Reykjavik 2
Tuesday April 9, 2024
My second day trip was up to the Langjokull Glacier. A few hours north of Reyjavik, Langjokull is Iceland's second largest; the largest being Vatnajokull in the east. We stopped by Deildartunguhver, natural hot springs along the way, before continuing to Hraunfossar and Barnafoss Waterfalls, dramatic rapids and water flows caused by lava caverns. The water was exceptionally blue, and at this time of year, there was a little bit of ice on the paths around the area.
To ascend the glacier, we sat in a large converted missile carrier. These were decommissioned and exported to Iceland on the condition that they never leave the island and never used for war (that one's easy, said the tour guide, since they don't have an army). The pneumatic pipe system allows the driver to inflate and deflate the tyres depending on the type of snow on the road, and this is a uniquely Icelandic invention that is being used for research vehicles in Antarctica. The ascent took around an hour, and at the top, we shuffled into a metallic tube resembling a sewer.
The Langjokull ice cave is a man-made cavern drilled out eight years ago for tourism purposes. Due to the glacier movement, the tunnels are expected to disappear in five years' time, as crevasses and open and close as well. Various lights have been drilled into the ice to illuminate and highlight the blue colour of the glacier, as well as draw attention to the characteristic banding caused by the successive layering and compression of snow each year. The layer of ash caused by the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in 2010 was also clearly visible, and I thought that was pretty amazing.
We went out the way we came and descended in the converted missile carriers. The trip back to Reykjavik took around two hours, and since I had an early start the next day, I opted not to go on an aurora hunt that night. Instead, after grabbing some food for dinner, I walked around the park near the Perlan museum and spotted a few black and grey bunnies feeding in the fields!
My third and final day trip was to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. This would take us almost 11 hours, but we had so many stops along the way. After leaving Reykjavik around 9am, we drove for around 90 minutes to reach Gerðuberg Cliffs, large hexagonal columns in a row that reminded me very much of Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. From there, we continued west to Ytri Tunga, famous for its seal colony and whale backbone sitting on the beach, then to Búðakirkja, the black church, and then to Arnarstapi. We did a short hike along the coast to see hundreds of seagulls nesting in the cliffs, as well as some dramatic rock formations like a stone bridge, very similar to what I saw in Newfoundland, and a couple of holes in rocks.
Continuing west, we saw Lóndrangar, a rock formation that looked like a viking ship. The locals called it an elf cathedral and an elf library. Our next stop was Djúpalónssandur, the black pebble beach, where they had four strength stones that they used to use to determine suitability to become fishermen - the first stone weighed 23kg, the second 54kg, the third 100kg and the fourth 154kg. The lore goes that the stone you could lift to your chest would determine how much you would be paid - the heavier the stone, the greater the pay. Hafþór Björnsson, famous for being "The Mountain" on Game of Thrones, often comes here to do exhibitions; for me, I was pleased enough to lift the 54kg stone, given I'm not really in the business of lifting more than my own weight. We stopped by the red church quickly, Ingjaldshólskirkja, before heading to our final destination for the day, Kirkjufellsfossar Waterfall and Kirkjufell Mountain.
Along the way, we had a quick toilet break, but some idiots on the tour decided it would be a good opportunity to order food from the cafe. We ended up waiting half an hour for them to get their food, instead of stopping for only ten minutes. Sometimes I really can't understand how inconsiderate people can be, with no sense of how the rest of the group is affected by these selfish actions.
The view of Kirkjufell Mountain towering over the waterfall is so iconic that they use it for every promotional image for the peninsula. It’s not a surprise though, it really is a beautiful sight. When we were there, it was covered in white snow. In summer, it’s green. If you come at the right time of day, the sun will create a rainbow in the spray of the waterfall. We drove back to Reykjavik, a two hour drive, and I tried to grab some food from two restaurants but they were both too busy, so I ended up at a seafood grill on the outskirts of town. I had to rush for my final aurora tour of the week! This one started out quite mellow but soon that brilliant glow intensified. It was bitterly cold and very windy but we stuck it out for as long as we could. We had both green and purple that night, and again, a surprising show given the Kp index was only 3.00.
