Sunday, 27 October 2013

Day 5 What an amazing trip.

As the thought of tomorrow's early start at 5.30am plays heavily on my mind, I will endeavour to finally keep the promise I made in the first post; to keep my blog entries short!

On the last night it seems like we have finally got into the swing of getting everything onto the blog as efficiently as possible.  If you have been wondering who the professional photographer on the trip is, then look no further than our very own Mario Testino, aka Mr Dalton.  There have been lots of photos of the pupils laughing and that is down to his keen eye for a good shot and his ancient camera, held together by a rubber band.  Every evening, we sit down and go through the shots, already reminiscing and picking the best ones to upload and show you.

Today has been just as good as the previous four days.  Jam packed with views, features and mind boggling geology.  Despite the odd mishap with huge waves crashing in from the Atlantic and taking out Lexy Dalton this morning, once again, it has been a splendid day.  (Lexy was very wet, but absolutely fine.  She tells me this happens to her often at the beach and her brother Max confirmed this to be true.)

As we rolled towards the end of our trip, we had one last activity to take part in and that was taking a dip in the Blue Lagoon.  This is probably the only place that has really been touristy and busy.

We arrived back at the first hotel we stayed in and the children, now well versed in the routine, got ready in five minutes flat to go out for dinner.

Whilst eating pizza, we reflected on the trip and just how special it has been this time. The group has been an absolute pleasure to be with.  They have behaved impeccably at all times throughout and been utterly respectful towards other guests we have come across. They have had a super time with our guide, Dave and all of them enjoyed and appreciated he knowledge and experiences he has imparted over the past five days.  As teachers, we feel very proud of them all and it has been a privilege spending time with them on this trip.

They have all contributed willingly to the blog and supported each other when remembering the places they visited during the day, particularly with the spelling of some of the place names.

As we prepared to leave the pizza restaurant this evening! the Year 11 boys requested that they say a few words on behalf of the group: they thanked us all, as well as thanking Dave and presented us all with gifts.  It was incredibly thoughtful and totally unexpected.  It was a perfect end to a perfect trip.

I know Britain is expecting a battering from a storm in the Atlantic, but fingers crossed and at the moment, things are in place to travel as normal tomorrow.  If there is a change to our travel plans then we will let you know as soon as we hear anything.

Thank you all for reading the blog for our Iceland trip 2013.  We hope we have given you a flavour of the fun we have had.

AGJ

Pupils write their thoughts about Iceland in one sentence...

Whilst munching away on endless slices of pizza, we passed around a piece of paper asking the pupils to write down in one sentence, what they thought of Iceland.  Here is what they said:

"It was like nothing else."
Lexy Dalton

"The most amazing landscape I have ever seen."
Jess Mitchell

"Extraordinary, full stop." 
Molly Nixon

"Truly awe inspiring." 
Genevieve Myhan

" I will definitely visit again."
 Tom Greaves

"Astonishing!" 
Angus Farr

"It was truly fabulous!"
 Ardin Jacques

"It was quite good!" 
Jamie Stevens

"It has been amazing."
Charlotte Ferguson

"Already dreaming of my next visit."
Sam Farquhar

"Very cool and cool!"
Max Dalton

"It has been tiring, but it has been a once in a lifetime experience." 
Helen Walgate

"The singing on the bus was the only bad thing!"
Dan Milne

"Iceland is amazing, you can't fault it."
Charlotte Burford

"An unforgettable experience surpassing all expectations."
Jake Glowienko

"Every aspect of geography crammed into one country."
Matthew Stirke

"Truly textbook!" 
Sandy Stainthorp

"The trip has been up to everybody's expectations."
Dan Brown

"A phenomenal and a once in a lifetime experience."
David Evans



Day 5- Photos of coastal features at Dyholaey

















Day 5- Photos of Blue Lagoon and the Pizza feast!!













