We had another beautiful sunny day. Our guide told us that they have very few sunny days and even fewer sunny days in a row.
We left Reykjavík and drove along the Golden Circle on our way to Vik, the site of our next hotel. The Golden Circle is Iceland’s classic day trip from Reykjavík. Our first stop was Thingvellir National Park, the meeting point of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. These plates are moving apart and the earth’s crust is literally being torn apart. Also Thingvellir was the meeting site of the Chieftains starting in 930. They met annually to deal with government business.
We stopped on the North American side and walked along the edge of this tectonic plate. You could see many fissures which were the result of the plates pulling apart. The sun was rising and the light on the rocks along the rifts as well as the landscape in general was beautiful. I have included a lot of pictures because so you can see the general landscape of Iceland.
We continued on to Gullfoss Waterfall or Golden falls. The waterfall has two stages: a rocky upper cascade with a drop of about 35 feet, and a lower fall where the water drops about 70 feet straight down into a narrow gorge. About a 100 years ago they were going to use the falls to generate electricity but luckily the project was never started.
Our last stop on the Golden Circle was Geysir Geothermal Field. Before going out to see the Geysir we had lunch at the caferia. Once fed, we went to the geothermal field. We passed an area with steam venting out of the ground and pools of boiling water on our way to the Strokkur geyser. The word geyser comes from this site. Until the 20th century the Geysir geyser erupted regularly but now it is mostly dormant. The Strokkir geyser erupts about every 6 minutes and the water shoots about 50 ft in the air.
Next stop, the Lava Center which was very interesting and focused on volcanos, eruptions, and, you guessed it, lava. Then we drove to the hotel and got checked in. Here is the view from our hotel.
After dinner some of the group boarded the bus and we went to site where they thought we might see the northern lights. It was a very clear night but no northern lights. Just a bunch of cold people standing around looking at the sky.
Here is a map of our travels today.
A=Thingvellir, B=Gullfoss, C=Geysir, D=Lava Center, E=hotel in Vik
Mom slept well but I did not 🙁 We had another beautiful, clear, sunny, but cold day.
Today our tour offered a walking tour of Reykjavik. We learned that Reykjavik is made from the words Vik meaning harbor and Reykja meaning smoking. Legend has it that in 874 Ingolfur Arnarson killed two men in Norway so rather than face the death penalty he opted to pack up his house and set sail. When he reached Iceland he decided he would throw the supports from his Norwegian home into the water and he would build his house where ever they landed. They landed in a smoking bay, later called Reykjavik. This “statue” commemorate that event.
We also learned that when the first settlers arrived in Iceland, there were a lot more trees so they built their houses out of wood. Then wood got scarcer and scarcer so starting in the 1800s they would build the houses out of wood and then put a sheet metal wrap around the house. They used sawdust between the wood and the sheet metal to insulate the house. However in 1915 a fire started in a bakery (from a wedding cake) and it quickly spread through Reykjavik via the sawdust. After that all homes had to be built out of concrete. You can estimate how old a house is by the building materials. Also because they don’t have many trees, today, citizens must plant two trees for every tree they cut down.
We saw the city hall which had a topographical map. Our guide told us that the fault between the two tectonic plates goes diagonally right though the center of the island. She said Iceland is the only country on two tectonic plates but I’m not sure that is true. The edges of the island are no longer volcanically active. She also told us that Iceland splits the gulf stream. The weather here is moderated by the gulf stream and it is the gulf stream that makes the island inhabitable.
Iceland has the world’s oldest parliament, because in 930 they started having an annual island wide assembly, but Rick Steves says this claim is an exaggeration.
We learned that Icelandic is very close to the traditional Old Norse language. It has 32 letters, 14 vowels and 18 constantants. Our guide tried to teach us hello but I said it and promptly forgot it.
Our guide also took us to see the church and the concert hall that we saw yesterday. Here are some pictures from our walk.
They call this “the pond”.
Statue of the faceless bureaucrat.
Area of the pond heated for birds, geese, and ducks.
This house belonged to the man who’s businesses start the city of Reykjavik .
Here are some other random things she told us.
