding a "hot pot" - a natural thermal bathing spot.  We found one!  We sat in the pot for about an hour, then made our way to a nearby restaurant for dinner.  I had fish and chips - which was kind of gross.  The batter tasted like chicken noodle soup!  Fish and chicken noodle soup - not a great combo...

They say you should do something that scares you everyday.  Well, fait accompli for today!  Man! Driving those roads up and down and around mountains is a scary affair!  The roads are way to narrow, there are no barriers between you and certain death if you go to close to the edge with your car... and when you meet a car and you are on the outside, let me tell you... not great for someone with a fear of heights!   But I did it!



After dinner we got on the ferry to start heading back to Reykjavik.  The camping is just beautiful!  We are surrounded on two sides by mountains - the rocky mountain type!  Then, we have water on the other side and a golf course on the fourth!  Beautiful place - of course pictures don't capture such beauty.

Tomorrow we are off to the rocky mountains, trying to see the white tailed eagle, then we will hike up Mount Esja.

Photos to come!

Day 10

Ah! The sunshine Was finally part of the full day!  What a treat! Today was a bit of a driving day.  We only did about 200 km - if even - but it took most of the day.  We were going through the mountain pass I guess you could call it - tons of curves, going up and down mountains.  A bit scary at times if you ask me!  It kind of reminded me of last year's drive down the Pacific coast... not the same view, but the same type of road - except half of it was in gravel today!

The views are absolutely magnificent!  Every twist and turn brings something interesting.

So, on our drive we saw an arctic fox!! How cool is that?  It crossed the road right in front of us.  I had time to stop and Sophie got out to take some photos.

We stopped to visit the museum of witchcraft.  It was interesting to learn about this subject and how it affected the people of Iceland.

We continued to Drangsnes to bathe in the hot pots.  These were hot tub filled will thermal water from the mountain - no bubbles or anything.  I've read some are just holes in the ground or huge pots... Will be keeping an eye out for
those!

We then made our way to Breidavik - near the bird reserve - in the east Fjords.  We set up our tent and went for a walk on the beach, where I took time to sunbathe a little.  I then went to see the old church when I saw the remains of an old house.  As I entered the house, I took a nose dive, fell hard on the ground and hit my camera hard as well.  My zoom now doesn't work properly.  Damn.  I have to manually focus - which is not easy to do when you are photographing nature. I'm a little bummed about this.... but such is life.

As we were looking at the menu, the first page said "Puffin are better seen after dinner".  What? we were going to go in the morning!  So after dinner, we drove to the reserve to see the puffin.  OH MY GOD!!! Good thing we went at night!  It was just incredible!  I could've stretched out my arm and petted one!  They are by far my favourite bird.  Those who know me must be thinking I had a few tears - nope! Not this time - close though!  I just had to concentrate not to... We got some awesome shots of puffins and returned to the campsite.

Sophie and I watched the sun go down and took some great pictures.  It's now 11:30 and it's almost as bright as during the day.  We have another big day tomorrow so off to bed I go.

They have funny signs in Iceland.  Here's a sample...  If you can't read Icelandic, you can surely read the signs =)

Day 9

Got up this morning, at around 7:00 to get ready for some exploring around lake Myvatn - supposedly a duck birding paradise.  We've been camping here for 2 days and have only seen one or two kinds but ok... off we go.

We ended up seeing quite a few more types of ducks and some swans as well.  I will put pictures up later...  As we went around the lake, we did a few hiking trails to see if we could find a gyrfalcon or an elusive ptarmigan.  No luck, we still have not seen those two birds.

After our tour around the lake, we had a "famous hotdog".  There really is nothing special about it!  She actually cooked it in a microwave!  Really?! We will have to try again in Reykivic! 

We left the lake area for our new destination - we are headed west to the west fjords.  We stopped at another waterfall... lots of waterfalls here!  Lots of rivers too - and not tiny rivers either! 

We pitched our tent and off to dinner we went.  Had pizza today -it's very much european pizza - the crust is different than ours - it was better than the one we had in St-Pierre et Miquelon though! Thank goodness! 

Well, it's 11:00 and it's not dark.  The sun set behind a mountain and it looks like it's about 9:00 in Ottawa.

horned greve

My laptop is about to die... so good night!

Day 8

We got up at 5:15 this morning to drive north - one of the most northern tip of the island to go bird watching...What we don't do for our kids... Ended up being a fabulous day!

Surprise, surprise!  It rained today!  It was also pretty cold.  We are now at the Arctic ocean, and very near the Artcic circle.


We took a birding tour with a local gentleman - who is actually a sheep farmer extraordinaire!  This man does it all - I'm an amazed at all he does!  We had a fabulous learning about sheep, Iceland, the Icelandic history and people.  We learned all sorts of things today - it was truly amazing spending all day with him!

built his own bird blind

He took us to bird cliffs where we saw gannets, puffins, guillemots, kittiwakes and other birds.  He also brought us to an abandoned village -that was there during the 2nd World War.  We saw abandoned farms and sheep of course!  We also saw this orange tubular thing that is actually an emergency place for sailors.  Farmers and people in distress also uses it - they can be found all around the island on the shores.  Inside there was food, a radio and blankets, heater, beds and a table. At the end of the road, there was a lighthouse and we could see where the Arctic ocean meets the Atlantic ocean.  Pretty cool if you ask me!

