Keriđ Crater - Tuesday 31st August

After driving for about 45 minutes, we arrived at the site of the Keriđ Crater. The view from the top was pretty funky! It was filled with water at the bottom which we just wanted to jump into, it looked so blue, clear and inviting. We took a slippery and steep walk down to the base of the crater where Mr Pittam told us a few fandabbydosey facts about the fantastic crater, it was jolly good. We paused for a quick picture and just as we took it, it started to pour down with rain, so we made a quick exit, up the very steep path back to the comforting warmth of the coach. The Keriđ Crater was 55 metres from the summit to the bottom. It had last erupted 6500 years ago and the rain water had collected over years to form the lake, the depth of which varies between 7 and 14 metres due to the pressure changing in the underground volcanic system.

Ellie, Evie and Chloe (Year 9)

Geysir - Tuesday 31st August

One of the most exciting and explosive highlights of the day was the hot springs park. This is the only place in Europe where you can see geysers. In fact, it is home of the first geyser to be observed by scientists in Europe. They called it ‘Geysir’, hence their name geysers! Both Geysir and Litli Geysir are now inactive, however Strokkur erupts every 3-5 minutes, shooting water about 30m into the air. It is absolutely fantastic and a great photo opportunity if you can catch it, but it will make you jump if you’re not expecting it! In the same area you can also see other evidence of geothermal activity such as mini vents for boiling water, steaming fumeroles and hot springs such as Biesl which is vivid blue in colour. It was an all round crowd pleaser!

Amy and Rach (Year 10)

Gulfoss - Tuesday 31st August

Our second stop of our jam packed day was to Gulfoss (which means the golden falls) – the waterfall with the largest volume of water in Iceland. After overlooking the waterfall we walked closer and closer to reach the waterfall itself. The sound of the crashing of water into the depths below growing louder all the time! We were then surprised at the spectacular view we were about to witness and then the amazement sinks in! After having the opportunity to take a few memorable snap shots of this once in a life time experience, we were then told by Mr Pittam that in the winter this magnificent tourist attraction is capable of completely freezing over. We can certainly say that this is the most phenomenal, natural sight we have experienced so far!

Sarah (Year 9) and Nicole (Year 10)

Thingvellir - Tuesday 31st August

First stop of the day and off to an interesting start! We visited Thingvellir (A national park and world heritage site). It showed the cultural spirit of Iceland.

We learnt that Iceland did not have a written language to start with in 800 AD and parliament met every year to try to get order in the country. They had one law speaker who had to remember all the laws every year- imagine how hard this would be! This worked because Iceland’s population grew and settlements grew.

We found out that women were thrown in the lakes to find out if they were witches or not! Supposedly if they sank they weren’t witches and if they floated they were witches and they were murdered. Not much chance of survival!

As well as learning about the history and culture we explored the fascinating landscape! We all climbed down a gap in the rocks which is caused by the two plates drifting apart. One side is the North America plate and the other Eurasian. Each year the plates move 2cm apart so in a million years this will be equivalent to 25km. This gap had a great photo opportunity as you will see in the picture above.

Becky and Amelia (Year 10)

The Blue Lagoon - Monday 30th August

From the Airport we went straight to The Blue Lagoon. When we first arrived there we had something to eat and drink, ham and cheese toasties - nice!

After that we were given some infomation on The Blue Lagoon's history and took and our first group photo from the balcony. We learnt that they use 2/3's sea water extracted from deep beneath the lava to heat their homes. The steam from this water is used to create electricity and the outflow from this process created the blue lagoon - a hot milky-coloured liquid full of salt and minerals where we couldn't see our hands a few centimetres beneath the surface.

We then went and got changed (which was quite awkward due to many Icelandic men walking around in the nude! - We went for the towel method!).

We then got into the water which was around 40 degrees celcius in the warmest parts. There were crates where silicone mud was kept which was very good for your skin and lots of people had it on as a face mask. We decided to explore the pool and found a sauna which smelt eggy (due to the sulphur). It was incredibly humid! We also went under a waterfall that felt like a massage!

All in all it was a amazing and unique experience and a great way to start our adventure!

Ben H, Dan and Joe (Year 9)

The Journey - Monday 30th August

Sorry about the delay on this posting - internet access at Gatwick proved to be troublesome.

We had a smooth and quick coach journey arriving with time to spare before the check in desk opened. Fully stocked up with food we easily circumnavigated passport control with only two of us being stopped for a more thorough search!

The flight was on time and although the cloud meant views of Iceland were limited, what we did see was a nice indication of the landscape that we encountered later on today.

After Toby's mishap with his passport (eventually found in the cover of his book rather than back on the plane - although we thanked the pilot for going back and looking with us!), our bags were all waiting for us as was the coach.

From there it was on to the Blue Lagoon!

CP

Whale watching

Our whale watching trip on Tuesday promises to be very exciting. Elding have an excellent website with a diary of each trip they run.
http://elding.is/tolbar/whale_watching/
They have an excellent record of seeing whales with the diary logging numerous sightings this week. However, it is an unpredictable business with several trips this week being whaleless - despite the previous and following trips being successful.
You can see from their blog what we saw - hopefully we shall be lucky and the forecast weather fronts passing through on Tuesday do not make the visibility poor and the trip too choppy!