Adventures in Bali /  by Kevin Hatcher

So, after a great two weeks spent building a house and exploring Yogjakarta, it was time to pack my bags, say goodbye to the Habitat for Humanity crew, and fly to Bali.

It was a very short visit to Bali, and I was going to be travelling with Mandy, Jeremy, and Alissa from the build crew.

Uluwatu - Beaches and scooters. 

We took off from Yogyakarta Adisucipto International Airport and had a very quick flight to Ngurah Rai International Airport. Once we collected all our bags, we had to organize a taxi to take us to our first destination, the beautiful area of Uluwatu. The taxi was super cheap and before we knew it we had arrived at our homestay (hotel) and it was very close to the beach. A quick bag dump, change of clothes and into another taxi to the beach to chill. What an amazing beach, with some massive waves and current. The locals were very friendly too! A little too friendly at times. 

After a great day at the beach day and a good nights rest we all decided to get scooters and do some exploring! 

 
 

A great day at a local beach resting up, playing in the surf and eating ice creams! Not too bad. 

We had the scooters for 24hrs so we got up early the next morning and went to the Uluwatu Temple
Pura Luhur. This compound is a Hindu temple and is built right on a 70m cliff. The whole compound and all the buildings are very ornate, and getting there early in the morning enabled us to beat the crowds.

 
 

Ubud - Monkeys and temples.

Sadly, this part of the trip was over far too quickly and we soon bundled ourselves into a taxi to go north to the rice fields and open vistas of Ubud. The ride was about 2hrs in a local taxi and it was an interesting endeavor to say the least. The driver was in a rush to get somewhere, and then back again. I think? 

We split into two groups and stayed in separate homestays that were just 15 minutes’ walks from the center of Ubud. The homestay I stayed in with Mandy was a family owned home which had been extended to provide rooms and a pool. The house itself was beautiful and had the families very own temple area, with ornate decorations and statues everywhere. 

Our first stop after exploring Ubud was the Sacred Monkey Forest at the north end of Ubud. We got there towards early evening and so the light was amazing, and so were the locals.  Most of the locals were long-tailed macaque monkeys. They were very curious and a little too friendly at times, which made the visit that bit more interesting.

 
 

This was a whole days’ worth of fun and after a great feed in Ubud we all slept well ready for the last days sightseeing around the Ubud area. 

This was to be our last day together as a group so we organized a sightseeing driver for the morning, who would take us to the Hindu water temple, Tirtha Empul Tampaksiring and then to the Tegallalang Rice Terrace. First stop the temple and into another sarong. It was another amazing temple with an air of real history and spiritual importance to the locals. 

 
 

After a short taxi ride from the temple we arrived at the rice terrace gardens in the middle of the day. The sun was out in full force, but we still managed to go for a walk around the fields on the hill side, followed by an ice cream. 

Tegallalang Rice Terrace, Ubud.

A farmer preparing his field for the next crop

Rice terraces.

Before we knew another day had passed and it was time to go our separate ways. Mandy was heading back home to DC, Jeremy, and Alissa where heading further north to hike a mountain and I spent the last day chilling in Ubud, and people watching. 

What an amazing three weeks. I met some great people, took some great pictures and had an amazing time. I will work with Habit for Humanity again for all of the experiences and fun that is to be had. 

Normal Iceland blogs will now resume as I have a great hiking story to share.

Thanks for reading and come back for more in a week.

Cheers,

Kev

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Me and the giant monkey statue at Uluwatu Temple
Pura Luhur.

The build continues and we go to a wedding! - Habitat For Humanity (Part 3) /  by Kevin Hatcher

Back to work.

After a great weekend visiting the sites of Yogjakarta and enjoying the local food it was time to go back to work. 

We spent the next day building the walls up to as high as they needed, using scaffolding and some great teamwork. Once the walls were up, the neighbors took over and completed building the roof supports and joists. We could not do this work as it was pretty specialized and at a height that is probably not covered by Habitat for Humanity, so we spent the remaining few days throwing cement at the new walls.

The cement layer was to cover the rough cement and brick work and give a smooth surface for the plaster, and it was not easy. I think at one point everyone tried their hand at throwing cement, and consequently got covered in the bounced off cement paste that did not stick. 

Likan spent a lot of time doing this! What a trooper! 

The children watch as we work.

WWe spent the last few days of week two coating the walls, and would have to leave the house without a roof and a floor. This would be completed at a later date by the Habitat for Humanity Indonesia team and the amazingly community spirited neighbors.

