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Reports
Thursday August 25th
Bright sunshine and clear blue skies greeted us for our last day, just
typical. The early morning was spent doing the last of our packing, clearing
the bedrooms and cleaning the house from top to bottom, including finding
money under some of the beds. By 9.30am we were all finished and loaded the
vans before our closing ceremony and group photos. We left one of our
special embroidered kneckers and an England flag at the campsite and thanked
Walter for the help him and his team had given us. The Scouts were also
awarded the Zelhoff Friendship award for joining in with all the other
Scouts on the campsite on their free evenings, as well as the joint
activities that were organised. Last minute shopping at the campsite shopped
was also allowed.
On the road for 10am heading to Linz (a 90 minute drive) for lunch before we
headed to the airport. The vans were amazingly quiet for some reason.
We headed to the centre of Linz, via the tourist information, parked the
vans and walked to the Postlingberg (a tram the takes you upto to an amazing
view of the city). At the top we decided to get our lunch in a dining room
all to ourselves before heading to the view for the Scouts to take lots and
lots of photos.
After looking at the time, we took the tram back down before a brisk walk
back to the car park then off to the airport through the traffic. Checking
in was amazingly quick then jumped the queue for the plane to get on first
and we headed back to the UK.
Arriving early in London meant we had time to get our bags, check in for the
Blackpool flight and get some dinner in the departure hall before getting
onto the last flight of the trip. 45minutes later we were home, meeting up
with family and getting back to our own comfy beds.
Wednesday August 24th
Another morning of lighter drizzle and the Scouts had decided to go back to
Salzburg for a morning of swimming and a chance to spend money on more tat.
By the time we arrived in Salzburg the weather had cleared and so after
swimming we decided to head for the summer toboggan run close to the salt
mines we had visited. The toboggan run is 2.2km long and you go down in a
little car with a stick you push forward to accelerate and pull back to
brake. The Scouts reckoned you could reach 60mph, a bit of an exaggeration
though it was very very fast and some of the Scouts went down without using
the brakes. It drizzled on the way up the chair lift so we had a 15 minute
wait before we could descend.
By the time we had finished at the toboggans it was only 3pm so we headed
back to Salzburg to finish shopping before back to camp for our final
evening meal and chance to get phone numbers, e-mail addresses and get some
t-shirts signed from the other Scouts on site, especially the German girls.
Tuesday August 23rd
A wet morning greeted us this morning for our visit to the salt mines. A
quick get up and get ready meant we were on the road by 8.30am and at the
mines an hour later. Our early rises mean we can get quickly into all the
attractions and this was no different. As soon as we got our tickets we
headed to get our "oompa lumpa" suits, a 2-piece suit to cover your clothes
from the salt and then onto a groovy little train to take us deep into the
mine. The tour consisted of some short videos, a sail across a lake, and two
slides (24m and 45m long) where you slide down solely on your bum.
After visiting the tat, sorry souvenir, shop we headed off to Berchtesgaden
and Hitler's Eagles Nest for the afternoon. The Leaders paid over the money
and we headed up there on a coach to be greeted with limited views, very
cold rain and a lot less than we expected as the place is now mostly a
restaurant. Oh well, a quick group photo and we headed back down and back to
camp for a more formal sit down meal with guests from the Bristol Explorer
Unit.
Another evening of socialising, the card school is now up and runnning very
well with the Leaders explaining card table etiquette, though some of the
Scouts have headed for an early night.
Monday August 22nd
A slightly later alarm call greeted us this morning as we prepared for our
day of canyoning, still overcast though but not as much rain. The day
started with a greeting from Albert, our guide for the day. We then followed
him in our vans to the start of the gorge. Much amusement was had as we
tried to fit 20 people of different shapes and sizes into a 2-piece wetsuit
each by the side of quite a busy road. What followed was 2 hours of swimming
and climbing over rocks as well as jumping into pools from the high sides of
the gorge, the highest jump being 8 metres and seven of the Scouts did this.
We returned to our vans for drying off, got some lunch at the roadside and
then headed back to camp, via a supermarket for all important food shopping,
for more swimming in the lake.
The Scouts are used to having a later dinner at camp and then spending the
evening socialising with the other Scouts and Explorers on camp, as well as
members of the campsite crew. We also invested one of the Scouts this
evening in the courtyard of the camp. Luckily his Scout Leader is here too
so invested him into his Troop.
Sunday August 21st
Again another morning of what is now typical Austrian weather to us,
overcast with drizzle. This morning was a visit the the ice caves, and the
largest in the world. An hours drive and a few steep hairpins later we
arrived at the "car park" (a matter of parking on the alpine road) and
headed uphill to the cable car and then on further to the caves. Luckily as
we arrived early we walked straight onto the cable car and straight into the
cave. The cave today was a relatively warm 0 degrees C.
To take the tour through the cave we were equipped with a lantern from the
1800s and had to climb more than 700 steps up into the cave. The guide was a
rather cool dude and gave us the story of the cave explorer whose ashes are
in the cave and the ice sculpture that used to be called the elephant, until
its trunk and tail fell off.
