After the glacier hike, it was time to head to Reynisfjara beach. I was really excited about going to a black sand beach, so this was a highlight of the tour. What I didn't expect was the wind there - my jacket pockets were full of black sand afterwards, my legs were being constantly attacked by sand and small stones, and it was tough to stand upright!
But, despite all of this, it was an amazing place. Truly, Iceland does everything to 200% - it wasn't just a beach with black sand, but there were basalt columns out in the water, some incredible rock formations nearby and these cliffs out in the distance that looked otherworldly in the sunlight.
The last stop of the day trip was Seljalandsfoss waterfall. I don't think we could have chosen a better time to go here, as the sun was setting and made everything shine golden. This is a waterfall that you can walk behind, but at this time of year, it was only for the brave - not only was there ice everywhere (crampons would have come in handy, it was so slippery), but you would have been soaked to the bone. I didn't see too many attempting it, probably just as well.
There was a little house off in the distance, with mountains nearby that were picking up the pink hues of the setting sun. Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen anything so beautiful (well, until a few days later...).
That was the end of the day tour section. I was dropped off when we met up with other tour buses that were going on a Northern Lights chase. First stop, though, was dinner. It was getting late and I don't recall actually eating much that day. Then it was off to find the lights.
Our first stop wasn't very good - there were some faint bands but nothing much. So we drove on, and the second stop was much better. I did not, however, have the right equipment to take night time photos - my Sony lens only had autofocus and no manual focus, and as there was nothing to focus on, all the photos were blurry. BUT, since the lights don't really require focus, I made a little gif of the images stitched together. This is what they looked like to the camera, they weren't like that to the naked eye.
It was a long day, yes, but also one of the most incredible of my life.
I was dropped off about 1:30am. Since I was staying at an Airbnb, I had to walk a little way from the hotel drop off point. So, naturally, my night ended up with me slipping on ice and falling on my bum in front of a busload of people. Could have done with some crampons! Fortunately, I was uninjured, so waved the driver off, got up and shuffled back with a wet bum.