On my last day in Reykjavik, I wandered around the park where the Perlan building is and then popped into town. I ended up at the Phallological Museum again to use their wifi and their toilet, and then went for lunch at one of the places I had missed out on the previous night. It was an uneventful bus ride to Keflavik airport and a five hour flight back to Toronto.
The last three months have had decent highs but huge lows. It’s taken a toll on me emotionally. I felt I did the best I could with the logistical changes, and then I was lucky to have the support of my family while I was laid off. The drama with Prytania continues - maybe I’ll write about this separately - and litigation is also in the works. I’m looking forward to a week off to recover, and then I’m in the skies again to chase the Great American Solar Eclipse of April 2024.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:47am on Tuesday April 9, 2024 :: 0 comments :: 
Reykjavik 1
Saturday March 30, 2024
The flight from Akureyri was straightforward, and I managed to get a taxi from Reykjavik domestic airport to my new hostel. A drive of 10 mins (which could have been walked in 30 mins) cost me $30CAD. I spent the afternoon doing laundry and wandering around the downtown area, admiring all the cats of Reykjavik as well as the big church on the hill, Hallgrimskirkja, with its distinctive silhouette. I had some very average fish and chips before heading to the bus terminal for an aurora hunt. Though the weather was perfect, the northern lights evaded us that night, so we got to rebook the following night for free.
My first day tour covered the Golden Circle - a loop of south Iceland's most famous attractions. The first stop was Thingvellir National Park, where we had actually been the night before for the aurora tour. This beautiful area has the fissure where the European and the North American tectonic plates meet, evident in the large valley forming between two rock formations. There were a lot of people around, but I opted to walk off the main path where I could get a nice view of the area. We then stopped by Efstidalur, a dairy farm selling ice cream, where I got a scoop of blueberry skyr and a scoop of orange ice cream. There was an area where you could watch the calves feeding, which was super cute.
From there, we continued to Strokkur, a geyser reaching 20 metres tall that erupts every 10 or so minutes. It's so bizzare to see this giant bulge of water forming, then suddenly shooting an incredible jet into the sky. It's not like the small ones that we see in Rotorua, but the sulfurous smell was definitely evident in the area. The furthest landmark on our tour was Gullfoss Waterfall, fed by the waters from Langjokull Glacier, Iceland's second largest and home of the man-made ice cave that I would be visiting the next day. This was my favourite, though definitely not the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen. The cascading, multi-level falls coupled with the rich blue colour of the water made for incredibly picturesque photographs, though the wind made it difficult to stay outside for too long.
On our way home, we dropped by Friðheimar, a tomato farm that uses greenhouses to grow all its produce. The greenhouses in Iceland are powered by both geothermal energy for heat and electricity for full-spectrum light, and they grow a variety of vegetables and fruits, such as tomatoes, potatoes, salad greens, cucumbers and mushrooms. This particular greenhouse also kept its own bees to pollinate the tomatoes and flowers inside. The smell of pomodoro sauce filled the interior of the greenhouse, which housed a restaurant and bar as well, and despite the huge variety of strange tomato products - tomato beer, tomato cocktails, soups, breads, tomato espresso tonic - I only got to try their tomato ice cream, which tasted very fruity, almost like passionfruit. Our final stop was the Kerid volcanic crater, formed over 6000 years ago. The crater lake at the bottom had frozen over, giving an interesting aesthetic to the rocky, iceless basin.
Our aurora tour that night was much more successful. Even before the bus had arrived in the designated viewing area, the glowing white band of "cloud" was visible. Though it was cold, it wasn't windy so the conditions were perfect for view. There were two distinct bands of light stretching across the sky that shimmered and rolled to the awe of the hundreds of people that had gathered to watch. It was so bright and clear, and I got some amazing pictures of my phone, though I think I left the exposure on for too long. It was certainly a night to remember. The thing that surprised me the most was that the Kp index was at 1.00 that night, which really goes to show how unpredictable the aurora are.
