Well I’ve finally managed to get around to part 4 as I didn’t have to drive the crane back to Reykjavik after all.
So Monday morning comes around and I head off to Akureyri airport to pick up Raggi the mechanic a.k.a “The Shrimp” and his uncle Ragnar a.k.a. “The Lobster”.
We collect a new airbag from the local service agent and then head back up the mountain to Þeistareykir power station which sits almost 2000 feet above sea level. By late morning the Scania is feeling better and after loading 25 tons of ballast we decide to do a quick bodge job on the 250 ton Liebherr crane in order to get it back down the hill to Húsavík harbour where we intend to perform open heart surgery!
The afternoon is then spent preparing to remove the engine and gearbox the following day.
After a nice breakfast of Icelandic waffles and verbal diarrhoea from some American tourists in the hotel we head back to check on the patient and begin removing the vital organs.
Part way through the operation we’re approached by a gentleman from the national grid regarding a job for tomorrow with the crane! Obviously there has been some kind of misunderstanding and as my Icelandic skills are not the best I let the Lobster-man handle this and start to tie the load down.
Much confusion and several conversations with the office in Reykjavik take place during the course of the afternoon before finally the Shrimp & Lobster Co. tell me everything is sorted and you are gonna take the Scania back down South with the engine and 25 tons of ballast and we’ll take the plane in the morning.
So after refuelling the truck and driver at the Orkan grill in Húsavík I leave town at around 5.30pm with 500 km of Icelandic mountains and several cans of red bull for company.
The trip back to Hafnarfjörður through the night is a hell of a slog… Feels more like 1500 km with a Gardner 150 under the hood as I end up having to drop down into low range on numerous occasions. With very little braking available on the tractor unit, the gearbox, retarder, trailer brakes and ■■■■■■ off driver are working overtime and by the time I get to Borganes I’ve passed 3 trucks that have broken down, a horse box that has lost it’s back axle and have driven through about 100 km of dense fog. Having completely had enough of this ■■■■ I decide to stop for about 90 mins on the deserted N1 service station before continuing onto the Akranes tunnel and back to the capital area, eventually arriving at around 3.30 am.
By the time I’ve had a shower and done some work in the office it’s gone 4.30 am when I eventually retire to my temporary “Reykjavik penthouse” above the workshop as there’s no way I’m going to rent an apartment in town at Icelandic prices when I am staying out onsite so much.
I’m up and about again by 7.30am and as I don’t have very far at all to commute I’m obviously the first one at work.
The company owner rolls up just after 8 o’clock with a bit of a disgruntled look on his face and I pretend to be asleep on a chair with a pair of sunglasses on. It turns out the 25 tons of ballast was supposed to stay up North where it will be needed within a week as the crane has to unload a 100 ton transformer from a vessel in Húsavík harbour! Ooops! 
6 different people were involved including the owner’s brother and somehow I got the message that it had to go back for a job in the harbour in Hafnarfjörður not the harbour in Húsavík!
As punishment I’m sent out to supervise the erection of a tower crane on the outskirts of town and the next day I head back up North again to deliver a 110 ton crane to a customer on a “dry hire” basis.
After showing the client’s operator the in’s and out’s of the machine I meet up with ET transport as our own Goldhofer trailer is busy on the South coast. My job is just to supervise the loading and transport of 2 large silos that are being transported from the harbour to the job site and then it’s time to pack my bags and head back to the UK for 10 days off. 
I knew about the cost of living stuff, common to all around Scandinavia of course. How much is car hire then, or is it just that the “excursions” are pure tourist trap?
