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I thought it'd be of some interest to post this here, seeing as we encountered a few Prados while on our short trip to Iceland last year (while we were living in London).
Enjoy....
As we arrived late Friday night, we didn't do any sightseeing, although the 45min bus ride from the international airport to Reykjavic was enough to keep us entertained. While we were there, we never saw absolute darkness, so the trip into town gave us some spectacular views of the coast, and the lavafields.
Main street Reykjavic
Local shopping trolley
Saturday, we spent the morning walking around Reykjavic checking out the main areas. By lunch, we had covered most of the centre of town. I was continually gasping at the modded trucks being driven around town by all sorts of people, from the hoons to the mums on their shopping tour.
In the afternoon, we jumped on the bus to the Blue Lagoon, a geothermally heated pool, located out near the airport. Truely an amazing experience swimming/crawling around the heated pool while the outside temps were about 6 degrees.
The Blue Lagoon
Local tour operator
On Sunday, when we went to pick up our rental car, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that we had been upgraded to a Suzuki Grand Vitara. Sundays itinerary took us over 400km, driving southeast. The first few stops were part of the Golden Circle including the Thingvellir National Park, Geysir, and Gullfoss.
Thingvellir, apart from being where the Icelandic parliament used to convene in AD 930, sits on the rift between the North American and European tectonic plates. Slowly over the years, these plates have been moving apart causing huge cracks on the surface.
Thingvellir National Park
Geysir, is where the term Geyser comes from. It's the name of the original spouting hot spring. Every few minutes, the pool would fill up, then erupt.
Geysir
The final sight of the Golden Circle was Gullfoss. This is Icelands most famous waterfall. On our roadtrip, we passed several waterfalls, mainly coming off the icecaps. We saw a postcard at the airport showing Gullfoss fully frozen over... that would be spectacular to see!
Gullfoss
With the Golden Circle behind us, we pushed on and drove for several hours, passing many impressive geographical sights, on our way to Skaftafell National Park. Once we had found some accommodation, we drove out to the nearest glacier tongue (as you do), and hiked up to the base of it. These things are huge looking from a distance, but it's only when you get close, you understand how massive they really are!
Sunday morning we jumped into a modded Prado from Glacier Tours, and headed up onto the Icecap for a bit of a thrill. The 45min drive up was on a well maintained gravel track, something that any Pathy would be able to do, but at a much slower pace. Most of the tour group kitted up and travelled on snowmobiles, but we preferred the warmth of the Prado... and the experience of driving on an icecap! We drove to several locations on the icecap, the worlds 3rd largest! Because the temperatures had been so low, the drive was pretty easy. I felt a bit uneasy on one of the steep descents, when the driver was literally sliding down the incline in 4H. The rear wheels weren't moving (I could see in the side mirror), but we were travelling downhill?
The track up to the icecap
Airing down
On the icecap
Airing up
Once back in the Zook, we started to head back towards Reykjavic, with our first stop at Jokulsarlon. This is a lagoon that connects out to the sea, but is also in contact with a glacier. The glacier deposits large chunks of ice into the lagoon, forming 'icebergs'. Simply amazing! Several movies have been shot here, including Tomb Raider and one of the 007's.
Jokulsarlon
We spent the night in a little town called Vik, where we hiked up onto the main headland and saw puffins! It's an amazing feeling to see an animal that you've known existed for a long time (Puffin books). We also managed to discover a few 4WD tracks, but didn't venture too far, as we didn't know where they led to, and wouldn't want to risk getting stuck without anyone to help...and void any insurance with Budget!
Looking down on Vik from the headland
Monday was our last day in Iceland, and had to reach the airport by 2pm for a 4pm departure. The route we decided to take was mainly gravel, and in places, very corrugated! Thank god we were upgraded to a 4WD, as it made handling and comfort much better!
One of the many waterfalls
The trek back home
We'd love to go back for a week or two, and drive around the island. We covered over 1000km while only seeing the southeastern portion of the island. Prices are extremely expensive, especially if you're spending the Aussie peso. The British pound made it slightly cheaper, but still exxy! A simple dish would cost about $30.
