Hotel Budir Stykkishólmur

... self-guided hop-on/hop-off tour of lava fields and beaches. We even attempted to drive up to the glacier, but once again encountered impassable roads. Tonight we're back in Reykjavik, and tomorrow we bid Peter adieu and embark on day one of the Iceland Airwaves music festival. Can this trip possibly get any better?

Turns out Isafjörður is a gorgeous little town, even if we were the only tourists crazy enough to venture up there during the off-season. We wandered around a bit in the morning before hopping back in the Hyundai and heading south. It was a winding drive around the reaching fingers of the west fjord, and we were ...

... unsuspecting sheep graze and, yes, they, too, are attacked by the angry terns, it's not surprising that I was pecked at least three times (********* the head. They could take a lesson from the puffins who nest on the cliffs - much more protected!

That aside, Flatey was one of my favorite places in Iceland. There ...

In no special order...

Learn how to fish. Just some simple lake fishing. Maybe for dinner here and there.

Work on a mobile programs. And learn more about mobile programming, that is the applications you use on your mobile phone. Message me with any ideas on how to start. (I allready did alot windows and windows CE programming, but that was many years ago.)

Go to rock concert/festival..
Grundarfjörþur, Iceland iceslave

... kinds of birds
* Lupin introduced by N America to prevent erosion
* Seals, folklore say they are part human
* Flat topped mountains - 'môbergs"
* Icelanders of the south eat Puffins and the babies are called Pufflings

A point to add to this list is that the entire country closes on a religious holiday in May - but no one knows what the day is about.

We were tired today. The road looks short on the ...

... still fantastically sunny and the campground was large and pleasant with lots of family and kids there for the weekend. Stykkish (like all towns on the peninsula) is a fishing port, and the harbour was really picturesque. The fjord in which it is situated has hundreds of small but steep and rugged islands in it which were visible from the town which really made the view from the bluffs quite beautiful. There was also an unusual lighthouse which you could walk to ...

... bit. The guide told us not to walk away very far and of course we didn't - you could barely see! On the way back down we went off the main track and drove around the mountain very fast - 85 km per hour - and it was scary but fun. I had to wrap my scarf around Patrick's face to help him since he was driving and every few minutes I had to scrub the ice off my goggles with my gloves. We got in the car and drove back down the mountain, stopping at a Songhellir ...

... country. Great to get out of town and very quickly we see the mountain off on the horizon looking mirage-like...as though it's floating on the horizon - check out the ghost like mountain in the photos. I'm feeling the vortex already. Rare and perfect day to go out there. Three hours and many landforms later we arrive at the town of Arnastapi which has a permanent pop of 15. We try to track down a glacier tour...they have ...

... and (rare for me) we spoke only Icelandic! I was picked up next by Stefan and his brother-in-law, both of whom are getting married within ten days. All I knew about Ýtri-Tonga when I arrived was the one sentence I´d read about it in a travel brochure: "Sea-life is abundant behind the farm at Ýtri-Tunga." And yet I hitchhiked two hours to get there to snorkel in 45 degree waters!? I guess Haukur´s not as crazy as me after all. But it became apparent as I neared the ...