Saturday 3 April 2010

Geysirs Galore

Up the road from the National Park was a geothermal area of Geysirs. The first think you notice is the smell, the kids thought the smell of sulphur in the air was disgusting, but hilarious.
"It smells like a bad fart!"





The geysirs were amazing. The largest geysir, called the "Great Geysir" only erupts 2-3 times during the day. Back in the 1950's tourists used to throw rocks into the geysir to try and set it off, and blocked the geysir. An earthquake in 2000 dislodged some of the blockage and when it erupts, it is supposed to be spectacular, sadly the Great Geysir was quiet when we visited.

In front of the Great Geysir, who was sleeping!




It's brother "Strokkur" erupts every 5 - 10 minutes. The temperature of the water is about 120°C.

We waited with all the other tourists, with cameras ready to go. When it erupted it was incredible. We have never seen anything like it.


Waiting, waiting, waiting


A blue bubble appears....


and boom, the geysir erupts! WOW!



and once again, incase you missed it!


The blue bubble of water expanded really quickly

(we were amazed that we actually caught it on camera!)


the beginning of the eruption


and up it goes, 30 metres high

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