Sunday was sadly the last day of our trip, but we made a good use of it. In the morning we went rafting on the Soca river which was great fun despite the very cold water (apparently it had 11°C). Arguably one of the best moments of the entire trip was when Nick fell out of the raft, but his leg was stuck, so he was just kind of hanging out of the raft drowning. It....
Hello world. We just published a video about our wild adventures in Ukraine this summer, which I wrote about briefly here. But a picture speaks a thousand words, and a video must speak exponentially more, so here I’m going to leave a video produced by two young filmmakers about our WILDArt trip. Nature, art, friendship, culture… it was a bang of a week and this....
This week was a special one, I experienced the first snow of the year! We’ve had snowfall on the mountains a few times, but this time I got to feel the snow, and make a celebratory snowball and snow angel. Winter is coming! That morning Nick and I were heading to Salzburg for an Erasmus workshop, so that meant… driving over the mountains! My face was pressed against....
Popping in to mark the passing of seasons Hello world. I’m dropping by to post a little update on volunteering. Life is busy in the office, we’re in the throes of selecting our next volunteer (super exciting), and I’m working on publications, the Wilderness Academy and a few follow up details from Ukraine. For me, busy is good! I like to keep myself occupied, and I....
300 wolves in the zoo Sunday morning dawned misty, and we left Tamsweg early in the morning with our backseat full of large carnivores, sheep and dogs… Our destination? Salzburg Zoo! The zoo was celebrating its 10 year anniversary of ‘OZO Artenschutztag’ (Species Conservation Day), so Nick and I were there representing the European Wilderness Society. Decked in our....
Happy hiking There are lots of good points to living here in Austria; my team, wild and enthusiastic. My work, because I love knowing that I’m contributing to saving Europe’s wildest places… but the third great thing here is the mountains. Yes I talk and write about them a lot, but that’s only because I think they’re marvellous. Recently I went hiking in the Alps, an....
Ukraine. We drove through Austria, Hungary and crossed the border into Ukraine, saying goodbye to the EU for ten days. It was like we entered a whole new world when we got to the Carpathian Mountains. We drove past forested hills and clear rivers; I stuck my head out the car window and dubbed it the ‘Ukrainian Shire’.
The European Wilderness Society is currently looking for another volunteer to start in Jan/Feb 2019. We’re excited to welcome another wolf into our pack, and put the call out on our website and social media. There’s been a lot of interest (hello to you all!) and we get a lot of questions. I’ve started to repeat myself so enter my solution… a short Q&A. These are....
An Irish murder and Ukraine on the horizon As an English person, I’d like to open up here with talking about the weather. Because it is HOT in Tamsweg and I am delighted. We’re hitting the point where people are beginning to mumble ‘too hot’, but for me there’s no such thing and I’m just marvelling in how I can leave the house without a coat this week. So....
A race against Dutch legs and the magic of peanut butter ice cream. Tamsweg is surround by miles of bike trails, glorious paths that take you through valleys, through mountains if you’re ambitious, and always through beautiful scenery. I’ve been enjoying these paths since my bicycle graced my life, and this weekend I set my eye on the Mittebergrunde. It’s a circular....