Sonnjoch

Such a beautiful day today.
I picked up some hiking sticks from reception and went to wait for the transport to Gern alm, basically a cafe/bnb west of Pertisau at the base of the mountains. A lot of walkers and cyclists stop there before going further.

The transport was a litle truck pulling a trailer. All very quaint and good fun.
It is in the Karwendal National park but national parks here aren't like those in Australia. There are people living here and grazing cattle. The cows actually have bells! I could here them as we made our way through the park.

The gasthaus was cute. I had a strudel of indeterminate nature as the server rattled off all the cakes, I didn't understand most of what she said so I just picked the last thing she said!
I think it was cream cheese in the strudel. It was nice if a little heavy.

I then tried my hiking poles out. They definitely made things easier and gave the the confidence to tackle a narrow path. I didn't get far though as I had to be back to catch the truck back to Pertisau.

I timed it quite well and after a short wait I caught the bus into Maurach and took the cable car up the Rofan mountains.
This was certainly busier with four alm huttes (restaurants) plus the rofanair, in which you are suspended as if paragliding, sent along a cable then come back at hgh speed. The squeals of fear/excitement spoilt the atmosphere a bit but only a bit.
I got a bit more adventurous (by my standards) with the walking and spent a pleasant hour or so walking uphill and downhill and sitting, resting and just watching.

One thing I really struggle with is how to order food at cafes/restaurants. There does't seem to be a clear way to tell if you sit down and order or order from the till. I sat at the alm hutte for about 15 minutes before observing people going inside to order. It has stumped me quite a few times. There is obviously some big social cue I am missing.

The menu had english translation which listed "vegetarian food with dumplings and ravioli" which sounded interesting. It turned out to be 3 spinach and cheese filled ravioli, a spinach and cheese dumpling and a potato and cheese dumpling. All very nice.

I headed back to Pertisau and decided to visit the Shale oil museum. It was small but intetesting. One family has been mining shale rock and extracting oil from it for over 100 years. Because of the reasonably high oil content the rocks will actually burn once lit.
The oil has all sorts of magical properties. I bought some foot cream that will leave my tired feet refreshed! It seems to have peppermint in it as well so my feet will smell nice if nothing else. I changed the blister dressing on my feet last week and it made such a difference. I hadn't realised how painful my feet were until they weren't. They seem fine now, just a bit sore at the end of the day.

The weather must have been good for paragliding this afternoon. There were 2-3 in the air consistently for about 2 hours. I sat by the lake then on my balcony watching them.

Photos:
Gern alm
The transport!
Cows with bells!
The rofan air
Achensee from Rofan mountain, Pertisau is just vidable in the right of the photo.
The shale rock is the dark rock.Read more