We were at the check-in office just before 8am to sign the waiver, absolving the company of any responsibility for any mishap that might befall us.
We met our guide Sheridan, born in France to Icelandic parents and now returned to live here (tho he spent 3 years working in NZ for DOC in the south Island, small world).
There are 10 guests in total, and we loaded our crap tonne of gear onto the boat, together with 5 tandem kayaks, dry suits life jackets and skirts for said kayaks.
It took about an hour to cruise out to Kviar House, which will be home for the next 2 nights 3 days. There is no jetty or pier at the house, so we were offloaded onto an IRB with a massive pile of bags, packs suitcases, plus 4 adult passengers.
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| Loaded up |
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| On board |
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| Shore party, load 1 of 3 |
The kayaks were strung behind the 2nd and 3rd IRB trip to shore. It all looked and felt a bit sketchy, but we made it ashore without losing anything overboard.
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| Load #2 |
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| Made it |
We'd only been at the house a few minutes when a fox cub was spotted, up close to the house. They are a bit wary, but as long as we kept still and quiet, they were happy to potter about nearby.
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| Artic fox cub, the first of many photos |
There was already another group at the house having lunch, so we went for a walk up the hill to the waterfall, picking wild blueberries and something called crowberries, which look similar but smaller than blueberries, are black and don't have much flavour at all.
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| Blueberry eating |
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| Waterfall above the house |
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| Looking back to the Fjord and the house |
Most of the greenery is blueberries, crowberries, arctic thyme and moss. It felt weird to be trampling on food, but the ground was completely covered in places and there was nowhere else to step.
Lunch was originally meant to be at 1pm, but wasn't ready until about 2.30, by which time Miss Midday Lunch was starving.
Sheridan used to be a chef, but quit due to the long hours and stress, but his skills are put to good use as a guide.
We had ravioli with tomato sauce and a salad, all very tasty, washed down with good hot coffee.
The afternoon was spent photographing foxes, reading books in the lounge, picking blueberries or going for small hikes.
Dinner was not until about 8.30pm, a traditional Iceland fish soup made with arctic cod, which tasted amazing. The bread was traditional slow baked, a bit like a rye but sweet tasting.
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| Fish soup |
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| Dessert |
Dessert was a traditional Austrian dish called schwarzbeersterz, made by guest Heidi who is on the trip with her teen son Clemens. With one guide for 10 people, it's a pitch in and help kind of deal. It was made with fresh picked blueberries cooked with what seemed to be small balls of dough. Apparently there is no English translation for the dish, but it tasted very good.
I think it was a ploy on her part, as the teen had eaten no lunch, and didn't eat any dinner, apart from a heaping plate full of the dessert she had cooked.
The sauna was fired up late afternoon, and I managed about 10 minutes after dinner before I quit and went to bed. Slept like a log.
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