Conclusion

We had a wonderful time in Iceland. It has varied and distinctive scenery, a fascinating history and society, and friendly people. It's a long way from Australia, but if you're in Europe or North America and at all adventurous, Iceland really should be on your "must visit" list. It caters to hitchhikers carrying tents as well as the hotel/tour crowd.

This travelogue doesn't talk much about Icelanders. That's because we didn't really talk to any - we were moving around too much to get to know people, and spending a lot of time in tourist areas. It would have been nice to have stayed in one place longer and got to know some locals a little better, as Anna did in her three month stay.

Two weeks wasn't nearly enough to do Iceland justice — we only visited the southern part of the country, and could have spent more time there. But I have plans for the next visit already: hire a car, visit Snæfellsness and the Westfjords, then Mývatn and Jökulsárgljúfur National Park; maybe visit Grimsey if there's time, and go whale-watching from Húsavík; then leave the car in Akureyri and catch the bus across the interior to Landmannalaugar, to do the walk from there to Þhórsmörk. A month would be nice!

But Camilla and I won't go back to Iceland while they're whaling, so a second visit will have to wait.

Iceland and New Zealand: My previous two overseas trips had been to New Zealand, which has many common features with Iceland: low population densities, but highly urbanised; geologically active, with geysirs and geothermal power; mountains and glaciers and hydropower; and lots of sheep. The two countries are, of course, very different culturally.

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