17th August 2010

Aaaahhhh!! What to do today. Time is running out for us here in Forstau and still so much to see. Again the forecast is not great but we'll have to take our chances. I read in one of my hiking books about a dam in one of the valleys. It took us about 1.5 hours to drive there and I was hoping it was going to be worth it in the end. There are 2 dams here, the lower one is called Wasserfallboden and the higher one is called Mooserboden. We drove to the end of the valley as far as we could go and ended up at a giant 6 storey carpark. This should have been our first clue as to the popularity and beauty of what we were about to see. The next 20 minutes that it took us to get to the top dam was nothing short of amazing. We bought our tickets to visit the dam ,were herded into a bus and off we went. Straight into a long and dark tunnel at break-neck speed. I think they only know 2 speeds over here, stop or flat out.We were holding on for grim death. The tunnel was so narrow you could have put your arm out of the window of the bus and touched the side wall of the tunnel and not been able to straighten your arm. And he just flew. Luckily we made it safely out of the tunnel and found waiting for us on the other side was a vertical lift, the Larchwand Funicular. I have never heard of a vertical lift before, but this was interesting. The lift carries passengers up the mountain and can hold 185 people, has a gradient of 82% and has a capacity to carry 20 tonnes.

When we got to the top lift station, we found another bus waiting for us to take us the final stage to the Mooserboden Dam. Well!! If we thought the first bus was scary, this was 10 times worse. And 10 times longer. Through tunnel after tunnel, and around sharp corners with sheer drops down one side, going higher and higher the whole time.It was with relief that we finally arrived. And let me tell you, there would not be enough superlatives to describe this location!! Simply stunning!!

This water from the Mooserboden Dam, the Wasserfallboden and 3 others that are all connected throughout the area is used to generate electricity for all of Austria. It is an amazing project and an amazing sight. We had intended doing a hike but got tied up with the view, having a tour of the information centre and watching a DVD on the dams and how the power is generated and how it was originally built. By the time we had spent about 2.5 hours there, the clouds started to form and within 10 minutes, you could hardly see 10 metres in front of you. So we decided that we had enjoyed our trip and headed back down to the carpark and home. What a great day!!