Macs with Packs: Iceland

Welcome back to the land of fire and ice.

We returned back along the same F-road that we went up earlier, then hit the Ring Road (Route 1) again and turned east. The next couple of hundred kilometres were spectacular. Gorgeous houses and farms sat beneath huge cliffs with waterfalls tumbling down them or they sat snuggled in verdant green pastures. There were even some trees, lol!

An information centre had a turf roof which we stood on for more stunning views over nearby farms.

Inside this information centre we saw photos of how much the Icelandic glaciers have retreated in the last 100 years or so due. There were photos taken last century then new photos taken in the same spot and you could clearly see how much the glaciers had retreated.

Jump forward a few days and we came across this sign on a walk which was explaining some of the geological features of the landscape in that area:

We drove through the impossible-to-pronounce village of Kirkjubaejarklausur and started approaching the massive Vatnajokull ice cap, the third biggest ice cap in the world after Antarctica & Greenland.

Looking at a map, glaciers ran outwards from the icecap like fingers from a hand. To us, they curved gracefully along the lowest points between the mountains.

As the Ring Road wound its way eastwards it opened up more spectacular views of the glaciers.

The Ring Road is new and well made but there are very few places to pull over. We soon learned that if we saw a number of cars pulled into a car park that there was something worth looking at. We saw such a group, pulled in to a car park and saw there was a sign showing a few short walking tracks. We followed them and what we saw blew us away.

The short walk took us to a lake at the end of a glacier where the ice was wildly rugged.

The glacier was massive!

Again, I was astonished by the tiny flowers that existed in this harsh environment.

Much to our surprise there were icebergs!

Back on the main road, there were often houses in the middle of nowhere. It just doesn't seem to be the thing to plant trees around houses,

More stunning views of glaciers and the ice cap.

There's a famous place to see icebergs. It's called Jokulsarlon. It's a huge tourist destination so we weren't sure if we'd visit as we figured it'd be packed. The car park was busy but not chockers so we drove in. We were so glad we did. One of the glaciers from Vatnajokull tumbled down to a lagoon. Icebergs calved off it and slowly floated lazily in front of the glacier.

The blue icebergs are older ice. They've been compressed so much over time that the air bubbles get squeezed out of them and they reflect light differently, giving a blue appearance.

A bird taking off among the icebergs.

Bizarrely, a bride and groom posed for photographs with the icebergs behind them. The bride wore a bare-shouldered wedding dress. It was less than 10 degrees!

As icebergs slowly melted in the water, they moved forward down a short river towards the sea. They often got stuck on rocks or the river bed on the way. We watched as one loose iceberg came down the river and knocked several others off the places where they were stuck. It was cool!

Our next accommodation was on a farm on the west side of the icecap. We had a great room here and the people were lovely. Like many places, the staff were from everywhere except Iceland. There aren't enough people in Iceland to staff the accommodation and restaurants for all the tourists so staff are brought in from all over the world, but largely eastern Europe. They get paid well so many young people come for the summer to save money. They still get time off to see Iceland as well. Most of them love it.

We managed to speak to the farmer here and learned a lot about sheep farming in Iceland. Basically the sheep spend half the year or so in a shed. They lamb down there, most commonly having twins although triplets and even quadruplets aren't unusual. They all go outside in summer (yes, this freezing time we're experiencing here is summer!) and roam far and wide over the various landscapes. When it's time to bring them in, the community gets together and rounds them all up. It's so different to the way we raise sheep.

The sheep have special wool to protect them and are pretty cute.

We went for a walk in the wild country behind the farm.

It started to rain then it started to hail. The hail stung our faces and we were so cold! At least it didn't last too long and we continued to walk.

We came to another calving glacier.

It was another great walk but we were pretty happy to eventually see the farm come into view.

That afternoon, the wind picked up and soon it was a howling gale. The grass in front of our room was being blown in every direction and spray was being whipped up from the river.

We had one dinner at the accommodation then the next night we went to the large town nearby called Hofn. The way to pronounce this is more like "hup" said in the way you might say it when you're hiccupping! This is such a strange language.

We left the farm and drove past more snow-capped mountains with lupins in the foreground.

We had lunch at a gorgeous fishing village on the way.

We headed over the Oxi Pass where more beautiful waterfalls tumbled down rugged cliffs.

Our next destination was quite different. Set in a pretty valley, the Wilderness Centre was the most friendly place we stayed at. All the staff were so welcoming and one even came from Australia! They were great to talk to.

We walked up the valley and crossed the river on a hand-pulled cable box. This was how they used to cross the river in centuries past. It was surprisingly scary and hard work!

On the other side we walked through an area where there were heaps of Icelandic ponies. They were so friendly and started coming up to us. Soon we were surrounded by them!

Check out how long the manes and forelocks are!

This one's mane and forelock were so bushy!

One of the staff was an Icelandic guy (yes, a local staff member!) who was working there as a builder. He had worked on film sets and had interesting stories to tell. He was out there but was such a lovely guy. Look closely at his glasses.