We wanted to get on Vatnajokull this morning, which is Europe's largest glacier but the weather was not permitting. It actually showed in Hofn this morning which is rare according to the woman who worked at the Glacier museum which was where we went instead. The hotel had to ring the museum to get her to open it, things here are only open on request it seems, during winter time. The museum was pretty good with a lot of detail. Iceland is a result of the Earth's divergent tectonic plate movement, so it's really what the sea looks like if it was to reside above the ground. Very interesting. There was also information about the Vatnajokull glacier, which has the highest and lowest surfaces, warmest and coldest, and wettest and driest parts of Iceland. Some parts of it measure 950m thick! It's surface area is 8100 square kilometres. The popular Skaftafell national park is also part of the glacier. Apparently they also shot two bond movies on the glacier, "Die Another Day" and "A View To A Kill".
Glacial mice, these reside on the glacier and are usually green. Moss balls basically.
A section of the museum with stuffed animals.
After the glacial visit we went to the nearby handicrafts store and bought a few things then started the long drive part II. Today's drive was amazing, we drove through different weather ranging from snow to dry! This is all within a couple of hours. One minute it would be as white as a sheet of paper and the next would be clear sunny skies.
This is at Hestgerdi.
Shortly after this we went on a bridge, check out the blue of the glacial ice!
Where we were located when the above were taken.
We arrived at Sandfell and were treated to this spectacular sight. Sandfell is close to the Skaftafell National Park. The scenery just changes from snow to dry land just like that!
Stopped to take photos. This is why you need a tripod when you are in the middle of nowhere.
More photos. The blue is glacial ice.
Snow greets us as we approach Vik. Goodbye dry land and sunshine.
Our destination, the town of Vik.
Night photos of Vik. I'm braving the freezing winds to get these photos.
Shot just outside where we're staying.
That's all for today. The drive wasn't so bad, it was quite nice actually, we were expecting a bit worse. Apparently it's pretty bad at Reykjavik with the snow today.
Dinner was a meal cooked at the hostel as there are no restaurants open in this area. Tomorrow we'll be getting to Gulfoss which forms part of the Golden Circle, if my memory serves me correctly.
Oh lastly I caught this at Hofn, Super Sheep! I would've bought the shirt but there are none my size.
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