Highlights of the Middles trip to Iceland

As we landed in what looked like the middle of nowhere at the start of the Middles Iceland trip 2005, our expectations of ice and more ice were shattered. There was nothing for miles. As we discovered throughout the trip, the Icelanders aren’t fond of being near their own kind.

Once we had collected our luggage in the airport it was off to civilisation… we hoped. We drove for miles and still didn’t see any sign of houses and then in the distance we saw Rekyjavik. We had been informed that 75% of the population live in this town with its multi-coloured roofs.

Once we had arrived, we set out to find some traditional Icelandic cuisine – Pizza Hut. With our stomachs full we went swimming Icelandic style, in other words, geothermal heated baths. As we slowly roasted that evening, we were looking forward to the days ahead of waterfalls, geysers, glaciers and a small plane flight.

The following morning we left Rekyjavik for the south coast of the island and the start of Mr Coles’ "Wow!" moments through the trip. Some of the highlights included a visit to a power station run on geothermal heat and the Garden of Eden where they grew Icelandic bananas in a geothermally heated greenhouse. Later that day we went to the world famous geysers and sat and waited for them to go off. After a couple of times, Mr Coles, amongst others, decided to film this impressive spectacle. But the only problem was he kept missing it, not once but four times! As we retired for the evening to our accommodation in the middle of nowhere, we were surprised to find in this sparsely populated area an indoor miniature golf course!

Over the next couple of days we went on a monster truck up a glacier where the girls managed to find some tan time; also on a small plane flight over to Heimaey (a small volcanic island) where we climbed up an active volcano. On the last day our final stop was the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal salt water bath which is good for your skin.

After five days we left Iceland having experienced Icelandic culture, many imposing and extraordinary sights and most importantly of all, a great trip.