Ice. Land.
A land of ice.
A land of icyness.
Frozen water.
Ice.
Land.

Why, I ask you, did I arrive in Iceland wearing shorts? How did I not realise quite what the temperature would be? I have to say, I did think it would be colder than London, I mean, I even had a short sleeved cardigan ready... totally prepared! As I stepped off the plane into one of those tunnel things a sharp blast of icy wind hit me. This, in addition to surveying my fellow passengers outfits (think - eskimo) made me reconsider my Icelandic stopover...

Luckily, a few wintery clothing items survived my latest 'lighten my bag' mission so 2 layers of trousers, a jumper, jacket and wolly hat later I was prepared. Well, almost. It was 7 degrees when I arrived at 3 in the afternoon. Eek! This was a lovely combination with the eye watering wind and the constant rain.

Anyway, enough about the weather, I am not turning old until next month. So, Reykavik. Possibly one of the more random places I have been on my trip. But when you get a stopover somewhere new, it seems silly to pass it by. (Don't you agree Alice?) The airport was definitely somewhere on the Kerikeri side of the Kerikeri-Auckland size scale, but fair enough, the whole population of Iceland is just over 300,000. Makes New Zealand seem pretty populated huh?

In fact I had a great couple of days in Reykavik. I was fortunate enough to be staying at a couchsurfer's place pretty close to town. I had a fun time discussing the various specialty dishes of Iceland with my host - whole sheeps head, icelandic haggis, dried fish, other parts of sheep... etc etc etc. My last night there coincided with my host's band practice evening so I got a free concert - very cool! (Don't worry, I didnt sing or anything!).

I spent one morning in a cute little cafe, drinking good coffee and finishing an assignment due later that day, hours wandering around the city itself (good walkable size!) and discovered 'skyr' - a dairy type snack similar to yogurt but more solid and yummier. I was constantly amazed at quite how potently Rotorua-like the tap water smelt. I actually had to avoid breathing before drinking as my brain would tell me I was about to sip liquified rotten eggs. Not only that but having a shower had a similar post-smell effect as bathing up in Ngawha Springs... not very attractive. Not very attractive at all...