I thought François would love this guy.  He could learn a lot from him about being self sufficient-as he aspires to be.  This guy does it all.  He grows his own food, has I think 450 sheep, own a hostel, does birding tours, built a bird blind, he gathers things that drift on his beach to sell for things he needs, he fishes, he hunts, all the time respecting nature.  The list of things he does goes on and on.  I have a lot of respect for him.  We should all aspire to be that good to the earth!

After our wonderful day, we drove back and stopped at Selfoss and Detifoss.  Wow!  Selfoss could give a run for its money to Niagara Falls!!!  WOW!

We then stopped at Myvatn hot bath - man oh man that felt wonderful!

Tomorrow we are going to explore a little around the lake before moving on.  We should see ducks that we haven't seen yet as this is the "duck place".

Time for bed!  Another long day ahead of us tomorrow.

Selfoss

Day 7 - cold, cold day!

OMG!  I don't remember the last time I was this cold!  What a (insert swear word of your choice here) miserable day - at least weather wise! 

We decided to take a break from driving and take a tour bus to Askja - in the highlands.  It's a caldera - and in the caldera there is a crater with warm water - well, warm... that's pushing it when it's probably below zero outside.They said the water was 23-30 degrees... I would say that's a lie =) 

First you drive for 3 hours - learning about Iceland on the way - kind of cool - we learned about their language, saw where they filmed part of Oblivion (with Tom Cruise), walked where the astronauts came to learn about geology - in 1967.  We also learned about an outlaw who built himself a hole and survived the winter.  All really cool stories! 

When you get to the Askja, we hiked through rain and winds for 2.5 km.  We had to walk through snow and ice, sand, pumice stone and mud - very slippery mud!  After driving there and walking all that way, we had to go down to the bottom of the crater is mud- Remi took a fall but was fine - just VERY dirty!  

Remi was quite brave - changed into his swimsuit and went in.  I pulled my pants up to my knees and Sophie went in her underwear up to her thighs.  

We then had to hike back to the bus- I couldn't believe how cold it was! The wind was so strong - the rain blowing in your face - not pleasant at all.  We got back in the bus and froze... 

We can't let the weather get to us or else we won't be doing anything... so rain or no rain (mostly rain - only one day of sunshine so far) we have to go out and do things... I'm warmed up now and getting ready to go into the freezing cold tent to warm my sleeping bag up.  Good night! 

Photos are on my phone. ..will add later.

Day 6

4 layers and we are still cold!!

Today was a driving day.  We did see many waterfalls - every mountain has waterfalls - every one just as pretty as the next and lots of birds.

We also saw and walked around a caldera, and later a crater.  Both were beautiful - and nice hikes - the crater was a 5 km hike - it's huge!!  It must be close to 8 km diameter at the bottom.  It sure was worth the difficult long hike up though!  It was a dry crater - no water at the bottom - which is different from all the craters we've seen so far.

We are staying in Myvatn for 3 nights.  Tomorrow will be a big day - we decided to take the bus tour to Asja - will be safer than by car as the rivers are too high for cars - we could do it with the 4x4 but why take the cahnce -plus it will be a break from driving for me.

We saw lots of whooper swans on our drive today - what a beautiful bird! That's all I can think of right now... I'm sure I'm forgetting lots...


Oh! I had traditional lamb sausage - let's just say I won't be having that again...
Oh! and we drove through a mountain!  a 6km tunnel - not for claustrophobic people!

Some of the views from today... the other photos are on our phones and I don't feel like uploading them...

The crater we walked around today.

I loved this sign.  I wish people respected nature more - lots of idiot tourists around. 

a random shower and sink

Things I've learned/confirmed so far...

• Food is very expensive!  A bowl of soup with a piece of bread - 16$ and more! 
• Filling up with diesel or gasoline -not easy! Everything is written in Icelandic! 
• Stop signs are very rare - I've only seen 2 so far.  They LOVE roundabouts though! They are everywhere! 
• Road signs are very different than in Canada - It's a bit difficult to navigate since we can't read the signs - neither can the GPS.  We've been doing great though. Have not gotten lost yet! 
• I may not buy a wool sweater.  I'm not paying 250$ or more for a sweater! 
• Elaine probably won't get earrings as I've only seen one pair and they were $60! 
• Denise might not get an ornament as I've not seen any.
• Icelandic people are very nice and helpful. Even the little old man who didn't speak English! We managed to understand each other.
• The landscape is diverse -Rocky mountains one minute, outer space looking the next, then fields and more mountains.
• A bag of chips costs $9.  We don't eat chips everyday.

This is what we should've rented...

instead of this!