Melk Abbey is magnificent. A huge Benedictine Abbey on a hill, we approached it by walking along the path and up through the old town, so got fabulous views from all sides. Inside, courtyards, museum, library, and the church itself. The Lonely Planet says "Baroque gone barmy" and is so correct but nonetheless, an overwhelming place. So much gold, jewels, ornamentation. Fantastic gardens too, very simple and "bushy" in contrast to the Abbey.

Next we went to Schloss Shallaburg . Sometimes you score an unexpected bonus. (In Venice, we were looking at numerous churches. One had an exhibition of Leonardo Da Vinci mechanical drawings and working models of same - bicycle, catapult, hang glider, helicopter. A great unexpected find).

The Schloss had a superb exhibition about WW1 (being 100 years this year) with about a dozen stories told through the eyes of serving soldiers of several nationalities, including an Aussie and a Kiwi. Sadly we did not have the hours needed to do the exhibition justice. It was so good.

Coming back down to earth, walked back to the Boomer and drove through beautiful Austrian country to Raab. There sat Rob in his OzTrax vehicle, newly arrived from Aus. (The Robs, that is. OzTrax had wintered in Raab after traveling overland from KL.) Met with Robyn at their hotel in Andorf and much gossiping with dinner, of course - so much to catch up on. Camped in the town car park, slept well until the town hoons, mostly female, chose to deliberately wake us at 4 a.m!

While Rob and Robyn did more truck maintenance Saturday, we explored Passau . The Danube, Imm and Ilse rivers meet, so lots of river boats tied up. Lovely city, in Germany (although we parked in Austria.)

We hiked to top of the castle fortress then went to cathedral and market to buy cold meat and cheese , listened to Barbers Shop Quartet singers sing the opera version of "The Carnival Is Over". Then back to camp in Raab itself, in a mowed field in town. Cooked dinner for all, while we were visited twice by a very drunk Dad who was celebrating his daughter's 20th birthday!