All the houses are heated geothermally. All the hot water is supplied from geothermal sources and smells slightly of sulfur. The cold water is very clean because it is purified as it percolates through the lava rock. The sidewalks have pipes through them and house owners are supposed to hook up the hot water as it exits the house to the pipes in the sidewalk. The warm water will melt the snow and eliminate the need to shovel. You can tell who has hooked up and who hasn’t based on the condition of their sidewalk.
The Icelanic flag is a red cross representing the Lutheran church (2/3 of the population is Lutheran). The red cross is outlined in white representing snow. The background is blue representing the mountains.
Kids start public school at age 2. Other than a modest registration fee public universities are free. Bernie Sanders would love it!
After the tour, Mom and I went to a Parisan cafe and had hot chocolate to warm up and of course a sweet snack accompanied the drink. Once warmed we briefly returned to the hotel to regroup. As a side note, the day was cold, the temperatures were probably in the high 20s, and it was very clear. We walked to a museum called the Settlement which contains the remains of a 10th century longhouse from an original Reykjavik farmstead but it was closed. We deicded to go Natural Museum of Iceland instead. It had many artifacts found on the island.
We walked back from the museum (we are getting our steps in today) and relaxed for about an hour and half before meeting our group in the lobby and heading to a restuarant for our welcomde dinner. The dinner was a buffet will had many local favorites, lots of salmon and seafood. I stuck to the lamb and turkey.
The evening was clear so we went on a boat ride with the hopes of seeing the northern lights. The boat took us out into the harbor, away from the lights of Reykjavik, and we could see them! They started out as a thin arch across the sky and then got better and better. The boat staff said it was one of the best “shows” they had even seen.
To the naked eye it just looks like a light ban. The colors show up in photographs. They gave us setting for our cameras in order to take pictures but I couldn’t get it to work for me. Here are pictures that the boat staff took.
For those of you who don’t know I am in Iceland with my mother for a week.
It’s a short flight, just 5 hours, from Boston to Reykjavik. Unfortunately neither of us were able to sleep, even though the plane was practically empty and we each had a row to ourselves. While on the plane I read Rick Steves’ Iceland guidebook and learned some interesting facts:
Iceland was formed by approximately 130 volcanos between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. It is located where the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans met, just below the Arctic Circle. About 30 of the volcanos are still active today.
Iceland is about the size of Maine. More than half of the country is uninhabited tundra. Almost all of its 360,000 residents live near the coastline, and 2/3 of Icelanders live in the capital region of Reykjavik.
We are going on a tour and our tour operator met us at the airport and delivered us to the hotel in downtown Reykjavik. We couldn’t see much of the landscape during the drive from the airport to the hotel because it was dark at 7:30am. In fact the sun didn’t rise until 10:18am and it will set tonight at 5:03pm, less than 7 hours of daylight. After checking in early at the hotel we had some breakfast and then returned to our room for a nap. Actually I napped but mom couldn’t sleep. We set an alarm so that we didn’t sleep too long. By 11:30 we were ready to tackle Reykjavik!
Once the sun finally rose it was a beautiful sunny day. Someone told us they haven’t had a day like this for weeks. Although it was sunny, it was pretty cold. Based on the weather we decided to go to Hallgrimskirkja Church which has a tower that offers panoramic views of the city. We walked about 3/4 mile from our hotel to the church. We passed lots of restaurants, souvenir shops and brightly painted houses.
The street is painted for the gay pride parade.
In 1929 Reykjavik’s Catholic minority built their church atop the hill and the Lutheran state church leaders felt they needed to keep up with the “Jones.” Hallgrimskirkja is the result. It was designed in the 1930’s, started in 1945, and finished in the 1980’s. The facade recalls Iceland’s volcanic origins.
The inside is pretty plain other than some amazing organ pipes.
We took the elevator up to the top of the tower for great views of Reykjavik.
We walked along the harbor, looking across the water at beautiful snow covered mountains just across the Reykjavik harbor. We also passed the Sun Voyager Sculpture which commemorate Iceland’s early Viking settlers.
Alittle further along we arrived at relatively new Harpa concert hall. It was started in 2007 and was almost derailed by 2008’s economic crash but ultimately was completed in 2011. On a sunny day like today, the geometric glass façade reflects beautifully on the interior black walls which are a reminder of the island’s petrified lava.
