FALLING WATER & STEAM.



After a somewhat sleepless night (midnight sun suits Friday night party goers!!), we sat down to breakfast & just let the scenery (& the caffeine) refresh us.  We have lost count of the number of waterfalls trickling down from the surrounding mountains into the valley that Seydisfjordur nestles in.

 

They are like loose threads of white cotton stuck to the green fabric of the grassy slopes.

We had truly enjoyed being able to see so many & hear the bigger ones as we walked around the town.

 

Most of the waterfalls are unnamed, only the bigger & more significant ones have that honour, but even then there is only a small number that make it into the guide books & 'Iceland Top 10' lists.  Encountering so many is such a treat.

 

 

It was time for us to move on, so we said farewell to the pretty little town, with it's bright coloured buildings & started the climb back up the mountainside to the rest of Icelandic civilization.  We passed Gufufoss on the way, one of a few 'named' falls on the road between Seydisfjordur & Egilsstadir.

 

Back on the Ring Road around Iceland, we were driving along merrily, when Jeff suddenly swung into a farm gate. He had a good reason to!  At the roadside of Hjardarhagi Farm are some very well preserved turf buildings.  These ones were for animals, but once there were a complex of turf buildings here & at least one housed humans!

 

We have seen several turf houses in various stages of turfiness & repair as we've been travelling, but we haven't always been in a position to stop, so this was a rare & generous opportunity provided by the family who owned the property.  One thing that astounded both of us, were the layers of turf stacked on top of the stone. Now THAT'S insulation!!

Yet again we were travelling through a surreal landscape.  This one so brown and barren, a desert of gravelly rock.  It did however, contrast stunningly with the blue mountains in the distance and patches of the same blue in the sky!

 

After a couple of hours we finally reached our destination; waterfall central!  We were here to see Europe biggest waterfall in terms of volume, but it also had some other falls nearby, the first was this one, Selfoss. 

It was good to get out of the car to stretch the legs and walk to this Fall, it was beautiful in it's own right, but....

 

...what made it really special was the rock it  tumbled over & the 'support role' waterfalls that surrounded it. 

 

We walked on towards the waterfall that is Number 1 in the 'Eyewitness Travel' Top 10 Iceland guide... Dettifoss. (Or Dentalfloss as Jeff insisted on calling it!!) We had seen the spray long before we reached the waterfall, & one of the things we recognised was that this was  not a fall that fell from a great height, this one fell into a long canyon & it was extremely powerful. Not only did we get drenched, but the camera on my phone told me that the lens was dirty & needed cleaning, when in fact, it was water spray that was making the image murky!

 

We were very impressed with the paths made available to visitors, & even though it was slippery & we had to be careful, we could get quite close to the waterfall.  We certainly got to see how much water plummeted down & how powerful that force was.

 

Back on the road again, we draped our coats over the luggage in the back in the hope that they would dry off.  We were bound for the Myvatn area, and more evidence of volcanic activity.  When we had almost reached our destination, we pulled off the road to take a quick look at Hverir.

 

It was here that we met a zillion of the local residents; midges.  Unfortunately, they seemed to be immune to repellent that comes from Australia.  It was partly because of these pesky little black dots that seemed to LOVE human faces, that we only had a quick visit.  An added interest though was seeing all the ways people dealt with them, from the wild windmilling of arms, to the complete covering of head with clothes (I don't know how they could see where they were going!) to my more bandit-like approach!

 

 

Nevertheless, inspite of the midges, the rotten egg stench and the steam, we were able to see some impressive boiling mud pools.

 

We also saw some stunning colours in the sulphur.  All of it worth getting out of the car for. It may be a violent landscape, but it is beautiful.

Another great day & we are still saying, "WOW... we're in Iceland"!!