This is turning out to be a hell of a tough "gig" combining daylight sensory overload with night time sleep deprivation !
After snatching a couple of hours sleep early evening we were on northern lights duty in Pingvellir National Park till near midnight last night before crashing back at the appt and again rising early this mrning to fit in the "heavy load" of day time activities planned ! First off the rank was our journey to the nearby Geysir Geo thermal park where Monika in her Antartic survival jacket stood posed against the bubbling and explosive Strokkur Geysir while my fingers poised frozen over the camera trying to capture that "right moment !
With awe and sulphur still embedded upon our senses we journeyed 10 or more kms along the road to the super impressive Gulfoss Waterfall with conditions about 10 degrees colder than the freezing Geysir Park ! Here though at least the sun provided some suggestion of impending warmth while highlighting a magnificent collage of ice, snow and thundering water ! This was the Iceland that we'd come for - rugged natural beauty at its best !
After Gulfoss we "refuelled" back at the appartment before heading out this time on a secret mission to discover the supposed off the beaten path gem Bruafoss Waterfall. Off the beaten path it certainly was as we traipsed along ill defined muddy paths heading thru swamp like terrain but secret it was not as we plodded and splashed our way with a number of other internet savy tourists ! The effort though was worth it as the river with its aqua blue vein providdd a beautiful setting against the snowy hillside background.
Back in the car we headed back in reverse past our appartment to Pingvellir National park by this time bathed in a beautiful afternoon sun. Pingvellir is a place of significance to Iceland being not only of geographical interest with its head banging tetonic plates but also a place of histroical importance given its 1, 000 + year old connection with Icelands political history and law making.
Once done and a million photos taken, it was back to the appartment with a lot less swagger than this morning thanks to cumulative physical weariness and a huge sensory overload following seeing so many amazing sights !
Somehow though we once again dragged ourselves out at night time for yet another memorable Northern Lights display. This was even more impressive than last night as the lights danced across the sky highlighting a rapidly setting moon ! Again it was bloody freezing requiring us to open the car doors in an effort to shield ourseleves from the biting ice cold winds as we stood in tge open viewing the spectacle !
We are so far batting 2 for 2 on our Icelandic Northern Lights adventure !
Sent from Samsung tablet
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