Greenland Part 1

We left Jodie at Reykjavik and caught our flight to Kulusuk on the east coast of Greenland. Our flight in took us low over giant icebergs and the rocky coastline.

Greenland is the least densely populated country on earth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density). Australia is 100 times more densely peopled. Kulusuk is a tiny settlement (population 310) on the remote, even less densely populated eastern coast of Greenland (only 5% of Greenlanders). Not many people stay here for more than a few hours. Ever. It is home to Eastern Greenland's only international airport though. A gravel strip that is open for a small part of the year in summer for daily flights to Iceland and twice weekly flights to Kangerlussuaq.

Kulusuk is still a very traditional town where most people make a living from hunting, though tourism is on the increase. While there we were able to take a trip to a nearby glacier, explore the island and also visit Tasiilaq, the capital of the eastern municpailty of Ammassalik. Since it was the middle of summer the ice had thawed somewhat and we were able to undertake the trip by boat, rather than sled dog.

In Kulusuk we had a unique chance to spend some time in a very different community which was a great experience. After a few days we flew across the frozen centre of Greenland to the strange town of Kangerlussuaq. Inuits never lived in Kangerlussuaq but the American Air Force maintained a base there for over 50 years. As such it has the best air facilities of anywhere in Greenland, including the ability to land 767s. The whole town seems to exist just for the air field, with not much else going on. The strangest story surrounds Volkswagon. Cars were flown in and a road built to an inland ice track for extreme weather testing. We visited the ice and explored the surrounding area where we spotted some Musk Ox.

You can see the photos here.

Roadtrip Part 4, Iceland

Puffins!!!! Thousands of them at Látrabjarg, the most westerly part of Europe. The puffins all come to breed along the cliff face and have become very tame. Lots of people come to take pictures of them and the birds allow you to come within a metre or two of them.

Catching a ferry, we stayed the night halfway across the Breiðafjörður bay on the island of Flatey, a tiny peaceful village of old wooden houses where noone seemed in much of a hurry to do anything - which was fine by us as we had been going pretty flat out for a while by now.

Hákarl. Read that link first. Everything it says is true. The smell is eye watering, nauseating and leaves you light headed. There is a reason that you usually down a shot of Brennivin afterwards. The whole curing process itself is less than pleasant (as the many photos on the wall at Bjarnarhöfn farm prove). Thank goodness the wind was blowing away from us when we visited the curing sheds. Having said all that the taste and texture isn't too bad at all (so long as you don't breath through your nose while it's on your tongue). I swear I could still smell the stuff 3 days later.

On our way back to Reykjavik we saw a huge thermal spring (that supplies hot water and power for much of western Iceland) and passed between two glaciers in a black desert before we emerged back in the city. The town of 100,000 felt like a sprawling metropolis after two weeks driving around Iceland.

We had an amazing time and it was a great opportunity to not just go to Reykjavik but also see a lot of the rest of the country. Perhaps we will go back soon and explore the barren centre!

Click here to see the final installment of road trip photos.