Used to Having Geyser in His Backyard: Video

“It’s amazing how you can get used to having a geyser in your backyard,” states Hannes Sigurðsson, farmer að Reykjavellir, Biskupstungur, Southwest Iceland, mbl.is reports.

Earlier this month, a geyser suddenly began erupting in Hannes’ backyard as he was getting ready to utilize hot water from old boreholes.

“We discovered the geyser after I’d been digging a ditch into a borehole next to where the geyser is now,” Hannes explains. “It’s an old borehole, which was utilized 30 years ago. It only had a little bit of water in it.” He cleaned the hole until he met some resistance at a depth of seven meters (23 ft). He put a pipe through it and pumped air into it, after which he went inside for lunch. A short while later, his daughter came to tell him that a geyser had begun erupting in the backyard.

He named the geyser Kurteis, meaning ‘polite,’ grateful for the fact that the geyser didn’t injure him when it first erupted, throwing rocks in every direction.

“So far, thankfully, very few tourists have arrived, but some Icelanders have come,” Hannes states and points out that conditions for receiving guests near the geyser are not good enough. “The whole surrounding area remains to be designed,” he adds.

The geyser erupts at regular intervals, and the jet of water is between ten and 15 meter high (33-49 ft).

“My guess is it erupts every seven to 20 minutes, most often about every 10 minutes,” Hannes estimates.

He looks forward to making improvements to the area surrounding the geyser.