Gullfoss waterfall! A truly amazing sight to behold. On this day Iceland remained true to its fire and ice label, throwing us an incredible view with a side of painful wind and cold. At one point Sophie was blown over.
In the Gullfoss carpark.
This waterfall was very loud and powerful. In fact in the past there was a power company who wanted to harness the natural force of this waterfall but they failed (mainly due to Sigridur Tomasdottir, who you will see in statue form later). Iceland deserves credit for choosing nature over monetary gain. Respect for the surroundings always comes first in this country.
Just a tip if you are to bring a camera to take photos - be prepared for it to get wet! The wind was carrying so much water and mist from the waterfall you had to wipe your lens down every few seconds. It was tough shooting. Thankfully Lloyd's camera is still working after this experience *knock on wood*
You can see people walking along the path on the left of this picture to give you a gauge of size.
And here is a video of Gullfoss. And I know this is probably getting old but please watch in HD and even full screen to get the best experience.
Awkward self shot photo. Lloyd's face is numb from the wind chill here which is why he isn't smiling.
This is the path to walk down to get even closer to the waterfall. Problem today was the path was iced up and VERY slippery. We attempted to walk down but Sophie fell over instantly (fell over in a funny way, not seriously). With Lloyd's camera on him we decided not to risk it. Hopefully we didn't miss much. It was just getting a bit much anyway. You could only literally look at the waterfall for 3 seconds before you had to face the other way to protect your face from the cold winds. (Yes...we should have worn something more fitting to this climate. We learnt our lesson. Kind of.)
Another video!
Lloyd and Adam looking...frozen.
Brown ice on the rocks.
This statue was created in honour of Sigridur Tomasdottir. She used to walk visitors to the waterfall in the days when getting to the site was difficult and unknown to many. More importantly she ensured the waterfall was preserved for everyone in generations to come.
Driving out of Gullfoss we came across this funny site - a small soccer field with blown over goal posts. It was funny due to the extreme wind in this area and freezing chill. Maybe an iron soccer ball would have worked?
So we ventured back towards the west of Iceland and while driving through Thingvellir park we came across Hallvik lake. Definitely worth stopping for a few minutes to look around.
It was snowing here!
Lloyd happy with snow on his hands.
All of us together!
Adam throwing snow into the lake.
Snow fight video in HD!
Hallvik is a road not usually traveled. I think the reason is it is very narrow and slow. It wasn't dangerous at all. (We didn't have a 4WD for this trip) It is in fact a shortcut through Thingvellir and has little gems like this lake to stop at. Here is Hallvik on the map on road 361:
It's actually to the right of that red marker but Google maps isn't letting me choose it.
If you'd like to read more about Gullfoss Waterfall then visit the Wikipedia page. Gullfoss Waterfall can be found here:
Next stop - Thingvellir National Park and the amazing Oxararfoss Waterfall.
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