Großglockner
Trip Start
Jul 01, 2010
1
31
48
Trip End
Sep 10, 2010
Heiligenblut, Austrian Alps, Austria
Monday, August 9, 2010
Left Ljubljana on another dreary day there, set for Austria, where we hadn't visited since October 2008 when we were in Salzburg. Dropped via Hofer near Bled and picked up some food and final supplies including some more of the bargain 4 GB SD cards.
Bought yet another (and fortunately final!) vignette over the border, a bit better value than Slovenia though (€15 for 7 days) at €7.90 for 9 days. Can barely see out the windscreen now but can’t bring myself to remove the redundant ones. Drove through a long tunnel at 50 kmh into Austria – you can certainly see the natural border between the two countries.
We were warmly greeted at the camping ground in Heiligenblut by a man who certainly resembled the Austrians we’ve come to know. It seems everyone here is a comedian. He picked up straight away before seeing passports we were Australians and that we’d spent time in London. Reckons he can tell by the accents becoming more English but I suppose it is a fair estimated guess, about two thirds of Aussies or Kiwis you meet live or have lived in London. Anyway after we’d left reception we heard the steam / drink machine crank up and just as we had selected our site out walks the guy carrying a tray with a warm drink in decorative cup, with sachets of lemon and honey, 'for the lady’.
A god looking camping ground, I always rate the ones that provide tables and chairs for us poor tent folk travelling light. Also had a drying room and provided portable drying racks so you can hang up clothes outside then move them indoors at night.
Oh I found out that the Cats lost to the Magpies, not good. Still think we can get up in the finals but I would rather have shut them up now. Not a problem I’ll have to deal with until 10 September onwards I guess.
Sunday 8 August 2010, Heiligenblut, Austria
Very cold overnight, and at first light quite warm as the temperature went up easily 15 degrees. Funny, when I did poke my head out again to take a look about half the camp around us had packed up as soon as they arrived, the mobile homes taking no time at all to hit the road.
Churchbells went crazy like they did in Switzerland and Slovenia, last night we even had a piper playing a tune resembling the ‘last post’ about quarter to ten. Then another hour later the fire station went berserk, and you could hear engines taking off somewhere.
A very slow day today, day of rest if you like. Had lunch at camp (toasted sandwiches) then went into town for an apple strudel. Quite entertaining waiter at the restaurant, greeting everybody with a ‘helloooooooo’ and then saying ‘soooooo’ as he went to take their orders. A family of four on the table behind me spent €139.60! Oh my dear.
Anyway not much else happened today, had a kick of football on a rough pitch but it had proper goals, that was quite fun. Shared it with a Spanish man and his son (or grandson, he looked bloody old but who knows).
Loved the dinner tonight, cooked some of those Knodels we bought from Aldi. I had them with some soup (Cassie ate the soup separate). But we had to eat it in the car, as it really bucketed down.
Monday 9 August 2010, Heiligenblut, Austria
After yesterday’s rest we set off late this morning to see the much-famed Großglockner, and drove on the also much-famed, particularly among motorcyclists, Großglockner Hochalpenstraße. Cost us €28 for a one-day pass, the road was difficult to construct and remains difficult to maintain, but is no doubt a ripper of a money-spinner to their now-private owners, after it was built between 1930 and 1935. It was a nice enough drive, quite steep and windy with terrific views. And motorbikes cruising past in an attempt to break their new record time to the top.
There was a few nice stops on the way from Heiligenblut to the major stop with the best view of the glacier. This only covered about 15% of the road but this is where the main action is, most people seem to come from the northern side closer to Zell am See.
Had lunch overlooking the huge glacier, usually avoid mountain-top restaurants but this one was quite reasonably priced (other than the coffees). I had a turkey-schnitzel with chips, I managed to order this one in German perfectly along with the Almdudler soft drink, but for Cassie’s I had to revert to the usual ‘vegetable soup’, forgetting the German word for this.
Quite a massive visitors centre and five story car park, it was totally free and perhaps for this reason nobody bothered going in. We saw about 10% of it, it was quite good. Lots of physical displays plus a special on Kaiser Franz-Josef that was quite informative. (If I were Austrian I’d still be pissed off at how badly they blew it back in 1914, then again who would have thought France would arc up over their minor war with Serbia? Personally I think they were looking for any excuse to take on Austria-Hungary and Germany, although it backfired overall they seem to have came out on top).
Cassie went to have a rest and I caught a funicular down to the glacier. Well, about halfway down to the glacier, quite a steep walk down the steep valley to the glacier. This may be in part due to the fact the glacier has been receding badly. As you walk down the one maybe one-fifty metre descent they have markings where the glacier used to be. In 2005 it was easily 30 metres higher than today! If anyone doesn’t believe in climate-change, get them to come here.
Had a great time down there, saw the glacier crumbling right in front of me in huge chunks with a great splash into the water. It actually looks like dirt and rock but this is just the sediment (slowly) carried down from the top of the mountain, it is actually all ice, and very thick.
Walked past the sign warning you in no uncertain terms you’re on your own as it’s very dangerous (along with every other man, woman, child, baby, grandparent and dog) onto the glacier with all the stunning crevices I’d seen from the top. It was quite cold, the wind sweeping from the top of the mountain along the valley and beyond, picked up quite a chill along the way. Glad I changed into trousers! Cool looking inside the crevices although they were tricky to negotiate.
Cloudy day today so couldn’t really see the Großglockner proper but we’d seen it from the camp over the past two days so that was fine. Drove a bit farther along the road but soon turned around back for camp.
Signs to watch out for ‘marmots’, beaver looking creatures that apparently inhabit the area en masse. We unfortunately didn’t see any, though in a way it’s fortunate as I’d hate to see bodies covering the road like the poor old Tassie Devils do in the apple isle.
Cooked what was a bit of a ‘last supper’; last time cooking meals ourselves (we think), and certainly last time in the tent. We will really miss the camping and cooking although probably not the crappy sleeping mats. They are the kind you inflate like the Thermarest you may have heard of but they’re just awful. Had a bit of fun reminiscing about the past five weeks and how well it’s all turned out, other than the bank card (had another fruitless call with Nationwide today, gee they’re hopeless!) Once again we were mistaken by one of our ‘fellow’ Germans, I am used to setting the record straight now..
Realised after the last few weeks that our ‘mozzie candle’ is very likely one of those tinted red candles religious types place en mass at grave sites, roadside holy vigils and in chapels. Oh well, it has served us pretty well and given us protection of sorts! Didn’t ward off Cassie’s dreadful illness though, her tonsils better now but throat very sore still (I left off most of the symptoms).
Cassie had a close encounter with a black squirrel. I’d wandered off to do something and this cute thing appeared on the rock wall behind the tent, but appeared to be eyeing off our bag of pretzels. So Cassie went up to grab them and the poor thing shot off at great pace. I laid out a few pretzels and walnuts to try to lure it back but it wasn’t until the early the next morning we heard a funny noise.. I looked outside once and didn’t see anything. Heard it again and Cass was sure it was the squirrel back for more; I looked up the tree this time and saw it cautiously creeping down. He grabbed a few nuts and shot off again!
