Fact: the Austria scenery is lush.Reason: Plentiful rain(!)
Rain, rain & more rain today - I think we may have had our quota of sun now, hey ho. Earlier in the week we had the sunshine and I doubt anyone would disagree that the mountains still look spectacular in the mist.
Last night's Tyrolean evening was very entertaining - in a curious way?! We were treated to a traditional show of Austrian dances, lederhosen, yodelling and thigh slapping.
Well done to our adults who joined in with the dancing on stage, they were all great sports! One of Stanzach's Village Leaders, Danny, then led the singing with a willing Jeka Rep on stage. The finale must've had our Risk Manager, Alan, on his feet: four axe-wielding Austrians chopping and sawing a tree trunk with the Cubs and Scouts in the front rows excitedly catching pieces of wood as they pinged off! I struggle to find words here.... 'incredible' seems appropriate :-)
Today's Community Project returned to the flood plains to clear rubbish to protect the local environment and wildlife. As a bonus the young people were encouraged to go up to the top of the observation tower, where they could see amazing views of the whole of the Nature Park. Although this project has been referred to as Community Service by some of our keen teenagers(!), this has been so well appreciated by the local volunteers and it is fantastic that our young people have given a little back to the local Austrian Community.
Having fun in new and unique ways is what this trip is all about. Today some of our young people were treated to a 2 mile down hill alpine coaster ride. What's that? I hear you say. Well imagine the Barclays advert with the giant slide. It's similar to that but a real life massive version down the side of the mountain in small kart! A truely unique and fun way to see the Austrian scenery.Thank you for all of your kind wishes and comments, we are are passing these round to all the houses daily!
Sarah