Local wedding.

Over the course of the last week we had been working hard, we all wanted to get as much completed as possible. I think secretly we all wanted to actually finish the house in two weeks, but that is a lot of construction for such a short time period. 

As the week came to a close both teams got invited to a local village wedding. This was amazing! The wedding was bright and colorful and there was so much going on it was hard to keep up. 

The bride complete with traditional dress waiting to start the ceremony. 

The bride and groom.

The village chief. Cool looking guy!

One of the two guys of the band. Great guys!

The ring masters of the ceremony.

As we watched the wedding we had the honor and privilege to be asked to join in with the celebrations and to be in some of the photos with the bride and groom! It was great fun and we all had a lot of laughs. I will never forget this!

Bride, groom and Habitat for Humanity team. Great fun!

The last day at the build site.

All good things must come to an end, and sadly at the end of a great two weeks of building we had to leave. Before we left both teams autographed the houses that we had spent time building, and then as a final farewell we had a goodbye ceremony with a special lunch served in our family’s old home. 

The whole build team!

 
 

This was a very emotional good bye with speeches from the village chief, Jim and our Habitat team, and was truly heartwarming. I will never forget this last day; the smiles, the laughter of all of the people gathered around on the floor and the amazing food that we all shared.. 

The final farewell lunch.

Well, that is about it from Yogyakarta, and this part of my Indonesia trip. All of the support, food from the local families, neighbors and the Habitat for Humanity Indonesia was amazing! A great group of people and a really good work ethic with some amazing fun. I would do a trip like this again anytime.

Flying to Bali

As for me, I was taking a short flight to Bali to do a few days exploring with Mandy, Jeremy, and Allisa from the trip. First stop was Uluwatu and then up to Ubud. 

Come back for more! 

Cheers,

Kev

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The build begins - Habitat For Humanity (Part 2) /  by Kevin Hatcher

Everyone smile.

So, after a very busy and productive introduction to Yogjakarta, I suppose I had should settle in and do some actual work. Time to meet the crew and build a house. To be honest, I was really looking forward to this part, as I have never built anything from the ground up and meeting a whole bunch of new people is always fun!

This was our crew of 14 people!

Back row top left to right: Corrine, Jon, Tanner, Bernie, Jeremy aka Jer-bear, Mackenzie,

Middle row left to right: Mandy (HFH Group leader), Likan, Alissa, Me! Valerie and Jim (Love that T-shirt! Super jealous!) 

Bottom row left to right: Kay and Joyce. The hardest working people on the team! 

We were picked up by our Habitat for Humanity liaison team; Djingga Djiwa and Nofi Fuanda. Djingga worked tirelessly all day with us to help make our stay in Yogyakarta more enjoyable. He picked us up in the morning, drove us around, organized dinners during the week for all of 16 of us, and put up with all of our nonsense! No wonder he slept in the work vehicles so much. We also had the amazingly happy and friendly, Nofi Fuanda and her impressively large and colorful collection of hijabs. I don't think I ever saw two the same for the whole build project! Impressive! 

Thanks for the pick Likan. :)

Thanks for the pick Likan. :)

The daily commute.

After introductions and photos at HFH Indonesia HQ we were driven about 1 hour south to Selopamioro village in the Imogiri Sub District. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puji Raharjo with the sharpest knife I have ever seen. We never got to do this in case we lost a finger...right Corrine. 

We were split into two teams at the site and introduced to our site foreman who would look after the running of our house build.

Ladies and gentlemen...our foreman Puji Raharjo!

He would be in charge of us, instruct us on how to use tools, keep us safe (no mean feat) and helped us build our house. Oh, and he cut up and fed us fresh coconuts!

Awesome! 

 

 

 

Some of the children and a few from the local village.

The family, mother and father. They have 3 children too.

The family, mother and father. They have 3 children too.

We were then introduced to the family that would move into the new house. They were so friendly and accepting, it was amazing. In fact, the whole local village was, and it was all very humbling. 

Our house was a 3 week build and we would be working on it for 2 weeks to get as much done as possible. 

Right let's get started!

The build plan.

So, if like me, you have never built a house here is what you need to do:

  • Move all the material (boulders, bricks, grit/sand) to site.
  • Hand dig foundations.
  • Shovel through a large sift all of the grit/sand for concrete.
  • Make concrete.
  • Lay foundations.
  • Build walls.
  • Make and install reinforcing bar (Rebar) columns and layers whilst building walls.
  • Install windows.
  • Build joists and install roof.
  • Lay floor. 
  • Move in.

