Today I had lunch with Tania who was one of the girls who studied Auslan with me. It was great to see her and great to be able to catch up on what is going on in the Auslan world.
14 years ago
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
reunion
Today I had lunch with Tania who was one of the girls who studied Auslan with me. It was great to see her and great to be able to catch up on what is going on in the Auslan world.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
the london tour
Today Matt and I headed out to see all of the iconic London sites. No tour of London would be complete with out a trip to Buckingham Palace to visit the Queen!
Sunday, September 10, 2006
zoom zoom zoom
On Sunday morning the headed home and took the long route back, off the motorway and on the quieter country roads. Well at least they were quiet until they got there! Matt rode most of the way home.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
under the english channel
My brother Matt arrived on Friday night after spending the last three months in Canada. He and Woz wasted no time in getting straight on the bike early the next morning and heading down to Dover to catch the train across to Calais, where they then headed for Paris.
Monday, September 04, 2006
the last day
Our last day in Austria and yet another gorgeous campsite. Different again from the last it was nestled deep in the mountains by a smaller river and a short walk from a very sleepy little town. Our tent is the small red dot you can see by the river.
Overall I think you could say we enjoyed our trip and you could safely say you'll see many more European camping holidays to come! And now that we've learnt a little German, next stop Germany! Watch this space!
Sunday, September 03, 2006
even the football was beautiful!
Back on the road again we continued to see breathtaking scenery.
Time after time we drove past football fields with the most incredible view. I wouldn't mind going along to watch Nate playing football if I got to sit on the sidelines and look at this view.
kindred spirits
Breakfast was incredible and one of the highlights of the trip. When we were invited to breakfast we expected to meet in a cafe somewhere in town but Andy, the designer of the park hotel, opened up his home to us and put on a huge breakfast from whatever he had in the fridge, cheeses, fresh homegrown tomatoes, bread, homemade jams and real coffee... it was all so delicious! And just look at the view, overlooking the Danube!
By mid morning more and more of his friends had joined us and each one of them were such friendly and generous people. We now have genuine offers to stay with them in their homes if we return to Austria and we've made them promise to look us up if they're in London. They were all so interested in the fact that we live on a boat and our way of life and particuarly with Woz's design aspirations.
We were so inspired by them all. We're convinced that Andy is going to be huge as a designer in Europe. He is now at the point as an artist where people give him grants and ask him to do a project. The funny thing was though that when we left (after several hours and turning down an offer to join them and some more friends for lunch) Andy kept saying how inspired he was after meeting us and how much he was jealous of our life in London. After five minutes at his house we said we'd happily swap!
The icing on the cake though for him and the team that worked on putting the project together was finding out that the whole reason for our 5 day trip to Austria was to stay in his hotel. He was absolutely beaming and kept saying "I feel 10 cm taller now!"
I am absolutely struggling to convey how much of an incredibly inspiring experience this was for Woz and I to continue to pursue our dreams and passions. An experience we'll never forget.
park hotel
... and this was it. Three concrete tubes in the middle of a park which had been converted into three separate hotel rooms. Woz had stumbled across them in an architecture magazine and the "hotel" joined our list of must sees.
On arriving in Linz we weren't able to find them and so called the 24 hour helpline which we had been given. A very friendly man who turned out to be the artist himself gave us directions and invited us to join him for breakfast the next morning, at first we declined but instead decided to throw caution to the wind and take up his offer.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
waiting for the train back down
Not your average railway platform!
We had such an incredible time in St. Wolfgang and there was so much to see that we decided that although we had been heading towards Salzburg for the last two days we wouldn't have time to see both and so we made the hard decision to drive in the opposite direction towards Linz to the very reason we chose to visit Austria.
360 degrees of beauty
From the train station (you can see the building in the photo) you were free to roam anywhere you dared on the mountain with no viewing platforms or fences. It was very liberating and a definite hills are alive moment! From the peak there was a 360 degree view.
dad would have been in his element
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the peak of the mountains. We boarded a train which pushed two carriages up the mountain winding in and out until we reached the peak and what a view ...
a beautiful spot
The water here was crystal clear and full of life,ducks, swans and huge fish which seemed to surge towards you when you dipped your foot in the water.
a view to die for
The view from the courtyard behind the church. Check out the hotel swimming pool in the background.
timber!
With so much timber available the town was decorated with carved statues. There were so many to choose from but this one, which stood outside the church, was one of my favourites.
a romantic dinner for two
Our night in St.Wolfgang was the night of our anniversary and so after pitching our tent we walked into the historic town which was just too beautiful for words and dripping with culture. We found a beautiful restaurant (we wanted to try them all!) and ordered our meal which was a standard choice of either meat and potatoes or meat and potatoes. Just as it arrived Nate started to fuss and cry inconsolably which of course had everyone's attention. Woz had started to cut up my meal into small pieces so I could use a fork to eat it and hold Nate at the same time when an Austrian lady from another table came over to us and proceeded to chat away to us in German of which I understood ... "Let me take your baby ... you must eat .... I will take the buggy ... he will walk with me .... I insist!" I then uttered one of the few phrases I know in German and said "Thank you very much" and handed Nate over to her. She insisted on keeping him until we had both finished our meals. When she returned with Nate who was happily cooing away and well versed in German I tried to explain to her that because she had looked after him we were able to have a meal together on our anniversary but I'm afraid it was lost in translation.
and just when we thought it couldn't get any better
We had two swans come and visit us in the morning! I took this photo lying in my sleeping bag inside the tent.
and what did we find?
And on the other side of the lake was this incredible spot, secluded from the rest of the campsite but with an incredible view! So close to the water. We were lulled to sleep by the water gently washing against the shore.
Friday, September 01, 2006
our second night
On our second night while looking for a place to camp we came across a huge lake with a beautiful town across the water. The view was incredible but the campsite there was very busy and just didn't have the same feel as the night before so we decided we could always come back there and camp but we'd explore a little more first. We decided to head across the other side of the lake to the town we could see which was St Wolfgang.
first night camping
Our first night was spent at a camping ground in the Gemäuse National Park. Although there were caravans there we were the only ones camping so we had a huge open green to pitch tent wherever we liked. We soon discovered why no one else was camping in the middle of the night when we had to put on extra layers. I'm sure it got to sub zero temperatures!
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