The hotel booking had the magic words ‘breakfast included’, so filled up on toast, cereal, yoghurt and coffee, then went on a walk around town to take photos. Grabbed a map of the area and saw there was a waterfall nearby and the receptionist said it was about 30 minutes away so headed out. After about 10 minutes we hit snow and limited visibility, but it didn’t last long, and carried on. Came across a frozen lake and stopped to take photos, then continued on and found the waterfall. Parked and walked about 200 meters in the snow and it was spectacular – again took lots of photos, the camera is getting a good workout. The weather wasn’t great, cold and wet, but this is Iceland, not Sunnyland. The viewing platform was very close to the waterfall with no barriers, a recipe for disaster if you ask me.
We had a very expensive coffee in the cafe nearby then started back to Reykjavik.
The drive back was probably the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen – it was raining on the way up, but now the sun came out and the mountains looked incredible. The wide plains and valleys were flat with rivers running through them with snow and ice all around, and mountains on either side. We wanted to stop every couple of minutes to take photos, around every corner was an amazing sight.
Arrived at the hotel, unpacked and then went out to eat. Lots of places to eat and there were loads of people around, we saw a place that was packed and had Icelandic fish and chips so decided on that. I think they must have been caught by Iceland’s best fisherman because it cost $60 for 2.
Went back to the hotel then decided to go and look for the Northern Lights. It was cloudy and raining in Reykjavik so we checked a website that tells the chance of seeing the lights and where the cloud cover is.
I drove for about an hour, through the rain, in the dark, after already having driven for 8 hours back from Akureyri. But the chance was high and it was worth a try.
Pulled off the road where there were no street lights and away from the highway and stood outside in the freezing cold. The sky was clear except for a thin band of cloud. Song said that was the Northern Lights, I said it was a cloud. Song said it was the Northern Lights, I said it was a cloud. Song said it was the Northern Lights, I said she was right, it was the Northern Lights. I have to admit, it wasn’t as spectacular as I had hoped. It was like a ribbon or curtain of greyish cloud that moved and shimmered, and occasionally there were tinges of green. We watched for about 20 minutes then they disappeared. I set the camera up on the heavy tripod I carried all the way from Australia for this specific purpose and took loads of photos, none of which came out, unless you consider a black square to be a true representation.
Feeling cold and tired, but very happy that we got to see them, drove back to the hotel and arrived at around 0100. This was a long, but excellent day.