Posted by Jeremy at 3:20pm on Saturday March 30, 2024 :: 0 comments ::
Akureyri
Tuesday March 26, 2024
It was a little bit of a logistical inconvenience to get here. Reykjavik domestic airport is an hour’s drive away from the international airport in Keflavik, and I basically arrived right on 30 minutes before departure to drop my luggage off for my connecting flight. On arriving in Akureyri in the north, the arrivals hall was empty of staff so I had to go outside, lugging my giant suitcase in the snow and wind, to go to the departure hall to find someone to call a taxi for me. I made it to the hostel though, and luckily check in was smooth.
On Saturday, I had a free day to do grocery shopping because I knew food here is super expensive and I wanted to pack my own lunch for the day trips I had booked. I also wandered around town, but it’s a very small city so that didn’t take long at all. I ended up chilling in the mall for a while because they had free wifi and it was warm and there were heaps of people around. My driver for the aurora tour that I had booked said the weather was not good at all, and postponed the excursion for Sunday.
On Sunday, I covered most of the major sights in North Iceland. Our tour group was me, two Brits and four Australians, who said my Kiwi accent had been a bit diluted from being in Canada. We started off by going through Hvalfjarðargöng Tunnel, which connects Akureyri with the eastern side of the eponymous mountain range, and the interior of the tunnel reaches temperatures of 16C because of the hot springs that the tunnel passes through. We stopped at Goðafoss, the waterfall of the gods, and Skútustaðagígar, false craters created by exploding lava and steam bubbles. That area overlooks Lake Mývatn, frozen over on the southern side, where they filmed Fast and the Furious 8. We continued to Lavator Dimmuborgir, columns of rock formed from lava, which the locals have many myths about, since the formations resemble trolls. It turns out Icelanders really love mentally scarring their kids. After visiting the geothermal activity at Hverir, we spent the next couple of hours at the Nature Baths. One of the Australians on the trip had prebooked a ticket for the spa but had injured his foot, so he let me have it for free, and in return I have to stop saying mean things about Australia. For a bit. The spa was really nice though, but not worth the $70 for an hour.
There had been an epic double sunspot solar flare - they call this a sympathetic solar flare - that had produced a strong CME that hit the earth around 2pm Icelandic time, which meant, ironically, that New Zealand was in prime position to view some magnificent auroral displays. It was so overcast in Akureyri that night, that we saw nothing on the drive, so I got booked in for the next night as well.
On Monday, our tour group was me, two Danish and two Germans, and though we covered most of the sights I did on Sunday, we also covered the main reason I had come to Akureyri - Dettifoss. The road to Dettifoss is closed during winter and the government doesn’t plough it because they want to discourage tourists from visiting during this time. Sure enough, the road was a metre deep in snow, and it is only thanks to the skill or outright insanity of our driver that our chunky jeep made it through, sliding and slipping along the way. The entire one hour journey felt like constant turbulence in an airplane. We still had to walk 20 minutes in knee deep snow to see the waterfall, but after all that work, it seemed like a rewarding experience. That ice and snow aesthetic is magnificent.
As we were driving back to Akureyri, gaps of blue in the cloud began to break through, giving me hope for a solid auroral display that night. Our group this time was a French marine biologist from Lyon called Alex, and two Singaporeans, one of whom was also called Jeremy. We started off in the south just after 9pm, and we managed to see a thin band of green activity hovering over the mountains. As twilight gave way to darkness and the moon started to rise over the clouds, we relocated to the north, near the tunnel. All of a sudden, I started to see some ghostly clouds, waving about in the sky, moving suspiciously quickly over the stars and fading in and out. We stopped by a lookout point and took out our cameras for some beautiful pictures showing that brilliant green so clearly visible on the long exposure pictures, yet so dull to the naked eye. Though I only had my iPhone 12, I managed to snap some fantastic shots that I’ll treasure forever. Finally, after all the bad luck I’d been having, it was nice to have this moment of beauty to appreciate on my last night in Akureyri.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:35am on Tuesday March 26, 2024 :: 0 comments ::
Iguazu
Friday November 17, 2023
After a very early flight with much turbulence and old people coughing, we arrived into the town of Puerto Iguazu on the Argentinian side of the Iguazu River. We met with our driver and he took us to the Iguazu National Park where Phoebe and I immediately signed up for the boat tour.
