Iceland May Long Weekend - Day 1

The start of our trip was slightly marred by us arriving at our hotel at 1.30am to be told that they'd overbooked for that night and we had to stay at another hotel. So for our first night we managed to get just 5 hours sleep before having to get up for an all day tour we had booked. The happy part though was after a spectacular day out, the hotel was able to check us in and upgraded us for our troubles!

The tour we had booked was one where we saw some of Iceland's main sights. Our first destination was Pingvellir which was the sight of the first Icelandic Parliament and the first democracy. It was also amazing as it is where the North American and Eurasia tectonic plates are slowly moving away from each other. The geography and geology of this was truly amazing with lava flows and rifts and valleys where the earth was separating. I knew Iceland had a lot of volcanic activity but I'd never realised how much until I learnt that it is 90% Basalt. Truly amazing.




After boring Ben with the geology and getting back into our amazing bus (above) we then went to Gulfoss (or gold falls) to see one of the smaller waterfalls in Iceland! It was quite spectacular, especially as you can walk right up to it and not just look from afar, and the spray was amazing and could be felt quite a distance away.




After a lunch of traditional lamb soup, it was off to the highlight of our tour and where our super jeep came in very handy. We were off to the Langjokull, or the long glacier. We went onto the glacier on snow mobiles as for most of the year it is covered in snow. This glacier is floating on a layer of water and the ice can be up to 700 metres deep in places. The snow mobiles were great fun, Ben certainly enjoyed driving it! We made a couple of stops were the vastness, isolation and peacefulness were breathtaking. At our first stop we all enjoyed the novelty of snow in May with a snowball fight. I'm in hysterics in the photos as when Ben wanted to take an action shot of me throwing a snowball, I managed to hit him quite hard where no man wants to be hit! All by accident of course!

Ben in the snow gear we had to wear, and on our snowmobile!

Ben's attempt at getting an action shot goes horribly wrong for him....

And left me in hysterics!!!

Ben getting creative and our Super Jeep!

The last stop on our tour was the Geysirs, after which all spouting hot springs are named. There are quite a few there, but only one, Strokkur, spouts frequently every 5 to 10 minutes. We saw about 7 and it was quite amazing to watch. There is steam everywhere as the water is about 150 degrees, and when the geysir is about to spout the water pulses and gurgles before it bulbs up and you get a brilliant blue light before bursting high into the air! Then once it subsided the water was sucked back into the crater like a whirlpool, quite a spectaclar thing to watch.

A geological explanation and one of the thermal pools - such a brilliant blue...
The geysir starting to get active...
The pressure starting to build up...
The water starting to burst.....
The start of the explosion....
And the dramatic climax!

Our day ended with us exhausted from the long day but still not ready for bed as even at 10pm it was still light, and I don't think it ever really got dark but stayed a sort of twilight the whole night.