Woke up to a perfect day, sunny and not a cloud in the sky, usual view of icebergs out of the window. I forgot to mention that the water is very calm, no waves at all, and the icebergs move very slowly.
Decided to go for the walk after breakfast, it was 10:00 but hardly anyone around on the streets. I didn't bother with a jacket, just a t shirt and jumper. Got to the track and took the red route to where the blue track intersected. The track started down a pretty steep incline down with lots of loose gravel and looked a bit dodgy, so we took a bit of a diversion to join it at another point.
After a while we noticed there were no blue markers, but it was a well worn path so just thought they were a bit slack. Nope, as we discovered later, we weren't on the blue track, but an unofficial one. It was well defined, and easy to follow, but there were a couple of spots that were pretty hairy, we had to scramble across some steep slopes and make some decisions about which way to go. We didn't see any other people so we were on our own, we had the views and the hills to ourselves. I don't think I've ever been anywhere as quiet, just the occasional bird song and the buzzing of insects.
We sat down every so often to take in the view and rest, sat on a rock, the Icefjiord in front of us, the hills around, with no sound or people.
We followed the path down to a beach, which was just rocks and boulders, and managed to get right up to the water - had a taste (as you do), it was slightly salty and cold, obviously. We'd seen a sign at another beach warning to stay away because ice breaking off the large icebergs can cause tsunamis, and I had visions of the news headlines - "dumb Australian couple killed while taking selfies in Greenland". There weren't any large ones close in though, and we survived.
We'd been walking for about 3 hours so decided to head back to the town, but now we could see the blue markers and chose to head back to the red track, because I thought to go forward along the blue would be longer and harder. Plus it came out at the other side of town, a long way from a restaurant where we wanted to go for lunch.
Still hadn't seen anyone else, which made me think that if you injured yourself it would be a while for help to get to you.
Followed the blue markers and soon found that the path we took by mistake was actually easier - this blue one had some pretty steep slopes where we had to use our hands, plus a couple of places where we had to jump between boulders with big gaps between them, a broken ankle or leg just waiting to happen.
We climbed about 3 steep hills and finally saw 2 more people coming towards us, and then saw the red paint that marked the path back to the town.
It was a nice feeling of achievement - it was hard work and pretty physical, considering I'm not fit and spend most of my day sitting on my backside watching cat videos and checking Facebook. I mean doing database stuff. If anyone from work is reading this, definitely database stuff.
I usually walk about 4000 steps a day, the last 4 days I've averaged 18200 a day.
Went to the restaurant and the guy said they were closed, despite it being 14:09 and they said they close at 14:30.
Anyway, there was plenty of choice so we went to another place and Song had Snow crab - the third one in 3 days, I think she's personally trying to make them extinct. I had halibut because I realised I'd had meat for every meal except fish and chips the other day.
The crab was more expensive but smaller than the one Song had the previous night, my fish was OK, not brilliant. I also had an ice cream (they didn't have beer). Cost 108 AUD - steep, but we're not shocked any more.
Popped into the tour operator to check if they had the numbers for the cruise to the glacier tomorrow, they said yes.
Walked back up yet another frigging hill back to the hotel and decided not to move for the rest of the night. Up early to get the boat, but at least it's a day we're not walking.