It took a while for everything to get started, but after a short journey on the road, we walked down a small path to the pier and boarded the boats. We took off at speed up the river; the water had turned a brown colour from the amount of mud that the river had taken on from recent heavy rainfalls. I remember that feeling of awe as the falls slowly came into view. It just kept getting bigger and bigger, the thunderous roar of ten million litres of water rushing over the several cascades, the massive amount of spray hitting us as we drove in and out of the two areas. The sheer force of the falls is truly something you have to experience up close. By the end, we were soaked; and this may have been due to the captain being a bit cheeky by purposely steering through some big waves.
The rest of the day was spent walking the upper and lower trails of the falls. Part of those sections were closed due to damage from the flooding a few weeks ago, which was a pity, and the Devil’s Throat was also inaccessible. The viewpoints along the trails were excellent, and everything was so well placed and built. We also saw many reptiles and coatis!
We had a nice slow start the next day to go to the Brazilian side. Immigration was simple and now I’m at 32 countries visited. We spent a few hours at Parque das Aves, a fantastic bird park by the Brazilian falls. I thought it was so well planned - there’s a single linear route that takes you through a plethora of enclosures and you can really get up and close with some of them. The colours of the parakeets and macaws were absolutely stunning, as was the scarlet ibis.
We walked over to the Brazilian falls park and had lunch, then took the bus to the hiking area. While less impressive than the Argentinian side, the Brazilian side makes up for it with its proximity to the other set of falls and some stunning angles of the Devil’s Throat, which was also unfortunately closed from the flood damage. However, there’s one section where you can practically bathe in the spray of the falls, so I did just that, and got soaked. It was a welcome shower on a humid day that hit 37C.
Our driver took us for a quick tour of downtown, and then we got some food from a supermarket before heading to the airport. We’ve got some rough night flights to Patagonia over the next few hours!
Posted by Jeremy at 2:51am on Friday November 17, 2023 :: 0 comments ::
Auckland and the Bay of Plenty
Sunday February 26, 2023
I can't believe it's been three months since I left Toronto. Working remotely makes it feel like the days go by so quickly, and there's been so many things to do and so many people to see that it really feels like I've maximised my time in New Zealand. Of course, there's been a few interruptions - namely some devastating floods and a severe cyclone tearing through the North Island - but on the whole, I kinda prefer that to -20C weather.
I left Wellington and returned to Auckland in time for Chinese New Year. Though my sister and stepmum weren't back, I was able to spend the day with dad, going for a short hike on the Upper Nihotupu Reservoir track in the Waitakere Ranges before checking out Arataki Visitor's Centre and The Olive Kitchen for lunch. No one was more excited to see me than Sam, my sister's cat, who was meowing loudly at 2am because he'd been starved of attention the previous fortnight.
The following weekend we celebrated dad and my nephew's birthdays with a quiet meal at my sister's place, though the torrential rain was already in full force that day. We drove through four rivers on the road to get to her house, we didn't realise how bad it was in other parts of Auckland. I've never seen it this bad before and it's really a wake up call that we should be taking more action against climate change. I continued to catch up with heaps of people over February - too many to list - but there was always good company and good food. I managed to squeeze in a bit of karaoke as well!
I did a road trip with my parents to the Bay of Plenty. That was really fortunate because we were originally planning to go to Napier, since I'd never been, but accommodation was super expensive that weekend due to Art Deco, and it's not really my scene, so we chose to go to Tauranga and Whakatane instead. The weekend before we were supposed to go was when Cyclone Gabriella hit the North Island, causing widespread flooding and damage to the Hawke's Bay. Thankfully the Bay of Plenty was spared heavy damage, and by the time we got there, the sun was out in full force so I could work on my tan. On the Saturday, we drove down towards Rotorua, stopping in Tirau for lunch. We did the Redwoods Canopy walk and visited the Blue and Green Lakes before heading to Whakatane and Ohope where we checked into our Airbnb, right by the beach. On Sunday, we visited the Farmers' Market and walked along the mouth of the Whakatane River. Dad and I wanted to go kayaking so we left my stepmum in town to wander around the shops, but we found out that there weren't any kayaks available, so we went to the Kohi Point Lookout and walked to the edge of the ridge for a spectacular view of Moutohora/Whale Island and Whakaari/White Island. As I understand it, White Island remains closed to all visitors after the fatal tour a few years ago, and even when we were visiting, plumes of steam could be seen rising from the island.
