GONDOLA RIDE TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD

The Austrians seem to really enjoy the outdoors summer and winter. Where we are staying in Neukirchen am Grossvenediger (which is a small skiing village) it seems like everyone young and old; families, small groups are in hiking clothes with poles and a small pack on their back or bike gear. Ebikes have taken over for both young and old and you are hard pressed to find a bike without a battery. The country is majestic with mountains all around. Neukirchen itself is 856m above sea level. We woke to glorious clear skies over the vista from our room.

Imagine how excited we were at breakfast to learn from Marlena (our friendly Austrian host at Underbrunnen) that we qualified for the National Park summer card. This free pass has been devised to give anyone who is staying in a participating accommodation, a chance to use the cable cars of the region and entry into sports and leisure facilities It also allows you to ride free on the local Pinzgau trains and buses in the region. You can use the card on one attraction a day. There are around 60 activities to chose from. The pass is available from 1st May to 31st October.

It was not hard for us to decide what we wanted to do as the cable car entrance was about 500m down the street and two joining gondolas took you up to 2,100m at the Wildkogel Arena in approximately 25 minutes. This offers families, summer sport enthusiasts a picturesque summer getaway. The cable car rolls in and you hop on whilst it is going gently around the rubber matted area. Then it takes off with a whoosh clearing the building and it is such a steep pull that immediately I had an adrenlin reaction and was pretty scared. However when I caught my breath again and settled down, I was overcome with the panorama view of mountain after mountain many with residual snow. It was a new vista every few metres. Breathtaking hardly describes it and certainly too massive for any snap photography to do it justice.

Mountain bike trails zig zag all over, formed hiking trails, meadows of golden buttercups all added to the scene. At the 'mittlestation' you could get off and walk half way back down the slope. You can also strap your bike on the outside of the gondola. Otherwise you stay on and once again prepare for the whoosh when you leave the second station. The village and surrounds get smaller and smaller and the mountains get bigger and bigger. We arrived at the Arena where you can see where the other ski runs operate. There is also ski school.meeting point, a children's all abilities playground and two cafes - one very large with a vista from the terrasse to die for and a smaller one with colorful umbrellas. The views were magnifcent.

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We were lucky enough to be there when two paragliders came to the paddock from the gondola. They unpacked their bag - parachutes, jumpsuit, hat, helmet and gloves. They straightened out the parachute, straightened their strings, attached it to their clips and literally stepped off the cliff to be sucked up high floating over the mountains. What a sight. Everything is so grand.

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We were up there for just over two hours but made sure were on the way down before they closed down for an hour for lunch as we wanted to get to the Krimml waterfall in the afternoon.

Oh what a morning!!

We made our way back to the platform/bahnhof just as the little train pulled up using its cute squeaky whistle. We read that this little narrow gauge railway has been meandering its way along the Salzach River and the Hohe Tauern National Park for 120 years. We proceeded to go another 5 stations along a valley that looks like pages from a travel book or postcards.

Arriving at Krimml right there at the station was the steam train that operates twice a week.

The waterfalls and the village of Krimml are not near the railway station. You have to take the Bus No 670 for about 15 minutes. The actual village of Krimml is swollen with tourists. Many from middle eastern countries with full bukkars. The falls are in the heavily forested National Park and are the highest in Europe and 5th highest in the world. There are 3 waterfalls in all. You walk passed many tourist shops snd a couple of cafes. This walk proved too difficult for Phil and after he got a glimpse of the falls in the distance and some wonderful photos of the scree falls and the tall timbers, he sat in the cafe and had a cup of tea whilst I continued on. Just as you are near approaching the first station of the falls you have to pay 4 euros to actually enter the National Park.

The view of the rushing water and the resultant spray made it worth.it
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I hurried back to Phil so that we could get the bus at 3.00pm directly back to Neukirchen.

A large beer was called for in the village before we returned to the room for our salad. Just as we were to eat a shower of rain fell so we set up inside and reflected on the marvellous day.

I have voted it the best day of the trip so far. Pure magic and I was so relaxed by the large beer!!