After spending some time with my family in Vienna, helping a bit here and there, taking care of a few things, we started our trip back to Iceland, this time by car as we had planned to import my dad's car to Iceland. 
So when we had loaded the car with a lot of things (and memories) we headed up north. The plan was to take 2 days to Denmark and from there the ferry to Iceland via the Faroer Islands.
First overnightstop was near Hannover, where we stayed at Claudia and Michael's place. When we arrived (thanks to our GPS) rather late in the evening, there was already delicious food waiting for us (and some cold drinks) and we got a very warm welcome from Bjössi, the dog, which was eager to show us all his toys. After dinner we relaxed in their very own hot tub, heated with fire.
The next day we got a great breakfast (too many things to choose from) and a very nice guided tour around their hometown. I especially liked the park with loads of different plants and the salines, where people could take a walk to breathe salty air, which was good for their lungs.
After an early dinner we continued our trip to Denmark and the ferryport at Hirtshals. We arrived there around 1 o'clock in the morning and decided to take a nap in the car (not the best thing to do) and wait for the boarding in the morning. We had ordered a place for a bigger car and I think that was a good decision as the staff from Smyrilline controlled the hight of cars according to the booking, making people taking roof boxes off their cars and storing them in the car. 
Ingólfur was booked as the driver, so he stayed in the car whilst me and my luggage were transfered with a bus to the ferry. Quite a big ship, I have to admit! It takes up to 800 cars. Our cabin was without a window, but that didn't matter to us, easier to sleep and not so much to see whilst on sea. In fact there was one TV channel broadcasting from the front of the ship, so you were able to use it as a window. On board there are quite some things to do, there are bars, restaurants, cafes, a duty free store, a cinema, swimming pool, hot tubes and a lot more. The trip to Iceland takes about 2 days and I'd loved to have some time to take a short walk during our stop in the Faroer Islands, but during summertrips, the time between arrival and departure isn't long enough to do so. So we had a look from onboard and wait for another time to visit there. It's definitely on our to do list.
Think we spent quite some time sleeping during the sail, had to get back some sleep from the past days.
When finally in Iceland we had to get the car through the customs and get a permit to import and drive the car in Iceland. Due to a tiny mistake we nearly didn't make it that day, but thanks to the very nice customsofficer, the cashier at our bank and Ingólfur running a lot, we managed to get all the stuff together and left Seyðisfjörður in the afternoon with the temporary driving permit. We stayed overnight at Finnsstaðaholt, which we enjoyed a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are so lucky to have a lot of excellent birding spots around Húsavík and Botnsvatn is one of these places. Especially if you are interested in waterfowl. This year there has been an amazing amount of red-breasted merganser and Botnsvatn wasn't an exception. There were at least 4 mothers with a huge amount of youngsters, 2 of them with around 15 chicks. 
We saw a lot of other different birds on our walk around the lake, e.g. a great northern diver, redwings and arctic terns.

 

 

 

 

Kiddi asked us if we could drive him to the east where he was going to help Halldór with this weeks horsetrip.
Difficult to say no, isn't it? Especially if it is such a nice opportunity to take pics of a lot of horses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingólfur has been helping our friend Halldór with one of this horsetrips the last days as Kiddi had a little accident and wasn't fit to go. Today I used the chance to take pics along and especially when the group went over river Laxá, which is always a special moment. 
Unfortunately I had to take Ingólfur's horses straight away back home with the trailer as Magnús was cornered by some other horses and just jumped over a lava wall in Hraunsrétt and injured himself a bit. Fortunately not as bad as it could have been.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time with my mum had just been flying and today it was time to say goodbye. But first we visited the youngsters in Hagi and it was fun how much they liked the attention and being clapped. Nobody shy ;)
It was great to have my mum and we are looking forward to getting her back as soon as possible!

 

 

 

 

is always worth a trip, eventhough you should be aware of the possibility of midgets in huge swarms around. We were lucky, good weather, no flies and great company. First stop were the cracks with hot water, where people used to go for a bath a few years ago, interesting place, but full of people. Well, nevertheless we managed to get a good look and Ingólfur explained for Mengia and my mum how things were made in the area.
Next stop at Dimmuborgir, where we did the "Churchring", a slightly larger walk through the impressive area, where we saw a lot of different vegetation, including different orchids. And of course the stoneformations are spectacular.
Last stop before heading home was Vogarfjós, the cowshed café, where we had some coffe or hot chocolate. Great trip!