The walls inside the concert hall are magma red.
Our guide showed us how they tune the hall for each performance by adjusting echo chambers. It was a great tour which really explained the architecture and acoustics.
After our tour we walked back to the hotel for a little down time before dinner. We went to a local restaurant for burgers.
The evening was clear so after dinner we walked to the harbor to look for northern lights. We couldn’t see any, maybe they just weren’t there or maybe it was too light. We walked by the concert hall which was lite up with changing colors. Here’s a picture.
We really enjoyed this trip. New Caledonia was very pretty. Ile des Pins stands out as especially beautiful. We didn’t feel like we had seen everything there was to see since we only made it to one of the three Loyalty Islands. We have heard that Ouvea has a beautiful 16 mile long beach. Also related to the Loyalty Islands, we didn’t get to present our gifts to the chief, although we enjoyed presenting them to his wife. We were disappointed that we didn’t learn more about the indigenous culture. On a more personal note it this trip included my first time overnight sail during which I had responsibility for a “watch”. It went fine (other than being exhausted the next day) and now that I have successfully done it, it opens up new sailing opportunities for us.
Here is a map of our New Caledonia trip.
This is our trip back from Lifou to Noumea. I separated them because it was too cluttered.This is our way out to Lifou.This is our trip back from Lifou to Noumea. I separated them because it was too cluttered.
New Zealand is also a beautiful country. It has beachs, snow capped mountains, green plains, and lots of sheep. Culturally it seems like a politically reasonable, environmentaly concious country. We loved living in the camper. It was cozy, convenient, and flexible. It allowed us to adjust our schedule based on the weather or if we heard about some cool place to go. It was convenient and allowed us to pull over and have lunch or make a cup of coffee. And it certainly was cozy, we called it our cocoon when we had all the curtains pulled. We feel like there is a lot more to see in New Zealand and that you can’t really begin to see all there is to see in 3 ½ weeks, so we might need to go back. The highlights of our New Zealand trip were
Hiking on Fox Glacier
Cruising Doubtful Sound
Exploring an active volcano on White Island
Seeing Cathedral Cove and Hehai beach
Here are maps of our trip.
The last leg looks different because I had to draw it in (too many stops for google). A=Christchurch, B=Hanmer Springs, C=Kaikoura, D=Motueka, E=Greymouth, F=Fox Glacier, G=Queenstown, H=Te Anau, I=Portobello, J=TirmaruH=Auckland, A=Hobbiton, D=Blue Lake, C=Taupo, G=Ohope Beach, F=Hehai, The sequence is a little messy because we returned to places which over wrote the previous letter.
We leave New Zealand tonight at 7:30. We have booked the apartment for an extra night so we have a place to keep our suitcases during the day. It was supposed to rain today but we were pleasantly surprised to find the sun shining when we got up. We started the day by walking through a park to the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
At the museum we signed up for a highlights tour and then a maori cultural performance. We had a delightful guide who told us a lot about the history of New Zealand and the Maori culture. The Maori came to New Zealand about 800 years ago from somewhere in Polynesian. They had no written language. They are called Maori because Captain Cooke asked them their ethnic name and the person he asked said “it’s just me” and me is Maori, so the name stuck. They used no metal and farmed and hunted birds. We saw a replica of a moa which was a large flightless bird that they hunted to extinction. We also saw a huge war canoe which could hold 100 people. Here are some pictures of Maori art.
The show was very nice. There were three woman and three men and they showed us some stick throwing games as well as their war dance.
After the show we had one other stop we wanted to do in the museum and that was demonstration of an earthquake as a result of a volcano eruption. It was not a jerky as I expected it to be.
Our time in Auckland was getting short so we took and uber to the maritime museum. Rick had bought a book yesterday but he didn’t want to carry it so he left it there and told them we would pick it up today. We got the book. There is lots and lots of construction near the harbor and the uber driver told us that it was for the 2021 America’s Cup that will be held in Auckland. On our way back to the apartment we stopped at the Asian street food alley and got lemongrass chicken to share. Back at the apartment I showered and we finished packing up. We ubered to the airport and relaxed in the louge before the flight. We were looking for our friend and neighbor, Nancy, who strangely happens to be on the flight home. We hooked up with Nancy, her sister, Kathy, and her mother at the gate.
