Iceland 2023

I left the van for a final pitstop of the night last night, to find I was surrounded by about a hundred people.  They were looking skyward, and indeed, Lady Aurora was visiting, and 3 buses had turned up with tourists to see it.  The moon was full and it was cloudy, so conditions weren’t great, but I got my camera out and took some snaps.  All horribly cluttered with tourists.  But hey, at least I got to see an Icelandic aurora two nights running, even if the photos won’t be worth having. The camp manager must have read my blog, because when I went to drop off my rubbish this morning, I noticed the “kitchen”had been cleaned and all the rubbish cleared away.   One of the tourists that used the toilets last night was complaining about how disgusting they were, so likely that got passed up the chain. I completed packing, I was slightly over my 23kg allowance coming here and have since bought some stuff, yak traks, gifts etc so I had bought and paid for a 2 nd ...

It was a stunning day today, clear blue sky and sunshine, with zero wind.  I decided to spend my last full day on the Reykanes peninsular, there were a few things left on the list that weren't ticked yet.  I also decided to stay at a campsite out near the airport, so there would, in theory, be less light pollution than last night, as we did get a brief show of aurora.  There is a big swimming pool complex next to the camp and they leave the lights on all night, which is rather annoying. I also figured I wouldn't have to battle Monday morning traffic to return the camper on time. So I set off once I had thawed the windscreen, the entire thing was frozen this time, top to bottom. They sure know how to do a good frost here. Quick sunrise stop First stop was the Seltun geothermal area, which really stunk of sulphur and was quite small.   Seltun selfie Next was the Krisuvikurberg Cliffs, very impressive and I sent the drone out to take photos.and foolishly didn't tak...

Today was an easy stroll around Reykjavik.  I sought out what is apparently the best cinnamon bun in the world, and I have to say, as a connoisseur of cinnamon buns, I'd have to agree. Not bad 👍 I wandered along the waterfront, past a bright yellow lighthouse and a sculpture by an Icelandic artist (read more here) https://vitruviuscreations.com/tag/islandsvarden/ past the sun voyager - I had to snarl at a bunch of tourists endlessly taking photos to get them to clear out for 10 seconds of people-free shooting as far as the Harpa concert hall, which seems to have no regular shaped windows whatsoever. Harpa concert hall There were some other interesting buildings. And murals And 2nd hand bookshops I then looped around and headed down the "main" shopping street looking for Icelandic souvenirs that were tasteful and didn't find anything that was particularly inspiring. Onwards to the Hallgrímskirkja church.  It's the largest church in Iceland and one of the tallest b...

Well this time, the weather forecast was correct.  It was super windy last night, the van was rocking and rolling with the wind, not that I lost sleep over it.  When I woke it was grey and wet.  The clouds were right down on the mountain, but I decided to drive out the short distance to the photo taking spot, and brew my coffee while I waited for a miracle lift in the weather.  It did not come, but I did enjoy my breakfast washed down with coffee.  Sigh  By about 9am I had taken what few pictures were possible, none at all of Vestrahorn as it was completely covered in cloud, and decided to head off.  No point staying around another day on the off-chance of good weather, so I started heading back north again, picking a few spots I have previously missed.  I stopped again at Diamond Beach, and even though the weather was still windy and cold, there was a lot more ice on the beach, so that kept me entertained for quite a while snapping pictures of th...

Todays plan was to head as far south as I could, stopping at Solheimasandur Plane wreck on the way, as we had skipped that the first time around.  In 1973 a United States navy plane ran out of fuel and crashed on the black beach at Solheimasandur.   Fortunately, everyone on the plane survived, but the wreckage is still there today, and a bit of a tourist attraction.  You can either walk the 4km from the parking lot just off the main road, or catch the bus which takes you there in about 10 mins for 3000KR.  I chose the bus because I’m lazy and there was a howling cold wind.  I arrived just as a bus left, but that gave me time to eat a sandwich for lunch and go to the loo. There are rarely "facilities" at these tourist spots, even though you are charged for parking. I really needed to go, and there were no trees or rocks, just flat land for miles around. It was time to try the Travel John.  I'll just say it was mostly successful, and leave it at that....

 Well waddayaknow, the weather forecast was NOT accurate and the rain the was meant to come overnight .... arrived in time for sunrise. The light was awful at Kirkjufell, even though it wasn't as bad as last time it did not inspire me. Instead I headed out on the "sword road" which has erosion barriers that look a bit like the hilt of a sword. I managed to get the drone up for some quick snaps between rain showers, although it came back with a few spots of rain on it.   The rain seemed to lift a bit and the light improved so I went back to Kirkjufell for some snaps, got annoyed with people that thought barriers were not meant for them, they had important selfies to take don't ya know, and generally pottered around the area.  Slightly better than last time I had driven in on a different road from last time, as we'd approached from west rather than south, also it was dark and lashing rain last time too.  Anyway, I discovered some more amazing scenery. Evidence of ...