Our return to camp was slower as we attempted to stop to get some milk, the
Leaders are quite enjoying shopping by pictures, but alas as it was Sunday
everywhere was closed, except the churches. Even though it was still
overcast some of the Scouts headed down to the lake for another dip while
others just chilled on the courtyard outside our house.
After a lovely roast dinner (we are English after all) we found out that due
to heavy amounts of rain we are due to go canyoning tomoroow instead of
rafting, more excitment though. The Scouts have organised to trade badges
this evening with the other Scouts on camp as well as the Zellhof Team.
Saturday August 20th
Another early start under grey clouds for a busy day doing the tourist thing
in Salzburg. Our stroll though the city took in the funicular railway and
castle, complete with torture equipment and dungeons, Mozarts house in which
he was born (very small), and a rebuilt house on the sight of where Mozart
lived during his composing years (slightly bigger, but still small). There
was also time for the Scouts to do more shopping, with the purchase of the
day going to Oliver H for a very large and very orange new watch. After a
day of trudging around in the rain, we headed to the baths to get even more
wet and burn off some more energy. The diving competition off the board
seemed to go on for hours.
After removing the vans from the underground car park we had wedged them in
we headed back to camp for another late meal and time to rest our legs.
Friday August 19th
Glorious sunshine greeted us yet again, temperatures soared into the 80s
today, for our day hike to waterfalls and an amazing cafe with views for
miles. Our walk took us down windy Austrian roads, into nice cool forests,
and past amusing houses with murels on the side. The Scouts enjoyed the tour
of Austrian forest fire roads and small villages, particular enjoyment came
from the downhill stretches as this is the 3rd day in a row of strenuous
exercise for them.
After our sweaty and tired return to camp, the Scouts were let loose into
the lake, something they have wanted to do since we arrived, and a chilly
45minute dip was followed by a thorough scrubbing down in hot showers and a
much needed dinner of pizza and home-made garlic bread. This was followed by
the usual hour or so to socialise on camp before hitting the hay for yet
another early wake up call for Salzburg in the morning.
Thursday August 18th
A clear blue sky with sunshine greeted us for our day at Grossglockner. An
early wake-up call and swift preparation meant we were on the road for 8.30.
After a 2 hour drive we arrived at the toll booth to pay before we started
our climb up the high alpine road. A slow climb meant we could take in the
scenery on the way up plus stop and take in the amazing views, or for the
Scouts to shop for more tat and play on the adventure playgrounds. By 1pm we
had made it to the parking lot just short of the highest point of the day. A
rather scary looking police man in black leather trousers with a gun was
only allowing a dozen cars up at a time.The Scouts were confused as to why
he needed a gun to conduct traffic. After a 10 minute wait we made it to the
top. The "top" consisted of a visitors centre, lots of tunnels that seem to
go nowhere and a funicular right down to the glacier on the mountain. Scary
though it seemed, we let the Scouts loose on the ice (snowballs came from
all directions) and let them know that crevasses can be hundreds of feet
deep.
Our aim on return to camp was to have a campsite meal with the Austrian,
German and other British Scouts here but due to a slight diversion and a
2hour traffic jam we made it back for 8.30pm to find all the food gone. Oh
well, a swift evening meal was had, time to socialise and another early
night for us.
Wednesday August 17th
Grey skies woke us at a later time than initially planned, but we got up and
slightly more organised before a tour of the campsite and a morning of
meeting the other residents on site as well as starting some badges. After
lunch we headed off around the three local lakes on our rented bikes in
drizzle but this cleared up 2pm. Major downhills of the day include the one
through the roadworks in Mattsee, and the offroad one through the forest,
both much enjoyed by the Scouts with no falls! Jonathan R managed to part
company with his bike within 10 minutes of starting, on a wooden bridge no
less!
What followed was an evening of showering, hanging clothes to dry, a
relaxing dinner of Zellhofer pie and time to hang out on camp. Pocket money
was eventually made available (the Campsite shop has never been so busy) and an early night was had for Grossglockner in the morning.
Tuesday August 16th
A 6.30am meet at Blackpoool Airport really is too early to meet for a Summer
Camp, but we were all there and all on time. An efficient check in at
Blackpool and the plane arriving early meant that by 8am we were in the
skies heading for London Stansted. Though arrival at Stansted followed by
mega efficient baggage collection meant we were in the departure hall by 9am
and had four and a half hours to pass for the next flight. The Scouts kept
themselves busy with card games, shopping, and the amusement arcade, most
had spent a tenner before midday. The Leaders meanwhile kept themselves busy
with cups of coffee and a newspaper.
Our departure from London on time meant we landed exactly on time in Linz
(even the rain that greeted us didn't delay), and the Leaders collecting
hire cars in record time meant we were on the road by 5am. With the wonders
of in-car GPS, InterSpar in Linz and Austrian autobahns we arrived at camp a
little tired at just after 8pm. We busily cooked up some dinner, made
ourselves at home in a slightly bigger comfier house than we had booked (no
hot water in our original house) and got our heads down for the night.
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