Gleðileg Jól II

Well, it´s goodbye Iceland for while at least. I´m off on Sunday to share xmas in England with family and friends this year. It´s been 2 years - NZ in ´05 and then here in Iceland last year - so I´m hoping I remember our family traditions and don´t slip up too much!

As expected, there have been so many places I never shared with people via this website, such as my winter dash over to Egilsstaðir (E Iceland) for NYE last year, arriving on 31st as the fireworks starting booming and police ushered my little car into a safe parking spot on the street. NYE in Iceland is dark, but beautiful. Also meant to post some pics of my 4 day hike into the Lanmannalagur hotspring area this summer. It rained solid for 2 days but was worth every soggy glacial-gravel sinking footfall. :) Ach well! Hope that the pics and updates were enough - in this digital age we go bonkers with photos anyway.

For the time of year, I´ve enjoyed so much sunshine here on the farm. We have such endless horizons that you see sun up and sun set. I´ve taken so many photos of the big skies around here. Here´s a dawn and dusk at Eystra Fröðholt for you!

So....

So long Iceland, and Gleðileg Jól to all.

Englishness

Well, you know it´s time to pack your bags when you run out of the good stuff.... Marmite, Food Of The Gods and imported with me to various countries wherever I go (and whatever they may say - Vegemite is NOT the same!). I have converted the most disbelieving folk to Marmite in some strange places. I guess at an arctic field base then the sheer NOVELTY of it was enough.

Anyhow, this jar I brought with me to Iceland is almost empty. I leave 16 Dec for new supplies....

Another Hekla

Hekla views: from the farm. It´s about 50km away (as the raven flies).

Hekla

On 7 October I was up enjoying the summit of Hekla (ca.1500m) - one of the local volcanoes to the farm, and an active one (last erupted in 2000). Its a classic cone-shaped peak, with permanent ice along the crest of the summit ridge. I had already been hiking alone on the hill for the day, yet turned back because it was so snowy and the lava fields are never a good thing to cross under such conditions.... anyhow, at 4pm I was on my way back to the car (parked on an interesting intersection of the F225 Landamannalaugur road.... don´t try this at home with a Renault Clio kids!) when I met a few others just about to hike up. So, at this late stage of the day we all tramped up to the summit together - we made it for sunset and it was a stunner.

And what better way to end the day: camping at a hot pot - ahhh....
(this is me having breakfast in bath, the following morning!)

The roads to Hekla - good for my Clio and bad....

This all happened a few weeks back - the sun set at 8pm then. These days the sun is rising about 10am and setting by about 5.30pm.... hello winter!

Southern farm life

Well, I moved on from Stykkishólmur in September to work on a farm in S Iceland. Introducing Eystra Fróðholt, a small mixed farm nr Hvöllsvellir. Cows, horses, sheep, two kids:all good fun. The plan is to try to improve my Icelandic language skills, as Dad here doesn´t speak English at all and Mum works away in town in the day.... well, can´t say that I´m much improved but hey! I can discuss cows a bit now...

It is pancake-flat around here - 30k to the mountains. But oh! what mountains! I can see all the way up into the Þorsmork region (famous for hiking and trees! :))

So, my routine here is milking the 23 cows, helping out on the farm with the sheep when is needed, riding several of the 300-odd horses here (by this, i mean a few a day, when the weather is not horizontal rain and wind).

It´s a change from science, but I am still completing a Waders of West Iceland paper when I get spare time, which is a nice contrast to the farm work.

Here´s some pics, anyway.... (oh! and we had some snow - great to have it back)

Autumn arrival

Swan wrestling

Well, I joined a very able team from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (U.K.) to get wet and dirty catching whooper swans the other week. They are big critters, with potential to really knock you flying with their big wings and impossibly long necks... and yet once you get them in their - temporary - strait jackets they are quiet as mice.


So, here we are, with a boatload of swans after they have just been captured off the water, swans in their restraining jackets, swans being measured, swans stretching their necks, and swans being released (the best bit).

The team capture groups of birds during their flightless phase (during their moult) to put ID bands on them, and record body measurements. A few birds have been fitted with satellite transmitters so that their migration movements can be tracked. Many of these birds have now already left Iceland, and are heading south, many to UK refuges such as WWT centres (see http://www.wwt.org.uk/article/3/514/super_whooper_swans_to_be_tracked_in_new_study.html)

It was a lot of fun, and I´d do it again at a shot - wonderful birds.

We got to stay at a really amazing place in the highlands - the turf cottage where 'Independent People' was set, a novel written in 1946 about Icelandic rural life by award-winning Nobel Prize writer Halldor Laxness. It´s a living museum, with Icelandic puppies ´n´ all! (see the photo of me standing outside and juggling a kitten and a young pup at the same time - all a bit fluffybunny for me but they certainly were quite amusing wee beasties!).

Embla the horse-dog

introducing Embla the dog, not to be confused with my old buddy Embla the horse (although they are of similar size...)

(photos by Niki Durr and Thabjie)

road trips

I have just got back from holidays... firstly the wedding of a very dear friend followed closely by a reunion with another and London capers such as friends (thanks for the place to stay Yvonne!), museums, beer festivals and hot sticky weather ... then a flying (literally) visit to the beautiful Westmann Isles of Iceland... then a trip to the Icelandic highlands to wrestle with whooper swans... then a visit to Eastern Iceland to see friends and share musical moments at a live concert in a park by Eivor (a fine Faroese songstress)... then a lazy few days exploring a few glaciated mountains along the South Coast culminating in a 4-day trek through the mountains to a fabulous hotspring oasis... then I slept/didn´t sleep on a very decidedly autumnal rainy night in my Renault Clio (at this point there was a pause to the holiday-like mode, and instead it just felt darn uncomfortable)... My Holidays were polished off by a visit to friends in Grundarfjörður (the town-next-door) and immense hospitality at the Krakkan ('Raven') bar i.e. ridiculous quantities of whisky and fresh soup late at night (sounds a funny combo but it was great!)... then a meandering stroll along a deserted beach the morning after (well, deserted save my friends dear GIANT new member of the household: Embla the crazy German Shepherd puppy who is already as big as a HORSE...) and then... most finally and deliciously... Icelandic lamb supper at a friends and some more wine.

Now I´m back at work - how on earth could I have let that happen?

And I feel like I need a holiday.

Happiness is....