Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Well have I got a story for you, but we will get to that later. Our day began with the obligatory breakfast. Jo & Shari had decided to go for a swim in one of the many geothermal pools in Reykjavik so Jac & I loaded up the car to do some more exploring. Beginning the day we headed to the town pond to feed the ducks, geese & swans. The pond freezes in winter but they pump hot water in one corner to keep a spot for the birds. Great idea. We went for a drive to the site of where they found an old Viking longhouse. It took us a little while to find it but eventually worked it out. There wasn't much there but it did fill up 5 minutes of our day. From there we went touring out of town to a place called Hafnarfjordur. The town is surrounded by lava, as is much of Iceland, but nothing too exciting about it. We then spent the next hour on some unsealed roads just experiencing the country. The day was overcast but the odd break of blue happened at various points. We decided to return back to the hotel about 5pm as rain began to fall. We haven't had much luck with the weather other than the first day. That wasn't that much of a problem in daylight hours, however it was creating problems at night as our northern lights tour has been cancelled time and time again. So we returned back to the hotel expecting the standard response. Well we were pleasantly surprised when hooking up with J & S again and they said that the tours were going ahead. So we had a little rest back in the room together with some sandwiches before making our way downstairs to board the coach. We found some seats on the right hand side and settled in listening to our Icelandic guide Louisa chatting away, providing details about the northern lights & history of the country. This continued on for the whole trip. Now we thought we would just be heading out of the city a short distance, getting away from the light pollution. But no that wasn't the case. We were heading back to Seljalandsfoss waterfall from yesterday, nearly 2 hours drive away. Apparently we would get periods of clear sky and the best chance of seeing the lights from there. Yeah right we thought, they were just taking us to a back up place for when we didn't see the lights. But we were in now so nothing we could do bit sit back, relax & enjoy listening to the guide. About 1.5 hours into the trip we pulled in to a roadhouse for a toilet break and snacks. When I say we, that includes the 2 other coaches traveling in convoy. And 150 people do take a while to get fed and use the rest rooms. After about 30 mins we were on the way again for the final stretch. It was nearing about 11pm at this stage. We noticed that the clouds had cleared and we were seeing a sky covered in stars which was a good sign. Then about 10 mins to go to the stop a passenger ran up to the guide excited. She confirmed what we had all wanted to hear, there were northern lights in the sky to our left. With the passengers on the left sticking their faces to the windows, us poor souls on the right could see nothing. The guide said they come & go so hopefully they would still be there when we arrived. Now the last few k's took forever. You could feel the buzz on the coach as we got closer and closer. We were praying that the lights would last. It seemed to take forever but finally the waterfall came into view. Being the last coach we stopped and exited off to join the crowd facing in one direction. We've done it babe, I said to Jac as we looked skywards. It was really happening, we were watching the northern lights. So what was it like? Well it was only in one section of the sky. It is like a white cloud at night that moves. It did a curtain as we watched and danced about slowly. It is not green or red as you see in the photos, just a faint illuminated white. Well at this stage it was. The colours that you see are as a result of a setting on cameras for night photography. Thankfully J & S have a great camera so we managed to get some blurry green shots to prove we had seen them. After about 15 mins the lights died out and the coaches turned on theirs and honked their horns for us to return. So that was it, we had seen the northern lights. How amazing. So it was back to the warmth of the coach and the long trek back to Reykjavik. Our guide said the lights had been a 4.5 to 5 out of 10. Not too bad I guess. She also said for those on our side to keep an eye out because if they flared up again we would stop for a bit longer. Sure enough after 5 mins the lights started even stronger. The 3 coaches found a private road to pull in to and we all piled out again. This time the lights really put on a show making a great curtain effect. Everyone was lined up on fenceposts trying to get their shots because in order to be successful you can't move the camera for about 20 seconds. This time we managed to get clear shots with great contrasts of the close township. This was exactly what we had hoped for and here we were, seeing something that a lot of people can only ever hope to see. But alas ten minutes later we were ushered back on to the bus for the final time which everyone did begrudgingly. Now this is where things got interesting. We managed to do a 7 point turn and went to head back up the dirt road to get on the main road. The other 2 coaches had decided to back out, & the first coach was off without incident. The second one though didn't quite have the hang of going backwards. When we headed up the road we saw the coaches back wheels completely over the other side of the main road, with his steer tyres completely in the air. You can't park there mate I thought as everyone strained to get a look. Our driver and guide were off to offer their help as the stricken coach emptied it's passengers. We sat there for a minute before deciding it was time to take snaps ourselves. So Shari and I jumped out, took a few pics of the bus, then headed back down the road to the fence. Here we spent the next hour taking pics of the most amazing northern lights show you could ever hope to see. We worked out the camera process and managed to get photos of ourselves with the lights. They spread so far across the sky that we couldn't fit them onto one shot. The view was awe inspiring and they became so bright that they were getting a green tinge to the naked eye. Something that is pretty rare and later we learned the lights had become about an 8, the best for 12 months. What made the last hour so special was that we had the space to ourselves. Every other fool decided to stay on the bus, rather than see this once in a lifetime spectacle. We were jumping up and down with the excitement of some of the shots we were taking, it was amazing. Eventually they pulled the bus back to the road and we were called to our seats. The trip home was long and slow as the lights faded in the distance, as if it had somehow waited for us to depart before retiring for the night. We arrived home at 2.30am but we didn't care what time it was. This experience goes down as one of our top 3 things we have seen in our travels. Something that we will remember forever. Something that not that many travelers are lucky enough to see. The northern lights, it has been ticked off. And we've got the photos to prove it.
- comments