I am aware i haven't posted since sunday morning, being now that its now tuesday night, iv been very slack. Unfortunately the wifi here is really bad and won't let me upload photos most of the time!
First we must go back to the beginning of my few adventurous days...
My Easter Sunday started a bit slower than my other days have, a bit of a sleep in, Chocolate for breakfast and a Skype session with both Sarah and Mum. I left late morning for a drive to Grindivik, about a 45min drive from Akureyri. This town/village, like most Icelandic towns, was a very small one, not too much going on. Saying that the houses are extremely cute and the views are just amazing. On my way home I came across the "Laufas" which are the original Icelandic turf houses. They weren't as green and luscious as they would usually be in summer but still amazing to see :)
First we must go back to the beginning of my few adventurous days...
My Easter Sunday started a bit slower than my other days have, a bit of a sleep in, Chocolate for breakfast and a Skype session with both Sarah and Mum. I left late morning for a drive to Grindivik, about a 45min drive from Akureyri. This town/village, like most Icelandic towns, was a very small one, not too much going on. Saying that the houses are extremely cute and the views are just amazing. On my way home I came across the "Laufas" which are the original Icelandic turf houses. They weren't as green and luscious as they would usually be in summer but still amazing to see :)
Sunday evening i headed up to Jo and her boyfriend Birkir's house for an easter dinner, they cooked lamb (A typical Icelandic dinner) with Rhubarb Jelly (YUMMMM) and sugared potatoes (also YUMMMMMM). This evening was pretty relaxed and interesting, I learnt quite a bit about Iceland that night. Having had a big night the night before i headed home fairly early in the evening for a good nights sleep.
Easter Monday came and I was so excited for shops and eating places to be re-open, this meant more people around!
I headed off on a morning drive to Dalvik, then on to Siglufjodur, This road included 12km of tunnels underneath the huge mountain ranges. These towns were only very small as they have been "forgotten" after the Icelandic "herring (fish) rush" came to a end. They were very nice towns to walk around, not many shops but a lot of docks and fishing boats to look around! The afternoon came around quite fast, after a quick bite to eat at the Akureyri backpackers (pulled pork sandwich which was awesome) Jo came and picked me up to take me on a tour south of Akureyri, which include the "Christmas House". This place was magical. All my childhood christmas dreams came true, in one tiny little house (two different levels)! There was every type of christmas decoration you could of asked for, the worlds biggest advent calendar, plus a wholes heap of different flavoured candy, iv got some pumpkin, cinnamon scroll and strawberry cheesecake ones, just to sample :)
Easter Monday came and I was so excited for shops and eating places to be re-open, this meant more people around!
I headed off on a morning drive to Dalvik, then on to Siglufjodur, This road included 12km of tunnels underneath the huge mountain ranges. These towns were only very small as they have been "forgotten" after the Icelandic "herring (fish) rush" came to a end. They were very nice towns to walk around, not many shops but a lot of docks and fishing boats to look around! The afternoon came around quite fast, after a quick bite to eat at the Akureyri backpackers (pulled pork sandwich which was awesome) Jo came and picked me up to take me on a tour south of Akureyri, which include the "Christmas House". This place was magical. All my childhood christmas dreams came true, in one tiny little house (two different levels)! There was every type of christmas decoration you could of asked for, the worlds biggest advent calendar, plus a wholes heap of different flavoured candy, iv got some pumpkin, cinnamon scroll and strawberry cheesecake ones, just to sample :)
From here we headed out to a cowshed cafe, which was on the second level of a barn, you could sit and enjoy a coffee whilst watching all the cows below. Over here during winter time the cows are all kept in a barn where they can roam (fairly) freely. They also have a machine that milks them, automatically, as they please, without help from human workers! This baffled me, until i realised that the farms over here are quite small and the one i was in (no more than 70ish cows) was classified as a huge farm in Iceland, I can't imagine them doing automatic milking at home with hundreds and hundreds of cows! From here I headed back to the hotel for a rest before dinner, it was then I met the new guests at the hostel, four Aussies, that are living in London, and one of them grew up in STRATFORD, 10 minutes down the road from Maffra, what a small and crazy world it is. We headed down to the backpackers for a few drinks and talked a lot of crap till late in the night.
