Iceland: Days 11 & 12

Day eleven started with a stop in Reykholt to see Deildartunguhver - Europe's biggest hot spring where scalding hot water bubbles to the surface at 180 L/s.  I only managed to get this one picture before my lens completely fogged up.  

Next we hoped to go to Hallmandarhaun where we could explore two huge lava tunnels.  Along the way we came to a spot where you could see the water running through the old lava fields and pouring out into a river.

If you look closely you can see that the water is not running along the surface, but is actually coming out of the lava flow rock.

 And it went on for about 100 meters.

 We didn't stay too long here though cause the sky was coming quickly.  We could see the clouds chasing us, and they did not look friendly.  And when they did catch up with us, they proved to be very unfriendly as they whipped rain at first and then snow pellets at us.  Thankfully, we were almost back at the car when it started.  

 Josh, thoroughly impressed by the cooling lava patterns in the flow.  We never did make it to the lava tunnels... apparently the road is only open for 7 weeks of the year, and we were a few months too early.

Next we were off to hike to see Glymur, Iceland's highest water fall at 198 meters.  It's a couple hour hike in to see the water fall in all it's glory, and we missed the trail marking a river crossing so ended up spending a couple of hours hiking up the wrong side of the river before climbing back down and then taking the real trail up to see the water fall.  Through out the climb on both sides it alternated between being lovely out and snowy rain blowing through.   

 Here's the "bridge" we missed the first time.  With all the wind it was the hardest thing to cross, and the cable provided to help steady you was so loose it was almost more of a hazard.  Josh nearly took a plunge into the river on the way back across.  

 This was as far as we hiked in.  I was feeling pretty tired after having spent so much time hiking up the wrong side.  But we saw it!

 Me coming back across the river.

 Part of the hike back to the car.

And upon reaching our homestead for the evening, we celebrated 15 weeks of pregnancy with a bump picture.... not much to see, but enough that my pants wouldn't do up anymore.

Day 12 was out last day in Iceland, and we didn't take a single picture.  That's not to say we didn't have a full day!  With the help of a former guesthouse host, we had arranged to go on a two hour Icelandic horse back ride.  We arrived, got dressed for the cold, geared up, picked our horses - Josh's horse was named something unpronounceable in Icelandic, but translated to mean "killer" while mine was called vorthur, meaning guard.  It was a fun ride, and I actually felt somewhat in control of my horse by the end (at least in control of the direction he walked... not so much in control of his speed - and he preferred to go faster).  After our horse back ride, we went back to the bakery in Keflavik where we'd eaten our first meal in Iceland.  This time, we picked up fresh buns to have with our meat and cheese, and we ate it in the same park we'd eaten when we arrived.  Next it was dropping the rental car off and being taken to the airport.  Our trip was done, and it was back to routine after that.

Overall, Josh and I both really enjoyed our trip to Iceland.  Would we go back... probably not, we did pretty much everything we wanted to do there.  But we would recommend it as a great stop-over destination on your way to Europe.  Spending 3-4 days in the southern half of the island can give you a great taste for all that there is in Iceland.  As for our next destination ..... New Zealand & Australia to visit Josh's sister maybe... or maybe somewhere a little closer to home since we'll likely have a little one along with us :)