Well, it just got more and more stunning the further south we went along this rugged coastline. We stopped for a quick walk … somewhere… ;) (Need a working camera with GPS really, hey ho).

Here’s a before & after picture of what the road used to look like. Highway 1 is almost entirely sealed now, but not quite.

Then it was on down the coast. The first time you see the icecap flowing down towards you it is… breathtaking really. No other way to describe it. Like everywhere the icecap & glaciers are retreating at a massive rate.

We did a short walk to one of the smaller glaciers. A nice walk in that it was fairly quiet. We discovered that Maaike and I have different desires when it comes to touring. I prefer zapping around all the major highlights, Maaike enjoys staying in one place for a while and exploring, and certainly getting off the beaten track. We mostly managed to cover both bases.. ;)

Then it was on to Jokulsarlon, for me a definite (if busy) highlight of the trip. Here, the icecap carves straight into the ocean. Well, it did, now there’s a short tidal river which sees an incredible amount of wildlife use..

One of the odd things you notice while walking around are all the dead fish. Initially I thought it was some impurity or something (which didn’t really make sense, but hey ho). Turns out the mackerel(thanks mum, I guessed trout) swim in from the sea and basically get hypothermia and die. This is, I suspect, why the seals etc. love the place so much. It’s easy pickings. We found a couple of “fishermen” literally going into the water and kicking the fish out. I ended up getting my shoes and socks off to go in and get one (you want to take the still moving ones, rather than the dead ones on the shore!). I was rescued by a fisherman who just came along and got the one I was going for, and then gave us another! Then suggested a way to cook it (gut it, chop it up, boil it). Delicious.

Another thing we saw at Jokulsarlon was slightly hidden in plain sight. I’m not sure how you know whether something is a “genuine” Banksy or not, but it certainly looked like one to me.

Update 10-11-2014, my brother Matt pointed me to http://grapevine.is/culture/art/2014/09/29/banksy-in-iceland/, it’s not a Banksy – but done by a Norwegian (Pobel)

Then it was on up the coast via another glacial lagoon at Fjallsarlon. Not as busy, but definitely quite beautiful in its own right.

All in all a definite highlight.

While we were in Myvatn we heard that the Bardarbunga volcano was threatening to go off. This meant that the ring road was in danger of being closed completely. So, we speeded up our plans slightly, but still had most of a day to explore the weird world around Hverir and Krafla.

Basically there’s a big magma chamber under this area, and it gives rise to lots of activity.

The pool above (hot) is no longer allowed to be used for bathing.. unfortunately, though I believe it was used in the Game of Thrones TV series for where Jon Snow and Ygritte had a nice eve together.

Anyway, lots of boiling mud and sulphurous pools. Very end-of-the worldish. Not unlike Wai-o-Tapu outside of Rotorua (well worth visiting if you’re in NZ)

There’s a power station at Krafla now. Well, a second one.. the first melted when the fissure erupted again ;)

We did do a quick walk around Lierhnjukur, which is a crater and still very steaming area. Pretty much everywhere you go the ground is hot and steaming. Not a good place to build say, a summer getaway house… but an interesting place to visit!

Finally it was time to high tail it out of the area before Bardarbunga went off (it did go off… pictures here (well worth a click) : http://mashable.com/2014/09/11/iceland-bardabunga-volcano-eruption-photos/. The threat was that the volcano would flood a huge area, and the particular place (Dettifoss) that we had planned on visiting and hiking in the area.

So off we drove towards the East. Staying in Seydisfjordur for the night.

Then it was on towards Myvatn (where quite a lot of the volcanic activity is). Well, where isn’t I suppose in this country, but still, Myvatn is a destination!

We went through quite a few tunnels on the way. Some of these are long. Like.. really long. At least 6-10km some of them.

We stopped for a coffee in Akureyri, where I received the best coffee art of my life. I was most impressed.

We did have a quick obligatory stop at Godafoss (Waterfall of the Gods). At the Alping (National Assembly) in the year 1000, the logsogumadur (law speaker) Thorgeir was forced to make a decision on Icelands religion. After 24 hours meditation he declared the country a Christian nation. On his way home he passed these falls and threw in the pagan carvings of the Norse Gods, this is what gave the waterfall its name.

Next stop on the way to Myvatn, well, in the area but before you got there, was a trip to the Pseudocraters (also known as Rootless cone’s apparently). These don’t look like so much from the bottom, just odd depressions.

Rootless cones are formed by steam explosions as flowing hot lava crosses over a wet surface, such as a swamp, a lake, or a pond. The explosive gases break through the lava surface in a manner similar to a phreatic eruption, and the tephra builds up crater-like forms which can appear very similar to real volcanic craters.

We went for a quick walk up Vindbelgjarfjall (529m) which looks out over the area. There were some great views to be had, and well worth the hour and a bit to get up there.

From here we looked across to the imposing Hverfell. Huge eruption ~ 2700 years ago. It’s 463m high and 1km in diameter.

Next it was on to Dimmuborgir (Dark Castles). It’s a weird place where lava was dammed by old lava, cooled, and made weird formations when the dam eventually burst. It was interesting, but, it’d be fair to say that I think you might have got more out of the place if you were a geologist. If you were running short on time, I’d leave this one to last.

That night we stayed at one of the busier campsites of the trip. And we took a dip in the thermal pools.

Picture above taken from http://www.thepolarroute.com/2013/03/the-icelandic-swimming-experience/. It was gorgeous at night.. but definitely pricey. If you want a cheaper thermal bath.. try out any of the swimming pools. They’re all heated thermally and have baths. Not that we went in them ;) But heard that’s the case.

A great place to spend the night, really nice camping beside the lake.

It really is an impressive lump o rock. We went for another coastal walk, hoping to see some puffins, as it was still the season. No luck, but we did see some big stones which the local fishermen used to lift as a form of competition. I was just able to lift the lightest one. I felt entirely manly.

We also saw a couple of wrecks along the coast, this one left as a memorial (Eding – English Trawler, wrecked in 1948).

We saw a hut here too, it was quite bare inside and was a clubs I think, i.e. not quite the backcountry hut network that NZ has. Still, quite serviceable and nice inside.

Then it was on Northwards, in the direction of Akureyri, passing a few interesting places along the way. One of which was a small museum and a rotted shark factory Hákarl. It was reasonably tasty.. actually.

We had a pint of beer one of the evenings, or was it two. I can’t remember. I do remember it was weak though. I guess the very high tax on alcohol means that they don’t get stronger beers? I’m not sure, but it was underwhelming. Probably one of the few underwhelming things about Iceland we experienced. That said, if you came to NZ I’d probably recommend something off rather than on tap… so maybe it’s to be expected :)

Nice evening though, the campsite was in the middle of town, but that was OK. And like a lot of places, the toilets had a radiator in them! It really must get seriously cold in the winter.. I mean you aren’t very shy of the Arctic circle up there.