Travelling Bee's Adventures : Reykjavik, Iceland and Week One Greenland!

**Warning - There are a few Photos in this blog!**

I left Singapore tired/excited and ready for my next adventure - Iceland and Greenland. After flying from Singapore to Helsinki to Oslo to Reykjavik we were ready to just get out and walk!! The best part was that we saw a lot of different airports!!

Just chilling!

The first whole day we had in Reykjavik we went to the Blue Lagoon. That was great and so relaxing We just floated and drank some beer and had a facial!! I don't think that we really wanted to leave the Lagoon! It is a geothermal Spa that has alot of minerals in the clay and the water. When I put the mask on - it didn't exactly make me look any better.... but it felt good!

Looking good??? Maybe not!

Reykjavik is a beautiful city. It is very clean and then people are fantastic. I felt so welcome there. We explored the city that afternoon and found a great little pub. It had happy hour so we figured that we would stay there to make the most of our value for money! It was great fun as we met some wonderful people. The locals there just embraced "the Aussie Girls"

Graveyard near our hotel - just stunning

Tjörnin -(the pond) in the middle of Reykjavik

Small little chap I found while having a coffee!

Horse-riding over the Lava field was great. The Icelandic Horses are smaller than the mainland horses so my feet could just about touch each other!! We saw a rainbow and the fields are just so green. It was amazing (I think that I need to find a new word!) I have no idea what my horses name was but I called him AUTO as he was just automatic! (Which was a good thing as I was in no shape to be controlling a horse after the night before!!) It rained but not too much and after 2 hours we were back in the bus off to the hotel again. There was a cool little Laundry mat Café where we could have lunch and do our washing. We walked around a bit and then of course we headed back to the little pub for happy hour!! It was our last night in Iceland so we thought what better place to embrace the culture than a pub!!

In our cabin

Oh my Gosh the next morning, this was it!! We packed up and had out luggage down in the lobby by 8:30! Breakfast was had and then…we waited!! I walked around the city again and actually found our ship! It was pretty cool. I officially got excited then! It was like the longest 5 hours in my life and by the time we loaded on the bus I was ready to go and have a nap! We arrived at the ship got welcomed and got given our cabins! It was so cool! We had our ‘bedroom’ as well as a ‘lounge’ area, bathroom and dresser. It was all a bit exciting. We had 106 passengers on the ship – most of the people were retired or close to that age but it looked like we were going to have fun. We met another girl of our age from Aussie so the three of us hit it off.

Champers in the artic!

I will say that the whole entire time we were at sea the food was fantastic! I have not eaten so well in ages! We had breakfast, lunch (soup, burgers, a meat and carb meal, and dessert) afternoon tea and then dinner (soup, salad, main and dessert) I was so full!!

The first day/night we had the best weather and we arrived into Greenland a day earlier! The water was calm (we for most of us!) and the speed of our sailing they had to cram all the safety lectures into the one day as well as the information sessions. These were great as we learnt about the animals and the land and the history of Greenland and Iceland. We met all the people that were going to be Kayaking and got all our gear ready to go out! In amongst all the eating and the lectures we saw whales!! Oh and that night, the first night of the voyage, we saw the Northern Lights!! It was going to be a great trip!!

Sunset..

The second day it was time to land! I got up early to see the sunrise (which was beautiful!!) and what do we see… a Polar Bear on land! It was our first day!! So no landing for the other people but we were able to go out and Kayak which was great! There was a bit of a swell but it was great just to get out there and paddle. After lunch we went to a township called Ittoqqortoormiit (try saying that fast!) which was great. I went up to the graveyard and it was really eerie there. There was no names on the crosses. The fog didn't help the atmosphere either! The people there were really friendly and it is amazing how they survive out there in the winter. There were four wheelers and dogs and all sorts going on there. The houses were painted in all these great bright colors which made the community really pretty. Back on the boat and off we went to the next adventure for the next day. We had recap and briefing for the next day and low and behold – time to feed again!!

Me and my Kayaking gear!

Fantastic scenery. Sunrise!

Polar Bear!!

Ittoqqortoormiit

First time Kayaking

I just wanted to say as well at this point in time that to get dressed for Kayaking there was many layers so we didn’t get cold. Now, as I am self-insulated (a bigger lady!) I had only two layers to put on otherwise I wouldn't fit into the Kayak. But it was still strenuous!! I had Thermal pants, thermal top, track pants, rugby top, dry suit, jacket, spray skirt (which never stayed attached to the kayak so I was extreme Kayaking!!) booties, hat, sunscreen, sunglasses woollen gloves and then ski gloves. Wow.. it took us nearly 20 mins each morning!! Lucky we had a warning!

The next couple of days we hiked, kayaked and Zodiac cruised! It was great we saw Glaciers and Icebergs and Must Ox (big hairy cows). We had the best weather the first week, blue skies and the sun was magnificent. Zodiac cruising was the best past some of the biggest icebergs. They were massive! So Blue and white and clear.. and so big! I never thought that they would be so majestic. They are magical and just wonderful. The Glacier was massive and we got to get so close. It was funny as I was having lunch (yes eating again!) outside and there was a glacier just coming up. Just popped up!! We saw the northern lights (again!) and they were just so spectacular. The best night was when they danced right across the top of the boat. It was just all green lights dancing like a curtain in a breeze. And the stars were so bright.. ahh.

Arctic BBQ!

Now some people may think that I am a little crazy.. or possibly a little nutty.. but I proved everyone right. I polar Plunged!! Swimming in the Artic was a little cold, but it was great to do it. I ran all the way out to a rock. Well I tried as you know how hard it is to run in mud.. well try doing it when you cannot feel your feet!! Makes it interesting!

Actually one of my most favourite days was when I went Zodiacing in the morning around all these icebergs that gather at an opening of two Fjords. It was great to see all these different types of icebergs, one looked like Swiss cheese! In the afternoon we got to cruise through Fon Fjord in the ship. This was the most amazing experience. There was surface ice formed in the Fjord and as the ship was cruising through dodging the icebergs you could hear the ice cracking underneath. Even with the waves from the boat the ice would crack. It was.. beautiful. The sun shining, the ice bergs, the sound.. I will never forget it. We cruised past the Artic version of Ayres Rock as well as some amazing mountains. The captain that took us down there – he was great. To be able to manoeuvre a ship of that size in an area that we cruised in.. hats off to him!