What a day. I’ve taken dozens of photos and I’m going to have trouble choosing 8 for my project for my photography course! Iceland is so photogenic 😊
I woke really early again, with my brain buzzing about our plans for the day ahead, moving to our next Airbnb and visiting various places along the way. I felt much better, and the gale force winds had dropped so I was itching to get going. Luckily John was happy to get up too, hoping to beat the crowds. We grabbed breakfast, dumped our bags in the car, checked the Airbnb was clean and tidy and set off not long after 7 o’clock. Our first stop was Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall we could walk behind. When we arrived there were few people there and we had the space behind the falls to ourselves for a while.
Our next stop was also a waterfall… there are hundreds in Iceland and many are pretty spectacular with all the glacial melt flowing over the cliffs. Skógafoss is one of the biggest. I took some long exposure shots before we climbed the 60 metres to the top to look down on the falls.
Back in the car again, we set off to Reynisdrangar, where basalt sea stacks can be found off a stunning beach with black sand. Apparently, legend says that the stacks originated when 2 trolls tried unsuccessfully to drag a ship with 3 masts to land, which became became needles of rock when daylight arrived.
It was lovely to have good weather for taking photos today. The wet rocks were glistening in the sunshine, the sky was full of colours, and the foamy white waves crashing onto the beach contrasted spectacularly with the black sand. The waves nearly got John in this photo, which is one of my favourites of the day, and really made me laugh. The waves also drowned my boots twice and I had to pull my camera and tripod away fast! 😄
When we’d arrived at the beach, there were lots of people there. However, most didn’t make it past the basalt columns near the car park, which can be seen behind John’s head in the picture above. They don’t know what they missed, but we were pleased to have some peace and quiet, with just the crashing of the waves for company.
Our final stop was at Sólheimasandur, where there’s a plane wreck on another black beach. It has been there since 1973 when a US plane ran out of fuel and crashed. Apparently the pilot made a mistake and switched over to the wrong fuel tank. Luckily everyone survived.
It was quite a long walk to get to the plane, but there still were lots of people there. I managed to get some good photos in the gaps between people crawling all over the plane and taking selfies though!
After this it was time to check into our next Airbnb, a little cabin by a lake outside Kirkjubæjarklaustur. (Try pronouncing that!). It’s very homely, cosy and peaceful, with beautiful views. I don’t think I’ll be getting beautiful views of the northern lights tonight though!
Ramblings 
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