2/6/24
Sun: *Felt giddy now and then, not sure if it has got to do with jetlag
though?* Went to the basement of the hotel for our breakfast at 8.15am. *“Harry
Potter” feel~* Had cereal milk and saw smoked cod roe in toothpaste bottle
haha.
Cloudy
weather it seemed as we drove to Hestasport for our Icelandic horse-riding
tour. Arrived at 9.40am and watched a movie on a man and his Icelandic horse
but didn’t finish it because our 1.5-hour tour starts at 10am. We were told to
drive a bit further up to the stables area.Met
our instructor and guide who taught us how to hop onto the Icelandic horses,
which were shorter in height and they look so cute! My partner is called “Star”…
well her name’s too hard to pronounce in Icelandic so I forgot actually haha.
She’s a 12 or 14-year-old mare, one of the younger ones there. *Her mane and
tails’ long though!*
Potato
was on “Dark Biot”, a 20-year-old “grandma” in the lot haha. There was another couple
from Australia with us. Together with our pretty and young female guide, we set
off onto the pretty vast plains! *gave them time to graze the grass too~*
Icelandic
horses are known for their mild temperament, so I was not too worried about them,
though Star’s were manes so long I was afraid I’d be tugging at it as I hold
the reins, so I had to re-adjust my hands now and then.The
weather was windy generally, but there were occasional (thrice I think)
hailstorms that lasted for short moments and which were still irritating as
they hit the face lol. We waddled through some streams and they drank some water
as they crossed. *There was a point when Star ducked down to eat as I turned
behind to snap Potato! Luckily, my left hand was on the reins.*
The
instructor helped take multiple shots of us at the waterfall area. Look at Star’s
crazy hair in the wind lol~Drove off towards Arskogssandur for our North Sailing whale-watching tour at 2pm. It was about an hour and 15 minutes’ drive. While on the way, we passed through mountains and saw a lot of snow around… didn’t looked at all a typical summer scene haha. So, we actually brought forward the whale-watching tour because according to locals we had been speaking to, they were saying a rare snowstorm in June was approaching the North area and it would hit by evening time on Monday. On hindsight, it was a good thing I’d changed our two-hour whale-watching tour to Arskogssandur instead of Husavik, which was scheduled on Wednesday afternoon initially.
While
we were exploring Arskogssandur, we saw a man walking his dog and only realised
he was a staff at Team North Sailing later. *The locals were very well-informed
of the snowstorm and were so sure it’d happen according to information online, though
I was praying so hard it’d bypass us somehow.* All suited up and we walked to
our boat with 10+ other visitors, but it still was quite cold at times.
There
were about 20 of us on board with three crews. It was “Fisherman’s Day” in
Iceland today, so technically the captain had to work “OT” because of us haha. We
were looking for signs of the humpback whale. They dive down after a few
breaths and would take five to seven minutes to get up to surface again.
Soon,
we saw this “opening act” from one humpback whale and then saw some white-beaked
dolphins too. Anyway, this humpback whale was breaching over 15 times! The
guide was explaining how she’d never seen a whale done it so many times. It
could be because they were happy or want to clean themselves or… stomachache.
*Let’s hope it’s not the last one it’s feeling…* It flapped its fins to
wave to us and we waved back haha~ It was quite amazing to see these creatures
in nature and we enjoyed ourselves in the cold too! *They served us cinnamon
bread and hot milo on the boat too.*
Reached
Hotel KEA at 5pm and checked in to room 302 in a corner. *The receptionist advised us to leave earlier the next morning because of the incoming snowstorm,
which might affect traffic or block paths.*
Walked
Akureyri Botanical Garden at 5.45pm and saw a miniature house on top of a tree.
It’s said that it’s 3.6 hectares and had thousands of plant species.
After
half an hour, we walked down towards Leiruinesti, where we had our dinner. Their
grilled lamb sub was very nice and the chicken burger (4940 ISK, S$48.55) was
not bad too. *think we saw their local elections where a female president
was sworn in on TV too…*
It
was so cold and we had to find somewhere to stop by, and ended up eating
ice-cream (700 ISK, S$6.88) at Brynja at 7.30pm. The vanilla ice-cream with
strawberry tasted a lot like melted大白兔奶糖. As the rain got heavier and I was not feeling
great, Potato opted to walk back to get the car to come and fetch me back to
the hotel.
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