What a surprise package this place was. Didn't expect much from Austria, thinking it could be the perfect spot for a mid-contiki rest day to recover. It certainly wasn't. Probably the most action-packed day and craziest night of the lot. As it was only a short drive from Munich (2 hours), we arrived at the quiet town of Hopfgarten in the early morning at a small, intimate contiki-run complex rather than a large chain hostel (the food was so much better).

We started the morning with a 25km mountain bike ride up into the alps. The scenery was spectacular, words couldn't describe how nice it was & I'd never been anywhere where you can drink the flowing water of a natural waterfall; everything was just super clean & fresh. Upon returning for a BBQ lunch at the campsite we were informed that our planned paragliding tour had been cancelled for the afternoon due to unsafe wind speeds. Slightly bummed, but we learnt very quickly about all the other possibilities on offer in the local area (much cheaper too). We spent the afternoon at a water park with inflatable rock climbing, cliff jumping, trampolining and water slide facilities out in the manmade river, in addition to tobogganing down the mountain. After copping more than enough sun in the 35 degree day, we rode on to the local trout fishing lagoon for an afternoon of fishing. Although unusual to be fishing using corn as the bait, we all caught a fish each which we handed in to be filleted, marinated & cooked before having it for dinner with a cold beer.

The night involved a 'tight & white' themed party back at the hotel bar for the different contiki groups staying there. A battle of the sexes competition took place with a range of trivia, dance offs on a pole & sex positions. The novelty for the night was the snowboard of 18 liqueur shots. Joe & I polished them off with no dramas; Jack on the other hand only got 3 down before he was down himself.

We woke up to our first bacon & egg breakfast of the trip before departing to our morning activity; white water rafting in the Austrian Tyrol. The water in the river begins from melting glaziers so it was freezing but once again so clean it was drinkable and the scenery on the way down stream was divine. Doug broke the record for the most 'man-overboards' in the one paddle, coordination clearly not his forte. A very pretty country & highly excited for similar natural beauty's when we visit Switzerland next week, but for now it's off to Italy for a week of pizza eating, first pit stop; Venice.