Well that is a bit simplified, but you get the idea and all this is done by hand. There was no machinery involved during our build. 

The first few days of the build. 

Now the first few days we dug foundations, moved material and laid the first foundation stones. We were also very lucky to have the neighbors help too. When we left for the day they would pick up where we left off and continue. That meant our build came together very quick. It was great! 

One of the greatest things was how happy, friendly and inquisitive the local kids were. It made working in the baking sun all worth it. 

During the third day I met the one pictured below on the right. His name...Kevin...What a great name! But I never could get him to smile in photos.

Kev on the right....Kev on the left and Riza in the middle. Both not looking impressed.

The other major part of this particular build was reinforcement bar (Rebar). It is long pieces of metal that had to be hand cut to exact sizes, and then bent and then wired tied to the beam/column for the house. It was a long process but a great way to chat to the guys and get to know people. 

 
 

During all of this rebar making our blue tarp/tent (it was just like being in a U.S. campground) that shielded us from the sun collapsed in the wind. So in true "get your hands" dirty fashion we helped to fix the tarp, and held up ladders and supports until the locals fixed it. Then it was straight back to making rebar.

No rest for the wicked!

In the first week the house made great progress, and we completed: digging the foundations, constructing foundation walls, started to build the house walls on the foundation and made some great friends with the locals and each other. 

The weekend arrives.

So after a very productive and busy few days it is the weekend and we all have time to relax, and do some site seeing around the wonderful Yogjakarta area. What better way to do this but to return to Borobudur to see if we could all see the sunrise! 

After a really early start, and along bus drive we all arrived in the dark to climb the stairs of this amazingly peaceful temple to wait the sunrise. There was a slight sunrise which was cool, but I also got more time to explore the temple afterwards, which gave me a real appreciation of the intricacy and detail that went into building the world's largest Buddhist temple.  

Borobudur Buddhist Temple just at sunrise.

After such an early cultural start it could only be topped off with thrashing around in a jeep around Merapi to see the remains of the last volcanic eruption. The jeeps where great fun, and we all had a blast! 

What a week! I took it easy on Sunday while others explored the city center. Next Indonesian blog update, we continue building the house, we get invited to a local wedding, we explore a cave and we have an emotional good bye ceremony with the family and all the HFH team. 

Come back for more! 

Cheers,

Kev

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The first few days in Yogyakarta - Habitat For Humanity (Part 1) /  by Kevin Hatcher

Kev: Hi Blog!

Blog: Hi Kev, where have you been? It has been over two months since we last spent time together.

Kev: Yeah, I know...I have been adventuring. I have visited the Westman Islands in Iceland, I went travelling in Indonesia for three weeks. When I returned to Iceland, I hiked four days between Laugavegur and Þórsmörk which is about 55km.

Blog: Wow! So a busy few months then, do tell.

Kev: OK, I will start a little out of order, Indonesia first...

The beginnings of an adventure.

I am very lucky to have the opportunity to live in Iceland for six months, as it has given me time to explore this amazing country and take images of the wonderful landscape. It also means I have some free time and decided to do some charity work. I had spoken to Emily Rusk (this is all her fault really) and Tricia Vos about working for Habitat for Humanity during my 6 month sabbatical. Habitat build new homes all over the world for people who are currently living in poor housing conditions and that is where the idea started.

After a phone interview with the Mandy Jansen from Habitat for Humanity (HFH) I secured the last spot on a two week build project in Yogyakarta. I had to raise $2,000 to help fund provide materials for the build. This happened amazingly quickly due to the amazingly generous donations from friends all over the world. I purchased my own flights and decided to stay another week after the build in Bali.

Easy really. 

The travel plan.

Bye, bye Iceland.

The journey is not one flight and because I live in Iceland it would be even trickier. My travel plan:

  • Keflavik in Iceland to London Heathrow.
  • London Heathrow to Changi Airport in Singapore.
  • Changi Airport in Singapore to Adisutjipto International Airport in Yogyakarta.

I would then return from Yogyakarta via Bali:

  • Adisutjipto International Airport in Yogyakarta to Denpasar International Airport in Bali.
  • Denpasar International Airport in Bali to Changi Airport in Singapore.
  • Changi Airport in Singapore to London Heathrow.
  • London Heathrow to Keflavik in Iceland.

Great, now everything is in place let's go!