 

 

 

 

 

When we have a look out of our livingroom window, we see the mountains on the other side of the bay (Kinnafjöll), which give the bay a very majestic look and are never the same. But it is even nicer to take a trip to the beach there and have a closer look. 
My mum has never been there, so we took a drive to show her the beauty closeby. We passed a few farms with their horses and cows outside, saw a few sheep, a waterfall and then finally the beach, where we took a very nice walk. Always impressive to feel and see the forces of nature so closely.
On our way back, we decided to take a drive to the forest and have a look at Þingey (the island in the middle of Skjálfandafljót). And first we were already on the track uphill to the ridge it was easy to just follow it all the way to Einarsstaðir. In fact a very nice drive, eventhough the black sheep wasn't happy about meeting us in it's kingdom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As it was rather late when we brought Þrá to the fiel yesterday, we decided to check the group today and see if everything was ok. Additionally we had to bring a saltstone there. Afterwards we went for coffee to Hólmavað where we were greeted by Lukka and her toy, which we had to throw numberous times for her. 

 

 

 

 

Landsvirkjun is finishing the new steam power plant at Þeistareykir and invited people to come, have a guided tour and some coffee. We grabbed Jón and my mum and went there. It was very impressing to see the huge turbins which will produce electricity in the not so far future. It was nearly crowded there and people still arriving when we were already on our way back home. There was even a camerateam and a professional photographer to document everything. We'll probably show up in an ad...
Then it was time to bring Hjördís to the airport and afterwards fetch Þrá and drive her to the field at Hagi. We hope she's in foal with Bósi frá Húsavík, but the ultrasound scan will reveal it in a few weeks. So keep your fingers crossed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and hail it was today! Really unusual for Iceland, but there it was. First we thaught it was just very large raindrops, but when the sound grew louder we had a look outside and voila..it was hailing!

 

 

 

 

To be precise all the way to the international airport at Keflavík it was. We went yesterday to fetch my mum, who's gonna stay for about 2 weeks. Of course we used the chance and invited Hjördís to come, too. 
We stayed at a flat in Reykjavík for one night and planned the next days as we wanted to take quite a detour on the way back home. Unfortunately the weatherforecast wasn't brilliant, so we decided to go not all the way to the Westfjords, but still take a tiny glimpse.
But first Reykjavík it was! We had heard about a new exhibition at the Pearl, where they rebuilt an icecave and an interactive show about glaciers. It was still the tryout period so they offered people to come and visit for just 1 ISK. We definitely liked what we saw and the glacier exhibition was a real highlight. We spent quite some time there and still didn't manage to try everything. 
From there we went to Hallgrímskirkja and up the tower to get a good overview. After a short shopping stop we headed out of town in direction to Snæfellsnes. There weren't as many tourists as we'd expected and an easy drive. The first stop was nearly at the western end of the peninsula at Rauðfelðar canyon, which I didn't even know existed. It was very special to walk into a very narrow canyon, following a small river and just a little bit of light from above. As I was carrying my camera I didn't explore as far as Ingólfur and Hjördís, but got a good glimps inside. 
On we went to Arnastapi and from there to the western end and back east on the northern side of Snæfellsnes, passing farms and villages. The plan was to stay overnight at Bjarkalundir, which is at the most eastern point of the Westfjords. But it still was quite a drive there. So we decided to stop að Búðardalur to get dinner. And wow, we weren't disappointed! The place itself didn't look special by the outside and the inside was rather interesting as the kitchen was a kind of hut inside the restaurant. But the food... delicious! So I recommend, that you stop by Veiðistaðurinn when you are hungry around Búðardalur!
From there we went more or less straight to Hotel Bjarkalundur, where the wellknown Icelandic tv-show "Dayshift" was filmed. There were even some of the props still there. Think I've got to watch it again!
After a good rest and breakfast we moved on to the Westfjords on a gravelroad (not my favourite) and even met a herd of cows on the way to Hólmavík. There we visited the Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft, where we got a lot of information about Icelandic sorcerers. Interesting fact is, it was mostly men accused for sorcery here. From there we went straight north, eager to get back home.
Nice to do a trip like that and see some areas not visited before. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took a short drive up to Þeistareykir today, had a look at the vegetation and where most of the sheep were to find. Surprisingly there were a lot around the hut, which I didn't expect. We looked out for Snilld and her rams, but she was nowhere to see. Instead we met Hrund's Skellibjalla and her lambs. She came to get a good scratch and enjoyed some help getting rid off the old wool.
You already saw that we have been pimping our trailer a bit the last days and today we finally put the new stickers on it. The original drawing is by Pétur Behrens, who gave me permission to change it into a vector graphic, which was used to cut the sticker.
We are really happy with the results, now we just have to cover up the leftovers of the original sticker. 
Afterwards we helped Gísli putting two of his youngsters, which were going to their summerpasture, on the trailer before going for a quick ride ourselves. It's amazing to see all the different birds when you ride by the seaside. There was a rather rare guest, too. It was a Great Skua, probably the same bird that was here the last 2 years already. Its wingspan is up to 140cm! Great Skuas are more common in the South and Southeast, but there are a few couples nesting elsewhere around Iceland. 
Just a little bit smaller is the Arctic Skua, with a wingspan up to 125cm. There are three colour morphs around: light, intermediate and dark. The later I got to see very, very close today as I got too close to its nest and it attacked me and Sigtýr rather fiercly always aiming for the highest point, which was luckily my helmet. I think Ingólfur got to watch quite a show as he chose the riding path further away of the nest and the bird decided I was more of a threat to him. I was very impressed, that Sigtýr kept that calm under airattack, with a "swooshing" sound following every charge, just when the Artic Skua came from the back, he wasn't sure if it wouldn't be better to run. Well, we survived but if the bird would just act like the Snipe and keep calm, when somebody comes closer, it would be easier for everybody.
Last but not least it was time to fetch some water and then release the horses back to the field, which always ends in a big run and jump.

