DAY 36

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Our last breakfast and we bid da svidaniya to everybody heading out for the day as we were catching a taxi to the airport at 11.30. We exchanged emails and suggested a reunion on our way back from Europe maybe if we fly by Melbourne on our way home. Altogether we have all got on well and it has been an enjoyable trip with a great bunch of Aussies - thanks guys. We booked our taxi so we would have plenty of time to spare, just as well because it was not fast going through security. No worries though and we took off at 2.40pm. Da svidaniya Russia and Grüß Gott Austria. A brief stop at Frankfurt and we touched down in Graz at 5.30pm - minus two of our bags which they left at Frankfurt! They assured us that they would be on the next flight arriving at 11.30pm so we filled out the relevant forms and wandered out into the terminal hoping to find Ferdinand waiting for us. After our delay with our bags, Ferd was worried we hadn’t made the flight and was checking up, but we caught up with each other in no time. We decided to pick up our bags tomorrow and headed back to Ferd’s place which was about 45 minutes away. It was a beautiful cool and clear afternoon/evening and we stopped on the way at a nice little Gasthof in the hills overlooking a beautiful valley complete with trees, fields and small villages for dinner - add a lovely schnitzel and a cold beer and it was just perfect. For all the riders out there, the road itself was also spectacular as was attested to by the dozens of motorcyclists taking full advantage over the weekend. After dinner we drove to the little village of Tober, which is hard to find on most maps but a truly lovely spot, where we had another quiet one before bed feeling like we had actually made it here.

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