Austria

Our trip to Austria was different to the rest of our trip thus far in two ways. Firstly, we were going to be spending time in smaller, more rural areas as opposed to big cities, and secondly, we would be joining the whole Heslop clan for Christmas and New Year. Our Austrian adventure consisted of six nights at St Wolfgang on Wolfgangsee, just southeast of Salzburg, and five nights at a ski resort in Kaprun.

For Bob's ''belated-by-covid'' 70th birthday celebration, the Heslops had rented part of an amazing chateau part way up the hill overlooking the lake. When we awoke the next morning the view out of our glass-fronted room was simply breathtaking. A 180-degree view of snowcapped mountains, green grass, wood cabins and turquoise blue, glassy water. You can't make this stuff up.

St Wolfgang is a charming place. Less famous than nearby Halstatt (made famous by the Windows screensaver shot of it), St Wolfgang is still a very popular place in summer, particularly with Chinese tourists. In winter, not so much. The place was nearly deserted, which suited us just fine. There were just a handful of shops open, with many of the Christmas shop owners having shut up shop by the 22nd and disappeared off until spring. We spent our days wandering through the village, taking the ferry to nearby St Gilgen, exploring the forest and mountain behind the house, or simply sitting in our lounge and gaping at the incredible view.

Christmas was, needless to say, quite a different affair to our conventional South African celebrations. We nearly had beans on toast for Christmas dinner when we discovered that all the shops in the village shut on 24 December. However, Anne and Nick manage to catch a bus to track down a turkey in nearby Strobl, which we complemented with roast potatoes and green beans. Cornflake and sausage stuffing is now a thing. On Christmas Day we braved the Schafbergbahn - Austria's steepest cog railway up the Schafberg, in operation since 1893. The ride was incredibly steep, but the view were stunning and worth it. The snow prevented us from getting to the very top, but we got out at the second to last station and the kids dived into their first thick snow to build a snow man, throw snowballs and 'bum board' on the plastic slides we had bought in Prague (some of the grown ups gave bum boarding a go - you cannot bum board with elegance).

We were all sad to say goodbye to our luxury digs and the stunning view, but knew that our next stop in Kaprun held a different kind of excitement and adventure. Kaprun and its nearby neighbour of Zell am See are well-known ski destinations. Kaprun is notable for having skiing as early as October thanks to the glacier alongside its highest peak, Kitzsteinhorn. As we arrived, we noticed the vibe in Kaprun was completely different to St Wolfgang - lots of bright ski suits, ski schools and rental shops on every corner...and money. The wealthy from all over Europe and further afield come here to ski and the South African kippies who had hardly seen snow felt rather out of place. We had to do a lot of quick research about what we needed, how and where to rent it, where to get ski passes, where to go, and, most importantly...how to ski! We had intended to spend the first day getting some skiing lessons, but this was not to be. All the places we went to either had no space or wanted us to sign up for more days than we had. Ain't nobody got time for dat. So we resorted to YouTube!

Thirty minutes of YouTube tutorials later (and a bit of input from Grandpa who had spent a season on the slopes in his youth), and we joined the beginners on the beginner slope, up the road from our spot. Adult learners have to dig deep, while tiny tots who can barely walk, come flying past in little trains of colour and speed! By the end of day 1, those with skiing legs had found them, while others of us were still making friends with the button lift and snow-plough. Day 2 and all the boys (aged between 9 and 72) headed onto the blue run at Maiskogel - it sounded fun, daunting and exhausting, and by Day 3 there was more confidence all round, with Carys joining Daniel and Nick for the 7km run down the Maiskoglbahn. Next time, we know to book lessons ahead of time, but thanks to the YouTube teachers this time around! Anne and Nicola also ventured up to the 3200m viewing platform at the top of the Kitzsteinhorn to get a close-up view of the glacier and panoramic view of the eastern Alps. Memorable stuff.

We had met up with much excitement, and it was with equal sadness that we parted company to go our separate ways again. Carys and I had real pangs of homesickness - the travel downer that is an inevitable part of the deal. Those moments when embarking another day of travel feels hard, when you wonder what you're doing trekking around the place, and when you long for the comforts and familiarity of home and your people. It's an important part of travel to step into - other moments like these have really increased my appreciation for all that is so easy to take for granted in the familiarity of home. So we said soggy goodbyes, and stepped into a looooong day of bus-train-train-train-train-train-bus-bus to cross Austria and Liechtenstein to reach wonderful Carine in Switzerland...