Making Memories and Traditions- One off The Bucket List.......The Land of Fire and Ice

  A number of years ago I saw the thought provoking, but fun film called "The Bucket List" ....any of you seen it?  
It's about a Billionaire (Jack Nicholson) and car mechanic (Morgan Freeman) who are complete strangers, until they both end up in the same hospital room suffering terminal cancers. Both men have a desire to complete a list of things they want to see and do before they "kick the bucket" (die) and against their doctor's advice, they leave the hospital and set out on an adventure to tick off some of their bucket list items. It got me thinking about what I would like to do in my life before I kick it too!


Iceland is a country that has been on Daughter number two's "bucket list" for quite some time....it hadn't quite made it on to mine... until a friend  of mine went there a few months ago and came back to tell me all about it. A few weeks ago during half term we decided to get out the boots, thermals and rain gear (again) and spend some respite time on a "family bucket list adventure", exploring a small portion of its beauty.... !
Over the last few years the land of "fire and ice" has fast become "The new travel destination", with ever increasing visitors embarking upon its shores to delve in to its nooks and crannies and traverse its landscapes... hosting over 1 million visitors in just the last year alone. It is a country that is hugely varied in terrain; full of waterfalls, gushing geysers, glaciers, volcanoes, lakes, mountains and pasture land.... and all home to just 323,000 Icelanders! 
 

At times during our trip,I could imaging myself being on the prairies of Wyoming and then feeling like I had stepped off the earth entirely as we ventured through miles and miles of black volcanic lava fields.  

Other times you could have been traveling in the south island of New Zealand and moments later would be reminded of the many Cumbrian Lake-land scenes I have grown to know and love.    
As we traveled around during the week, one thing that I just loved doing was stopping to take photographs of the vastly changing scenery and soak up the sights (and get soaked half the time too!) At every possible opportunity my phone would be out and you would find me taking a "memory shot"  for us all to look back on in years to come.
Not only did we tick off Iceland on mine and daughter number two's bucket list but we managed to pack in a few more items along the journey. Here are a few of my favourite photos showing some of the great experiences and sights that you can encounter there....

 .... You can tour the streets of Reykjavik and ascended the tower of Hallgrimskirkja 

                   

...and view the panorama of multi-coloured corrugated iron clad houses extending out for miles in every direction

View towards the Harbour and out to sea.

You can meander up and down its streets and shops and admired its novel architecture ....

...and learn fun stories about trolls and elves.

You can swam in Thermal pools surrounded by black volcanic rock

Blue Lagoon

 ...and drive for miles and miles past remote buildings surrounded by prairie grass

taken on our south island tour...This looks like a water colour painting  but was actually a photograph taken from the window of the minibus (I might have a go at trying to reproduce it in water colours)

 You can climb up to the top of waterfalls

 ...and trekk to the base of glaciers

 

 You can explore black volcanic beaches in the rain

  

 ...climb on basalt columns 

 ...and reach "pebble heaven"...(spoiled for choice looking for future "ponderizing pebbles"!)

 You can walk under raging waterfalls... (and take pictures of newlyweds!!)

  

  ...and travel in style in a super jeep... (or hop on any of the the multitude of tour buses)

  You can see the best ever view from a toilet! (great bucket list item!!)

on our golden circle tour at Thingvellir

You can view the mid Atlantic rift

 ...and walk between the American and Eurasian continents

  

You can see natures forces at their best with the splendour of the gushing geothermal Geysers 

  ....see the three step staircase of the glacial golden falls (Gullfoss)

 ...and watch the sun set as you swim in a secret lagoon fed by hot springs

You can stumble upon remote lakes

  taken on our car hire day... traveling around the southern peninsula

...and see surreal coastal scenes on the most south western part of Iceland.

Reykjanes Lighthouse

With such contrasting scenery ...From volcanoes to glaciers, black rock seascapes to grassy rural communities.......Iceland is aptly named as the land of fire and ice ....

 
We never did managed to catch a glimpse of the northern lights on our trip though, so I guess we have a good excuse for a return visit at some stage in the future...

I wish I could post all the pictures that I took, but I've probably posted far too many already. I only wish that I could capture the pictures exactly as I see them...There are some truly amazing sights to behold in this incredible world  and I would  really love to do a Photography course at some point in the future so that I can capture them better... I guess that's  another item to put on my bucket list! 
I do Hope though, that the pictures will inspire you to venture out somewhere new and as Christmas and New year approach (a time that everyone thinks of new year goals)... perhaps you could start to think about creating your "life long bucket list" and  maybe even put Iceland on yours! .....

If you have some fun ideas of things that you would like to put on your list and want to share them, please come visit Henibean's facebook page....I'd love to  find out what it contains and maybe I could add some of your great ideas to my own.

Go out and fulfill one of your bucket list item today
Jx

Not sure what to put on your Bucket list?.... There is a great resource at http://blog.bucketlist.org/  or you can click here