What
a great sleep in, but not the best sleep. Poor Steve struggled all
night with coughing and wheezing and then when he did sleep, he was
snoring his head off!!
Steve
believes he is getting better and this is just the end of his
sickness….but I am not too convinced. Will he take Codral? Noooo, of
course not! - Stubborn bloody man he is!
Up
at 9am and showered and dressed, we came up to the lounge-room where I
looked at some of my images from last night and I did some test
panorama stitches from the hand-held part at the end of the sunset.
YAY they worked! Thank god! They look fantastic – what a great
image! Its made me so happy.
Here it is again in case you missed it in yesterdays episode! ha ha
Luca
wants Steve and I to stop using Lightroom immediately and to start
using Photoshop! Its a big learning curve and he has been so
generous with his time in showing us some tricks! Hopefully we can
remember them and use them when we get home. But for now, we have
processed them in Lightroom (hey – I am happy). Luca has also very
generously shared some tutorial videos with us so when we get home we
have some references to go by. We’ll be photoshop geniuses before
we know it!
Once
Steve was ready, we walked to the cafe and had croissants and hot
chocolate for breakfast – todays hot chocolate was epic – the
thickest we’ve had – just like custard. We had to drink it using
a spoon!!
We
got a text message from Tim and they were back at the apartment!
What?? Anyway, they spent the night inside the Refugio ….. ha ha
ha – Scott said it was still cold and hard, but they did it well in
5 star luxury accommodation inside their own sleeping bags etc.
Tim’s
memory cards were full and he was worried about loosing files. With
no back up discs or spare cards, they needed some. So they’ve
hiked out (OMG….they’ve walked many huge kilometres in the past
few days). We hung some shit on Scott for not camping properly!!
Then the two boys walked into the town to try to find some memory
cards – hope they can buy them! Oh and Scott wanted another down
jacket – like the one he bought yesterday only silver (like the one
Tim bought) – the brand is “Camp” - so with the two boys
wearing Camp gear, you can only imagine the laughs we had at their
expense! Maybe we’ll see them in Oxford Street one day! Oh, and
Scott has to buy the gold ski pants we saw – they are epic! If
there was anyone who could pull them off – it would be Scott! Ha
ha ha I wish he would buy them!! Aubrey would love them!
So
now that the gang is all back together again, our plans for today
might well change. But Luca wanted Steve and I to hike slowly up to
Lake Limedes (we are calling it Lake Limitless ha ha – thats due to
Luca’s accent)!!
We
all stayed at the apartment where Tim attempted to do laundry –
reading washing machine instructions in Italian was hilarious! After
numerous attempts to get the machine to do a spin cycle, Tim was on
his way to having clean clothes.
We
turned the central heating up to maximum and headed out for lunch –
whilst Tim stayed back in the sauna (that was our apartment) getting
his clothes dry!
After
lunch, Luca, Scott, Steve & I went to Lago Limedes. We drove up
the mountain and had a coffee (we had hot chocolate), and then we
started the hike.
(note
to self – in freezing cold temperatures, do NOT drink hot beverages
before heading outside) – my lungs instantly closed, and no amount
of bloody Seretide or Ventolin was working - ugh, not again!
But
we still went on the hike. Bloody hell….. Luca was not kidding
when he said todays hike would be like yesterdays. It was approx 80m
walk up to the lake, but the elevation was steep. We were up at
2400m. It was hard. My legs are working fine, and if my lungs were
working, I am sure I wouldn’t be struggling as much as I am.
Anyway,
Steve stayed with me and after many little stops along the way, we
caught up with Scott and Luca at the Lake.
Hmm….first
impressions….. IT’S SHIT!! ha ha ha - hissy fit ready to happen!!
Yep
– a half full pond that was full of dead branches and limbs. It
was 80% frozen. It did not look appealing at all. What larch trees
were around, had already lost their leaves. So no autumn colour.
I am sure if it had some snow around the edge's it would have made it look amazing, but today, nope... crap really!
Once
I caught my breathe and I looked at a few compositions, I went where
the boys were all set up on the ice, and I joined them. It was ok.
I am sure once I edit the images they’ll be fine.
We
got a little bit of pink in the sky in the end which was nice – not
as good as last night, but eh – last night was pretty special!
As
we were all packed up and walking out, I looked at the mountain with
the snow cap and it was still glowing – and I saw the reflection in
the tiny bit of water that wasn’t frozen, so of course I set up my
gear again to get a few last photos.