On Monday, we drove to Tauranga, stopping by Te Puke and Kaiate Falls along the way. Though the road to get there was pretty rough, the falls were pretty spectacular and worth the drive. Part of the trail had been washed away due to the cyclone damage, but thankfully enough of it remained for us to walk around. We stopped by Patrick's Pies when we got to Tauranga, who have multiple awards and have been New Zealand's pie winners for several years, and I caught up Andrew and Richard and their families in the evening. On Tuesday, we climbed the Mount - no easy feat for my parents - and then headed back to Auckland.
I've honestly enjoyed my time here immensely. It really did feel too short, and I'm not ready to go back to freezing temperatures quite yet. My next leg of the journey is to Atlanta via Houston, for a work conference, and then back to The Six on Thursday.
Posted by Jeremy at 7:21pm on Sunday February 26, 2023 :: 0 comments ::
Summer Turns to Fall, Turns to Summer
Wednesday November 16, 2022
I was interviewing someone for a designer role at work who mentioned he had read my blog prior to the interview, and I said I hadn't updated in a while because my summer was so busy and good.
It really was. At the end of June and beginning of July, I spent ten days on the east coast of Canada in the Atlantic provinces, gorging myself with the most delicious seafood the country has to offer, as well as witness the incredible tidal phenomena that the Bay of Fundy is so famous for. We landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first day and wandered around the Halifax Citadel and the waterfront, taking in the wonderful salty smell of the sea that I've missed for so long. The next day, we were up early to get to the seafood market where the nine of us splurged on $270 worth of lobster, oysters and fish cakes for dinner that night. We visited Peggy's Cove, shrouded in fog but so interesting with the rock formations overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, as well as Lunenburg, a small little town further west. That night, I murdered over a dozen lobsters... :( but it was so delicious. Sweet and meaty, absolutely delectable, I felt like Homer Simpson tearfully eating his pet lobster Pinchy. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me.
We continued our tour of Nova Scotia with a hike at the Cape Split Trail, which overlooks the Minas Basin and the Bay of Fundy, and then to Cape Breton Island's Skyline Trail the next day, where we saw a black bear in the distance further down from the lookout point! After a long drive, we were in New Brunswick, covering Moncton and the tidal bore, the Hopewell Rocks, Crooked Creek Falls, the Third Vault Falls in Fundy National Park, the Reversing Falls in Saint John and the Ministers Island Gravel Bar in Saint Andrews. Our last night in New Brunswick was celebrated with a proper lobster dinner that cost me $100, but it was totally worth it; it came with scallops, mussels, shrimp, potatoes and delicious garlic butter and I completely demolished it like a boss.
We were in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island for Canada Day, and we caught some spectacular fireworks from Victoria Park being let off less than 500 metres away from us. It was so close by that the shells from the fireworks had hit some people in the crowd! We did a bit of hiking as well but the rest of our time in PEI was rained out. However, we managed to visit the famous Cows Ice Creamerie a few times during our stay. On the last day, we took the ferry from Wood Islands to Pictou to get back to Nova Scotia and Halifax Airport. While waiting for our flight, Sunshine casually mentioned she found some "New Zealand chocolate" being sold at the airport convenience store, so I had to take a look - and sure enough, Whittakers Peanut Slabs, the chocolate equivalent of gold bullion, were being sold for $3 apiece (they're available in New Zealand for $1!!!).
I bought four. It was worth it.
In July, I started my job at Crop Circle Games, being the seventh employee there. A few days later, my friend Marc, from Catalonia, arrived in Toronto, and for three weeks, we ate like kings: Korean barbeque, Filipino kamayan, Vietnamese pho, Japanese Izakaya, Chinese dim sum, Toronto’s finest ice cream and exotic desserts like Mabu Generation’s matcha cube toast tower. We kayaked around Toronto Islands, we went for karaoke and we explored the Warsaw Caves east of Peterborough.
