Friday, August 22, 2008

Svalbard - Greenland - Iceland

What an amazing trip! I could never have imagined it would all be so incredibly beautiful, immense, and awe inspiring. We certainly have wonderful scenery in New Zealand, but this was all on a larger scale, and seemed to be unending; it all had feeling of such grandeur than it felt eternal. The company on the boat was varied and very interesting. Mostly from Australia, with a couple of Americans, a couple of Kiwis, and a Norwegian. My cabin mate and I got on very well, which is a definite plus! The sailing all went well, athough the ones who got seasick probably wouldn't agree - I think they were lucky that the rocky sea didn't go on for too long. One of the highlights would have been slowly making our way through the pack ice, getting closer and closer to NE Greenland. We were lucky in that we managed to get further north than they have for a couple of years. So now I've had a couple of days in Iceland, visiting Lanmannagauer two days ago; a wild and wonderful part of the country, with solidified lava flows, amazing craggy peaks, red soil and bright green grass. The green grass here in Iceland is a very deep and bright green, and somehow looks overdone in the pics. Yesterday I flew up to Isafjordur in the Westfjords (google it), for a little kayaking, a most enjoyable seafood meal in a quaint little old restaurant, a drive through a 9km tunnel through the mountains, and a walk around a puffin nesting island called Vidur - only saw some puffins out on the water, black specks in the distance. Bother!
Off to London this morning. Better hurry and put some pics on - taxi due in 10 mins. Bye!

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