With
Luca shouting at me from the other side of the lake to go, I packed up and we started our descent
out. The sun had totally disappeared and unlike last nights hike
where it was high up on the mountain in the open, tonight it was on
the dark side of the mountain in forest, so it was dark – very
dark. Luca and Steve didn’t have their torches, but luckily for
me, I did! So Steve put it on and I followed.
We
made it back to the car where it was minus 4 degree’s, but
thankfully next to no wind.
When
we made it back to the apartment, we went out for dinner. Back to
DOK. I had the hamburger that Luca had last night – OMG it was a
big meal. Steve had his cabronara again much to Luca's disgust of Steve not trying new things! Then we walked back to
the apartment and had another photoshop lesson with Luca, whilst he
multi-tasked to try and get us all up to Mount Odle without us having
to hike the 11km up.
Tim
and Scott are going to do the hike regardless and camp up there.
Whilst
I said to Steve we should give it a try, in reality, the weather is
about to turn very nasty and the temperature is dropping fast. Ever
day it is getting colder and colder – even Luca is noticing it.
Even all the autumn colour that was on the larches when we arrived a
few days ago has now all gone. Its gone from a bright yellow to
brown and dead looking. I think the altitude is also having an
impact on my breathing when hiking in the cold. We don’t have
anything to prove now. We have some amazing photos to take away with
us, not to mention some great experiences. If our holiday finished
today, Steve and I would be very happy.
So,
we might do a little hike during the day with one camera and then
come back to the hotel and let the boys prove that they are men and
do the huge hike!
It
is just a shame it is now November where everything is closed. If we
were here 2 weeks ago – even 1 week ago, the chair lifts etc would
be open and it would be easy. But now everything is shut – roads,
chairlifts and most eateries and hotels are all closed and not
opening again until December 8th for the Snow Season. Eh
that is life.
Luca
spent from 7pm until 9pm ringing everyone and anyone about Odle and
how he can get us up the mountain without having to do the huge hike.
Scott said he will pay 200 Euro+ to someone who can get us up there.
Luca
talked to one hut owner who was really nice. Unfortunately for us,
he was on holidays (it is November) and he said if he was home, he
would have come and picked us up & taken us up there! How lovely
of him – such a shame for us.
Then
Luca found a Quad bike place...but alas we can’t ride them up to
the Odle without permits.
Luca then rang two helicopter places, but unless we win the lottery that isn’t going to happen either, but they also can’t land at Odle, they can only fly around for 50mins and show us the sights – so more of a joy flight than anything. One Helicopter guy gave Luca the phone number for someone who is a hut owner up there, so maybe they will be at home and will allow us to come up and use the road?
Luca
even suggested that we just cut the gate with bulk-cutters and drive
up illegally and let the police send us a fine!! ha ha ha
Honestly,
Luca has been nothing short of amazing, trying everything! For us to
try and ring places so late at night is unusual, but in Italy they
are open from 4pm until 8 or 9pm normally, because they siesta from
12 noon until 4pm.
The
time struck 9pm and everything was now closed, so Luca could not make
any more calls. So Steve jumped in and asked Luca to help him again
with some Photoshop, because Steve tried to do what Luca showed him
earlier, but we had forgotten already. So we did the mist. Adding a
layer and drawing the lines using different sized brushes and then
using glaussian blur, it turns into mist- YAY! Easy when you know
how. There’ll be no stopping us now. I am going to add mist to
everything! Ha ha ha
Then
Luca showed Steve how to blend two exposures together. This was
hilarious! “Click… no, CLICK….I said CLICK Steve”! Ha ha ha
Oh the whole Italian to English translation was lost on Steve. I
haven’t laughed so hard in ages. I sounded like Mutley! Luca was
more frustrated that we weren’t grasping the basics so easily! But
in the end we had a better idea and like anything, we just need to do
it ourselves and keep practising and before we know it, we’ll be
editing in Photoshop like the pro’s!
So
now we go to bed. No sunrise shooting tomorrow. Lake Limides was
enough for tonight. It wasn’t spectacular enough for a morning
shoot.
We will drive to Ortisei in the morning and then try and get into our next lot of accommodation and then wave good bye to Tim and Scott as they start their humungous hike up the Odle.
3
more days to go…. We can do this!!
Buone
Notte
xxx
