Austria - bikes, swimming and commando girls

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We drove to Austria to a small town called Hopfgarten. It was a very cute little town in Austria, everthing was so cute and perfect. All the houses had bright flowers in planter boxes along their window sills. The place we stayed at was a big house, full of rooms. We have started to be impressed by small things that we never thought about. Things like having our own shower and toilet has become a real novelty. And enough room to open our suitcases has almost become a luxury. But this place was lovely. We had a really yummy dinner at the house and then a group of us went for a walk into the small town. Some of the group were going into drink at a pub but we decided that a low key night in would do us the world of good. They had movie night at the house, showing Shrek, a favourite all round.

The next day we went for a bike ride up to a picnic area. Again, Austria impressed us all with it's natural beauty. We got the top of a mountain (all pretty exhausted!), had a picnic, and played some football. Luckily the ride home was mostly down hill, thank goodness!

That afternoon Amy and Amy went hang gliding, which they said was awesome! Dana and I took another bike ride (our rear-ends were not happy with that decision) to get some supplies for that nights party. After our shopping exhibition we went to the local pool and took a much needed swim in the lake, and damn it was cold!

That night we had dinner at the house then went back to our rooms to get into costume. The theme for the nights party was 'Hospitals and invalids'. I could help but wonder if our bus had influenced the theme choice. Up until that point we had a few mishaps, including:

A girl who passed out from dehydration and fractured her ankle, she had her leg in cast
Two girls with stiches in feet and leg after someone dropped a glass bottle on the ground
Numerous people with a cold/flu and what had been dubbed the 'Contiki cough'

So we had plenty of inspiration. Amy, Amy, Dana and i decided to go as wounded commando girls. We dressed in cargo pants, commoflague paint, twigs and leafes in our hair, bandages around our arms, fake stiches, and for that added touch - tomato sauce (for blood of course!). We made a dramatic entrance into the bar, yelling and screaming "Bravo! tango! alpha! we have a wounded soldier! We need a doctor! Stat! Do you read me?!" As you can tell, we had no idea about army talk, we just made it up as we went along. Our efforts paid off, there was a competition that night for best dressed. The winners got to sit in the front row of the bus in the next few days for the drive to Switzerland, where the scenery is stunning. Because there were too many of us, we scored second row. Two of our friends, who we had helped dress up that night (and on previous nights) scored 2 front row seats. There was Matt aka Dr. Do-me-a-little, dressed in shirt and tie, shoes and socks, then just his purple boxers. Then there was Dave, the ambulance, dressed in red boxers, a red and blue plastic cup on either side of his head (for the sirens), and a big red cross on his chest. The photos will probably give a better picture of our silly we all looked. But we had fun doing it!

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Photos

Commando girls - injured soldiers
Great party night in Austria at the "Hospitals and Invalids" party.