For our last day in Iceland we went to the Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa. It stinks of sulphur as you come in but you get used to it after a bit. I wasn’t expecting to like it that much as it’s more Rachael’s thing, but was pretty fun. They had a steam bath which was intense as you walk in as it’s dark and the steam is so thick you can hardly breathe.
Monday we had much nicer weather, and it was the day Rachael was most looking forward to. I showed her this Smarter Everyday Video when we were planning our trip and since then snorkeling at Silfra was what she was most looking forward to.
It’s actually part of the Þingvellir fields, so we got the bus back again. The drive and views were so much better with the sun out. We then put on our drysuits, which were pretty much like putting on a wetsuit.
We flew in to Iceland in the afternoon and the area just looked bleak, with no trees in sight. When we originally booked, we thought the airport was in Reykjavík itself (there is a domestic one), but Keflavik International Airport is actually about an hour bus trip from the city. The bus trip was pretty unreal, it was just a dead straight well-maintained highway with no trees and barely any other cars.
We went to Richmond Park in the morning, and the girls had breakfast at a cafe which was packed with cyclists. The park was huge, and it was great weather so we went for a walk. We’d heard there was deer but it’s a huge park and we couldn’t see any. So we went for a drive to look at the lake in the middle and the deer just happened to be there.
Lauren has a car so we thought we would take advantage of it and do a day trip somewhere she hadn’t been yet, so headed to see the White Cliffs of Dover and Dover Castle. I was surprised how quickly we got to more rural areas, as I was expecting heaps of urban sprawl like Brisbane, but London is actually pretty contained.
We decided to ignore the National Trust tourist part and headed further up towards the St Margaret’s Bay end where we hoped there would be less people.
After some sleep, we headed back out to explore some more of London. The beautiful weather from the previous day had ended and we got some of the London weather we were expecting in the form of cold miserable light rain.
First up we went to see Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We were planning to go inside but the tickets were about $50 AUD each, so we thought we’d find something a bit cheaper to do.
Our first stop in our Europe trip was to London to visit Rachael’s sister Lauren. So after a Uber to the bus station, a bus to Brisbane, a long flight to Bangkok, a long boring layover and then an even longer flight to London, we arrived at Heathrow.
Lauren met us at arrivals and then we got our first tube ride to Hammersmith and then a bus to her place. Her place was pretty cool and very stereotypical of what you would expect in London, with a very steep staircase and a cupboard under the stairs.
The wedding itself was beautiful, with the ceremony on the beach front next to the hotel restaurant. There was big menacing storm clouds in the background but the rain held off until the ceremony was finished. We got one group photo before it started pouring rain and had to retreat to the restaurant.
The reception was without a doubt the most fun reception that we’ve been to. The food was great and there was a live band that sounded incredible so everyone was up dancing.
Mik and Michelle’s wedding was at Kommune Resort in Keramas. But the rooms were all booked by the time we had leave approved, so we ended up staying at the surf camp next door which was a great little spot.
The free breakfast came with a great view.
The beach itself was pretty awesome, although it had shallow reef so no swimming. I went for one surf at high tide and didn’t die so pretty happy with that.
We had a free day in Keramas, so thought we would head back to Ubud to see some of the places we didn’t have time for. The videographer for the wedding, James, was staying next door and suggested Tegenungan Waterfall and came along for a drive. There was barely anyone there when we got there. You are allowed to swim and so we jumped in and stood under the falls. The power of the water coming down was incredible, and literally took your breath away when you were standing directly underneath the torrent of water.
