You must be back by 9.25

The next morning we had to have the car back to Vienna by 9.25 sharp, otherwise we would have to pay for another day's worth of rental. So we had an early breakfast at 6.30 and jumped back on the road. Feeling much more confident with the driving, I managed to sit comfortably on 150km/h for about an hour... so we covered good time. It is incredible that even at this speed, how quickly people would pass you.

Then we hit Vienna peak hour. Vienna roads are very narrow so it becomes congested very easily. After feeling quite happy with our timing, we started becoming a bit nervous. We had to drive literally through the centre of town to get to the car hire place... plus we had to still fill the car with petrol before dropping it off. We got to the petrol station near the car hire place with about 15 minutes to go. We then speed to the car hire place, arriving with only 1 minute to spare.

Having just narrowly avoided being stung for another couple of hundred Euros, it was time to jump in a cab and cross back to the other side of Vienna to pick up the van. We have got ourselves a Mercedes 3 seater which is quite comfortable. Well it is comfortable for 3 of the team...however the 4th is in the back with the balloon. As I write this, we are driving somewhere through Austria and I am in the back of the van, sitting on the envelope with no windows to the outside or into the main cab. To communicate with the others I have to yell through the wall. Actually, apart from being hot and stuffy... it is quite comfortable here and a good time to catch up on the blogging.

Anyway back to the day’s events. Once we picked up the van we headed down to Hofkirchen where the event is being held. This took about an hour. We then proceeded to drive around the hills of Stubenberg to find the house that we were staying. The GPS (Amy) took us to what she thought was the address, but after having a very confusing conversation with the house owner we determined that we were not in the right place and she did not look like she wanted us to move in.

We eventually found the right place and we are now living in a nice little loft apartment on top of a huge hill overlooking the valley. The owners don’t speak any English so we have managed to have a couple of conversations with the help of my limited German, the dictionary and some notes in English that the lady's son had printed out for her.



Sean and I then headed down into Stubenberg to watch 40 odd balloons (including the other Aussies) fly from the grounds of a beautiful castle. Apparently this was the location of the 87 worlds.
For those who know Fan Guy and Map Man from Edwin’s team, you will be pleased to know their names have been translated into German for the event. Herr Ventilator and Herr Chart.



Once the balloons had flown away, we refueled the balloon (at an astronomical price) and headed 30 mins down the road to try and find Yosh, who was due to arrive on a train at some time that afternoon. Since Sean's phone has lost roaming service (which is a whole other story), we did not really know what time he was due to arrive, so we rocked up at the station to check the time table. Within literally 30 seconds a train pulled up and Yosh jumped out.

After a quick meal at McDonalds (the only thing open), we headed home and fell asleep again.