Life is an Adventure!: 2013

Wednesday 21 August 2013

Jokursalon Glacial Lagoon

56km away from Skaftafell National park, we reached the lagoon of icebergs of Jokursalon. This is a very large glacial lake south of Iceland on the edge of Vatnajokull. On highway ring road 1, you can clearly see the icebergs floating on the sea. Coming from the direction of Vik, turn left once you cross the bridge and park your car.

The operator by the shore has tours bringing tourists out either on the amphibian boat or the smaller zodiac boats. The zodiac boats are recommended as they are able to bring you closer to the glaciers and are faster too.

amphibian boat can hold more people

A more interesting ride is the zodiac boat. It is a smaller boat that is faster and can carry you nearer to the icebergs. Very highly recommended.

zodiac boat ride

As you can see we are out in their waterproof overalls. It is a must to wear the overalls as the air is freezing cold around the lake.

iceberg as big as houses

There is a small hill you can climb up to to take a bird's eye view of the place.

Friday 9 August 2013

Hike the glaciers of Skaftafell

After a 1 hr drive from Vik, we reached Skaftafell National Park to do a two and half hr hike at the Svinafellsjokull Glacier with the Icelandic Mountain Guides. Cost us 7200 kr per person which I think was a reasonable price for a chance to have a blue ice experience. The Skaftafell National Park is part of the larger Vatnajokull National park. The Svinafellsjokull Glacier is part of the Vatnajokull glacier, being the largest glacier in Europe.

Our booking was at 11am but we were required to check in 15min earlier to try out our crampons.

Fitting the crampons

Ready for the icing experience

Skaftafell National Park

After a 10min bus ride to the glacier, our guide took us right onto the tongue of the glacier to start our hike. This is a fairly easy walk without the need for high level of fitness and is suitable for all ages.

Can you see the small little people on the glacier?

Taking a break after the glacier walk

Washing our crampons while waiting for our bus ride back

Majestic view of the glacier

South Iceland Accommodation - Sólheimahjáleiga Bed & Breakfast, Vik and the puffin birds

Enroute to Vik, our stay for the night on the road was at Sólheimahjáleiga Bed & Breakfast Guesthouse. It is very near to Skogafoss waterfall and about 20 min away from the town of Vik.

This is a quaint and quiet guest house, and very clean and comfortable.

Parking is free. So is Wifi !

Nice friendly little farm dog

love you.... muacks!

Dinner is available but needs to be booked in advance. The usual meals served are fish and lamb. These are my tomato soup and fish meal for dinner.

Breakfast is also provided in the lodging. What you see here is a typical Icelandic meal provided for most bed and breakfast accommodations in Iceland.

Our breakfast provided at the accommodation

South Iceland - Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss

Seljalandsfoss is a waterfall situated between Selfoss and Skogafoss. It is easily reached on Ring Road 1. The amazing thing you can do is walk behind the 60m high waterfall. Many people does that but there is a possibility of getting wet so do remember to wear a waterproof jacket.

Walking behind the waterfall

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Captivating Sejalandsfoss

The Golden Circle - Thingvellir, Gulfoss and Strokkur

First day of driving brought us to the Golden Circle which is famous for its eye-catching, majestic waterfalls and geysir.

Our first stop is Thingvellir National Park . This is where the first parliament of the world was created in 930. This is also an exceptional place of geographic importance, wherein lies the fault line of the North American and Eurasian plates.

Continental drift explained

http://www.thingvellir.is/nature/continental-drift.aspx

Thingvellir

A short drive away we reached the geothermal active valley of Haukadalur. This place is famous for the geysers called Geysir and Strokkur. Geysir has however been very irregular and have sometimes stopped erupting altogether. we hung around to see Strokkur instead, which has been consistently erupting every 5- 9 min or so.