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Published: August 11th 2018
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Up earlier this morning as tour starts at 8am, so I was downstairs for breakfast at 7.
Today's tour will have a lot my traveling time, as we cover a fair distance heading down the south coast. Our first destination was Reynisfjara, the Black Sand beach. At either end of the beach are the enormous basalt stacks. According to local Icelandic folklore, these columns were once trolls trying to pull ships from the ocean to shore, however they were dim and went out too late in the night so when dawn broke on the horizon they were turned into solid stone. So mesmerizing are these features, they were featured in Game of Thrones; they are in some of the scenes 'North of the Wall'. The sea stacks are home to thousands of nesting seabirds, including the Atlantic Puffins.
After spending about 45 minutes stretching our legs and exploring along the coast, we then drove to the quaint seaside town of Vik. The church on the hill has the best views bit unfortunately there was a funeral being held there today so we didn't want to be too intrusive. We then headed down the hill to a well prepared tourist
places for lunch. It seems all the bus loads of tourists come to this place so the whole time we were here was spent standing in line to order then quickly eating your food. An example of how expensive it is in Iceland - I had the lamb soup and some french fries. This cost ISK2,700 which = $34 AUD!
After lunch it was back in the bus and we drove to Sólheimajökull glacier. This glacier looks very dirty! This is due to the years and years of volcanic eruptions in the area - every time there is an eruption, it places a layer of ash over the glacier. The rain comes and freezes so that there are hidden layers of ash. As the glacier melts these black parts become visible. We were able to walk down a path to come fairly close to the glacier - there are always people hiking on this one, which is interesting to see.
Our next stop along the tour was the Skógafoss Waterfall. This waterfall is 60 metres high and there are steps you can take to the very top. I did this and spent some time taking photos as well
as getting a bit wet from the spray! Very majestic! I headed back down and along the river to get as close as I could without getting too soaked. So much power!
Then it was on to our second big waterfall - Seljalandsfoss. This waterfall is also 60 metres high but with this one you can actually walk behind it! I didn't bring any of my wet weather gear with me but I wasn't going to miss the opportunity of going behind this waterfall! It was really exciting and I didn't get too wet - I was more worried about my camera and phone!
It was now time to head back to Reykjavik so we settled in for the hour and half drive back, all the while enjoying the sensational scenery along the way. As we drove back I checked in with Cathy & Scott as we had said we would meet up for dinner. We all wanted something fairly casual so when my bus dropped me off at my stop, I checked out a few places nearby. I found this cute food market place Hlemmur Mathöll which looked like it would fit the bill.
Quick change
back at the hotel (only because my pants were covered in mud from the waterfalls!) and I met Cathy & Scott at 7:15. We had a lovely dinner - Scott and I had a lobster and bacon sandwich (omg, yum!) And Cathy had the portabello mushroom sandwich. We had a couple of beers and enjoyed catching up and sharing our adventures from the day. We were all pretty tired from our big days of touring, so had a relatively early night They have hired a car so driving is even more exhausting! Looking forward to seeing them again either in Sydney or Vancouver or Vermont ..... or wherever we happen to find ourselves!
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