Austria - The First Contact

Written in Lienz, Austria, am 10.09.2008

It was a good start. The sun was shining on the St. Stephens Cathedral and many friends have come to Vienna to say good bye to us. We were euphoric and excited, and laughed into the cameras around us. What would happen? Would there be trouble? Where would we go to?

For myself, this journey began on the 28th of June 2003. I read the first time about Gregor Sieböck in the newspaper, just before he left. On foot from Bad Ischl to Tokyo, what an adventure! I was excited about the idea at first go, and I would have loved to join immediately. But years should pass before my own first step. Inspired by Gregor, I discovered hiking again three years ago. I walked 300km with my best friend from Graz, where I studied, to my hometown Waxenberg in Upper Austria. A year later I joined a good friend, who also wanted to “go home” on his hike from Graz to Innsbruck. Not only I discovered the beauty and greatness of Austria, but also how little I needed to feel really happy.

My encounter with Gregor and our friendship have been important steps in my personal development. I have realized, that I needed to be the change myself, when I wanted to change the world. In the last two years I worked intensively on my own lifestyle. I succeded in changing many things, but some were difficult or impossible. We know so much about the impact our behaviour has on the planet, but we don´t manage to change it. Is it creed, ignorance or inaction? Are we missing a certain consciousness? I wanted to search for answers on our way.

Then I stood in front of the St. Stephens Cathedral to start the journey of my life together with Gregor. We had named the hike “Crossroads” in order to let us inspire by nature, people and ideas along our way. We had planned the tour a couple of month intensively, finally the day had come. I was ready. We hit the road and my heart was dancing.

The first day we hiked through Vienna in company of our friends. One by one said good bye, until only Gregor, Martin and me were left in the evening. After a wonderful night in the Vienna Woods we had to learn a lesson already on the second day. We wanted to arrive by all means to Baden, where we wanted to visit our friend Hari. Only equipped with a bad map, we already lost our way in the morning. When we finally came out of the woods, we saw the same church tower as in the morning! We laughed, and continued to meet a friend, who wanted to walk with us. Soon we realised, that we would never reach there at the arranged time. Another detour in vain. In the afternoon we lost the rest of our spirit, when we walked along a hot dirty road, where many cars passed. This was not the hike we had dreamed of. Again we lost our way in the woods, before we finally reached Baden, tired and broken. During this day I realized: The more we think on our goal and the faster we want to get there, there more we forget to admire the flowers on our way. In the future, I want to take my time for the way, as long as it takes, because only this way we will have those magic moments and encounters we are out for.

We have had may magic moments so far, one of those was in Burgenland. One evening we arrived to a village called “Unterrabnitz”. We have had a tiring day and were looking forward happily to our dinner, which we have been carrying all day long in our backpacks. We would have mushrooms, potatos, eggs, cheese and wine, but we still missed a place for the night to camp. We had just entered the village, when a woman asked us, if we needed help. We told her, what we were looking for, and a minute later she came back with the mayor. “Willi” not only offered us a couple of places to sleep, but spent the whole evening as well as the morning with us to receive us like guests of honour. EXCELLENT! It was a wonderful feeling to be welcomed so warmly. He showed us the outstanding work in his community, in which we got by chance. His efforts reach into many areas, but never lose the view for the whole: Energy, water, environmental protection, youth, art, theatre, urban planning, history etc. Truly, this was an impressive example of a way into our future. This encounter also pushed my own forces to continue on our way! By the way, that night we slept open-air at the best spot so far on our tour: on the theatre stage! A MASTER PIECE!

On our way from “Villach” towards the lake “Weißensee” we hiked along the river “Drau”. The sun was shining, and in the morning we had met Erwin, who had invited us spontaneously for a dinner in the next village. Joyful about that we walked through the beautiful landscape. Our mood got to the top, when we found potatos for lunch, which have been left just along our way after harvesting. It was magic, we were totally in the “flow”. Just before the village “Paternion” I went to get fuel for my MSR cooker at a gas station, which was about to close up. I got it, and again happy about the fortune I said good bye with a strong “Have a nice weekend”. A few moments later on my way back I realized: It was Monday.

After the lake we went into the mountains of the “Kreuzeck” group. At the “Steinwand Hochalm” we spent two inspiring days with Michi Schwingshackl (www.findthebase.org), who had herded sheeps there for the summer. Together with André, a friend who hikes with us for a couple of weeks, I wanted to enjoy some more days of the silent beauty of the mountains, while Gregor already went ahead to the town Lienz. We slept open-air at some huts, which were surrounded by a dense fog during the night. In the morning, we went up the mountain towards a blue sky. At the top, we were overwhelmed by the panorama in front of us. TERRIFIC! We cheered and hugged each other. The valley of the river “Drau” was an ocean of fog, and the peaks of the Lienz Dolomites looked like dark islands out of the “water”. The sea and Patagonia came to my mind, and a strong desire for the big wide world shook me. “What a strange and beautiful place Earth is”, I said to André, while we were staring at this wonder.

In the early afternoon we got to the hut “Gerbershütte”, our destination for the day. We were looking forward to a chilly afternoon there. Karin, the host, was playing the guitar, when we arrived, but five minutes later we had convinced her to prepare a cake for us. We spent an afternoon together in the kitchen, prepared a cake, drank coffee, sang some songs and told some stories. It was wonderful. In the evening Karin asked us, if we could carry beer from down the mountain up to the hut, because they were running out of beer due to a thirsty group of hikers who had passed the day before. I said “Of course”, and went down to the “Weneberger Alm” despite the rain. It was dark, when I came back sweating with a backpack full of beer three hours later. The hut was already fully of hikers, who had finished all rests of beer available. I was welcomed with thundering cheers, which have been heard through all the Dolomites. What an atmosphere! We celebrated, and I was flooded by this certain feeling of satisfaction again, to have saved the world on a small scale…. :-)

It is interesting to see, how people react, when I tell them about the hike. “That is impossible”, “If you have the time” and “You should get a job” are some of the comments I hear. It seems, that people have totally lost the control over their time. “Don´t we have all the same time as Gregor and Reinhold”, Heini Staudinger asked in the last issue of the “Brennstoff” magazine reporting about our hike. IT IS SIMPLY AS THAT! Everybody of us has the same time, it is in our very own responsibility to dedicate it to our dream. Yes, it is possible. Yes, I dedicate my time for hiking!

We should be happy to be born on a privileged continent in a privileged time. Let us benefit from our opportunities, let us live our dreams, let´s go for our mission. The Irish say, that god gave you the face, but you have to do the smiling yourself! Oh my goodness, and what a face we got! With my romantic heart I see a world, where we live with not against nature, and where we meet people around the world in friendship and respect to learn from each other. In order to succeed we need to trust each other and learn again, that we are not permanently in competition – “dog eat dog”.

Only if we have trust and get rid of a bit of our pathological striving for security, a new way can emerge and our dreams will come true. I have let loose, and I feel more and more, how my heart is opening and my wings are spreading. The sky is blue: what a day to fly.

See you out there,
Reinhold.

PS: Out of my bed literature, because it fits perfectly:

On Giving
For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?
And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?
And what is fear of need but need itself?
Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, thirst that is unquenchable?
(Khalil Gibran, The Prophet)

Some Impressions