Iceland - Land of Fire & Ice

Iceland; can it actually live up to the expectation and hype or is it just a REALLY good marketing campaign designed to rebuild their economy after the banks collapsed in 2008? It felt like I was in a marketing campaign when, on arrival, I am greeted with a viewing of the northern lights out the airport bus window en route to the city. What a way to begin this amazing little adventure.

Turns out I hadn’t done much (any) valuable research prior to arriving because work got in the way; I was busy sunning myself and getting mega lit in Fiji with my colleagues. So, I arrived in Rekjavik to a max temp of 3 degrees Celsius, typical for that time of year apparently.. Iceland…. ICE Land. Anyway I’d just come from sweltering Italy and my 9kg of luggage for a 4-week holiday mostly consisted of sun dresses, miniskirts and light and breezy tops which meant a visit to the “exclusively priced” main street to stock up on the essentials was in order.

A few hours later, layered up like Michelin Men with thermals, leggings, fleece, down jacket, beanie and gloves we pick up our car, learn how to park against the wind (because if you don’t your car doors get ripped off… #windyAF) and get rolled for insurance; apparently the combination of wind and volcanic ash strips the paint off the car as you drive along the southern route?? 

Thousands of dollars down and no actual sights seen yet… but we’re on holidays so IDGAF. We hit the highway headed west to check our Snaefellsnes Peninsula. Within minutes of leaving Rekjavik it’s sight after sight after sight. There’s snow on the mountains (I’m from Darwin so that’s still novel), black mountains with no greenery, fields of dried lava covered in yellow shrubs contrasting against the ice blue waterfalls. This country is a photographer’s dream. So much contrast; I LOVE IT. 

The highway (dirt track full of pot holes) leads us past waterfall after waterfall up and around mountains, view after view. Every waterfall we stop into has some macabre story usually revolving around someone drowning, or something to do with witches or Vikings. 

Our AirBnb in Snaeflessnuss Peninsula was INSANE; out in the middle of nowhere, completely pitch black, massive deck covered in frost looking out over the peninsula and within an hour or so of arriving we could see the Northern Lights from the window of the lounge. I rugged up and went out onto the deck to get a proper look. Honestly one of the coolest things I’ve seen; green and yellow lights dancing across the sky; it’s surreal. 

There’s a buzz in the air the next day; I really feel like I’m exploring; this place is unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been and the adventures continue; horse ride on a black sand beach, an actual iceberg that had drifted across from Greenland offshore (apparently sometimes polar bears drift across with them… random), unplanned road closures due to the snow, 10 point turn on the side of a mountain in snow slush and mud; Iceland really knows how to get the heart racing. 

We roll into Husavik where we are propositioned by a super drunk guy at breakfast who wants to take us to see “his church”. I’m thinking he’s about to flash us so politely decline his offer to drink straight vodka out of the bottle he has in his back pocket, make up some ruse about some “friends” we are late to meet and speed walk to the car counting on the fact that he was too drunk to walk fast enough to jump in with us. Poor bloke was probably just lonely - theres only about 300,000 people in the whole country and we were literally the only other people we could see in the town apart from the people who served us at the bakery. 

The next few days we explore the diamond circle region. I must have missed the memo about hiking boots being essential in Iceland in all of my laborious research prior to arriving (I wonder if I will ever get more organised before departing on holidays); apparently Captain and I are the only tourists not in them… instead we are rocking Connies in the snow and ice. They are breathable which is great in Melbourne, not so great when its like 2 degrees and  your ankles are exposed and you’re slipping around in snow and the air holes in the side are filling with slush. But the views = totally worth the risk of slipping over a cliff for.  

We’d heard from numerous recommendations that the Blue Lagoon is pretty overrated and that there’s an alternative in the north that’s half the price and 1/10th of the people so we strip our 4 layers off and run through the freezing air, squealing like lunatics because it’s so friggin cold and launch ourselves into the warm waters of Myvatn nature baths and watch the sun set over the volcanic landscape. This northern part of Iceland really is starting to feel like Game of Thrones… land of fire and ice… literally.. lava fields covered in snow. We later find out that parts of GoT are actually filmed here. 

Heading East we have a relatively long drive ahead so its an early departure. It starts snowing; I’m psyched; first time driving in the snow and I am thinking how beautiful it is… after a while the snow is getting heavier, there’s more buildup on the road and I start hydroplaning and the beauty of it all is no longer front of mind. The car we have is a shitty SUV all wheel drive; the wheels are getting jammed with snow and I can barely move the steering wheel; I’m gripping it so bloody hard that my forearms are starting to hurt; the petrol light is on; we are in the middle of nowhere, no phone reception, no turning back, definitely no petrol stations in sight (they are few and far between in this land). 

There are skid marks in the road where you can see others have lost control of their vehicle. The only thoughts going through my head are the fact that the car we have is white so when we skid off the road no-one will even be able to find us in the snow unless I do it fast enough that the car flips and the underside is then visible. I’m also thinking that mum won’t even be able to get my body back to Australia as the only person who knows what insurance company I am with is Captain who is in the passenger seat. Anyway, clearly we survived, but it took a few saunas and relaxing in a spa that evening to calm the F down.

Southward bound through Hofn to Vik we are rewarded with some insane scenery, Batman shaped mountains, glacier tongues from the highway and of course a million and one waterfalls. We had the coolest tour where we rode snowmobiles over Vatnajukull Glacer (the world’s 3rd largest glacier beaten only by Antartica and Greenland). Sadly like most glaciers it’s shrinking rapidly partly due to global warming but mostly due to the fact that they also make delicious beer from it.

We check out Jokulsarlon lagoon because #tourists which surprise surprise is packed with tourists, drones, a million and one cameras, a dude in an astronaut suit, people in wedding dresses who do not look Icelandic so I can only imagine they’ve paid a shit tonne of money to take wedding photos in a destination that actually has nothing to do with their wedding. Our snowmobile guide actually gave us some great advice that he prefers the glacier lagoon a couple of mins further along the highway so we bail on this one and head there instead. We’re rewarded with having pretty much the entire place to ourselves. Go figure. 

Fjallsarlon Glacier Lagoon at Sunset

Our last full day covers Vik back to Rekjavik. The little research I had done meant I was hanging out to check out this DC plane crash site which is unmarked somewhere along the highway between two turnoffs.

We pull into a little carpark with a sign and a walkway seemingly headed nowhere. It’s literally black sand as far as the eye can see in pretty much every direction. We are walking for miles and I start to think that maybe this whole thing is a prank; surely by now we’d be able to see a bloody plane popping up from the sand: could be that unique Icelandic humour. Anyway we continue on with no end in sight when suddenly we go down a sand dune and low and behold I was jumping to conclusions (very unlike me) and the plane does in fact exist!! 

One of the greatest things about Iceland is that there doesn’t appear to be really many rules; Coming from Australia with rules, fences and signs everywhere telling you what you can and cannot do it’s almost shocking to see people are climbing all over this plane, arms stretched out to get that insta worthy shot. It’s covered in graffiti and you’re allowed to walk through the centre of the plane. There is actually not one single person there policing it.. and then I realise that is literally the entire country. Refreshing but I wonder how long it will last before ignorant tourists ruin it for everyone else. 

Interestingly - some of the rules that Iceland does have are quite unique… like no off-road driving, do not touch the moss and, if you’re a kid, whatever you do DO NOT misbehave around Christmas otherwise Gryla (half troll half animal, mother of 13 mischievous troll boys) will capture you and boil you in her cauldron. If that’s not capturing the festive spirit I don’t know what is.

Incredible little country; I’ll be back!