The night of the 11th i made a presentation at the Rotary Club of Hannes. I wrote the presentation in German, then got Hannes to correct it, then compiled a whole heap of photos and made the presentation at the club that night. It was heaps of fun, i got to talk about school, sydney, and a lot about my family. I used a laptop and a huge screen to show all the photos and things on. I even talked about the animals and flora, because i discovered that a lot of people here didnt know a lot about specific animals at home, so i threw in some piccys there too. At the end i did a part about aussie slang, which lost everyone, and then finally, threw up the words for 'Give me a home among the Gumtrees', and after a few practice rounds had everyone joining in singing with me, even with the actions! We talked about home and everything the whole night, it was great fun.
Then the next morning, we set out to Wolfgangsee. Wolfgangsee is in Salzburg, the state, near Salzburg, the city. It is a small lake, and very deep (at some points up to 200m). We had been invited by a Rotary friend from Hannes' club that i had met the night before, he was a nice guy, very dignified and extreemly into austrian culture, but that was something that i really wanted to learn about, so i was looking forward to it. The drive was good, even though we didnt see much because it was night. We finally got there. Now whats the first thing you think of doing after arriving at about 11 after 3 hours of driving? Sleeping, right? Well, you are way off. We all for some reason donned our togs, and jumped straight into the lake. It was actually really good fun, the water was so warm. Then up above it looked light someone was switching a light on and off. I couldnt actually see any lightning, so i thought it a bit strange, but it came so regularly, and every 4 or 5 seconds. It was so strange. I asked about it, it was like the whole sky lighting up in the middle of day, then going dark again. It is called ?gewitterleuchten which literally translates to thunderstorm shine or gleam, which is exactly what this was. It was the warning that the storm was coming, it was lightning, but above the clouds. It was really incredible, i will never forget sitting in this lake, 11 at night, with these stunning flashes above me.
That night stormed like there was no tomorrow. It was incredible. A huge oak tree was ripped in half next to the house. But all the same, it was weathered. It was not until the next morning that i got a really good look at the lake and the house. It was a really pretty house. And the lake even moreso. Pretty is really an understatement, it was awesome. It was a typical house for the region, with the triangle roof and flower boxes the whole way along. The jetty ran out on to the lake, and the town on the other side framed by mountains above, an island on one side, and the point on the other, with the castle on top, which is now a hotel. It was so picturesque, it was stunning.
We had a great breakfast and then Michi and I threw on our Sunday's best and headed in for Salzburg. We had a concert in Salzburg that we were really looking forward to, so we chatted in the car on the way, looking forward so much to the concert.