A 30 tonne boulder fell from a mountainside on the Westman Islands, just off Iceland’s southern coast early afternoon on Tuesday, MBL.is reports.

The huge rock left a half metre deep trench behind it and came to rest just a metre from the side of a road. Luckily nobody was hurt. Read the full story

Verslunarmannahelgi, Icelanders’ largest vacation weekend, is going well. There are have been no real accidents and the tens of thousands of travelers travelling around Iceland have enjoyed excellent summer weather. Verslunarmannahelgi is a bank holiday and could be translated as Labour Day Weekend, the translation is closer to “merchants’ weekend” and is held the first weekend in August with the following Monday as a added vacation day.

This weekend sees festivals and events taking place all over Iceland with “Thjodhatid” in the Westman Islands leading the way as the largest event. Thjodhatid is an outdoor gathering lasting four days and has been held for over 100 years with around 10 – 12 thousand people attending every year. For those that are not willing to embrace the great outdoors, there are many indoor events in towns and cities around the country such as “Innipukinn” in Reykjavik and “Ein med olllu” at Akureyri.

Icelandair awarded its 2007 Innovation Award to the “Pompeii of the North” project. The project involves digging up houses and other items buried under volcanic ash and lava during the 1973 Westman Islands volcanic eruption. The Westman Island Pompeii diggings will be open for the public this year and will show how life was before the fateful day in 1973.

The Westman Islands are also known for being Keiko the whale’s last official home, and for the largest puffin colony in the world which has around 10 million of them.