 

 

 

After landing in Heathrow I spent a few days in London and stayed with my good friends Em and John and baby Max, and also visited my little brother. At the end of these short few days I headed back to Heathrow to fly out to Yogyakarta. On the way out to the airport on the Piccadilly line to Heathrow there was a fire and the tube train was evacuated. I had to get a bus to the airport. This made me late and I had to run through Heathrow to get my first flight...not a good start, but I made it.

Arrival in Yogyakarta.

After one very long flight and one short flight I arrived at Yogyakarta and met Joyce and Kay, who were part of the early arrivals to Yogyakarta. After a quick pick up at the airport and a beer at the hotel we all decided to try and overcome the jet lag by visiting the sultan's palace in the center of town.

It was an amazing place, that had so much history and relics on display it was hard to see all of it in one visit, especially being very jet lagged! 

 

Buddhist temple Borobudur and Jomblang Cave.

Headless statue. 

After basically falling asleep in my dinner, I went to bed at 6pm and slept until 4am. I got back up, packed my camera gear, and went to go and see the sunrise at the Buddhist temple Borobudur, and then visit a cool cave called Jomblang Cave. Now, I had organized this adventure with another early arriving member of the HFH crew, Corrinne, and we both thought it would be a bus tour event. She was staying at a hostel closer to the center of Yogyakarta and we thought we would meet up on a bus. Turns out it was just me, a driver and a car for the morning and she would be getting her own trasnport. 

After weaving through the crazy traffic of Yogyakarta I made it to the temple and climbed it in the pitch black of the early morning just before sunrise. Unfortunately, there was no orange sunrise as it was cloudy, but WOW! what a place. Very surreal and peaceful even with lots of other tourists. Well worth a visit. I did not manage to bump into Corinne, at the temple but I did get a strange look from a passing girl...who might have been Corinne? 

Buddhist Temple. Each "bell" has an Buddhist monk inside without a head.

My driver then took me back across the city to go visit the cave. It took about 2 hours' drive, and whilst chatting to the driver about the local food we decided to stop for breakfast.  We stopped at a roadside restaurant and had a local soup called Soto ayam. It is a rice broth dish with spices and chicken. Yum! 

When we arrived at the location for the cave tour there was a car bouncing along the rough track in front of us. My driver mentioned that it was his friend and he had an American customer today...oh oh! Sure enough Corinne was in the other car, and the girl who I had seen at the temple was her too! Oops! 

After some quick introductions we were harnessed up together, and lowered into a cave and spent the next hour or so exploring a massive cave with a beautiful light beam. 

What a great place to explore. My driver was super friendly and very knowledgeable. If you want to do this trip I would use http://jomblangcavetours.com/ again. I arrived back at the hotel midafternoon and then met up with the next arrivals for the HFH trip, Mandy, Jim and Valerie for dinner.

Candi Prambanan Hindu Temple.

During the previous night’s dinner, I made plans with Mandy to visit the Candi Prambanan Hindu temple, which was only 30 minutes by taxi from our hotel. 

Candi Prambanan Hindu Temple

The temple was amazingly ornate and was covered in very detailed carvings, and tourists. Each one of the standing temples had a stone statue inside and a few tourists too! 

As you walked out of the temple you are greeted with this amazing site of umbrellas in the trees!

I loved them!!

So colorful and bright! I love these!

That was only 2 days! I still have to meet the team complete Habit for Humanity team, build a house and I have a week in Bali! This was an amazing trip! So I think it will be in 3 parts, and then 1 for Bali.

Next Blog entry - The build starts and we meet our local family.

Come back for more! 

Cheers,

Kev

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Weekend tripping around the south and Reykjavik /  by Kevin Hatcher

How do you top going to the Westfjords? Well, it is difficult, but there is always something new to look at in Iceland and a long overdue trip to Vík í Mýrdal and the surrounding area could be a good start.

Travelling South.

I had a few friends visit us here from Scotland. It all started from the bus station in Reykjavik on Thursday morning. We traveled south east along the tourist trail of Route 1 to Vík í Mýrdal. 

 

 

 

 

Shane under Gljúfrabúi waterfall.

Our first stop was the iconic Seljalandsfoss waterfall and a smaller secret (ish) waterfall just 10 minutes away called Gljúfrabúi. This smaller waterfall is tucked away in a gorge on the same length of cliffs that Seljalandsfoss is located, but with less tour buses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we reappeared out of the waterfall gorge we heard sirens and noticed a helicopter coming into land at Seljalandsfoss. Apparently someone had climbed up the side of the waterfall on the steep embankment and fallen and broken his leg.

