Murray to Mountains Rail Trail

Hello,

I'm back again. My first Australian expedition was just a 3 day trip on the rail trail from last Wednesday. The rail trail is called the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail but it essentially, at the moment, is just a rail trail from Bright to Wangaratta. The first day I cycled from Bright to Beechworth (75 km). This was a real killer as the last 15km was (gradual) uphill and I was out of condition (also there were a few trees across the path due to a storm the previous day which resulted in landslides across the Great Alpine Road). The second day was from Beechworth to Wangaratta - a short and easy 43 km. The final day was the return to Bright (85 km) - a lot easier than I thought - probably because it was cooler, and I had less weight (both in my backpack and on me). Nappy rash was the only problem (I will leave that topic there).

Not a lot happened on the trip - there weren't a lot of people on the trail - a school group and a women's cycling group. There were a few animals: rabbits, rosellas, and an echidna that I nearly ran over on the trail (he reacted quicker than I did). Then there was the eagles, hawks etc. They would disconcertingly fly over - have a look - think, no, too big and then fly on. Then there was the football field in Wangratta which, as it it was not being used for football, seemed to be used to grow wheat or something.

On the domestic front, there have been a few more adventures - mainly with animals (and I have only been up here in Bright just over a month):

• Local television news is interesting. Apart from what rates as news you learn about interesting things. There was the story about COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). COPD is a term used to describe a number of lung conditions and the support group in this region calls itself the Murray Wheezers. Then there is the the trial of bow fishing in rivers that is to commence - yes, fishing with a bow and arrow. At least a fishing line gives them an even chance and only the dumb fish die. I wonder whether fish shooting is next.
• The animal interactions have been many and varied. There is the the two blue tongue lizards that have moved into the garage. I inadvertently gave the younger one a ride on the garage roller door the other day as it decided to take a rest on the lip of it. There is the blue wren that comes to visit everyday - mainly to look at its reflection - and it usually comes when I have the musuc on. Completely non-fazed with me being here. When I went walking I saw this weird dog - it was a kelpie in the front but it had a white wolf/coyote shaped tail with black stripes. Mated with a Tasmaian Tiger? Zebra? Then there was the spider in the tolietr roll - as in between the sheets of paper - that was a surprise but the spider was cleaely worse for wear. Anf finally, I had a thrip infestation when I had all the windows open. I only noticed them when there was a pile of the insects on the floor. They had apparently cooked themselves on the light. Annoying and stupid.

Well that's it, here are some photos from the rail trail trip.  Have a great Christmas and News Year!

Lake Sambell, Beechworth

Beechworth

Beechworth

Beechworth

Beechworth

Lemon Scented Gum plated in 1901 to commemorate Ferderation at site of old Tarrawingie station

Wangratta

 

I'm Back

Well actually I have been back for three weeks. Just been busy relocating (full time) to Bright and claiming back the garden from the weeds. I discovered that I have a lot of stuff - some of which has been disposed of and the rest of which is at least neatly packed away now.

Anywyay, final observations from my last days in Slovenia and my flight back...

One of the cable TV stations available in Slovenia is the Serbian station Happy TV - but it is far from happy as they have this Big Brother type programme on most of the time called Parovi (Couples) which mainly features people shouting and talking over each other. Everytime I tuned past that's what they were doing - I don't know how people can watch it, it is very stressful.

On one of my last trips to Ljubljana, I saw the same man sitting at the bus station - this time with no bananas. On the same bus were some German tourists who on getting to Koper (where you catch the train to the capital Ljubljana, where I was going too) they rushed to the ticket office then proceeded to sit on the train for an hour. I don't know whether they were afraid they weren't going to get a seat but they need not have worried - it is always nearly empty (except on weekends). On the last day before I left I decided to visit the Piran Aquarium which is only small and located on the bottom floor of the old Customs House. One thing that both concerned me and raised my suspicions were the number of fish packed into comparatively small tanks. They were the sort of "holding" tanks you see at some restaurants. It may only be a coincidence that it is located 100m from the waterfront restaurants but I think I will make a return visit next year just to check if the residents are the same.

The flights back was fairly uneventful except:

• when the plane landed at Frankfurt (from Ljubljana) we were  greeted by police who were doing passport checks of dodgy looking passengers
• On the flight from Frankfurt to Singapore as I was getting on two people in the row in front of me were already sleeping with chairs reclined back but as soon as we were ready to take off they woke up (I don't know whether they forgot to get off the plane on a previous flight). Of course as I was getting in I "accidentally" bumped the seats a couple of times (well there wasn't a lot of space). Plus during the whole flight they wore their padded jackets.
• When we landed at Singapore they had Christmas decorations all over the place - remember this is the end of October and it's Singapore.

Well that's it. My next trip, and blog, will be late next month when I probably will do a tour of (cycle) rail trails in North East Victoria. 

And finally some pictures from Bright, from the Cherry Walk, my favourite short walk near Bright, it runs along both sides of the Ovens River.

