Off to Oz

Today, I'm taking the train to Hamburg, a flight to London, another flight to Singapore, and then another flight to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. That's in the middle right of Australia, at the east coast. There, I'll stay in a hostel for two nights, then hopefully work on an organic farm for a week, for board and lodge, before I'll go dancing at Balboa on the river. After that, I don't know, possibly going up north towards the Great Barrier Reef for some snorkeling. I'm staying for three months in total, making my way down to the south via Sydney and eventually flying back home from Melbourne. That's the plan.

Iceland pics

I took 358 photos in Iceland, but I'll limit myself to just a few to show you here... you had to be there to get the whole impression anyway.

Resting between two tectonic plates in Thingvellir National Park.

My birthday card looked suspiciously unsuspicious and was opened by Icelandic customs. It made it in time anyway.

Pretty basalt.

My host in Stykkisholmur, performing Icelandic folk music.

My host took me on a day-trip on the Snaefellsnes peninsula, took some touristy pics of me.

Stykkishomur harbor at sunset.

Stykkisholmur lighthouse.

Stykkisholmur harbor.

Stykkisholmur

More basalt.

Beer on the patio of the KEX hostel in Reykjavik.

Catch of the day.

The purple thingies were edible, too, but I just tried the mussels.

In the old times, these were used as wicks (Dochte) for oil lamps. Now, they are just pretty.

Our walking trip: from Landmannalaugar (bottom left) to Langidalur (top right) hut in the Thorsmörk, and then over the Fimmvörduhals pass.

Description of the first day's walk.

Sunset in Landmannalaugar, our starting point.

We had to camp the first night, because the hut was all booked out.

Soooo pretty!!

First stop, Hraftinnusker hut. Snow fields and steam from thermal springs to the left.

More pretty.

I believe this was after a tough climb.

Pretty in green.

Eerie.

Loved the green mountains next to the black, beach-like desert sand (volcano ashes?).

Third stop, Botnar hut in Emstrur. They had a shower (one).

Our dinner.

Fourth and last leg of the walk before a rest day and the Fimmvörduhals pass.

Vertigo, anyone?

Thorsmörk was pretty at sunset. During the day, too. I spent the rest day sitting in the sun.

Fimmvörduhals pass. We would go up, stay there over night in a hut, and go down on the other side to Skogar the next day.

This says we would have to go 850 m up.

Another sunset (I know, getting boring).

Arctic fox babies who had lost their mum and were fed by the hut wardens. Cuties.

Still smoking hot lava stream of the 2010 Eyjafjalljökull eruption.

One of the two mountains that were formed by the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010. A walk through smoking lava. Apparently, on top of that hill you could lift small rocks and feel the heat.

Smoking lava and glaciers in the background.

Daniel and Silke walking over smoking lava.

The yellow stiles mark our trail.

Cool snowfield. Also, there used to be a lake here which had disappeared (?).

Hut on top of Fimmvörduhals pass. The warden had left the day we arrived. Water had to be made from melted and filtered snow. No biggie, expect that it would have been nice to be able to wash your hands after using the toilet...

The toilet. No pee in the toilets, everyone use the pissoir.

Walk down on the other side. Many many waterfalls.

Arrival at Skogar, hanging out in front of a ridiculously rainbowy waterfall named Skogarfoss.

After the walk: Relaxing on Heimaey, the main Westman Island, watching puffins.

I took about 150 puffin pics, I think.

The end.

Crossing rivers in Iceland's highlands

We had to cross a bunch of rivers, and in the absence of bridges driving through was one way to do it. Next to the ford in the following pictures is a hut which has a large collection of photos picturing failed river crossings by car - very educational. This bus and many others made it through safely though. Here, it was not recommended to cross the river on foot, but some people tried it nonetheless. We went by tractor.

Buses cross rivers all the time, sometimes going as deep as the tires are high.

On other occasions, though, there was no ford or street anywhere nearby and we had to cross on foot. This was actually very nice for many reasons:

It was thrilling, especially the first time. The water was fast and dirty, the ground rocky of varying depth. The worst that could happen was stumbling and falling into the water, getting oneself and one's gear soaked while still having a large part of that day's walk in front of one. Less serious but still annoying would be losing a shoe. Or a flip-flop in my case. Having seen a quickly disappearing Adilette (Adidas slipper) I made sure this wouldn't happen to me.

Better safe than sorry, or Everything's better with tape.

Also, it was fricking cold. Especially the one quite wide river coming directly from a glacier. I had to force myself to go slowly as to not lose my footing or flip-flops, even though my feet screamed "run" at me from pain, as did I once I successfully arrived at the other side. Quite funny when a minute later a car crossed the same ford and gave some other hikers a lift over the river. But. After a river crossing on foot the feet are nicely refreshed and due to the increased circulation so hot that they dry very quickly on their own.

Furthermore, whenever a river has to be crossed, you need to take some time and prepare. Take off your boots, socks and pants (trousers for you Brits), find your river crossing footwear, decide whether or not to use the walking sticks for more balance, and if not, store them away. Secure camera, phone etc. as to keep them dry in the worst case scenario. Loosen backpack straps. Find best spot to cross. Since all these things take a while you meet other hikers at river crossings. People getting prepared, or people getting dressed again on the other side. They help each other, point to crossing spots that worked for them, and of course watch each other to see how deep it is going to be. It's a bonding experience, and really good fun.

And lastly, you can tell all your friends that you had to walk through rapid glacial rivers in Iceland!

Daniel crossing a river.

English girl helping me out. Photo taken by Daniel K.

This one was the deepest and scariest. Photo taken by Daniel K.

I made it anyway. Photo taken by Daniel K.