It’s a T-shirt cliché but Iceland really is a land of fire and ice – volcanos made the island and glaciers then shaped it.  And the crazy thing is both forces are still very active today with volcanos still spouting off occasionally and glaciers still slipping and sliding about.  Iceland feels like a geologic action movie played in extremely slow motion.   

Julie and I are seriously into volcanos and glaciers, I think because they are so powerful, so uncontrollable and so fascinating.  As we travelled up the east coast of Iceland in our little Volkswagen Polo we’ve dubbed Uvu we’ve been overwhelmed with all the volcanos and glaciers, including some glaciers that sit on top of active volcanos. Yeah, really.

We crossed ancient lava beds that stretched for 50 kilometres or more, spat out by nearby volcanos as the island was created.  Today these lava beds are covered with green moist moss, the only thing that can grow there, which creates the lumpiest velvet carpet imaginable.

The largest glacier of Europe is called Vatnajokull which forms a giant ice cap across the mountains and makes up 14% of the country.  From Vatnajokull many feeder or outlet glaciers finger out from the main ice cap and some of them stretch almost down to the ocean.  Which is great for us because it means we can explore them up close. 

And if its not glaciers it’s the dramatic high mountains that have been carved up by the glaciers, sometimes creating steep near-vertical walls and dramatic backdrops to farmers’ homes.  And no self-respecting farmer would build a home without a magnificent waterfall spilling over the cliff above them. 

Glaciers have a wonderful by-product – icebergs.  The highlight of the day for us was to pull into Jokulsarlon Lagoon, the huge body of water that is formed and filled by the glacier that runs down to water’s edge.  This lagoon is in turn filled with icebergs that have broken off from the glacier and are sitting in this lake until they melt enough to float down the little river, under the bridge and out to sea. 

We spent a delightful late afternoon watching – and photographing – these icebergs, all different shades, shapes and sizes, as they float around the lagoon.  And we went down to the crashing surf to see a few of the icebergs that made it to the ocean, then get washed back up onto the black volcanic sandy beaches – a crazy sight.

The rest of the afternoon and into the early evening (although the sun was still high in the sky) we spent driving along this dramatic coastline, around the deep bays, past more glaciers, marveling at the dramatic mountains all around us, redefining the term ‘spectacular scenery’.  It was very special.

Fire and ice is all fine but when it’s blowing so hard poor little Uvu almost gets airborne a couple of times then you know you’re in for a different day.  And throw in a steady rain and low visibility – that’s the next day we had as we drove around a number of fjords in eastern Iceland. 

Miserable as it was, we were rewarded three times with seeing herds of caribou, their antlers tall, wide and handsome.  Icelanders call them reindeer because they were imported from domestic herds by the Norwegians years ago but they now run wild in Iceland, adding a special spice to the wind-blown scenery.

After reaching the regional base of Egilsstadir we opted for a side trip to the charming port town of Seydisfjordur.  It looked straightforward on the map but in fact involved a 700 metre climb on tight switchbacks through a snow-covered pass, the wind and rain raging, something poor little Uvu with his tiny tyres and 1.8 litre engine barely made.  Where is Tramp when you need him?

We finished the day with a pine-covered drive along a Lake to a remote wilderness centre deep in the interior of the island.  This centre provided basic accommodation in a 100 year old farmhouse, complete with home-cooked meals and stunning scenery all around. 

We’d had days specialising in waterfalls and others with glaciers but now it was the volcanoes’ turn.  We headed across vast open plains blunted by lava and ash from another distant time, even now still struggling to come back to life.  But we loved the moonscape feeling of this land, the light playing on the mountains, the remote barren feeling of the place, accentuated by the knock-you-over wind every time we got out of Uvu.

At the Krafla volcano we walked amongst the fumaroles venting hot sulphuric gasses, sticking our hand down in the cracks to feel the steaming heat, and bubbly mushy mud pots.  We stood on the rim of the Viki volcano with its beautiful aqua blue water and winter’s last snow patch at its shore.  This was nature on the biggest stage, still creating Iceland bit by bit.

After a surreal late afternoon drive across open lava fields lightly covered in the greenest of grasses, we arrived at our lovely little seaport town of Husavik and ate fish and chips while looking across their little harbour, enjoying spectacular views of snow-capped mountains on the other side of the bay.  Never mind two fish and chips eaten out of styrofoam containers cost $80, such is Iceland. And in any case the views were worth much more.

All of our accommodation is pre-booked along or near the Ring Road that circumnavigates Iceland.  We have a long list of things we want to do each day plus we need to cover the 250-350 kilometres between nights.  This isn’t our usual style – we prefer travelling in Tramp where we make up each day as it comes and sleep somewhere randomly at the end of the day. 

But here we have to decide each day what to do (a Vikings Museum or a 5 kilometre walk?) and if so at what expense of missing something else.  We’ve miscalculated a few times and got into our hotel at 8.30 or 9.30pm (oops!) plus we have to sort out dinner somewhere somehow. 

Never has this problem been more evident than our day driving around what the Icelandic marketing department calls the Diamond Peninsula.  From Husavik we travelled north along the coast, turning south at 66.2°N latitude, just below the Arctic Circle, and explored the amazing Asbyrgi Canyon, shaped like a giant horseshoe with its tall vertical sides.  How Iceland keeps coming up with these amazing places is beyond us.

We then went for a couple of bush walks in the area called Hljooaklettar which is basically where volcanic activity has created stuff that is beyond belief.  Take a look here.

We moved on to perhaps our favourite waterfall of Iceland so far (in a very crowded field!), Dettifoss, which was ‘only’ 45 metres high but an astounding 100 metres wide.  The roar was deafening and the spray was soaking!

We visited another field of fumaroles and mushy mud bubbles with its dizzying spoiled egg smells and more and more and more before returning to our favourite Icelandic fishing village Husavik for a hot tub and jacuzzi with the locals at the public swimming pool and another dinner overlooking the marina and the stunning views of the snow-capped mountain range on the other side of the bay.

But that’s not all!  As it happens, this is the summer solstice so just before midnight we woke up to see the midnight sun on the ocean horizon as it dipped near the water’s line before starting to rise again.  Phew!