 

 

 

 

 

After a lazy Sundaymorning we started to fix the tarpaulin of our trailer as it was starting to ripp on top. Hope this will work out the way we were planning. Then it was time to check out if Þrá was ready for meeting the stallion we chose for her. She definitely was ready so we called our vet, who's the owner of the chosen stallion and asked if we could come with her straight away. Last year we left her with this stallion in the fence but had to get her straight away the next morning as he wasn't happy about her and threw her out of his group. Þrá definitely remembered him and started to show signs of stress and submission, but relaxed when she realised he wasn't going to harm her. She behaved a bit stupidly and made it difficult for Bósi to do his job, but in the end he managed. We'll bring her back there on Tuesday and then she'll stay at our vet's place and he'll keep her until she's finished in heat. Now we just have to monitor List as she's supposed to meet Bósi when she's ready, too.
It was nearly 8 o'clock when we left there and the plan was to drive Katla, Vordís and Krummi to Halldórsstaðir, where they are going to join a horsetrip this week. At least Katla and Vordís have to loose a lot of kilos before they start looking like ridinghorses again. They definitely had a far too good time during winter.
When we started our drive home from the first trip, I spotted a pair of red-throated divers with a young one, first time I ever saw them in nature. Luckily my camera was ready and Ingólfur ready to wait for me. So I slipped closer and got a few pics. The red-throated diver is the bird of the year in Iceland.
Next trip was fetching Krummi in Saltvík and getting him into the trailer. He wasn't happy about that and tried to avoid it as his best, but gave in in the end and just walked into the trailer. As it was that time consuming to get him in the trailer, we decided to drive him all the way to Halldórsstaðir instead of leaving him at Helluland, which was the first plan, as Kiddi had to drive horses from there up to Halldórsstaðir anyway. Krummi was happy to see the 2 mares already waiting there for him and left in a rush. On the way home we stopped at Helluland and had a nice chat with Kiddi, who was preparing his stuff for the horsetrip. Now it was already midnight and definitely time to drive back home. 
Last stop was at our fence, where Ingólfur fetched our horses down from the hillside, where they had spent the day. Happy and tired when we finally arrived home. Some days are like this, but when the sun is shining, you stop looking at your watch. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather wasn't that good today, so we kept working on our small room in the stable. Ingólfur reinforced the wall whilst I started to cut and fit the insulation. Not my favourite job, but someone has to do it. After a while our carpenter arrived and had good advice for us how to do it the best way. Of course he helped, too, as he isn't a man of many words.
Now 2 walls are ready for cladding, just have to decide what we want to have there. 

 

 

 

 

We kept on working today, this time we put up the grid for the wall, seperating the barn from the small room. Of course our carpenter was there again and when we finally got the right nails (I got the wrong ones in the store so we had to return and get new ones) things went really well. Next thing to do is fitting the insulation and putting plastic over it.