A teenager broke his leg and was air lifted away from the Seljalandsfoss area.

We left the craziness of the Seljalandsfoss area and headed toward Vik, only to stop at the glacier cafe just off route 1. It was only a short walk up to the head of Sólheimajökul glacier, which was awesome.

Is it cold Shane?

Sólheimajökul Glacier.

We then drove onto Dyrhólaey lighthouse via the sketchiest 4x4 track ever. Seriously, I had the car on three wheels at one point and it is a Skoda Octavia rather than a proper 4x4! It was cool! Now, I did not take any pictures of the lighthouse because I couldn't get the right composition without a million tourists in the way. Needless to say, it is a great place to visit and has some great views along the coast.

The view along the black beach towards Vik.

Well, after checking out the lighthouse and awesome views we drove just south of Vik and then turned north up a dirt track and drove for 14km to Þakgil camp site. It started raining on the way to the campsite, but that did not dampen our spirits as the landscape was out-of-this-world. 

Looking out over a very wet valley at þórsmörk from the road.

It took us about 50 minutes to get to the campsite and it was great fun driving, and well worth it when we arrived. The campsite was a large flat field space surrounded by hills on all but three sides. What a great find!

Double Kev at Þakgil camp site. Thanks Shane for the photo.

We pitched my tent and made our way into a cave...yes a cave...to make dinner and chat to the other local tourists. 

Camping with this guy.

The next morning we packed, had breakfast, coffee...two coffees...and headed back to Vik and then on to Reykjavik. We did stop briefly at the Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach and the basalt columns, but the weather was still dull and grey, so we hit the road just after a tourist bus spewed forth its contents of visitors. 

We did however make one last stop before heading back to Reykjavik, and if you have been reading my blogs you will know I am big fan of...HOT POOLS! Seljavallalaug outdoor swimming pool is just off the main road and down a dirt road and then a walk...so it does require a bit of navigation and planning to get there. When we got to the pool it was lovely and sunny again with the clouds rolling over us and bright patches of sunshine pouring through onto the mountain side. Very peaceful.

Seljavallalaug from above. That is Shane's head just on the left side of the pool.

Shane taking his yearly bath in the pool.

After a nice soak we walked back to the car and had lunch and headed back to Reykjavik to meet another friend who had just arrived, Becs. 

After a good dinner and some wine we decided to stay up late to watch the northern midnight sunset over the horizon from the Sólfar and what a sunset! You should check out my new updated Sólfar image on my site too!

Sunset over Reykjavik Harbour.

That was one of the best sunsets I have seen in a long time and it was shared with great friends.

The next day we hiked up one of my favorite local hills, Móskarðshnjúkar, which is just outside Reykjavik. The location feels like you are in the wilds of Iceland for very little traveling time.

What a great hike, and the weather was nice for all of it too.

The last day of the weekend the three of us (Aimee left for the UK) hiked up a small hill just south of Reykjavik called Helgafell and visited the geothermal fields at Krisuvik. It is a great place for a very short walk around some amazingly colourful geothermal activity.

Geothermal activity at Krisuvik.

Shane at Krisuvik.

That last night we ate and drank in downtown Reykjavik. We managed to get the best seats outside the Sæta Svínið Gastropub in the sunshine.

What a great way to finish a great weekend! and now for next weekend...ferries, the Westmann Islands, and the largest colony of puffins in the world! I can't wait.

Cheers,

Kev

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The mighty Westfjords of Iceland. /  by Kevin Hatcher

Wow! I mean like WOW! 

If anyone I know wants to visit Iceland in the future and asks me for what I consider to be the real wild Iceland (without renting a 4x4) I will be telling them all about the Westfjords. 

The Plan

The route. 1,052km/654miles.

We planned to drive a loop of the Westfjords (1,052km) over a long weekend. We would drive a few hours every day, and do some hiking along the way to break the driving up. The plan and route was as follows:

Friday: Pick Aimee up from work and drive up to Hólmavík (Population 375) and stay overnight at a hostel. 

Saturday: Drive from Hólmavík to Ísafjörður (Population 2,559) with a stop somewhere to stretch our legs on a hike. We had booked into a self catering accommodation in the center of the town. 

Sunday: Drive from Ísafjörður to Tálknafjörður (Population 306) with a stop planned at the amazing Dynjandi Foss. This time we would spend the night in our tent at the local camp site at Tálknafjörður.

