3rd March

3-6 degrees

Up bright and early this morning as we are going on a tour around the Myvatn area. Myvatn is about 90k from Akureyri. Our hotel is only about 500 metres from the bus stop and as we walked over there our feet were slipping from under us as the snow had started to melt and was turning into ice. It was also very sloshy (is that a word?) and wet underfoot. So glad for my waterproof shoes.

So we finally got under way on the tour. We drove past the explosion crater Viti that was formed in 1724 in the Myvatneseldar eruption. We stopped at Godafoss (which means Waterfall of the Gods) falls which is one of the 4 major falls in Iceland and is 12 metres high. The story behind these falls is that in the year 1000, some dude was asked to make a decision on whether Icleand should adopt the Christian faith and he decided they should. After he made that decision he threw the statues of the pagan gods into the falls, hence waterfall of the Gods.

After that we saw pseudo-craters around the pond Stakhoistjorn. Pseudo-craters are formed by steam explosions when burning lava encounters lakes or wetlands. Around this area we saw some Icelandic horses which to me look more like ponies. They have a lot of hair around their mane. We continued on to Dimmuborgir (Dark Cities) full of lava pillars and formations that are rich in mystic sagas and tails. This area has the tetonic plates and normally we would have been allowed to have a look and stand on them but last week there were 3 accidents there because its so slippery and authorities had banned people from walking down there until the weather had improved so we couldn't have a look. I was bummed at that 'cause it would have been awesome to have one foot in Europe and one foot in America. It is one of only two plates in the world where you can stand on them.

We detoured to a warm underground river in the Grjotagja rift. We had to climb into a cave to see it. The water was crystal clear and you could see right to the bottom. It was quite warm inside the cave. I took some photos but they didn't really turn out 'cause it was too dark.

From there we headed to the geothermal area of Hverir with its boiling mud pools, steaming fumaroles and sulpher pits it reminded me so much of Rotorua in New Zealand....in fact a lot of the scenery was similar to that area. Guess that's the nature of volcanic areas.

We went onto Mvatn Naturebath (like the Blue Lagoon)) which is a pool of geothermal water containing minerals, silicates and geothermal micro-organism. Mum and l were going to bathe in it but the wind chill factor stopped us. Hopefully we'll get to try the Blue Lagoon.

We drove past the Hverir power station which relies on geothermal steam energy for its operation. It was built in 2004 and at the same time a earthquake happened and many locals believe it was because of the building works.

After that we went to the Sigurgeir's Bird Museum on the north side of Lake Myvatn. It was very well presented but birds aren't my thing so it was a very quick look for me. Mum had a lovely time in there though.

When we arrived back in Akureyri (about 5pm) almost all of the snow had melted. It was a very clear and sunny day although the wind was fierce and freezing cold.

Tonight we are going to look for the Northern Lights, commonly called the Aurora Borealis. They are electrically charged particles, emaniting from the sun and take 17 hours to 6 days to make the 93,000,000 mile journey. Charging into the atmosphere about 50+ miles above the earth an aurora display can be a fascinating sight when the conditions are good and the Aurora is near or over Iceland.The bus is going to collect us at 10pm and l guess we'll be out for a couple of hours. I really hope we see them.