“As my love and I drove around the whole of Iceland for our honeymoon, with our best man tagging along, (turning us into the three musketeers), we had never before experienced such overwhelming beauty & eeriness in a single place. This little Nordic Island Country was a darling, full of 360 degree wonder that we could not possibly even try to absorb.

Exploring other worldly craters in blackened lava fields brought an eery feeling that we had somehow landed on the moon, and we debated who would likely freeze to death or succumb to hypothermia first.

We ignored the safety signs and jumped into boiling hot springs in dark caves, tolerating the temperatures for only less than a minute or so. Obviously cranking Bjork & Sigur Ros as we drove past what seemed like endless moon fields with at times no signs of life, not even a tree or farm animal. We had again ignored the signs that morning, having stuffed bread & other food from overpriced hotel breakfast rooms into our large pockets, swigging on duty free whiskey with our frozen fingertips to keep warm.

A childlike joy had us running through sulphur fields and following the glacial rivers down as far as our feet would carry us, before having to turn back before we truly would have frozen like statues.

This is a place I will keep deep in a sacred corner of my heart for many many years.”

Words and images by Melbourne photographer Lilli Waters (@lilliwaters)