We left our little Alpine lodge in Tamsweg and headed to our next stop, another small Austrian village called Neukirchen am Grossvenediger or “Neuky” for short.

We called into Radstatt on the way and stopped for a beer in the Bier Garten, as one does!

We continued onto Zell am See for a picnic lunch. It is classed as a “most visited” location in Austria. It was quite pretty with loads of people around.

We then arrived in Neuky. It is classed as a Market town and is at an altitude of 856 metres, but we did venture MUCH MUCH higher, more to follow. Our apartment has views of the surrounding mountains and the cables cars heading up up and up!

Our first night we went ot one of the many local Gasthofs and the meals were delicious. We all enjoyed roasted deer with croquettes and cranberries, wild boar with dumplings and spaetzle with roasted meat. All were YUMMO! Finished off with apples strudel and Kaiserscharn, or Austrian scrambled pancakes. It was a great meal.

Neuky is quite small but typical of the region. It is basically a ski resort but has lovely homes with their window boxes in full bloom!

The next day, being lovely and sunny we decided to venture up the Cable Car to the Wildkogelbahn Bergstation, what a ride! We ascended up to a height of 2091 metres,

We were met by wonderful views and brilliant sunshine. After taking numerous photos, none of which do the actual scenery any justice, (sorry)!

We decided it was time for a drink so we sat on the balcony and admired the stunning views all the way to the Italian Dolomites.

The view of Mount Grosser Rettenstein at 2363 metres was pretty impressive!

We had forgotten that the cable car shut down for an hour over lunchtime , so we had time to go and greet the local wildlife, the cows!

The next day was a day that Greg had been waiting for the whole trip. We “did” the Grossglockner Alpine Road. It is considered one of Austria’s top 3 attractions and the most beautiful panoramic road in Europe. It is 48 kilometres long and goes through the Hohe Tauern National Park. We paid our 40 euro toll and proceeded onwards and upwards. The first photo stop was at Heligenblut am Grossglockner.

Next stop was at Kasereck where the mountains were getting closer, we were getting higher, and Greg was taking more photos!

We found a great spot for our picnic lunch with some wonderful views!

Onwards and upwards again, onto Hochtor at 2504 metres. We had stunning views and also a beer, well why not!

Next stop was Fuscher Tori at 2428 metres where were supposed to have the view of the mountain of Grossglockner which stands at 3798 metres. Sadly, its tip was covered in cloud but the surrounding snowcapped mountains in all directions did well and truly make up for it.

The road is surrounded by 266 mountains and there are 36 hairpin bends all of which are numbered, which makes for a scenic and interesting drive! Luckily Stew was in the front seat so Rhonda had no reason to close her eyes at all. It was a fantastic day, both Greg and Tony did a great job!

Sadly, our photos again do not do the scenery justice, it was absolutely stunning, well worth 40 euros!

The following day it was time to say goodbye to Stew and Lynds. We loved having them with us and showing them some rural life in Austria. We took them to the train station in Innsbruck, so we decided to spend a few hours wandering the Old Town, We found the “Goldenes Dachl”, the Golden Roof, which was a Gothic oriel built in 1420 and decorated with 2657 fire gilt copper tiles.

We loved the elaborate facade of the Baroque Helbling House.

The Imperial Palace was a rather impressive large building completed in 1500. Walking the streets of the Old Town was lovely with great photo ops for Greg.

Whilst having a coffee we noticed loads of people in their national dress. Then a little later we heard the band! We discovered it was a public holiday for Assumption Day and a parade was happening. It was rather spoectacular, we loved the Austrians with their feathered hats!

After all the excitement we needed food and refreshments. We found the Augustiner Beer Garden and settled in for lunch and a beer or 2. It was a great time in Innsbruck and bought back a few memories of our only visit there back in 2001.

Yesterday we took a drive to visit the small Alpine town of Kitsbuhel. It is said to be “one of the most famous and exclusive ski resorts in the world” and frequented by “International High Society”. Hence we had to go!

We had to admit that although touristy it was “picture postcard perfect”. The Medieval main drag was full of beautiful colourful buildings, a photographer’s paradise! Lucky Greg!

So tomorrow we leave Neuky and Austria and head to Tubingen in Germany for 4 nights. Our time is drawing to an end very quickly, but we have left the best till last as for our last 3 nights we are in our favourite spot in Europe, Lenzerheide with our Swiss Family and will meet our new “Swiss Grandson” for the first time. We are very excited!

So now it’s time to pack.

By the way the weather has certainly warmed up, high 20’s with mid 30’s expected next week! Will be hard to acclimatise back in chilly old Melbourne.

Love to everyone

Greg and Rhonda