We had an uneventful trip home and even got some sleep! It’s good to be back home.
Today we explored Auckland. Auckland is one of the few cities in the world to have a harbor on two separate major bodies of water. Auckland straddles a volcanic field which has produced about 90 volcanic eruptions from 50 volcanoes in the last 90,000 years. About 1/3 of New Zealand’s population lives in Auckland. While looking up these facts about Auckland I found this info on Wikipedia about New Zealand “New Zealand is about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life. The country’s varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions.”
We started our day with breakfast at Baa Baa Black Sheep across the street and then walked to the harbor area where we had seen a tourist office the night before. We bought tickets for the ferry to Rangitoto, a volcanic island that formed during a single phase of eruptions that may have lasted only 5–10 years about 600 years ago. Today it is a national park. The ferry ride was only 25 minutes. Here are some pictures of Auckland from the ferry.
We walked on the coastal path which as you would expect was mostly along the water. Occasionally it would turn inlamd. The landscape was “fields” of black lava rock and small areas of plant life. The water was turquoise and the sun was shining. We were alone on the path. It was really nice.
We walked for about 2 hours and then we returned to the dock to catch the ferry back to Auckland. Once back in Auckland we went to the Asian street food alley which had small stalls serving street food from a number of Asian countries. It was hard to pick but I got Beef Rendang from Malaysia and Rick got Thai noodles. The process was fun and the food was tasty.
Next stop, the maritime museum. Auckland is called the city of sails and the museum was filled with sailboats with a focus on New Zealand’s recent America’s Cup victory. Here are some pictures from the museum.
We left the museum with the intent of going out to Waiheke island for dinner but the more we thought about we didn’t want to take a 40 min ferry ride each way for dinner, so we went to have a drink at the Sky Tower. Here are pictures from the Sky Tower.
While there we met a very nice lady, Judy, from New Jersey and talked to her while enjoying the view and our drink. Outside the restaurant was a track on which people were skywalking and bungy jumping. I could do the skywalking but no thank you to the bungy jumping.
Judy had to leave for a dinner reservation so we left too. We decided we wanted pizza and with the help of TripAdvisor we found the best pizza restaurant in Auckland. We had delicious Neapolitan pizza.
We walked back to the apartment and got packed up because we leave tomorrow.
It rained last night and was wet, rainy, and blustery in the morning. We emptied our tanks and left the campground around 10. We are feeling sad because we are returning the van today. On our drive back to Auckland we backtracked on many of the roads we had driven on when we traveled from Ohope to Hehai and back. We made one quick stop at Karangahake falls. There had been a gold mining town nearby, but we saw no evidence of it. We thought about taking a short walk but the weather was threatening. Here are a couple of pictures.
The van rental office is at the airport. We filled up with fuel and returned the van. Rick took care of the van paperwork while I retrieved our suitcases and packed us up. Then we ubered to our Airbnb in Auckland center. We have a very nice but small apartment right in the center of town. In the kitchen there are straps on the kitchen drawers and the refrigerator. We assume they are for earthquakes. Yikes!
That evening we walked around Auckland.
Someone along the way told us about a New York style deli, named Federal St Deli, which was near our apartment. That’s where we went for dinner. There were no tables available so we sat at the counter right in front of head of kitchen’s station. It was his job to tell the short order cooks what to make and make sure the order came out correctly. It was fun to watch and we commented that everyone working in the kitchen must be exhausted by the end of the night. They were working hard and fast. In addition to enjoying watching the operation, the food was good too!
We left the campground around 7 because we have reservations on the afternoon boat to White Island. White Island is an active marine volcano off the coast of Whakatane (pronounced Fa-ka-tane). We had tried to go out on Friday but the seas were too rough and they canceled. So we weren’t sure if we were going to make it today, but we needed to be in the area because they make the final decision at 11 and the boat is supposed to leave at 1. The ride from Hehai to Ohope is about 3½ hours.
We stopped in Katikati along the way for some breakfast. On a side note, many towns have Maori names and many Maori names repeat syllables, not sure why.