At the end of the month, we began our sixteen hour drive to Thunder Bay, with our first stop being in Sault Ste. Marie. In Lake Superior Provincial Park, we visited the Agawa Rock Pictographs and Sand River Falls, and we saw a black bear as well! Closer to our next destination, we stopped for a short hike at Scenic High Falls before continuing on to the town of Wawa, famous for its geese monument. I found a "Lai Restaurant", but it wasn't the same character as my name, and it was closed, like many of the other restaurants in town. We ended up having to eat at Subway.
The next day, we covered Pukaskwa National Park. Though it was raining slightly, there was still beauty as we walked around Horseshoe Bay. We had ambitions to reach the White River Suspension Bridge and Hook Falls, but the terrain was wet and muddy, and we ended up having to turn back. That night, we arrived at Thunder Bay. For our first day, we checked out an historical village called Fort Williams, staffed completely by actors in costume to fit the 1860s theme. It was interesting to learn about life back then, as well as how they used the land and resources around them to survive the bitterly cold winters. I learned to throw an axe (successfully!) and met tons of adorable animals on the farm, like Pygmy goats and a ginger cat.
Over the next few days, we covered Kakabeka Falls, Silver Falls and Dogs Falls; we managed to see the whole city from Mt McKay's viewpoint before a storm blew in. We had ribs from Tony Roma’s! We walked along Canada’s longest suspension bridge at Eagle Canyon and saw the massive Ouimet Canyon. We took a dip in the shallow pools of the Cascades Conservation Area but hurried out when dark clouds of rain began to approach. The highlight of the trip was Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, where we did a mammoth three hour hike called The Top of the Giant. We followed a relatively flat path for two hours, then a steep uphill for one hour to the final viewpoint, the Gorge, a gigantic crevasse and rock formation. The weather was absolutely perfect and the views were stunning.
Our last meal in Thunder Bay was unfortunately some disappointing Thai. We stopped by Aguasabon Falls in Terrace Bay before driving back to Sault Ste. Marie, and then finally Toronto. All in all, we covered close to 3,000km over 9 days in some of Ontario's most beautiful scenery.
Summer didn't end there though. There was plenty of time to enjoy festivals and food popups as well as Summerlicious. I counted 42 ice creams consumed over three months - that's almost one every other day! There were meet ups, urban hikes, axe throwing and great food all around.
As October rolled in, the temperatures started to cool down. I visited the Toronto Zoo for their Terra Lumina light show. We took a trip up to Killarney and Sudbury for the fall colours. We were super lucky to be there at just the right time, and with perfect weather conditions again. Last time we were here in 2020 and we did The Crack hike, but this time, we were going to conquer Silver Peak. We started with an hour of canoeing, then two hours of hiking to the highest point in Killarney Provincial Park, where the magnificent reds and oranges of the leaves were hitting maximum. On the way back, I sprained a muscle but was able to keep going and we all made it safely back to the canoe rental. We also covered Lake Laurentian Conservation Area in Sudbury, and the North Shore Rugged Area Hike in Parry Sound that weekend.
I was fortunate enough to see Nigel Ng's HAIYAA comedy show, where for the first half, he roasted the audience as Uncle Roger, and for the second half, he was himself, talking about all sorts of weird and awkward situations. Though some of the topics were pretty dicey, the night was full of hilarity and chaos; at some point in time, he had managed to force a couple to get engaged for a packet of MSG. I also went to see fellow New Zealander Bret McKenzie in concert at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, which was a chilled out and pleasant night full of 80s electronica and easy, relaxed music.
Last week was the final total lunar eclipse until 2025, which I got up at 4am to see. Thankfully the skies were clear (for once!) and I could see the entire spectacle from my balcony. The eclipse was still visible as the sun began to rise around 6.30am, but I was back in bed around that time.
Today was our first major snowfall of the season, which only reinforced my excellent decision to leave this barren wasteland in two weeks time for the tropical heat of Malaysia and the summer vibes of New Zealand. Things are going to be super busy over the next few days while I catch up with people before I leave. The weather is going to be consistently hovering between -5C and 5C, so it's definitely the onset of winter, but the days are counting down and I absolutely cannot wait to see everyone again.
Posted by Jeremy at 4:21am on Wednesday November 16, 2022 :: 0 comments ::