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A place with the most spectacular landscape, over 200 volcanoes, where lava covers 11% of the country (which is one-third of all lava in the world) and where the national people drink more
Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation.
The one and only Iceland. Kelly (Miss Auckland 1999) and I headed to this beautiful land for a nature adventure filled weekend, and to try and spot Keiko the killer whale, the star of the "Free Willy" movie. He was returned to Iceland in 1998 after being captured there in 1979 at the age of two.
The first day was spent viewing all the natural phenomena's that this country possesses. Went to the Gullfoss Waterfall, which was a huge frozen glacial waterfall. The crevice is obscured from view, so it appears that this mighty river simply vanishes into the earth.
Visited 'The Great Geysir' in the Haukadalur valley, the oldest known geyser in the world. It erupts every 10 minutes and reaches up to 60m in height. Could have taken (a very, very hot bath) as the water temperature is naturally warmed to over 100 degrees. Kelly, who was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, got an unwanted one when the geyser erupted and she, along with 3 other unsuspecting victims got completed saturated.
Witnessed an unbelievably huge volcanic crater filled with ice. Got a tour around the Hellisheiði Power Station, the second largest geothermal power station in the world.
Chilled out with free cocktails at tapas bar, whilst sampling some crazy Icelandic cuisine - grilled goose, slow cooked arctic char, (apologies in advance to all the vegetarians/vegan's/animal activists out there) I tried a bite cured minke whale. For pudding I had Icelandic Skyr which is a national delicacy traditionally topped with fruit and cream.
With my adventure pants on I went underground caving through to a 2km cave. It was created when the surface lava hardened and the fluid lava continued to flow underground from the volcanoes. Travelled out to the Blue Lagoon - with its indescribable milky highlight blue water, where we relaxed in natural hot pools, around the pool bar complete with mud masks.
It took one unsuccessful trip, one cancelled trip, and on the last chance to view them we had the best luck we could of asked for. We got to experience the most breath taking elusive natural light display in existence - the Northern Lights. As you will have all seen in pictures, and on TV is was much more spectacular - dancing across the sky, changing colours & shapes. Felt humbled that Mother Nature let me see this. One man on my tour said that he has been waiting 50 years, and been on 9 unsuccessful trips.
Would be amazing to travel here in summer which they can bask in over 21 hours of daylight. Was an amazing place, and made me a wee bit homesick as some parts has similar scenery to NZ.
Looking forward to Mum & Dad coming over this side of their world for their big OE. Will be sure to have some updates for their adventures. x
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