Day 5- Photos of Skogarfoss waterfall







Day 5- Matthew Vickers

 Day 5

Today was the last full day of activities, and what a day it was. Woke up, 0630 hours, realising that we had an hour and a half until breakfast, so we did what any sane Brit would do, watched Match of the Day on BBC. Breakfast came with sausages and cucumber. What a treat. After that, we got on the barmy bus for another solid few hours of driving towards the Capital City, Reykjavik. After a long and tedious journey listening to 'World War 2 Film Themes' including the famous Dambusters theme. So, whilst driving through the lava fields, Mr Dalton, as official expedition photographer, asked our fantastic bus driver, David, to pull over and get another few pictures, as he is an expert photographer by night and teacher by day. We ventured back to the bus and started heading west towards a beach, not just any beach, a beach with black sand and fierce waters. So, we did what any teen would do and attacked the Greek God Poseidon, with rocks. He retaliated by soaking us. Shame Lexy fell over, although it was kinda funny. And again, we got on the bus and drove, and kept driving through the miraculous country of Iceland. Eventually we reached a small town, Skogofoss, which was complemented with an awe inspiring waterfall. I couldn't be bothered to climb to the top with Angus Farr and Tom Greaves, so I decided to get again soaked by the splash back of the waterfall with Max Dalton and the spontaneous Jamie Stevens. Now it was the final straight, to the Blue Lagoon. We were told that the journey would take a mere 20 minutes, but add an hour on and you have the final time of the journey. We arrived to find a massive queue. FINALLY. We're in. Now, it got disturbing. We got into the changing rooms to find 1 little cubicle, so the men were getting changed naked in front of our eyes. We stuck out like sore thumbs. Even a blind man could tell that we were typical British folk. We walked through the showers with our eyes closed, and made it in the heated pool, where we chucked facial cream at one another. When we left we were headed to our hotel in Reykjavik for the final night. We dumped our bags off and drove for tea at a pizza restaurant, where we fought valiantly to eat the most pizza slices. I myself struggled to eat 8, but the overall winners were the 2 year 11s Sandy and Jake. When we arrived back at Foss Hotel Baron, we said goodbye to our bus driver, David, and we are now resting for the early morning start at 0500 hours. Oh joy. And to top off the day, Sunderland beat Newcastle 2-1!!!!!!!!
Matthew Vickers

Day 5- Charlotte Burford


Today was our last full day of activities. Another early start ended up with many tired faces on the bus this morning on the way to our first stop at the beach. Unfortunately one unlucky person, not to name names, fell over and got soaked. Our next major stop was at the Skogafoss waterfall for lunch after souvenir shopping.  Once we had finished a session of picture taking, we made our way to the Blue Lagoon where we had a lot of fun trying out the mineral face masks and having a splash about. Finally, after a long wait came the final event, the all you can eat pizza competition. Sadly nobody beat the record. This ended with a brief thank you and gifts for the teachers who have been great with us. A lot of driving and sitting around gave us a great opportunity to see the amazing sights that Iceland has to offer with great commentary from our tour guide David. Today was a great way to end our enjoyable adventure in Iceland and we made it through with only a few embarrassing incidents.

By Charlotte Burford

Day 5- Angus Farr

We awoke at 6:30 I was sharing a room with Ardin and Matthew. I found it hard to sleep because Ardin was sleep talking " pick up the phone!". Sadly this was are last full day in Iceland and everyone was very sad. I came down at breakfast preparing for a long arduous journey, we left the hotel at 9:00 and arrived at the lava fields and had a picture stop and then we drove to the basalt columns and the beach. Unfortunately Lexy fell over and got very wet but she was fine. Then we travelled to Skogafoss (which is a waterfall) were we had lunch and had a very tiring walk up to the to the top of the waterfall. Then we had a long journey to the Blue Lagoon where Sandy put a lot of the mineral face mask on. Then we went to the pizza restaurant where Sandy and Jake both ate 13 slices of pizza. It was a valiant effort from the two but they were both defeated by 2011 winner Chris Harrison who ate a massive 19 pieces!!!  I only managed 8. Tonight I will go to bed early because we have a early start at 5:30!!
By Angus Farr

Day 5- Ardin Jacques

Today we woke at 6:30am at Hotel Laki. Our plans for the day consisted of a waterfall and beach trip, a quick shopping trip and a swim at the Blue Lagoon before heading off to Reykjavik for a pizza night and our final stay at Fosshotel Baron.
Hotel Laki was pure lush, it was a top quality hotel. I had waffles and syrup for breakfast and packed our suitcases ready for the day ahead. I was in a room with Angus Farr and Matthew Vickers. According to Angus, I was sleep talking last night (something about a telephone).
We went to the beach to look at the basalt columns formed by cooled lava. Thankfully, the weather was clear so we had good vision of what was around us. The waves were extremely violent and came in very fast and were huge! After a good hour we got back onto the bus and make our way to Skogafoss Waterfall, where we all had our lunch. The waterfall was outstanding but Jamie Stevens and Max Dalton stood at the foot of the waterfall, and therfore getting absolutely soaking wet.
After that we had a long drive to the the Blue Lagoon, but we stopped at "Icewear" (a wool and souvenir store). I was going to buy my family some presents but it would of cost me nearly 40 000 krona, and sadly non of the other gifts were to my family´s tastes.
When we arrived at the Blue Lagoon, we were all desperate to get into the warm blue waters. we all had such a good time and it was an amazing experience.
Late afternoon the teachers took us to a pizza resturant near our hotel, Jake Glowienko and Sandy Stainthorpe we the champions of our pizza competition with 13 slices of pizza each. I on the other hand, only had 4 as I felt slightly sick after the Blue Lagoon. After our meal we presented our teachers and Dave (the bus driver/ guide) with gifts, which we all donated money towards, for being such good hosts and for taking us to the fabulous country. And then we went to the hotel, to get a good night sleep before getting up at 5AM, ready for our jounrey back to England.
Ardin Jacques

Photos of evening activites; Jenga and Pass the Bomb.