So work on the farm is going well, we're starting to bale up the hay. Now the mower is working at least (keep those fingers crossed), we've only really got until Friday to get it all done as the weather is forecasting rain from Friday till the end of next week! I think they look pretty naked...
The veg garden is starting to look good too, and I'm getting pretty handy on the weeding side of things. Now all I have to do is get the technique right for connecting the water hoses and avoid the cold morning showers!
So on Monday one of the couchsurfers that's currently traveling around Iceland, stopped by in Akureyri. I met up with Jens on Monday evening and gave a mini tour of the town before having some of the best blueberry ice cream I've had, and a top notch apple sorbet! The colours were almost neon but the flavourings were all natural. I'll definitely be checking out the other flavours soon!
Then late Tuesday afternoon, Jens decided to head out of town for a while and kindly took me with him. It was such a lovely thing to do as he took me the Myvatn area - Google Map of Myvatn It's east of Akureyri and takes about an hour by car to get there. It's absolutely beautiful, a huge shallow lake on a massive plain, surrounded by volcanoes and pseudocraters. There are tonnes of birds (even more than usual) and also tonnes of midges (My (midge) vatn (lake)) luckily only one type really bite - you can bet I'll find them pretty quickly when I start hiking there!
Jens took me up to the northern side of Myvatn where the Krafla volcano and drill fields for the geothermally heated water.
The landscape changes so quickly there, one minute lake and blue green vistas, the next minute...
huge reddish mountains! The contrast when you're there is just fantastic. There's also a viti crater a little further in that we saw.
You can actually walk all around the crater rim, although swimming isn't recommended, the water is really cold and you're likely to freeze. Still on the walk you can get a really good view of the Myvatn area.
Oh I nearly forgot, in order to up to the crater you drive straight through the power station and drill fields for the geothermally heated water. Whilst we were driving we spotted this mini volcano!
We think its an upcapped drill hole. It's really noisy, but its cool when you can see the mini whirlwinds it creates in the steam! It's also one of the areas that smells really, REALLY strongly of rotten eggs. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it's definitely worth braving it as the sights you see are just awesome.
Talking of awesome sights, Námafjall is right near by and a truly beautiful (if again, smelly) area of hot mudpools. Not the kind you could give yourself a facial with as it's got way to much sulphur in it!
Still its worth going just to see this kind of thing...
It's extremely hard not to take more photos than you really need!
We then stopped for a bite to eat at the Cowshed Cafe (actually the signs say Vogafjós cafe), which is on the shores of Myvatn. It's called the Cowshed because the cows are kept in sheds just next to the cafe. They make their own mozzarella style cheese, feta and other cheese. In fact most of the food is sourced locally and they bake bread in little earth ovens, just using the heat from the water. All I know is the Goulash soup I had with dark lava bread was bloody excellent as was the rhubarb tart! Its well worth a stop off for a bite, although don't expect a cheap eat. The soup was only 2000kr but most of the main courses were 3,500 to 5,000kr.
Feck! I'm completely out of sync now, I was meant to tell you about the waterfall at the beginning. Oh well, here we go. On the way to the Myvatn area, from Akureyri you go by Go∂afoss (Waterfall of the Gods) it's about 12m high and 30m's across.
So thanks to Jens I had an excellent day and got to see a lot of the stuff I've been hoping to see. It also gives me more time to just hike when I start exploring again! Couchsurfers rock!
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