After a comfy night and a yummy breakfast buffet (including pate) we headed on our longest day driving in Iceland so far. Before leaving we snapped some images from the carpark of the place to show the fabulous scenery again, plus a short walk down to see the horses with Bronnie this time. Unfortunately, the dreaded partner share of viruses has struck and Bronnie has caught it. For me, still the cough but thankfully, the first day in several that there isn't razors in my throat. Now it just feels like I'm trying to remove a wet scab from the back of my throat every time I swallow and the tickly cough is proving persistent. Have found that a dose of claratyne is helping a lot keeping the tickly part of the cough at bay.

The drive northwards was again incredibly scenic. Black sands often on our right, and one spot where we stopped at a cool sea stack pillar beach too (black) but mostly just driving along the number 1 as it hugged the contours of the coastline. Understandable given that the mountains to our left are about 300m high and clearly impassable really due to snow/ice everywhere. The mountains are quite different. The tops are exposed but from about 2/3 way up they have an apron of scree/small stones that have eroded off since the volcanic eruption that produced them in the first place. At times, the road is literally cut into the side of these and at one point we passed through a mountain in a tunnel that was about 2km long. It puts the "danger rock falls possible" signs in Australia to shame. Sobering to observe large boulders/rocks that have clearly fallen relatively recently on both sides of the road.

Whilst having a good old chat with Penelope en route, we also passed by some commercial fish farms in one of the fjords as the road moved away from the coast. There is quite a bit of uncertainty/animosity about fish farming here in Iceland...a contrast to the patriotic pride that the Norwegian's have in their industry. Strange.

We made our way into the town of Egilstaddir which is a mecca for hiking/nature in the summer. To our surprise, there were some trees around here!!!! We were a bit early to check in so we visited a lovely shop with crafts and stuff. There was a story there about what can happen with corrupt people. A story of a woman and her bother who were sentenced to death for incest (we learned about that last week), with the woman by drowning and the man by hanging at Thingvellir. The woman claimed that indeed two of her children were not from her younger brother as charged but from the town major who had charged her with the offence. She was pardoned but because she would not renounce her brother, she remained imprisoned and died. Her brother somehow managed to leave Iceland and later died in Denmark. Hmm.

Anyway, we checked into our cabin in mid afternoon and took a chance to have a rest and relax, to try and get on top of viruses etc. Great spot.

Middle of the night we were fortunate to see our first aurora proper in Iceland. It is a very cool phenomenon to see the swirling lights evolving in front of your eyes and they certainly make for striking photographs. Not really an unbroken night of sleep but still a very comfy place that we'd picked to stay.

Tomorrow, back to hydrothermal and a drive through the mountains.