Austrian Tyrol Day One

Hey Everyone,

So from Germany we travelled back into Austria! Jumping in and out of countries every second day was quite confusing but so fun. Half the time we were still using greetings from the country we had been in the day before and were constantly joking around and saying 'which country are we in now?' lol On the bus that day Mia gave us some of her views on travelling....She said that through travelling you either learn something about yourself or the world. Although it had only been just over 5 weeks I had been travelling I had already learnt so much about the world and myself through travelling around some of the UK and Europe, I can only imagine how much I will learn about both at the end of my travels! She also said that history has happened in the past and we can help to shape the future. Both views I strongly agree with along with one that someone on the bus told me....'A life without travelling is like a book of your life not being read'. Anyway enough with the quotes and views on travelling as it was time for some action and adventure in Tyrol's amazing mountains.

Tyrol/White Water Rafting:

This region is all about the outdoors, its a perfect chance to take in the fresh alpine air, waterfalls, mountain streams and fields. I was loving the scenery already as we were driving into our white water rafting stop on the Inn Rivers rapids. The houses around this region looked like little dolls houses and had funny painted murals on the outside of them which were quite and so unique. We pulled up really excited about our white water rafting adventure and I was also excited to be experiencing it in the gorgeous snow capped mountains of the Austrian Tyrol. Before we hit the Alpine waters we had to get changed into our wetsuits and safety helmets and listen to some basic safety information from the group leader. In our raft was Jess, Taylor,Hamed, Tara, Tamara, Sharni and Rachael. We had to carry our rafts down to the water and after getting some of our bodies wet didn't seem all that cold initially as our wetsuits were really thick. We had two instructors at the back of the raft to help us and thank god for them as they said we sucked at rafting and one of the guys thought we weren't trying at all ha We were enjoying talking and taking in the scenery too much I think!

We had to practise what would happen if the raft tipped over or someone fell out and this involved us all jumping out into water which was a temperature of 7 degrees Celsius. After fully jumping into the water I realised how cold it actually was and it quickly took my breath away. The water was so clean that we had a drink of it and splashed people in other Contiki rafts along the way.   It was so fun mucking around with the people in our raft and such a laugh watching everyone try to get back in after falling out. I was leaning backwards and dunking my head into the water when I was unpleasantly met by the end of Rachael's paddle which smacked me fair in the face! I had a black bruise and a lump pop up on my face straight away which the girls found hilarious!lol Every time Tamara looked at me she couldn't stop laughing and then so would everyone else. The white water rafting took around one and a half hours and we got to shower and have some lunch at the end whilst sitting in the sun which was very relaxing. I had the best time and although I have done white water rafting with my family in Bali before it was just as good doing it in a completely different location-Austria.

Views of the Austrian Tyrol-AMAZING!

Contiki gets ready to go white water rafting

Me and Sharni all ready to raft

Taylor, Hamed and Tara white water rafting in Tyrol-Austria

ME all geared up to go white water rafting :)

Michael, Chris, Sam, Michael and Matt all ready to go rafting

So much fun!

We loved Rafting in Austria!

Bobsledding:
After we finished at our white water rafting we headed through the beautiful small Austrian villages and onto bobsledding! We were so lucky this day as we got to go bobsledding on the 1976 winter Olympics track. We all jumped into trucks to get taken to the top of the bobsledding track along with the bobsleds. We were the first group to test out the past Olympic track and I was actually getting a little nervous as I didn't know we would actually be on a real fast paced track. It kind of reminded me of 'Cool Runnings' although we didn't have to run alongside our red bobsled to start it moving lol Rachael, Hamed, Taylor and I were together in our bobsled and after we began down the track it was going so fast that it actually gave me a headache. The sled was going so fast around corners that you couldn't hold your body still and our heads were being tossed all over the place!lol It was so much fun but I think I need some training on how to work the corners around the track ha We ended up flying down the 1270m track in 104.59 seconds and hit a top speed of 100km per hour which was crazy fast considering we were amateurs. The winners with the fastest speed down the track that day were Rosie, Shascha, Bec and ? hmmmm They all got free hats for being the quickest that day, well done girls!

Our bobsled

After bobsledding in Tyrol-Austria

Top speed!

Me at a quick food stop in Tyrol-Beautiful snow capped mountains :)

Porfirio-Worlds Best Contiki Coach Driver lol

Amazing mountains in Tyrol :)

All set to bobsled!

The Contiki stop over site in Hopfgarten was in a beautiful small little town that was very cute. Our accommodation was lovely and peaceful and this time Rachael and I shared a room with Rosie and Bec, the girls from Perth. These were the two girls I initially thought wouldn't leave their close knit friendship and mingle with everyone else throughout the trip but as the trip went on I realised I was very wrong. These girls were so lovely and very organised for this three and a half week Contiki trip. Rosie and Bec were best friends from back home and had been planning what they would pack and things they wanted to do along time before Contiki had even started. I loved their outfits and heels and every time they got dressed up it made me miss my dressy clothes and heels back home! They even had separate smaller bags for their dresses, pants, skirts etc within their larger bag so they were easy to find when getting dressed. We loved sharing a room with these girls and getting to know even more about their home lives and what they thought about the trip so far.

That night I had a quite one and took time to write some postcards, organise my things and wash and straighten my hair. The rest of the girls went down for a few quite drinks at the guest house bar while I relaxed. Hummad came to visit for a little while early that night and we talked and had a cute little sober kiss before he left and I went to sleep for the night.

Love The Bobsledding Backpacker
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