Ok, so I've kind of recovered from the shock of Steve Irwins death... it really is sad though, as I admired his enthusiam and passion. He was doing so many great things and really educating all age groups about various creatures that were not so popular & therefore not getting a look-in as far as conservation goes. Some examples of these great things include: promoting habitat protection by buying up land in the brigalow belt; contributing to valuble overseas charities; supporting QPWS with the croc-wise public education campaign and the'crocs in space' research program; and he'd also just completed a five-weekresearch trip on Cape York Peninsula working on tracking crocodile dive patterns). I applaud his work & hope that his legacy lives on - even stronger than before.

Anyway - back to the travel journal right :-) for the last three days i have been partaking in the Adler walking program (http://info.hotel-adler.com/content.asp?L=3&IdMen=284). It has been spectacular!! I'm bummed I can't download photos to this internet terminal because pictures would really help with the story. But here's a link with some good pics, just to give you an idea (of course competely diff in winter): http://www.dolomitesworld.com/photo_gallery/val_gardena_summer.asp

So Mum & Juliet (Anthony's wife) arrived yesterday after their couple of days in Venice. They were there for some regatta, which was apparently entertaining (& the two blokes that won apparently had super big cannons). They unfortunately stayed in an over-rated dive for 100€ a night (hotel santa lucia). My 20€ motel room kicked-ass over theirs it seems.

they arrived in the afternoon after catching a train (20€-ish pp), then a bus from bolzano (hr 4.40€ pp). Dad took Mum for a ride on one of the chairlifts - she loved it. Then a five course dinner as usual (small courses, thankgod) and a walk in the main street. quite funny actually, mum kept saying 'we're in Disneyland' and 'We're on a movie set' - exactly the same sentiments I was voicing the first time I saw ortisei. and last night there were all these people walking around in traditional costumes too, so that added to the surrealism.

It's a beautiful area of the world - great backdrop. But it is a bit strange being in a mainly dual-lingual place, I never know whether to speak Italian or German or what language people are speaking to me in (this place was originally part of Austria but in the war, Italy received it into its territory).

Anyway hopefully i can report on the spa, saunas, pools and beauty treatments at later date.

EDIT: some pics added (10/09/06):

The Adler Hotel (Dad and Anthony out the front)


Walk on the first day - check out those vapour trails. This is on the edge of the Rasciesa plateau.







Lovely background (Sassolungo)



Spot me there.. go on. This was my favourite place in the Dolomites. Walk 8/09/06 to between some of the Sassolungo group of mountains. The water-flow is ice and this area gets some snow in Summer. In the Winter, the snow can be more than 20m deep in this valley between the towering rocks.


On the walk up - Refugio Vicenza was at about 2300m high. Gets food, supplies delivered twice a year by helicopter. (The dog is the Adler's dog - he likes going on walks and the chairlifts.)









This is a game called spot the marmot - pic of its back end only...