A drive through Salzburgerland

Today we hired a car and drove south-east to a little town called Pfandl, by Bad Ischl. The reason for this visit was not nice; my dear friend Markus was killed in a car crash at the end of January, and I had to visit his grave to really believe it was real.

However solemn the drive was, it was still beautiful. We drove along the highway, past giant mountains still topped with snow, and down along lakesides of Wolfgangsee. The little towns and farms along this drive we're so well kept, so traditional; some were so big and others were positioned almost over the water. It really was so picturesque.

Once we reached Markus, Diana and I took our time to say goodbye to our lovely friend; I wrote a card while sitting there. I had carried it since Auckland and couldn't find the words to write in it until I reached his grave...

To celebrate Markus' life, we drove back to St Gilgen - a little town we had driven through to reach Pfandl - and had a beer in the sun for our friend. Here, Diana, Emma and I became better friends as we chatted over pizza about life and it's happenings...

The drive home was a little improvised when I missed the turn to Elsbethan, so we drove this narrow, single-laned road down along a river (and by along I mean right next to, at the bottom of a 6m drop). For those who know me well, I dont like to drive by water, especially if there's a drop involved! So this white-knuckled drive in our Opel Astra wasn't so pleasant, but we came out at Hallien, the town just down from Puch, where my university is!!

So on the way home, I got to show Em the FH! We went up the hill at the back of the campus to look over to Untersberg and watch the sun setting behind this huge mountain. I pointed out my room and had a wee reminisce about our parties, antics and volleyball games we had onsite.

We made it back to Roger & Diana's with minimal incidents; minus a few stalls, we had a good day...