Finkenberg, Austria

My first entry into this new website, and to get the ball rolling I thought I would add some photos of my last holiday to Austria (what a jet setter I am!!) with my mum and Peter.

My parents visit Austria roughly every other year for a week to mainly go walking through the beautiful countryside and mountains, and seeing as I had never been before and was still at home, and going back to hostels and baked beans on toast very soon, I thought I would go with them.

I hadn't been to Austria before, and my first encounter with the country was all the lush greenery and mountains everywhere. Having been in Australia for a good part of this year, I had been missing the 'greenery' as most places tend to be quite barren as you can imagine. And then when we got to the hotel, (up to the usual Needham/Jackson standards, so no complaints there!), what a view from the room, down through the valley and across to the imposing mountains all around us.

We had a great week there, mainly spent walking most days, and not just a casual jaunt up the road, we're talking a good 4 - 5 hrs a day, but very enjoyable. The walks were around reservoirs, through valleys and forests, and one day we went out with the hotel guide who took us up to the top of a glacier where there are ski runs open all year round. We also hired bikes one day and ventured into a couple of nearby towns, oh, and yes, one day I decided to run off the side of a mountain, almost literally, I had a go at 'paragliding'!! Another enjoyable parachuting experience, although the adrenelin rush was very short lived and only lasted for a few seconds when you were running down the mountain and almost off the edge of it, until the parachute lifts you up, and off you go!! Another extreme sport to add to my 'conquered' list.

We were lucky with the weather for the first part of the week with the sun shining most days, and it was only towards the end of the week that the rain and fog came in and conditions somewhat changed (as you can see from some of the pictures), which certainly made it harder the day we decided to walk to the Italian border! But all in all a thoroughly enjoyable trip, and a country I will definitely be paying another visit to in the future!

Next update with hopefully be from Australia when I am all settled down in a job and have found somewhere to live! So watch this space.

Sep 20, 2005

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