 

Last Blog from Europe...For Now

Hello for the final time from Europe.

Weather has been cooler but all over the place. Day before yesterday, sunny, about 18. Yesterday sunny but very windy. Today a nice day again. Otherwise it has been raining and/or cloudy! Anyway flying back tomorrow (Saturday).

Anyway, a few final bits and pieces...

Personal Issues

While I have been here my eye sight has improved remarkbly - I can see a lot further now than I could before. I can see mountains across the sea in Italy I couldn't see before. And I can see the buildings in Trieste over the horizon from Piran. Croatia, across the Piran sea, also seems closer now. Or so I thought - as my cousin pointed out, it's just the air is clearer now - there is less dust and haze than there was in the Summer. Yes.

I don't like to shave (but it's not a good look, so I don't have any choice) but I do know when it is time to shave and that's when I start finding jam in my beard. 

Wildlife in Piran

Well there is not much of it with little greenery about. There are some seabirds and pidgeons of course but I didn't expect owls. I don't know where these things live but they are like roosters - they call out to each other early in the morning and before sunset. Haven't heard them for a while - so they have probably flown to somewhere a bit warmer and less windy - they are clearly not stupid.

Trains in Slovenia

Trains are more comfortable and cheaper here but have a real problem with punctuality. A bit of a contrast to the Albury train which shakes so much old people are scared of losing their false teeth. They also have a more casual approach to security. On some types of trains, the door is open to the driver's cabin (or rather left open), so you can see what goes on and people have a chat to the driver from time to time. One thing I have learnt is that you can drive a train with your hands behind your head. The more casual approach is not necessarily evidence of laziiness but a better balance between work and maintaining personal relationships (butnot always!!). I have seen this with bus drivers sharing jokes with other drivers, passengers and friends they come across. You never ignore anybody here, even when you come into a shop you say good day to the staff.

Toilets 

In Slovenia they seem to have given up the old approach of charging for use of toilets at bus and train stations. There has accordingly been a decline in quality with the one at Ljubljana train station not really having any working hand drying facilities. In Italy, they are not sure - charging nothing or between 50-80 Euros for their use. In Trieste there was competition with the bus station charging 50 Euros but the train station next door charging nothing. Talking about Trieste train station - in their toilets they have replicated the system they use in their trains with foot pedals to turn the water on at the hand basins. Which reminds me on one train I came across a toilet which was spraying water up from the bowl - don't think it was supposed to be a bidet.

Interesting People

I travelled on the same bus two days in a row and came across the same man sitting in the same bus shelter, near a supermarket, with a large bag of bananas and some other groceries. Have not seen him there at any other time and he was not catching the bus.

On another bus trip - when the driver got off to deliver some paperwork, an American tourist got off the bus, went sort of around the corner of the train station - vomited a few times and got back on the bus as if nothing happened. Obviously a big night.

Then when I was waiting at a train station, a woman was closing a shop. She checked the door, then gave it another tug, then went down the platform and disappeared for a little while and then came back and checked for at third time. Alzheimers or risk averse?

Then there is the man I have seen a couple of times and it's the same each time - he comes on the bus really slowly, fumbles around, and takes an eternity to sit down. At first I thought he was disabled as he took so long to get into his seat. But when he gets off at his stop he seems to get a burst of energy, he literally bounds down the steps. Coming home from work I guess.

And the other day, the bus had to stop for a large group of kindergarten children crossing the street on an excursion. It was hilarious, some of the children were more fascinated by the bus rather than looking where they were going and some even went out of their way to wave to the bus (I guess that's what you do when you see a bus). The adults had a hard time keeping things going. You could see t was only going to get harder.

Slovenian Bluntness

This is something that I have noticed more and more. In the shops, the shop assistants aren't afraid to tell you if you have made a good purchase and bagging other products they sell, without any prompting. Sports commentators are the funniest - they are brutally honest, "unbelievable" is one of their favourite terms. And if the team is Slovenian they are even more brutal. One commentator described a soccer game as being a competition to see which team had the worst central defender. This is extended even to the work place - I saw a bus driver arguing with a ticket inspector who had a go at him for not making sure passengers took their ticket from the ticket machine on the bus. The driver, rightly, pointed out that on the bus the machine is behind him (so he cant see) - unlike every other bus which has the machine at the side of the driver.

The Day I was Too Observant

It all started when I went to the ATM - it wouldn't take my card and then I identified the problem: there was 50 euros left in the machine (a lot of money). Somehow on this occasion I remembered and observed that a woman in a crimson top had been using the machine a minute or so before me. So I had a look around, with another person, found her and called out to her - she was more embarrassed than grateful! The same thing happened when at the supermarket checkout the woman in front of me forgot her raspberries in her basket.

Overview

It has been an interesting time with still a lot of work to be done on the apartment. But it is great to have a base in Europe. Next year I will have more time to do extended walks and bike rides. Importantly, I have worked out the money and the numbers, built up my Slovenian vocabulary slightly (but a lot more confident in using it) , and worked out how things work in general in a comparatively short period of time...

