The view or two from my "office"

[mrs.dr.ron]

And this is the view from our bed !!

 

[RooFlyer]

Get

Get your ducks cormorants in a row!

Yes, ducks! No cats about - they are quite happy about the beach once the tourists leave.

 

[Port Power]

Get

Get your ducks cormorants in a row!

Cormorants tend to have their heads out of the water, not much of their body.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Cormorants tend to have their heads out of the water, not much of their body.

I guess as the phrase goes “the proof is in the eating”.

 

[Larko1]

View from Bretts Wharf Hamilton after a leisurely stroll along the river this arvo

 

[drron]

Red Fort Agra

 

[GarrettM]

They start early at the Hoi An Fishing Village. 6am and it is heaving.

 

[Captain Halliday]

Good news. We escaped alive.

The story of how we made it out of a disused mine 60 metres below ground when a fire broke out comes later.

But let’s start at the beginning with the office views before the emergency.

View attachment 490680
The Seegrotte is about an hour from
Vienna and was initially a phosphorus mine, to make fertiliser and explosives.

More recently, about one third of the film The Three Musketeers was filmed here.

I don’t remember the film but apparently this “door” features prominently.

View attachment 490681
Hinterbruhl, Austria.

Some context to the next Austria views and the backstory to my quip a few days back that “we escaped alive”…

After completing the short boat tour of the lakes and caves in the Seegrotte, the “guided” part of the tour concluded.

We were then free to explore the labyrinth of tunnels and corridors and Europe’s largest underground lake - unguided.

We first headed up a short set of stairs to a cavernous chamber.

Inside were stairs from the mining days made of thick heavy lumbar.

They rose about four to five storeys.

The chamber was dimly lit and just as we were about to climb the stairs all lights went out.

We were 60 metres below the surface.

About 300 metres into the mine.

No guide.

In complete darkness.

I used my phone torch to find our way out of the chamber and back down the stairs.

We managed to locate the central mine shaft where there was a single, dim backup light about every 20 meters.

A loud siren began blaring.

It was a long deep wailing siren the type you might hear in a small country town to alert the volunteer fire fighters.

I started to realise this wasn’t just a fault with the lights.

Things escalated quickly.



What we didn’t know at this point was that one of the pumps used to keep the water in the mine shaft at a consistent level had caught fire.

That fire spread to the batteries of some tools nearby.

We followed the escape path lights to the exit to the cold, fresh air.


Hinterbruhl, Austria.

 

[Captain Halliday]

Not long after we escaped, our guide emerged with fire crews and was taken to an ambulance and given oxygen.

He’d attempted to fight the fire with a hand held fire extinguisher.

Rescue crews were called in from far and wide.

All up more than 100 rescue personnel were sent to the scene.



Here’s how it was described by the digital version of Austria’s main newspaper (just a few pars):

The comrades of the FF Hinterbrühl were called in the early afternoon to the SeegrotteHinterbrühl in the district of Mödling. The alarm was "Human rescue - emergency situation".

Around noon, a strong smoke was noticed. The fire brigade moved out, the respiratory protection squad was still in the sea grotte in the afternoon because the long underground passages made the search for the source of fire difficult.

In total, around 100 members of seven fire brigades were on duty.

It surprised me when our tour began that there was no headcount.

I wonder if that has changed since tours resumed?



Hinterbruhl, Austria.

 

[Port Power]

@Captain Halliday , that must have been SO scary?! Enough to put some people off ever entering caves again. Were there many people in the guided group?

(I do remember the movie. Saw a re-run recently.)

Edit: Your second post now arrived. No head count?!! Australia might be too over protective and rule bound, but Austria is perhaps a little too relaxed.

 

[Captain Halliday]

@Captain Halliday , that must have been SO scary?! Enough to put some people off ever entering caves again. Were there many people in the guided group?

(I do remember the movie. Saw a re-run recently.)

Not understanding German certainly didn’t help!

Maybe 15 to 20 in the group, but we’d split up after guided tour bit and people were in different parts of the mine.

 

[Quickstatus]

“we escaped alive”…

Glad you made it out

Those 'escape rooms' that people do for fun are nothing compared to your escape room.

 

[drron]

Getting into Agra airport.

 

[drron]

And our Indigo chariot to BOM.

Fortunately AGR has HBA style cattle ramps. Much easier for me than stairs.
Then the snug seat.

 

[SYD]

And our Indigo chariot to BOM.View attachment 491336

Fortunately AGR has HBA style cattle ramps. Much easier for me than stairs.
Then the snug seat.
View attachment 491337

We’re doing the opposite in a few days - BOM-AGR….can’t wait….

 

[drron]

Mumbai. The drive in. What a contrast.