Tuesday, my last full day in Akureyri!
This morning I woke up early, and i woke up to snow falling outside!! This put a pretty decent spring in my step as I had never experienced nice snowfall in my entire life! :D As tempted as I was to run out there in my pj's and run around like a looney, I restrained myself and waited until my walk to the pool to really enjoy it. I know it sounds crazy, swimming in 3 degree weather whilst its blowing a gale and snowing but in all honesty it was one of the most magical things i have experienced, sitting outside, in 38 degree water watching the snow softy fall from the sky!!
Tuesday, my last full day in Akureyri!
This morning I woke up early, and i woke up to snow falling outside!! This put a pretty decent spring in my step as I had never experienced nice snowfall in my entire life! :D As tempted as I was to run out there in my pj's and run around like a looney, I restrained myself and waited until my walk to the pool to really enjoy it. I know it sounds crazy, swimming in 3 degree weather whilst its blowing a gale and snowing but in all honesty it was one of the most magical things i have experienced, sitting outside, in 38 degree water watching the snow softy fall from the sky!!
After swimming I headed of to the local Bookstore/Cafe for a lovely coffee and a catch up on all the magazine goss iv been missing. I then headed of to Jo and Birkir's house for a "last supper" lunch of (amazing) Mexican soup and bread with homemade blueberry jam!! They both helped me planning my next few days, telling me what to see and the best places to stay.
For everything they have both done for me over the last few days I am SOOO unbelievably grateful and am hoping that one day I will be able to return the favour to them when they come to Australia ;) . They are both so generous, and I cannot thank them enough!
After lunch, i headed down to the local ice skating rink, but unfortunately fridays and weekends are the only day its open to the public, so i decided the next best thing to do would be to get ice-cream :) Iv been told the ice cream over here is very different and you aren't really Icelandic until you have had ice cream in this "shitty" weather. Well I will agree with that one, the ice cream over here (I had Strawberry) is AMAZING!!! I did have to move into the warmth of my car to eat it but it was well worth it and quite different to any ice-cream I have had before!
For everything they have both done for me over the last few days I am SOOO unbelievably grateful and am hoping that one day I will be able to return the favour to them when they come to Australia ;) . They are both so generous, and I cannot thank them enough!
After lunch, i headed down to the local ice skating rink, but unfortunately fridays and weekends are the only day its open to the public, so i decided the next best thing to do would be to get ice-cream :) Iv been told the ice cream over here is very different and you aren't really Icelandic until you have had ice cream in this "shitty" weather. Well I will agree with that one, the ice cream over here (I had Strawberry) is AMAZING!!! I did have to move into the warmth of my car to eat it but it was well worth it and quite different to any ice-cream I have had before!
After smashing down my ice cream i decided it was shopping time!! Well, what i thought might be shopping time. It seems I have become a bit of a tightass with my money. BUT, that being said, I also found it difficult to find clothes that I would be able to wear in Australia. Being Iceland, of coarse they are all arctic clothes! Secretly my bank account was pretty happy with that. And even though I walked away almost empty handed I still have a couple of souvenirs to remember it by :)
Another day done and dusted, and half a holiday done. There has been ups and downs so far but the amazing memories and thousands of photos I will have at the end are definitely going to last a lifetime!
Till (hopefully) tomorrow I hope everyone at home is keeping safe and staying out of the water :)
Another day done and dusted, and half a holiday done. There has been ups and downs so far but the amazing memories and thousands of photos I will have at the end are definitely going to last a lifetime!
Till (hopefully) tomorrow I hope everyone at home is keeping safe and staying out of the water :)