Day 10

Today we reached the northern tip of Iceland. I must say I was expecting a lot more ice. It was as green as a spring day in Ireland. Apparently Greenland is all ice. Someone must have been confused when they named these two countries. I guess it is summer here, so you can’t expect too much ice. But still, talk about a misalignment of expectations.

Anyway, we landed at a place called Husivik. A tiny little one horse town of 2,500 inhabitants whose claim to fame is being the location for the filming of the Eurovision film with Will Farrell. They even have a museum about it. I guess 2,500 residents is quite a large city in a country whose total population is a mere 330,000, which is barely more than Geelong.

One very cool fact about Iceland: they totally believe in fairies, elves and trolls. They build little houses for them everywhere and believe they influence their everyday lives. They are so entrenched in their belief that, when building a road, they will actually divert the road around a rock because they believe rocks are elf houses and they don’t want to disturb the elves. True story.

So we undertook a brief walk around Husivik and then an afternoon 12 kilometre hike up the mountain and around a lake. They have introduced a flower in recent times, lupine, that is not endemic and quite controversial amongst the locals. They either love it or hate it. It is very pretty though and lends itself to very nice photographs.

Day 11

Today we spent the morning in Bolungarvik, another tiny town of only 1,000 inhabitants. We took a hike along a river and then up to a waterfall. The sun was shining on the river as it cut its way through the flat, green valley. The weather, although cool, was very good to us. Bolungarvik’s claim to fame is that each year they hold a “love week” to encourage their residents to increase the population! This week-long festival has gained international attention and so Bolungarvik is now a Mecca for lovers worldwide each year. You even get a certificate if you have a Bolungarvik Baby!

Day 12

Today we visited an impressive waterfall called Dynjandi Falls. Lidia decided to stay on the boat. Her hips had been giving her trouble and she thought a day of rest would be in order.

The waterfall was truly impressive, cascading in multiple levels down the cliff side. A rocky path led up each level with lookouts on the way. I was again swooped by the nesting Arctic terns, which only goes to show I took a wrong tern somewhere. They’ll tern on you, those birds.

By the time I had finished hiking up and down the cliff, the tide had gone out quite a way. The crew had to push the zodiac out about 300 metres in waist deep water before the driver could put the engine down. While this was happening he mentioned that there was a harbour seal swimming around. He pointed to an unidentifiable lump 300 metres away from us. We hadn’t seen any seals yet so I was very excited, hoping to get a good shot. I picked up my camera with the big lens and started snapping pictures, knowing I could magnify them later. I took at least 64 photos. When I embarked the ship I rushed up to my room to check out this harbour seal. Turns out I had 64 photos of a duck.

We were on the second last day of our cruise, so my chances on taking a decent seal shot were diminishing by the second. We only had three more excursions left. This afternoon we took a zodiac cruise through a fjord. The mountains embraced us on all sides as we drifted through the calm waters. There were lots of eider ducks around with their chicks following them. Enough with the ducks already!

Suddenly we saw a round head poke out of the water. A harbour seal had popped up to check us out. As we floated around the fjord in the sunshine we saw many harbour seals and one grey seal. One of the harbour seals was laying on a clump of weed in the shallow water, almost as if it were floating. It made for some incredible photographs.

On the way back to the ship we also saw a couple of whooper swans with their chicks. The guides were very excited because it was the first time they’d ever seen them in Iceland.

That afternoon we decided to take a dip in the hot tub at the bow of the ship as we cruised through the fjords of Iceland. Unbelievably, we were all alone at the front of the ship, soaking up the hot water and the environment as we slowly sailed through the calm waters of the fjords.

Today the verdict for the Erin Patterson trial was handed down by the jury. Guilty of three counts of murder and one attempted murder for murdering her husband’s family with a beef Wellington. Like most Aussies, we had been following this case over the last few months. We went to the restaurant on the ship for dinner that same night and nearly fell over when we saw what was on the menu: Beef Wellington. They change the menu every day and this was the first time we’d seen this dish on it. So of course I had to order it with a side of irony.

Day 13

Today was the last full day of our cruise and the last day for expeditions. We were quite disappointed that we hadn’t seen polar bears and that ship had now sailed. I was very disappointed that we also hadn’t seen any puffins. We’d missed an excursion a few days prior where they were sighted and I felt like we’d missed this opportunity.

Our first excursion this morning was to a tiny island called Flatey Island. We assumed it was a small village with a church and nothing much else. We took the zodiac over there and as we were reaching shore the driver pointed out a puffin swimming in the water! He then informed us that there was a huge colony of them on Flatey. I popped the large lens on my camera and we hot-footed it over to the cliffs where the colony roosted. I was overjoyed to find the place teeming with puffins.

Tonight was our last night on the ship. Tomorrow, we meet our friends, Ian and Carmel in Reykjavik for seven days of Icelandic fun. We can’t wait.