Monday: Drive from Tálknafjörður to Reykhólar (Population 120) with another hike along the way. We would be spending our last night in the tent, but it would be right next to an outdoor swimming pool with hot pool. Not to bad really. 

Tuesday: Drive from Reykhólar to Reykjavik (Population 123,246), so that Aimee could get back to work. 

A lot of driving, but it was well worth it and we will be going back, it is just to good not too! 

Friday and Saturday: Hiking in the rain and big waterfalls.

After a few hours drive from Reykjavik we arrived at Hólmavík late on Friday evening. It is a very small village in the Westfjords. It was wet and grey when we arrived, but it cleared up by on Saturday morning. We stayed in a hostel right on the seafront near an amazing harbour and church. It was so quiet and idyllic you almost forgot you were in Iceland.

Hólmavík Church early Saturday morning,

Arctic Tern.

Fishing net floats.

We left Hólmavík and traveled onto Ísafjörður. It rained most of the way which was a shame because we really wanted to go for a hike. We could not find anything on the map that might be a hiking route, until we rounded the end of a fjord and discovered a hiking sign. 

Happy wet hikers.

The rain was so bad that I didn't take my DSLR with me, but I wish I had, as after a small walk of 2km we found Valagil waterfall. It was tucked away and fell from the very top of the mountain to the valley floor. It was a great site to behold in the rain. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valagil waterfall with Aimee.

Tjöruhúsið Restaurant.

We arrived in Ísafjörður late that evening just as the weather cleared up and walked around the largest town in the Westfjords. The clouds and the light were amazing. We were lucky to get dinner at a seafood restaurant that serves an all you can eat seafood buffet. The food was outstanding and I would highly recommend going, but make sure you make a reservation, as it is only open for dinner from 7pm until 10pm and it is very busy. They don't have a website but you can find information on their Facebook page.

 

Clouds over the mountains near Ísafjörður.

Sunday: Hiking up a lonely mountain and the best outdoor swimming pool ever!

We woke an amzing day with sunshine, blue skies and fluffy clouds. So after breakfast, we packed the car and headed for Tálknafjörður from Ísafjörður. We had found an an area just south of Ísafjörður to go for a hike and hopefully get some nice views.

Morning reflections across Ísafjörður harbour. 

We drove from Ísafjörður into a long tunnel that cut straight through the hillside to the next fjord. 

Reflections in the water after the tunnel.

The scenery along the road was stunning. Great sharp mountains that rose almost vertically up from near sea level to way above our heads. The road guided us around these giants onto our destination of Þingeyri were we would start our hike up Arnarnupur (558m).

Arnarnupur Mountain on the right.

It was a short, sharp hike and we made the plateau very quickly and reached the top in time for lunch. My favorite time!  

Looking back from the top of Arnarnupur to Þingeyri

Coffee time!

The view from the top was spectacular and right on the edge of a massive cliff to the sea. What a great spot for lunch! But time waits for no man or woman...so we descended back along the same path and back to the car to have a cup of coffee, before setting off across the fjords to Tálknafjörður.

 

 

 

High roads in June, In Iceland! Awesome.

After the spectacular hike we drove onto our next overnight location. This was an interesting drive as a lot of the roads are dirt track, and there is still snow in places in May. We deseneded down into the next fjords and drove along the rough track to the head of the fjord. As we reached the end of the fjords we came across an amazing site...an outdoor swimming pool! 

Me in the outdoor swimming pool.

Aimee in the outdoor swimming pool.

We shared this amazing experience with one other couple and left just as four other cars full of people arrived. It was so relaxing we almost camped there for the night, but we had one more place that I wanted to stop and visit. 

Dynjandi waterfall is a site to behold. A massive waterfall of over 100m high and you can walk right up to it, and stand directly below it. The waterfall is magnificent and quite difficult to get a scaled photograph. I did try but it was late in the evening now, and it was very busy with other tourists like us.

Dynjandi waterfall. Notice the people near the top for scale.

Dynjandi waterfall.

Dynjandi waterfall.

We left this waterfall behind us to go to our camp site in Tálknafjörður and slept well after a very packed day of adventuring.

Monday: Waking up to go to the best hot pool ever and then a hike. 

Pollurinn (The Puddle) Hot pool.

The last day of our trip and what is the best way to start the day...outdoor hot pool! We had it all to ourselves for the first half an hour and it was so tranquil. There are three pools; one hot and deep with benches to sit on, one shallow and cold, and one shallow and warm, so you can rotate around all three and be at the perfect temperature. 

