Both of us slept well last night after our long day, but then both of us fell foul of waking and getting up a little earlier than planned. I had forgotten about the hour difference so after laying in bed for quite a while and then getting up at what I thought was 7am, it was actually 6am!
We had a relaxing few hours, had breakfast, read some information about Iceland and then packed up a rucksack and headed out down to the edge of the bay and then to the old harbour area in Reykjavik. Our plan was to spend a couple of hours out and about, but in the end we were out for around 7hrs; there was just so much to see around the harbour and as the sun had come out in the afternoon it was great for taking plenty of photos.
We had a lovely hot drink in the relaxing Cafe Haiti late morning, then for a late lunch a burger and fries from Mullan which was very busy and packed with locals. A decent burger and fries each washed down with a can of coke; meal priced at £19 which is typical of Iceland.
On our walk back to the apartment we came across a shop that Donna had bookmarked before we came away, Metal Design Jewellery. The lady in the shop who made the jewellery was very friendly and very helpful, so much so that Donna spent about £125 on three gorgeous silver rings. She's been hanging on to her birthday cash since March; and it was now time to spend it. Now back to the apartment for a couple of hours, then off to the south-west of the island Northern Light hunting....so all fingers are crossed.
At 7:30pm we jumped into the car, all packed up with warm clothes, drinks, sandwiches and of course camera and tripod, and we headed about 35 miles south towards the coast and a small town called Porlakshofn. Once outside of Rejkjavik the road lighting was no more, and we headed off into the darkness, only lit by oncoming traffic. The driving was challenging to say the least, you have to focus so much on the road in the dark that you forget to check your mirrors, or to turn off your full-beam; however other drivers do remind you of course when you have them in your sights.
It was around 8:30pm when we arrived at the town, but we couldn't really find a good place to park and of course there was the glow from the street lights, so after about 20 minutes driving around we headed back to the edge of the town where we parked next to the road with the open country in front of us and the town behind us.
After a little time another car pulled up next to us, but after waiting for about half an hour they gave up. But, they had been too impatient as about 10 minutes after they left we started to see some green in the clear sky. We'd headed down to this area as the forecast was for clearer skies down here, and they were correct, it was crystal clear with a canvass of stars. The actual aurora forecast was down at around 2.5 on the scale of 1-9 so nothing spectacular was expected, however the lights came to life and we were treated to a display of shimmering green across the sky.
I had set my camera based on some research on the internet, however I couldn't get the camera to take photos with those settings, so reverted to popping it into fully auto mode and photos were captured. It was an amazing sight, Donna had tears in her eyes as the lights are something she has always said that she wanted to see some day; and here they were. We watched them fade in and out for around 90 minutes, dancing around the heavens, we hardly even noticed the cold we were that excited. Our crossed fingers had paid off.
At around 10:15pm we set off back along the dark roads towards Reykjavik, arriving back at the apartment just before 11:30pm. It's a long time since I was out driving at that time, but it was so worth it. An absolutely great day in great company.
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