Around Reykjavik, Iceland, Sun 18 - Mon 19 Oct 09

Thanks to my workmate Bevan we had the fantastic advice of hiring a car to see the Grand Circle. Turned out to be the right way to go as it was much cheaper than a tour and we could go at our own pace, plus it was definitely a highlight of our trip. The Grand Circle refers to three main sights near Reykjavik; Geysir, Gulfoss & Pingvellir National Park.

The rental place picked us up from the hotel to take us to their offices and within a short time we had our little run around hatchback and we were on our way. Nick had the drivers seat and was responsible for getting us out of the city in one piece (first time driving on the right side of the road with the gear stick etc in reverse). He didn't have any problems though and with the SatNav it was easy to find our way.

We took the long way around to Gulfoss in order to see some of the scenery. Iceland is a beautiful country, with it's volcanic rocks, treeless hills, and snow capped mountains. It is incredibly barren and yet breathtakingly beautiful. As I've said before the countryside is like nothing I've ever seen before. And Iceland is so empty! We saw barely in other cars, few people and only the odd house scattered here or there, almost hidden in the ground. It was amazing to have that much quiet.

On the way we came across the crater of a volcano that had erupted a long time ago. The scenery around the cater was spectacular and made for a great rest spot on our road trip. We also got some great photos around there.

First stop on our Grand Circle road trip was Gulfoss. Gulfoss is a very large and beautiful waterfall. There was so much water pounding over the falls and lots of mist to soak us. I loved how close we could get to it. We could climb up on the rocks right next to the falls and they had stairs up the cliff to get a higher view too. Absolutely beautiful.

It was pretty cold in the wind and spray from the waterfall. Sadly Cherise had started to feel ill and headed back to the car with a bad cough, so after we found out there was a cafe up the top of the stairs Nick drove us around to the top so Cherise could get some hot tea into her. We ended up having lunch there - lamb soup again and it was the yummiest thing we ate all weekend! And they had free refills. Bonus! We stayed there for ages, enjoying the views and thawing out. We then jumped back in the car for part II of the trip.

Geysir turned out to be just round the corner (in fact we drove straight past it and never noticed!). Geysir is the site of one of the worlds tallest and oldest geysers (in fact that's how they got their name!) but it hasn't erupted in years. Nearby is another geyser called Strokkur which erupts about every 10mins so that's what most people go to see now. It's still pretty tall, taller than NZ ones. It was fun to watch, it would bubble away and almost pulsate and then the water would rise into a bubble dome right before it exploded. We were there for ages watching it erupt.

They allowed us to get really close to it and in fact lots of kids would stand down wind of it and get completely soaked for a bit of fun. There was also quite a bit of other activity around too with bubbling mud and water, a 'little geysir' and a large pool of incredibly blue water which was so clear you could look down and see an underwater cave!

We left Geysir and headed for our third and final stop on our road trip; Pingvellir National Park. To get there we ended up on this back road which was full of pot holes. It's the bumpiest drive I've been on since Vietnam! Nick had the tough job of trying to navigate them. The scenery was beautiful though with a large mountain in the background.

Pingvellir National Park is the site of Iceland's first parliament and is an important location in Iceland history as things have been happening there for hundreds of years. Parliament was first established there in 930!

Surprisingly there's not much there. Even though they hold events there every year and it has huge historical significance they have reserved it's natural state with only a walkway, and a few plaques detailing it's history. There was also a church and a couple of small houses nearby too. Besides that it was all natural, it was amazing to see it like that.

It's a beautiful spot, shaded by a sheer rock cliff, with a river running through it which after a small waterfall breaks into lots of small inlets that eventually run into Icelands largest lake. Plus it has lots of grass verges and natural elevation platforms. You could definitely see why it had been selected all those years ago.

When people used to come to Pingvellir every year (some just for social reasons and to sell their goods) they would build temporary structures out of mud and rock, just big enough for one person to lie down in but kept them sheltered. Some of them you can still see. It was incredible.

