Sat in Changi airport I became fascinated watching the other people slide by on the moving walkways.
Our first afternoon walking around Copenhagen enjoying the architecture and people watching
Tourists abound in Copenhagen all mesmerised by this beautiful city
One of many stunning churches around the city
Roskilde Cathedral was well worth the train journey to get there.......even if we did get totally confused working out which train to get on and the one person we decided to ask for help turned out to be from Sweden with even less idea than us!
One attraction definitely on the list in Denmark was Frederiksborg Castle. This stunning piece of architecture is huge and took up a whole day of exploration. Revamped in the last few years by the Carlsberg family it is a destination enjoyed by locals and tourists alike.
One of many jaw dropping rooms in the castle.
I would not fancy being the gardener responsible for those grounds!
Ben taking a moment to capture of the action at Tivoli Gardens
Naturally the rooms and layout in the architecture design museum were very impressive with light naturally spilling through from one room to the next.
Nyhavn is a very vibrant quarter of the city and this small band were entertaining everyone.
Food, booze and stunning buildings........Nyhavn is a popular spot for tourists, rightfully so to!
Our first views of the icecap covering most of Greenland
Our driver who took us out to the icecap. He knew very, very little English.........but he was happy to share his seemingly endless supply of Haribo sweets........what a great guy :-)
Our first real look at the icecap we would soon be walking on.
Its not everyday you get to travel on an old yellow School Bus, unless of course you are from America. This one operated as a service to take us from the airport hotel to our evening meal.......quite an experience!
The icecap at the part we were on was a mixture of ice, white as it is frozen snow, and dirt pulled up from the ground as it makes its continuous and relentless journey to the edge
Other than the crunch of ice underfoot there was very little sound in this beautiful desolate spot of frozen waves disappearing into the distance as far as the eye could see
One of the group getting creative for an angle on photographing one of a few wild reindeer we saw on our travels
It was soo tempting to colour that nose red in photoshop ;-)
A tourist boat gives some sense of scale to the ice as it makes it way to the sea in Iliulisat.
Ice and land bizarrely had a very similar structure at times
Feeding time for the dogs which are only really happy when they are working. During the summer months they just lay around all day waiting for food. Winter will soon be here though and they will be happy pulling sleds.
I still find it remarkable that we stood on the shore as photographed hump back whales in front of massive icebergs. I was very lucky to snap this one as it came up and out of the water.
This poor puppy was so patient as this local girl kept picking it up to show all of us with cameras......the more we clicked the happier she was. Such joy in such a simple experience.....perhaps there is something to be learned in this place with a distinct lack of technology and the whole town as their playground.
A bay full of ice on Disko island.
A walk along the coastline with icebergs for company, mind boggling.
A few icebergs jostle for position as they are moved along by the current.
As the mist was clearing more and more icebergs came into view
Another monolithic ice structure
Definitely a picnic spot with a view. It was important to stay up in the breeze though otherwise you'd be bombarded by those pesky mosquitos again
This collection held my fascination for quite some time
The ferry boats came back to Ilulisat from Disko island giving me an opportunity to include the other one for some sense of scale.
The other ferry dwarfed by an iceberg
One of the more unusual shapes
Seems one iceberg is staring intensely at the other
That hole would easily have been big enough to get the ferry through
We suddenly slowed up coming in to Ilulisat as the fog rolled in and the sea was covered in ice
Light plays on the ice
As the mist cleared it left surreal vapour trails hovering just above the water
Look closely at the bottom left of the image and you will see a person walking along a path......and suddenly those chunks of ice seem even bigger!
Our guide on the walk taking a moment to enjoy the landscape for himself
The start of the evening cruise around the icebergs started to give a glimpse of how magical the light would be
Fishing boat used for tourists to enjoy the ice
Setting sun made for some great silhouettes of the vast chunks of ice
There was so much to look at and the colour seemed to keep changing as the sun got lower in the sky
Calm seas, icebergs and the setting sun....now there's a memory
One of my favourite images from the midnight cruise which I may have to get printed one day
Perfectly calm water on our trip to Eqi (the calving glacier) gave a myriad of small but amazing shaped pieces of ice.....I have soo many pictures of these!
We were over a kilometre away from the wall of ice which is Eqi watching as huge chunk of ice would come away and crash into water. The swarm of black dots at the base of the wall are a flock of birds disturbed by the crashing ice.
We stayed in cabins overlooking the glacier for the night. The glacier was over 4kms away and is over 3kms across with a height of 200m at the front edge rising to 700m in the background. Climate change is having a dramatic say in this landscape though as the glacier has retreated continuously over the last 100 years and they expect that in just 15 years time it will not be visible from this spot!
An intrepid explorer enjoys the last light of the day.....which would emerge again in just a couple of hours time
A cruise ship in the bay was, apparently, quite an unusual sight but one that with the increase in tourism is likely to become one more commonly seen.
Approximately half way between the lodges and the front of the Eqi glacier our boat for the return trip makes its way to us and is dwarfed by the scenery it has come to see
The final part of our adventure gave us spectacular up close opportunities to photograph the whales in this incredible landscape
Birds soar effortlessly above the frozen landscape and our last memories of Greenland as we start the epic 60 hour journey back to New Zealand.
Denmark and Greenland, we will miss you both, thank you for the memories.