Today our final day in Brienz we took the ferry over to see the Grandhotel and Waterfalls at Geissbach.

April wasn't keen on the outing: "A waterfall is just water mixed with air falling down a steep river" and would rather have stayed behind, but we dragged her along anyway.

It was a steep climb from the ferry up to the hotel - Scott delighted to find a soccer ball on the side of the path.

The hotel wasn't quite as impressive as I had expected, and adding to our disappointment was our inability to get a table for morning tea. It was only 11am and though they were mainly empty they had all been reserved for lunch, so we had to revert to eating our packed food and icecreams from the kiosk below.

The waterfall was in 4 sections with viewing platforms at each level. We saw a bride and groom getting wedding photo's taken with the waterfall as a back drop (this was the third set of the trip so far as we also saw two others at Lake Como).

Scott took great delight in throwing the soccer ball (now named Wilson) over the falls and watching it fall down.

We had thought about a hike up to a higher lake but we were feeling a bit weary and instead took the bus back to a quiet spot on the lake. The kids decided it wasn't warm enough for a swim - instead Scott explored around the rocks and was delighted to find not only a snake skin but also a ring. It looked like it had been there quite a while with the silver a little tarnished.

April was somewhat miffed that she hadn't been the one to find it, but as we pointed out she doesn't spend her time looking around rocks. With no shops nearby and no Police Station in town there wasn't anywhere to hand it in - perhaps we'll be able to trade it in on a new camera instead!

A walk back to our accommodation took us past an exhibition of 200 years of wood carving. The kids opted to walk back without us (5min up the road) while Darryl and I spent half an hour admiring the talents of 5 generations of woodcarvers - definitely worth stopping for.

Scott: I got a bit wet at the waterfall when the water dropped off the rocks. I threw the soccer ball into the waterfall and it fell down but got stuck between two logs.

Then we went down to the lake and I dipped my feet into the water. I found a snake skin with patterns on it. I also found a ring in between the rocks - we think it has a real diamond.

Sarah: I liked the waterfall because it was really big and we got to stand behind it as it came over the rocks. It was a bit wet.