Rain and Waterfalls

August 13

I woke up so incredibly happy that I wasn't leaving Gruneau today. The     bus-about crew came and went but my friends, Owen and Bell, stayed thank goodness. It was a bit of a rainy day but we were determined to go to the waterfall today. 

Bell and I had our pink rain coat and pink umbrella and set off on this 5k walk to the waterfall! Dan, A guy from England, came with us as well.  

It was really throwing me off though because Owen reminds me of Dan Fourness so incredibly much so now that we actually had a Dan on the hike, I kept calling Owen, Dan. 

We walked about 2.5k to this restaurant all in the rain. My shorts were dripping  wet, and Owen and Dan were just drenched because they didn't have any sort of rain gear. We walked into a cozy restaurant and the locals were laughing at us and thinking we were crazy! 

We had a delicious lunch and a cup of coffee to warm up! I got a potatoe dumpling with cheese soup. It just melted in my mouth! 

While we were eating, it was just raining buckets so we waited out the storm and were hoping it would pass. About an hour and a half later it did! We carried on our way to the waterfall.

It was actually quite mystic walking through the trees and mountains in this Icky weather because the clouds were moving so fast past the mountains. We felt like we were in an eerie fairy tale!

We walked along a trail for quite awhile and then just walked along the river bend on top of rocks and fallen trees. About an hour later we made it to the waterfall. 

Honestly the waterfall wasn't that huge but it was just the experience getting there that made it an adventure. 

The boys stole my phone and took millions of pictures of themselves. Here is one of their best. 

We had a lot of fun exploring the water fall and betting who was going to fall in. It was pretty scary because all of the trees and rocks were wet from the rain so they were extremely slippery. I was holding on for my life and being extra cautious because I had my iPhone. 

We came home and all just rested and lounged around. Dinner is at 7 everynight and I feel like were family here now. People from bus-about are always coming and going but there is a solid group of us that can't leave this beautiful place. We are served a 3 course meal everynight.  Tonight we had a fresh salad, chicken and rice with a mushroom sauce, and apricot cake (which I fell in love with). 

Tonight was the night I got to know Kimberly and Micheal well. They have been here since Sunday as well but there are always so many people, I really hadn't talked to them much. 

Kimberly is 28 and from Australia and Micheal is 30 and from the Philippines They are best friends and traveling together before they are going to work in the UK for a year together. 

I found out that Kimberly is a photographer so of course my ears perked when I heard that. I immediately ran to my camera and brought it downstairs to show her. 

This began a 3 hour "how to use DSLR camera for dummies" course. It was great fun and we used other people sitting around as practice so everyone was having a great time!  

We went to bed fairly early and I was so grateful I had another day here in Gruenau. This is like a vacation from a vacation for me. I feel so at home because everyone is so incredibly sweet and welcoming and it reminds me a lot of Rhinelander.