{"id":10889,"date":"2017-10-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rent.is\/camperstories\/secret-life-christie-tessa\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T13:32:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:32:38","slug":"secret-life-christie-tessa","status":"publish","type":"camperstories","link":"https:\/\/www.rent.is\/fr\/camperstories\/secret-life-christie-tessa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Life of Christie & Tessa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tessa<\/a>Keys in ignition, engines on, \u201cright is right,\u201d we whispered to ourselves. We hadn\u2019t anticipated that our first venture would be learning to drive on the opposite side of the road.<\/p>\n

As two young girls from Queensland, Australia we have only ever driven on the left, we also had very little experience driving a camper van and absolutely no camping experience. But we were ready to accept these challenges and were eager to embrace the unknown!<\/p>\n

Luckily with the help of our trusty camper van<\/a> and a little bit of Icelandic magic we were very quickly on our way to becoming professional mountain explorers and elite waterfall chasers.<\/p>\n

\"Christie<\/a>\u00a0\"Eating<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Bubbling<\/a>When you first arrive in Iceland expect the phrases like, \u2018oh my goodness,\u2019 \u201cwow,\u2019 \u201cwoah\u2019 \u2018fair dinkum\u2019 to be uttered from your lips as well as many moments of complete silence and awe.<\/p>\n

Once we picked up the camper van<\/a> from Reykjavik, we stocked up on food at the local B\u00f3nus and headed towards the Geyser\u2019s!<\/p>\n

As Australians, we had never really seen waterfalls or boiling water bubbling from the ground, so to say we were enthusiastic about it is definitely an understatement. Our first day was packed with of lots of excitement, waterfalls and rainbows (rainbows like to show their pretty face lots in Iceland).<\/p>\n

\"Waterfall<\/a>\u00a0\"Gullfoss<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>\u00a0\"Photographing<\/a><\/p>\n

It quickly became 10pm and the sun wasn\u2019t falling asleep, so we didn\u2019t want to either! All we wanted to do was to jump out of our camper van and explore our surroundings but we knew it was time to settle and get some rest to conserve our energy for the morning. Our first night sleeping in the van was exhilarating and surreal. New to the land and the idea of camping all we did was type into google \u201ccamping near me\u201d and lo and behold a short drive away we found a beautiful clearing in the valley of some green, luscious mountains and we were greeted by some friendly horses as well as two girls from Norway and France who were working at the site for the summer. They shared their experience of being in Iceland and their favorite places to go. They encouraged us to go beyond the tourist track. We would come to thank them later for that.<\/p>\n

\"Icelandic<\/a>\u00a0\"Friendly<\/a><\/p>\n

Our first few days of travelling were spent driving from one waterfall to the next, taking endless photos and soaking in the landscape. This included us pulling over every 20 minutes in the van to fully appreciate our surroundings.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>\u00a0\"Hiked<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Sk\u00f3gafoss\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On our second day, we bathed in the secret lagoon and enjoyed chocolate covered bananas at the Sk\u00f3gafoss<\/a>. The beauty of the van was that all our food and clothes were stored and accessible from whatever location. We could make meals, swap clothes or nap at any hour of the day as our mobile home was always within reach.<\/p>\n

\"Lunch<\/a>\u00a0\"Enchanting<\/a><\/p>\n

One of our favorite memories of the trip began when we were sitting in a little caf\u00e9 charging our equipment just outside of Vik. We had overheard some people come in and ask directions for a \u201chidden pool\u201d. Our ears perked up, anything with the words \u201chidden\u201d and the promise of a warm pool excited us, especially after all the hiking we had done. We quickly googled and found the place they were talking about. On our way out we were stopped by two Americans who overheard us getting excited and told us that the hidden thermal pool was amazing but that if you walk further down there is a super hidden natural spring<\/a> towards the mountain. We looked at each other and said, \u201clet\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n