ICE IN ICELAND

Today we continued our journey through the South of Iceland & in doing so experienced a LOT of geology!!

Our first stop was at the Mulakvisl River, which in 2011 become awash with melted glacial water. It is hard to tell from this photo, but this desert like landscape went on for kilometres, where dark gravel was decorated with ribbons of silver glacial rivers. A display board showed photos of the flooding & it was rather scary.  We got back in the car & skedaddled outa there as fast as we could!!

 

The next stop highlighted two things to us; that there were more designated  stops along this part of the Ring Road than there were yesterday, & that they were worth stopping at.

  Once upon a time this was a farm named Laufskalavada, then in the year 894 it was completely smothered by Katla's first volcanic eruption. Later a cairn was built in memory of the farm that stood here and a tradition was born, that whoever passes by this site for the first time, must stop & place another pebble on the cairn to ensure good luck for the remainder of their journey. Now there is a whole area of cairns.

 

Ofcourse we each added a pebble!

 

There were LOTS of stones/rocks/boulders scattered along the landscape of today's journey.  At times they looked like canon balls that had ben flung into the air & just dropped & stayed wherever they landed. Other times we saw rounded hillocks that resembled Viking burial barrows.  It was a remarkable experience to see so many changes in landscape within a relatively short distance.

 

 

Further down the road, we looked out the window & saw a familiar sight. Kilometres of lava fields covered in a carpet of moss.  These fields must be older than those we got to know in the Blue Lagoon area, because the moss is so much more dense & all encompassing.  We were delighted to find a really good stop & a clearly marked track that enabled us to walk through this area without causing any damage to the unique landscape.

 

Kirkjubaejarklauster once was the site of a Medieval convent farm.  Few remains are visible, but even so, we were in awe of the Nuns who laboured away in this harsh environment.  Aside from lugging giant volcanic stones out of the ground to try & make it productive for farming, to bathe  they climbed up that high ridge in the background to the crater lake above!

 

Jeff was up for the climb & was interested to learn that the ridge he had just zigzagged his way up was where the sea came up to and eroded the land during the last ice age. The crater lake was much larger than we'd expected.

 

Our next stop was at Dverghamrar where we got to see the hexagonal layered stacks, similar to the Giant's Causeway in Ireland.  They are also know as Dwarf Cliffs, because they look like small cliffs! Lava has come up from below the surface & cooled rapidly to form these hexagonally shaped pillars.

 

We were grateful that there were some lower stacks that we could look down on & see their shape for ourselves.

 

As we've been travelling over the past few days, we've seen the odd patch of white in the distance & commented, "Oo look, there's snow".  When white appeared on today's horizon we stopped mid sentence & had to change it to; "Oo look, there's a GLACIER"!!!  And there were more than one & they were so close!  Jeff took the photo above which really shows the contrast between the land & the glacier.

 

 

 

Today we had a certain place to be at a certain time; the Glacial Lagoon at Jokulsarlon was where we were scheduled to venture forth amidst the icebergs on a Zodiac boat.  We arrived early enough to get a glimpse of the Lagoon from the far side.  This gave us a greater perspective of how large the area is.

 

Before checking in for our boat ride though, we had time to venture down to Diamond beach to watch the icebergs float out to sea.  It was quite something to see these chunks of ice float under the bridge & on down the river & out into the ocean.

 

 

And this is why Diamond Beach has it's name!  We couldn't get over how fortunate we were that the sun had come out for our arrival here!  All morning the sky had been a blanket of foreboding grey & the windscreen wipers had been going constantly!  Here we got to see the ice really sparkle in the sun & it looked so dramatic against the dark rubble.

 

This is where we spent an idyllic hour!  WHAT A PLACE!!  Back in 2007 we took the children to the south Island of New Zealand (my homeland).  Whilst there we had a boat trip on the Tasman lake near Mt Cook & it was such a fantastic experience, I knew that I HAD to do this trip here.

 

I think I might be a teensy bit in love with icebergs!!  We took... ahem...a LOT of photos!!

 

As we  were zipping amidst the bergs, our driver suddenly slowed to a snail's pace, so that we could see this seal sunning itself on an iceberg!! 

 

One of the reasons we chose the Zodiac trip, was that it would take us closer to the edge of the glacier & we were not disappointed.  We just stopped for a while with the engine off & listened to the ice cracking & at times breaking off.  It sounded like lightning.  Our captain (who with his long blonde hair tied back in a plait looked very much the descendant of a Viking warrior) told us that because of global warming, this glacier is receding 300 metres each year.  That is an incredible amount.  We felt so privileged to have seen it in a blue skied day which, truly, was not photoshopped!!

 

What a great day & to make it even more outstanding.... as we were driving to our next hotel we looked out the window & saw two reindeer casually strolling along.  Sadly, I'd just put my camera away, so wasn't able to take a photo, but it was a very exciting few seconds in our day!!!!