By Gina Storey
What an amazing journey – I flew into Edinburgh to join Aurora Expedition’s Greg Mortimer to sail north through Scottish Islands, and further north to the Faroes and onto Iceland.
This trip fascinated me as they are destinations I have never travelled to and my granny’s family came from the Shetlands.
Boarding the ship we met fellow travellers – a total of 75 on this trip (although the ship can take up to 120).
There were several Australians and New Zealanders, some Brits, Canadians and Americans.
There are around 20 in the expedition team, many of them Scottish with a few Australians as well.
Their expertise is broad –a geologist, an historian, an ornithologist, biologists, a photographer – all there to share their knowledge and understanding of the areas.
Relaxed and unhurried, all of us are fascinated by the areas around us.
Expedition cruises often change itineraries in response to weather conditions and this trip was no different.
Unexpectedly we called into the Orkney Islands, visiting ancient Skara Brae and the standing stones of Brogdar, Onward to the Shetlands, with the islands rising out of the mist and cold winds gusting through.
I wrapped up, warm in the jackets provided by Aurora … designed specifically for remote areas.
Ponies and sheep are everywhere, along with the ancient ruins of Jarlshof and the history of the Norse people.
Lerwick tempts the knitter amongst us, while the television watchers search for scenes.
I spent time at the museum researching granny Tait!
Zodiacs tended us into Fair Isle where we had our first sightings of puffins, which were much smaller than I expected.
Some of us enjoyed a long cliff top walk around the island in the sunshine before arriving at the community hall where the locals offered us tea and home made scones and several sold their hand knitted Fair Isle jumpers.
The primary school children were enthusiastically chatting to us … it reminded me of something that could happen on the mountain.
The remote Faroe Islands are beautiful and welcoming.
Connected by several undersea tunnels you can drive between the islands.
They even have the only tunnel undersea with a roundabout!
The local village musos came out to the pub to entertain us, which was lots of fun!
In another village voices were raised to the heavens in the small church.
Onward to another knitting hotspot.
Iceland is fascinating with long walks to waterfalls in pristine conditions.
Lakes with large icebergs calving off glaciers and floating to the ocean.
The volcanic Westman Islands abound with puffins and a fascinating history of recently active volcanoes.
A wonderful part of the world to explore and I highly recommend it!
Contact Travelling Places P: 07 5545 1600 or E: travel@travellingplaces.com.au.
