Awesome school and lots of fun

Iceland Group Home Safe and Sound!

It is hard to believe we are only three days into our amazing adventure. We have covered a lot of ground, The Blue Lagoon, whale watching and a visit to the Puffin colony, a hike around Þingvellir, onto the Geysir and Gullfoss before finding ourselves spending the night surrounded by 100 wild horses (one of whom had the good grace to give birth while we were there!). Today we headed toward that unpronouncable volcano and, because of a strong, northerly wind, quickly found ourselves shrounded in smoke. We visited some of Icelandś most spectacular waterfalls before spending a few happy hours with the 90 year old curator of the famous Skogar Museum. Now we find ourselves in the shadow of the volcano in the middle of nowhere but in the most charming, newly refurbished guest house. Tomorrow brings us more adventures on the glacier. We will report back whenever we have access to the web.  All well!

All change here in Iceland with their ever changing weather! The rain and wind moved in during the night and the advisory service has proclaimed it unsafe for travel. Luckily, our hostess has been more than accommodating even making a special lamb soup/stew for our lunch. This special Icelandic dish, normally saved for a Christmas treat, is made from lamb from their farm. The children adored it! We are all safe and warm and the time has proved a useful time for photo editing and instruction. We were hoping to move on tonight if the winds die down but we may be forced to spend a second night. As the children feel this is the coolest place we have found we have had no complaints!

 Despite the weather, our brave explorers carried on! We crossed a blck spit of land on the back of a tractor to reach an isolated nature reserve at the top of a cliff. Many rare SKUA took against us and lots of giggling could be heard as they dive bombed us. The naturalist showed us their nests and we even saw a baby! The weather cleared enough for us to admire the spectacular view and even see a few puffins! We ventured off to the glacier lagoon where the high winds had stock piled the glaciers and we are able to touch a taste a piece of ice estimated to be over 1000 years old as one of the floating glaciers had flipped during the storm. Today we're off to hike across the glacier at Skatafell National park before we head back across the south coast. All children are happy, heathy and brave!

 

We saved the best for last! The glacier hike was, for many, the high point of the trip! Equipped with crampons and ice axes (very exciting), our little group set off across the Vatnajokull Glacier (Europe's largest!). Our guide was able to give us a lot of information about glaciers, we crossed some lovely blue crevasses and learned all about the rare 'mouse'...a special type of glacier moss. Afterwards we headed acroos the plain to our next guesthouse which, in fact was converted schoolhouse complete with gym, stage and dress up box. The children set to work producing a series of short plays based on our Icelandic experiences! The West End couldn't have done better!

By popular demand, we were able to fit in another hour at the Blue Lagoon before our flight home.

It was the most spectacular adventure. The children were the best team imaginable...flexible, polite, funny, thoughtful and engaged. Throughout our journey, everyone around us remarked on their exemplary behaviour, good manners and enthusiasm. Well done l'equipe!

 

Parents! We will be holding a parents' and children's Iceland evening on Sunday, September 19 5:30-7pm in the Library.

30/06/2010