By the time we got back into Reykjavik it was late, dark, we were all a bit cold and Cherise was not well at all. We let her sleep for a bit before we attempted dinner. We decided to go and find the 'best fish and chips' in Reykjavik but unfortunately the restaurant was over the other side of town. Lucky for us we still had the car! So handy :) So we drove across town, parking was interesting and we did end up going the wrong way on some one way roads but all part of the adventure. The fish was tasty but the chips were just chopped up potatoes. Nick and Cherise ordered what they thought was unbattered but they ended up with some weird green fish soup thing. It looked a bit like seaweed.

Our last day in Iceland and I was actually pretty sad to be going home. I really enjoyed our trip. My throat had started to play up by midday and by that night it was obvious I had caught Cherise's bug too.

So we had a pretty relaxed day. We copied the rest of Iceland's inhabitants and slept in late than did some more shopping around town. We had lunch in a cafe on the main street and basically just took it easy.

I really hope I have a chance to come back to Iceland one day. It's an amazing place.

Because Iceland is such a beautiful place I couldn't fit all the photos I love in one place so the rest of them are below in order of what we did :) Enjoy

Reykjavik, Iceland, Fri 16 - Sat 17 Oct 09

Nick and I spent a long weekend in Iceland with my friends Cherise and Leighton for Cherise's birthday We got in pretty late on the Fri night thanks to the time difference. Our dinky little 2 star accommodation was small with a shrunken bathroom and plain breakfast but a very handy location (although it turns out Reykjavik is pretty small so that's not hard).

And it's quiet! Finally a place in Europe which didn't feel claustrophobic. Not that I think you can class Iceland as Europe? Who knows but I was loving it! Of course it was bitterly cold but hey you've really got to expect that in a country called Iceland!

We spent the morning window shopping because it turns out there's not much else to do in the town (besides drinking) and even the shops don't open till 11am. So it seemed to be a place that slept a lot (my kind of town!). Lots of wool shops and outdoorsy places so not bad as far as shopping went.

We had coffee in the best cofee shop in Reykjavik (that's all they sold!), tried on funny wollen hats and even cuddled up to a polar bear (not a real one). Lots and lots of tourist shops around so you could try on all sorts of fun things. We had a blast in the morning just goofing around.

Our package deal meant that we had the afternoon in the Blue Lagoon, Iceland's famous outdoor thermal spa. The bus ride out there was amazing through the lava fields. Iceland is like a whole different world. Words can't describe it, the closest I can say is it really was like we were driving through the moon or Mordor or an alien planet or something. Either way it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Sorry no photos as I didn't take my camera since we'd be swimming (these photos I got off Cherise). But photos taken through the window of a moving bus really wouldn't do it justice anyway.

The Blue Lagoon was incredible. It's thermal pools in the middle of these amazing lava fields and it's misty and hot and eerie and very very cool! The changing rooms were an experience in themselves as in Iceland it is customary to shower naked before and after thermal spas in communal showers. Luckily this places is touristy enough that they don't enforce it. I was worried about how to get from the changing rooms into the pools without freezing but luckily Cherise and I spotted an indoor section of the hot pool which lead outside through a door. Very good idea!

The lagoon has this mud stuff (silica mud mask) which I think comes from the ground of the spas but is added to and put in boxes around the lagoon. You are supposed to smear it over your face and body to cleanse the skin. People looked hilarious wearing it.

We had landed in Reykjavik during a music festival weekend and there was a DJ in one end of the lagoon playing dance music and lots of people dancing around in the water with their fluorescent sticks. A laugh watching them!

It was very easy to relax away the hours in the spa. I think we were there for about 4-5 hours. Some areas were so steamed up you could barely see your hand in front of you and there weren't actually that many people, so it wasn't hard to find quiet spots. Some areas of the pools were much hotter than others and I had contests with myself to see how long I could stay in the really hot parts.

We caught the bus back into town and the swimming had made us hungry so we found an Italian place in our budget (Iceland is expensive). Sad to say I tried very little Icelandic food but then I wasn't going to ever eat whale or puffin anyway so no biggie. I did however try their local fish (yum) and icelandic lamb soup (double yum!). We practically lived on the lamb soup. So good.