Iceland Getaway (Day 2)

The second day was arguably the toughest and "longest" day for us. Leaving Reykjavik, we had to drive along Iceland's western coastline, going past Helgafell before turning east towards Skagafjordur for water-rafting and horse-riding activities. We estimated a travelling time of six hours to hit Varmahlid for our day of fun and three hours thereafter to travel to Husavik.


Iceland is a extremely pricey place, told to us by travellers and locals. Barely two hours into the journey, we couldn't resist the KFC sign-posts for a stop. A 12-piece meal we shall shared. That coupled with three packets of chips, two more sides and a bottle of Pepsi amounted to IKR 2784 or S$65!!! We were hungry and prepared to pay but the shock didn't go down too well. Must be some premium chicken I guess.


Due to the long distance, we had agreed on three drivers for this trip - Patrick, Lynn and myself. I drove a bit in Reykjavik but reckoned that I am more suitable to navigate, hence leaving Patty "Initial-D" Wong and Lynn to hold the fort. I have to accompany the driver in "staying awake" as the journey entails high cliffs and rocky gravel roads. Lynn took over the middle section of the track which was probably most exciting as Kan-Cheong Spider Ong had to remind her frequently to steady the car and once having to take over the steering from the passenger seat (and yes, we drove a Landrover Defender aka SAF army jeep which trembles at 110kmh. Squeezing six persons and four suitcases and managing another four gals' moods ain't easy).

We did arrive in Varmahlid on time, but not before getting back sores. We started with water-rafting down the East Austari River. The session was about an hour, not very exciting for experienced rafters but since we had two newbies, I thought it might be safer to choose a less stressful route. The water was extremely cold (about 1deg) and rafting through a glacial valley was new for all of us. We also had fun jumping off the cliff into the rushing river. Xueyan even had to be rescued (who on earth swim breast-stroke in a gushing river?). We top off the experience by relaxing in a natural hot spring.



We then moved on to horse-riding. What meant to be one-hour session turned out to be two-hours ride on the open fields and trotting across shallow rivers. The two instructors were very nice and we have a laugh with Xueyan repeatedly coaxing her horse to move. Mine even had time for a poo-and-wee session during the ride!