Falls Creek

I was missing the mountains so went Falls Creek for 3 days. Stunning!

Back to Melbourne

We are now back in Melbourne. Kids back at School. But... Sarah has already hightailed up to Falls Creek for 3 days skiing! She still has some leave. I am planning our next adventure.

UK

We had a short side trip to the land of chaos, Boris Johnson and Brexit Sigh!!! But Yorkshire was beautiful as ever!

Mallam Cove

Ripley Church

Hard Climb up a Waterfall at Mallam

Euro Pop

We say no to Euro Pop. Hey, Hey Fantico....

Base Jumping in the Dolomites

Alex jumps off a cliff in the Dolomites

Rotstockhütte Best Walk Ever!

We did a fantastic ridge walk called Rotstockhütte with views of Eiger and Jungfrau. This is best walk I have ever done and views are probably the best I have seen in the world. 

Piz Gloria (on top of Schilthorn left)

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Eiger, Monk and Jungfrau.

On top of the ridge wow. 

Schilthorn

We took the cable car to summit of Schilthorn. Piz Gloria 2900m. Sitting on top is the lair of Ernst Stavro Blofeld "Piz Gloria". Here he planned to take over world. 

Cheesy but fun!

James Bond mistakes Alex for a Blofeld minion

View from Cable Car.

Internet on the move part 3 (6 years on!)

A big challenge in 2013 was maintaining an internet connection. My master plan this time was to buy an Aldi SIM card in Germany. It should work throughout Europe and give as affordable connectivity. So we did a big shop in Aldi Süd in München and bought a sim. They needed my passport to register and assured me it would take 12 hours to be active. I also bought a 10 euro top up so 30 Euro total. But despite repeated attempts to top or activate it would not work. The owner of campsite in Berstesgarten tried but nothing worked. So 30 Euro wasted.

What we really needed was GPS to navigate around. I discovered that google maps cached (rememberers) the route and maps really well. So as long as you could find a wifi connection at the start that was enough to get to our destination.

If I needed to change destination I briefly switched on mobile data roaming on my Australian Aldi sim. This was $0.50 but as long as only used for maps it did not work too bad.

In summary maintaining an affordable connection on the move is still challenging. And Aldi Germany owe 30 Euro!!!

Nature & Lodge - Camping Les Domes de Miage, Saint-Gervais-les-Bains: review

We arrived at this Saint-Gervais-les-Bains in late July. It coincided with hottest summer on record in France. Everywhere in France was roasting but here it was still wonderfully cool in evenings. The campsite was full but still charming and relaxed.

The owners were very helpful and worked tirelessly to keep everything clean and ordered. One of the best campsites we have found in six years of travelling Europe.

Highlights

• Location
• Setting
• Free shuttle bus to town
• Owners friendly and helpful 

Note: Unisex bathrooms!

9/10!

Stream runs through the middle of the campsite

Return to Mount Jolly

Sarah was keen to climb Mont Jolly. So we climbed it again but this time walked on to the pretty village of Les Contamines-Montjoie. Stunning! A long steep hike.

Sent from my iPhone

Train up Mont Blanc

We had a fantastic day going up the 100 year old MTB (Mt Blanc Tramway). We went to the top (Nid d'Aigle at 2362m) and had lunch near the glacier. We descended to the net station (Bellevue) and walked to Col de Voza (1663m) and did a loop walk to Bellevue. Stopped and had ice cream at Hotel Prarion which had amazing views over Mt Blanc.

Mt Blanc at Col de Voza

Mont Joly 2025m

The boys walked to the top of Mount Jolly. Directly opposite is Mont Blanc at 4,600m!

View of Mont Blanc

Isloa de Bella

Isola de Bella is on Lake Maggiore.
Building started in 1650 by Count Borromeo who converted a barren rock into a 'palace of delights'.
Lots of chandeliers, dodgy paintings and crazy OTT furniture but the gardens and views from the palace were fantastic.
Added to by the sounds of the X-cats (speed boats) world championships racing round the island.

Mont Blanc

Stunning

France

Camping Italia Lido

We have chosen our campsites well but Camping Italia Lido is an exception. Very poor campsite on the bottom end of Maggiore.

Problems

• Poor bathrooms
• Overcrowded
• Next door a marina with boats speeding up and down the channel where you swim. 
• Old facilities 
• Poor location with no where easy to walk to. 

Overall

2/10 

Strong advice: avoid!

Dire campsite on the shores of Lake Maggiore.

Camping Bella Verde

Camping Bella Verde is one of best campsites we have visited. 

• Highlights:
• Great setting surrounded by mountains
• Free wifi thats works!
• Private bathrooms available (10 euros a day but worth it!)
• Great food

8.5/10

Damage from storm in October 2018

Lago Di Garda, Biacesa

We stopped off at the small picturesque village of Biacesa on the Northern shores of Lake Garda hoping to be able to do a via ferrata. It was a very steep climb up with fantastic views over the valley and lake garda, but we didn't realise you needed a harness and there was nowhere to hire them....
very disappointed kids... just about redeemed by berry cheese cake at the lovely cafe at the bottom...

Lake Garda