 

 

Once bathed and relaxed we headed back to the camp site, packed, had breakfast and got back on the road again to our final destination. Reykhólar . We did stop on the way for a quick hike to stretch our legs and got some great views.

Hiking views over Westfjords.

After the hike we pushed onto our campsite at Reykhólar, where there was another outdoor swimming pool and hot pool. This one is run by the council so no pictures, but it was great to get another relaxing soak in at the end of the day. 

In the kicthen making dinner...it was very windy.

Table for two...I was taking the picture.

Tuesday: Reykjavik - Early morning start and home.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. We woke up super early, packed the tent and left to get back to Reykjavik. But I will be back, as there is so much more to explore!

Thanks for reading this really long blog. I will try keeping it shorter in the future, but there was so much fun to be had over the weekend I just couldn't help writing about it!

Cheers,

Kev

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Hiking in the Westfjords.

Hiking in the Westfjords.

The secret blue river. /  by Kevin Hatcher

What an amazing few weeks I have had! I am only just sitting down now to process all of the images and try and catch up on my blog. 

Where to start...

This overnight stay happened at the end of May, and was a result of me getting itchy feet to go out on my own to take some images. 

Now, the location I had in mind was a foss (Waterfall in Icelandic) called Brúarfoss and it is about 2hrs drive from Reykjavik. It is a great little place that seems to be causing a bit of a friction with the local Icelandic population. After visiting the area and adding to the issue I can totally understand why, so I am not going to locate the foss here, but if you are keen to see it there is enough information on line to locate it.  The area is a "Private" summer house retreat for the locals and with the increase of tourists and lack of infrastructure the road and trails are over used. 

I left mid afternoon from Reykjavik with the sun shining, clear beautiful blue skies, and great big white fluffy clouds in the sky. Perfect! After eventually finding the area, and a place to park I walked off along the very beaten up and muddy track to be rewarded with an amazing river scene. I spent the afternoon there to find a good composition in relation to the sunset. This would mean that when I returned later that evening I would have a picture already in my minds eye and could set up my camera quickly.

Brúarfoss during the day.

I drove down the road a few kilometers to a campsite next to the geysir field. This geysir field is on the golden circle route and is very popular with the bus tours, which makes it very popular during the mid morning and late afternoon.

Camp site for the tent.

Fortunately, I was spending the night there, so after dinner I went for a walk around the geysir field and almost had the place to myself in the evening sun. The Strokkur Geysir erupts every 5-10 minutes so you are bound to see it, and then you can walk around the area looking at the other less active hot pools. What a great place. 

The Strokkur Geysir can reach as high as 70-80m

After my walk around the geothermal springs I headed back to the car to set off back to Brúarfoss for the sunset.  I arrived and walked down to the river and had the place to myself. Unfortunately the clouds started to roll in and I maybe should have been there about an hour earlier to get some nice close up images of the waterfall. I will also need to bring wellington boots next time, as there is far too much water for my hiking boots to stand in the river.

I did manage to get a few shots that I am very happy about and they are on my website just before the sunset was completely obscured by the clouds and mountains.

After the last light disappeared I headed home at about midnight. I returned to the campsite and went to the car to get my sleeping equipment, but I could not find my sleeping bag! Oops! I made do with putting all my clothes on and got some sleep in the tent. Needless to say it was cold that night. 

The next day it was grey, rainy and cold, so I decided to head back home and get ready for my next adventure...The amazing Westfjords. New blog coming soon!

Thanks

 

Kev

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Long drive, ice diamonds, and closing roads. /  by Kevin Hatcher

What a great weekend at the Snæfellsnes peninsula, with some of the best weather I have experienced in Iceland. The only thing better than coming home from a great adventure is to repack and head out on the road again to go on another. So... I packed the car with a good friend of mine Mike Guarino from Mike Gaurino Photography to start the long drive south east to Skaftafell National park in Iceland and Jökulsárlón to do some backpacking, hiking and photography.  

