A day filled with waterfalls, glacier hiking, the northern lights, Icelandic dinners and black sand beaches.
I booked a 12 hour day tour called 'Sensational Winter' through the Extreme Iceland tour company. I was picked up in a mini bus by a man who greeted me with the most enthusiastic hello I had ever heard. He told me that there was only going to be two more people on the tour and I was pretty worried to find out who the other two were as I would be stuck with them for the next 12 hours. However, the other two people were so lovely- a mum and daughter from England who were traveling around Iceland for a week. As soon as they got on the bus they started talking to me and we had a good chat for a while- they reminded me of my own family and I was so glad to be spending the day with them.
Our first stop was Seljalandsfoss waterfall. It was absolutely incredible! 60m tall and you could walk behind it. I regrettably wore a face full of makeup and after walking behind the waterfall came out looking like the grim reaper (should have got that urban decay spray).
The next part of the tour was glacier hiking at the Solheimajokull glacier. Our tour guide was the funniest and weirdest person I had ever meet. I still have not worked out Icelandic people and their humour but apparently they love to tell jokes. On the hike to the glacier- which was 40 minutes, he joked about stories of people who had died on the glacier and how he climbed Everest twice. The other two girls and I were so confused and could not stop laughing- he was ridiculous. We got to the glacier and had a briefing on what to do but he was terrible at explaining what to do and made us feel more worried then excited. We got an axe and crampons to wear and headed out on the glacier. Five minutes into our walk our guide turns around and says 'whoops not this way'- we couldn't tell if he was joking or not but it turns out he wasn't. The glacier moves everyday so the route always changes. While he led our group across the glacier he was lighting up cigarettes. The mum on our group looked absolutely terrified- how could we trust this guy! The views were incredible and it would of had to be one of the coolest things I have done- I know my sister would be extremely jealous!
After heading back to the car, which took over an hour because our guide left us to have a smoke- we headed to the black sand beaches. The black sand beaches are in south Iceland and are also known as Vik. The beach was beautiful and freezing but I still prefer the Australian beaches! We had a lot of time to kill before it got dark and before we would search for the Northern lights so our guide took us on his own personal tour of South Iceland. We visited a light house which overlooked the coast and had incredible views. Then we went to another waterfall called Skogafoss. It is also 60 metres tall and was so magical. My new British friends and I had a little photoshoot before it got dark and then headed of to a restaurant for dinner.
Our guide knew a really good Icelandic restaurant in the middle of nowhere. For four strangers who hardly knew each other and all different ages we got along so well. We talked about the most random things, tried the 'best Icelandic beer', had traditional Icelandic soup all while waiting for the Northern lights together. The two British girls paid for my dinner which was super kind! They told me that one day they would hope that I would do the same for another backpacker on a budget. How complete strangers can be so kind is beyond me!
We headed out to find the Northern lights and found them shining through the clouds! All green this time! I used my dodgy app on my iPhone to take photos and can now say I have seen the Northern lights six times- ridiculously lucky!
I had the best day with three special strangers who I will never forget- Iceland I am so in love with you.
