I was so excited this morning to be headng to Austria because we were going to the countryside for outdoor activities like white water rafting and mountain biking. Ryan told us we were staying at a special Contiki stopover which was owned and run by Contiki staff. Before getting into Hopfgarten we stopped in the Austrian Alps to go white water rafting with Feel Free Rafting company. Everyone got suited up in wetsuits, helmets, lifejackets, and booties, which made us all look super hot so of course we had to take a group picture. Then we all jumped in the boats.There was supposed to be at least one guy in each boat for safety reasons, but my boat was awesome and all girls (Bethany, Allie, Liz, Jen, Kelsey, Krystina, and
Christa), with the exception of our great guide, Mike. First we had to carry the boat over our heads down to the river, which was a chore in itself. They told us to jump in the water to get used to it before we headed down the river. It was absolutely FREEZING!! The whole time we were just getting pumped up and couldn't wait to get in. As we started down the river Mike set it up to flip the boat, and it was awesome. We were the first raft to flip and we were the all girls raft. Going through the rapids was a rush, everyone yelling and paddling, rapids splashing all over us; and Mike kept sending people to the head of the raft to ride out the rapids, it was great. Since we did so good with the flip, we tried 
doing a wheelie, putting one end of the raft sticking straight up in the air. Everyone fell out with the exception of Allie, haha, but it was so much fun.
Christa), with the exception of our great guide, Mike. First we had to carry the boat over our heads down to the river, which was a chore in itself. They told us to jump in the water to get used to it before we headed down the river. It was absolutely FREEZING!! The whole time we were just getting pumped up and couldn't wait to get in. As we started down the river Mike set it up to flip the boat, and it was awesome. We were the first raft to flip and we were the all girls raft. Going through the rapids was a rush, everyone yelling and paddling, rapids splashing all over us; and Mike kept sending people to the head of the raft to ride out the rapids, it was great. Since we did so good with the flip, we tried 
doing a wheelie, putting one end of the raft sticking straight up in the air. Everyone fell out with the exception of Allie, haha, but it was so much fun.Mike then told us to paddle fast to the side or we would miss our stop off, but we didn't want to, we had even gotten used to the freezing water haha. At the end we had to get out and carry the boat up the hill. To celebrate our awesome rafting skills everyone got a shot of Schnapps, which Austria is known for, a hot shower to warm us up, and goulash, another Austrian treat, to warm us up. After all our strenuous rafting we had time to chill out outside with everyone and our rafting guides too.
After rafting it was back to the coach and into Hopfgarten; Ryan told us how pumped the Contiki reps would be when we got there, and sure enough we pull up and they are all outside waving
and smiling. From that welcome we knew Austria was gonna be a great time. After settling into our rooms we headed downstairs for some dinner, with some surprise servers. Dinner was delivered by the wonderful Helga and Hans, aka Ryan and Andy, and it was amazing. That night we went into town and stopped at the Silver Bullet, a local pub. Dan and Erika had a schnapps shot contest, trying 
5 different kinds each. Erika beat Dan, and he was done for the night after that, haha, nah he was fine.After the Silver Bullet Dan, Desiree, Jen, and I decided to check out the town. After a wander through the streets we headed back for an early night, since we have more outdoor activites tomorrow...mountain biking!!
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