Iceland, Day 1: We've seen it all, we can go home now! Reykjavic to Vic via Geysir

Iceland, the brochures state clearly in full glossy colour, is despite it's proximity to the northern most part of this world, surprisingly warm.  We can now confirm that indeed is the case if one is driving in a heated car towards  glaciers, ash beaches, deserts, thermal springs, waterfalls and volcanoes, however it is unsurprisingly not at all warm at the times when one is actually out of the vehicle observing those very same things.

We travelled several hundred kilometres, hopping between at least one of each of the above things, gasping as every bend in the road unveiled some sort of spectacle even more remarkable than the last.

By the time we arrived at our evening destination we had seen so much that we began to wonder if we could keep this up for a whole week without suffering from some sort of sensory overload.  It was therefore with some relief that the rain and fog began to roll in with more purpose than it had earlier in the day as we sat over dinner, but we hadn't accounted for the determination of the youngest of our offspring.

After all, this was puffin territory and she had determined that we should all see one.

By the time we finished our meal the fog had thickened, but quite bizarrely had completely disappeared up to a level that would have been not much above the tree tops, had there been trees.  The puffins we were assured, were safely in their roosts well above the treetops (had there been trees), and therefore well hidden from these desperate tourists who contented themselves with a stroll along the jet black pebbles on the beach, while starting up from time to time, trying to imagine what the basalt cliffs above may actually look like.


Note: It is not possible to describe our stay in in Iceland in one photograph or even a few paragraphs, so as soon as internet availability and time allow, further pictures will be uploaded to our flickr gallery.  Watch this space for details when that happens!