Anyway, that's it and now for the final pictures from Europe...

Piran on a nice day

Piran on a rainy day

Nanos (near Postojna, the area my parents come from)

Village near Postojna Cave

Entrance to Postojna Cave

Postojna

Another Visit to Austria

Hello from Piran,

Needed to see some big mountains so I went to Innsbruck, which is the capital of the Tyrol region in the west of Austria, last week. About a 10 hour train and bus trip across Slovenia, Italy, and Austria. It's one of my favourite places having been introduced to alpine walking by the free guided hiking program that is run by the Alpinschule Innsbruck - you take a bus from Innsbruck to the nearby mountains and then the guides take you on a walk of 4-5 hours, usually up to a mountain hut.
Innsbruck is an old and beautiful city as you will see from the photos, and was in fact the capital of Austria for a while when Vienna was in other hands. I stayed at the Weisses Kreuz (White Cross) guesthouse again which goes back to the 1500s (Mozart stayed there, but then he did stay in a lot of places around Austria) and at the Goldene Adler (Golden Eagle) guesthouse, which is slightly older, having operated since 1303!
When I got there the weather was great but the following day, when I went up the Nordkette moutain cable car, the weather was poor, no visibility at the top (and cold) but it was a bit clearer lower down. And then went on the hop on hop off bus, visited Ambras Castle (or rather two, as there is a lower and upper castle), with its magnificent Spanish Hall - with I don't know how many huge portraits (ses pictures). But the real treat was the trip back on the train with snow having fallen (and falling!) in mountain villages south of Innsbruck - which stopped when we crossed the Brenner pass into Italy. Magical!

Travelling

The trip involved a lot of travel through Italy. And I must say that the Italian trains were (again) very good and on time. However the conductor I had on one of the trains was an interesting one. Fine, 40 years old and with a pony tail but when he came back to the same carriage (30 minutes later) and wanted to check the same tickets again, I was concerned; a train conductor with Alzheimers is going to have a very short career ahead of him. Conductors in Italy have military style caps (and uniform for that matter) but not all wear them. Those that do look like they have just taken over the train in a coup and a military junta is running the train, rather than being there just to check tickets. 

At Italian train stations they have things called Self Bars. No ,this is not where you go to have a drink by yourself. It's in fact a group of machines that dispense drinks and snacks.

Another interesting thing is the lack of signage in Italy at train stations. You have to look really hard to find out which station the train stopped at. By contrast there were heaps of signs warning people to stand behind the yellow line. This is a tradition the Slovenians seen to have inherited - the Italians having built most of the infrastructure when they controlled western Slovenia. But in Slovenia they sometimes don't even announce the stations before the train stops! In Austria, by contrast, you can't have too many station signs - even signs before the station (which can be a bit confusing sometimes!).

From Verona to Innsbruck I caught the same train, heading to Munich, that I did for my bike trip which was overflowing with refugees at that time. This time there were hardly any and State police in Italy removed them at Bozen (there were 4) because they had no papers. A passenger, in English (so not a local) started arguing with police about why they had checked their documents and not others (der!) but in fact in our part of the carriage they checked others' (including mine). But arguing with police in their country, really?

Tourists

Well there was a lot of them. It is the perfect place for tourists with so much to see even in October when it was getting cooler (Innsbruck has an average temperature of 8 degrees - so it must really get cold in Winter!). There were the Chinese groups swarming from shop to shop and being particularly attracted by shiny things - such as the Svarovski crystal shop.

Then there were the Italians - as I said they were stalking me - at dinner I was surrounded. Next to me were an Italian couple who had enough courtesy to talk to the waiter in English rather than assume they knew Italian unlike the old man who came in with his German shepherd (ironically) and started issuing demands in Italian, assuming they understood. I don't know whether he ended up with what he ordered - I hope he did, only for the sake of the waiter.

They were also there at the Cable Car station and in the same cable cars well. There were three of them who appeared to be deaf as they were talking so loudly. They probably took a dozen photos of themselves even before we got on the cable car. But one of them was not content with that - she kept on looking at herself in the phone, and on one occasion one of the men muscled in on the action to check themselves out too.The carrying on continued until we got to the top when the cold finally stopped the talking and on the way down they didn't look happy.

They were even at breakfast - one couple had just fruit and cake - I guess that balances out. When they came to breakfast there was this frantic period of 5 minutes when they were carting all they were to eat to their table - it's as if the food was to run out soon or it was going to be taken way. Anyway, they came to the breakfast room after me and left before me - having eaten by my estimation twice the amount I had. It was like a typhoon.

Another observation, some travellers carry too much - particularly older ones. The size of some of the suitcases are incredible (you think they wee going away for a year) and not surprisingly they struggle to find somewhere to put them - let alone put them up in one of the racks in the trains. I don't think some of them put much thought into it. Should be a rule, if you can't lift it up and put it into the racks yourself - its not allowed.

Anyway the pictures...