We arrived in Whakatane around 10:30. We were going to go to the campground so Rick could shower but we got a message that the trip to White Island was on and check in was from 11 to 12. Yippeee! So we headed to the office and got checked in. We boarded the boat. The seas were rough so we had to stay seated inside. During the ride we learned a little about White Island. It had been built up by continuous volcanic activity over the past 150,000 years. In the last 150 years, there have been four attempts to mine sulfur on the island but the last attempt ended in the 1920’s.
As we neared the island, the crew distributed inflatable life jackets, hard hats, and gas masks. The boat tied up to a mooring and we were taken ashore on a zodiac. Once ashore we were instructed on how to use the gas mask and what to do if there was an eruption, earthquake or landslide. Luckily we didn’t have to put that knowledge to the test. We walked around with a guide. The rocks were yellow and red from the sulfur and iron, respectively. Also there were cliffs that had obviously been formed by flowing lava. Steam was billowing everywhere. The center crate was filled with bright green, very, very, acidic water. The green color was from bacteria growing on the water surface. Behind the lake in the midst of the steam was a mud geyser. There was also the remnants of sulfur mining activities that took place in the prior century. It really felt like a once in a lifetime experience!
We returned to the boat and enjoyed a snack while motoring back to the mainland. After leaving the boat we headed to the campground where we had dinner and felt sad that it was our last night in the campervan.
We had a leisurely morning. It was a nice sunny day but, as the morning progressed, it got cloudy. After making plans for tomorrow we headed down to the beach where we got the water taxi to Cathedral Cove.
While waiting for the taxi we saw quite a few jelly fish in the water. Cathedral Cove is a limestone rock arch. It was beautiful but there were a lot of people. Here are some pictures.
After exploring the area and taking pictures we started the hike back to Hehai Beach. It was a nice, hour long,walk on undulating hills. Here are a few pictures from the walk.
We arrived back t the van, had some lunch and then relaxed for a while. Eventually we mustered our energy and walked into town. There’s not much of a town but we found some ice cream. They make real fruit ice cream by putting 2 scoops of ice cream along with the fruit of your choice in a machine which blends it and it comes out like soft serve. Rick enjoyed it, I got chocolate.
Once back at the campground, I took my chair to the beach and read my book by the water. It was lovely. That evening we enjoyed talking to our new neighbors, a young couple from Finland. A nice relaxing day.
We have reservations to go to White Island this afternoon. White Island is home to an active marine volcano. It last erupted in 2012 and steam issues continuously from the many vents and the central crater. We relaxed in the morning and left the camp ground around 10. We drove from Ohope Beach where we spent the night to Whakatane (note Wh in Maori is pronounced as an f), about a 15 minute drive. We stopped at Kopi Point Lookout in Whakatane and saw beautiful views of the shore. Here are some pictures.
We did our daily grocery run and when we returned to the van we called the tour company to make sure they hadn’t canceled. We learned that the seas were too rough for them to dock the boat and they had canceled the afternoon trip. We were disappointed. They were full for Saturday but had some openings for Sunday. We told them to refund our money but that we may rebook for Sunday. We decided to head to Coromandel. We planned to go to Hot Water Beach which was about a 3½ hour drive.
Just outside of Whakatane we stopped at Julian’s Berry Farm and Café for strawberry ice cream, Rick’s favorite! While we were there we were talking to a lady about berries and somehow we got talking about Hot Water Beach. She said the next beach north, HeHai, had a really nice campground right on the ocean. She told us that the Hot Water Beach campground was not on the ocean, but on an estuary. So we took her advice and headed to Hehai. I know I have said this before but everyone is so friendly. They take the time to talk to us. They want to hear about our trip. They are willing to share their experiences with us. It’s really delightful.
We wandered through small towns and up and over mountains on very twisty, curvy roads eventually arriving in Hehai. We got to the campground and it had two beachfront sites available, so we took one. We have a nice big site that is close to the ocean but we can’t actually see the ocean. The beach is really beautiful. After getting settled I went for a walk on the beach.
When I came back I suggested Rick get his camera because the light was really good. After taking his picture he started taking to a nice couple, John and Ina, from Whakatane, who are staying in cabins at the campground. They invited us to visit them in Whakatane if we go back on Sunday. Rick talks to everyone and makes new friends everywhere he goes.