Enjoy....
As we arrived late Friday night, we didn't do any sightseeing, although the 45min bus ride from the international airport to Reykjavic was enough to keep us entertained. While we were there, we never saw absolute darkness, so the trip into town gave us some spectacular views of the coast, and the lavafields.
Main street Reykjavic
Local shopping trolley
Saturday, we spent the morning walking around Reykjavic checking out the main areas. By lunch, we had covered most of the centre of town. I was continually gasping at the modded trucks being driven around town by all sorts of people, from the hoons to the mums on their shopping tour.
In the afternoon, we jumped on the bus to the Blue Lagoon, a geothermally heated pool, located out near the airport. Truely an amazing experience swimming/crawling around the heated pool while the outside temps were about 6 degrees.
The Blue Lagoon
Local tour operator
On Sunday, when we went to pick up our rental car, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that we had been upgraded to a Suzuki Grand Vitara. Sundays itinerary took us over 400km, driving southeast. The first few stops were part of the Golden Circle including the Thingvellir National Park, Geysir, and Gullfoss.
Thingvellir, apart from being where the Icelandic parliament used to convene in AD 930, sits on the rift between the North American and European tectonic plates. Slowly over the years, these plates have been moving apart causing huge cracks on the surface.
Thingvellir National Park
Geysir, is where the term Geyser comes from. It's the name of the original spouting hot spring. Every few minutes, the pool would fill up, then erupt.
Geysir
The final sight of the Golden Circle was Gullfoss. This is Icelands most famous waterfall. On our roadtrip, we passed several waterfalls, mainly coming off the icecaps. We saw a postcard at the airport showing Gullfoss fully frozen over... that would be spectacular to see!
Gullfoss
With the Golden Circle behind us, we pushed on and drove for several hours, passing many impressive geographical sights, on our way to Skaftafell National Park. Once we had found some accommodation, we drove out to the nearest glacier tongue (as you do), and hiked up to the base of it. These things are huge looking from a distance, but it's only when you get close, you understand how massive they really are!
Sunday morning we jumped into a modded Prado from Glacier Tours, and headed up onto the Icecap for a bit of a thrill. The 45min drive up was on a well maintained gravel track, something that any Pathy would be able to do, but at a much slower pace. Most of the tour group kitted up and travelled on snowmobiles, but we preferred the warmth of the Prado... and the experience of driving on an icecap! We drove to several locations on the icecap, the worlds 3rd largest! Because the temperatures had been so low, the drive was pretty easy. I felt a bit uneasy on one of the steep descents, when the driver was literally sliding down the incline in 4H. The rear wheels weren't moving (I could see in the side mirror), but we were travelling downhill?
The track up to the icecap
Airing down
On the icecap
Airing up
Once back in the Zook, we started to head back towards Reykjavic, with our first stop at Jokulsarlon. This is a lagoon that connects out to the sea, but is also in contact with a glacier. The glacier deposits large chunks of ice into the lagoon, forming 'icebergs'. Simply amazing! Several movies have been shot here, including Tomb Raider and one of the 007's.
Jokulsarlon
We spent the night in a little town called Vik, where we hiked up onto the main headland and saw puffins! It's an amazing feeling to see an animal that you've known existed for a long time (Puffin books). We also managed to discover a few 4WD tracks, but didn't venture too far, as we didn't know where they led to, and wouldn't want to risk getting stuck without anyone to help...and void any insurance with Budget!
Looking down on Vik from the headland
Monday was our last day in Iceland, and had to reach the airport by 2pm for a 4pm departure. The route we decided to take was mainly gravel, and in places, very corrugated! Thank god we were upgraded to a 4WD, as it made handling and comfort much better!
One of the many waterfalls
The trek back home
We'd love to go back for a week or two, and drive around the island. We covered over 1000km while only seeing the southeastern portion of the island. Prices are extremely expensive, especially if you're spending the Aussie peso. The British pound made it slightly cheaper, but still exxy! A simple dish would cost about $30.
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