Reykjavik to Skaftafell National park (4 Hours 1 minutes) and then Jökulsárlón, glacier lagoon (40 minutes)

Reykjavik to Skaftafell National park (4 Hours 1 minutes) and then Jökulsárlón, glacier lagoon (40 minutes)

Now, the Icelandic tourist board does an amazing job of advertising the sites of Iceland, but what they don't tell you is:
1.    Iceland is bigger than it looks!
2.    All of the tourist spots are scattered all around the coast just off Route 1. The only "main" road around the country.
3.    The weather in Iceland can change in an instant from amazing too crazy very quickly. To be fair to the tourist board they do warn tourists and visitors about the weather and all the information is on the Vedur site and app (www.vedur.is) and road information site (www.road.is).
I checked the weather on Monday, the night before we had planned to leave, and it looked OK, cloudy and then changing to showers by the end of the week. I double checked the weather on Tuesday morning and it was very different, cloudy and overcast for the drive, then rain and gales for the day after we got there. Hmm, what to do? A long drive to see some cool Icelandic sites and hope the weather changes again or stay home? 
Adventure waits for no-one! Into the car on Tuesday morning with all the backpacking and camera gear.
First stop on the way was Seljalandsfoss. A very impressive and big waterfall that is located just next to route 1, so it is a tourist hot spot. 
 

Seljalandsfoss with a random tourist for scale...it's a big waterfall and you can walk behind it too! 

Mike Guarino at Seljalandsfoss.

Behind Seljalandsfoss.

A great place to stop, but it can be very busy, so pick your time. But the national park awaits so, back into the car and onward to Vík í Mýrdal for a quick lunch stop overlooking the black sands beach.

After a long drive across some amazingly barren and open lava fields we finally arrived at Skaftafell national park around 4pm.

As we crossed towards the campsite this is the view north to Skeiðarárjökull Glacier.

We had planned to stay in the park campsite on Tuesday night, but the weather up to this point had been pretty good, so we thought maybe we could backpack into the national park and stay at the base of Morsárjökull Glacier (shown below center top of the map). Unfortunately, it is not possible to wild camp in the national parks here in Iceland, so we set up camp in the campsite. 

Skatafell Map

Once set up we walked to see the Skaftafellsjökull glacier, which was an amazing sight and my first up close look at a glacier. The light was pretty flat because it was late afternoon and cloudy, but still an impressive site.

Skaftafellsjökull Glacier.

Kevin Hatcher taking pictures of the glacier. Thanks Mike.

It was pretty busy with tourists because it is very accessible and about a 20min walk from the main entrance and campground.

Tourists at Skaftafellsjökull Glacier.

We returned from the short walk to see the glacier, had some dinner and then decided to drive 40 minutes to Jökulsárlón to see the glacier lagoon. The weather was beginning to turn and the clouds were grey and dark. The drive there was difficult due to the heavy rain showers and side winds, but we made it and WOW! it was so worth it!

When you arrive there is a car park on the north side of the road that you can park at and then walk to the lagoon, and see the large junks of ice floating down to the sea. The lagoon has a wide river running from it, with a bridge, but we never went over the bridge. We did go to the BEACH! Now that is breath taking. 

Imagine if you had the blackest sand and then scattered white and crystal clear diamonds all over it, then you get close to what this beach looks like.

Jökulsárlón Glacier Beach.

It was amazing, and Mike and I spent the next 2-3 hours taking photographs and admiring the views. The only reason we stopped is because it got too dark, and it started to rain. But WOW! What a place.

Holding a ice diamond at the Jökulsárlón beach.

Long exposure Jökulsárlón beach.

I have so many images from this beach and its prize jewels I could fill a book. It is difficult to pick only a few images to share, but needless to say I will go back, and hopefully the weather will be better. Talking about the weather we returned to this sign...

Weather report for the national park area. FYI 20m/s = 44mph and 45m/s = 100mph

The plan in the morning was to go for a short hike to see the Svartifoss but after a discussion with the one and only employee who had made it to work, we decided against it. Why you ask? Well, we were informed that the roads home are to be closed at 11:00am, it was 10:30am. They also didn't know if or when the roads would reopen. So with heavy hearts we packed up and got back in the car and drove back. As we did the wind speed increased and sections of roads did close, it was great fun! 

Road closure information. 

Red roads = Closed.

We made it back to Reykjavik late that day after a very windy, wet and bluster drive, but what a drive. I will have to go back there as the scenery is spectacular, and one night is just not enough.

Getting far to dark for my selfie camera at Jökulsárlón beach.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you all. I have a few more things in the pipeline for the blog. I have last weekends adventure back to Snaefellsnes peninsula and I am going to get an RSS feed set up so if you want to keep up to date with the blog it will be delivered directly to your email box! How awesome is that. 

Stay tuned folks and follow me on Instagram for regular updates and images. 

Cheers

Kev

PS I hope this week will be double blog week!