Austria

In Austria we stayed 2 nights in a small town called Kirchdorf in the Tyrol region. Our accommodation was super cute. It was a little homestead just for our group at the end of town.

I had an epic day planned for Austria which included paragliding and canyon jumping but when I woke up there was a massive thunder and lightning storm and the sky was black. We had breakfast and patiently waited for the sky to clear...and it did! By about 11am the storm had passed and we were welcomed with a beautiful blue sky.
Soon enough I was catching a ski lift up to the top of the mountain that we were paragliding off. Had great views at the top. I wasnt too worried about paragliding as a lot of the group were skydiving the same day, so this was nothing compared to them! And it was tandem of course. The best part was running and jumping off, the wind catches you and pulls you higher into the air.

 The paraglide was fun. Felt pretty safe sitting up there in sky and had a great view flying down over the town. Did some acrobatics on the way down which made me feel a bit queasy though and felt motion sick for a few hours after! I did pay for photos which looked really cool, but the SD card doesnt seem to be working now so cant upload them at the moment.

After paragliding, I went straight to Canyon Jumping eating my lunch on the way. Now this was awesome! We got suited up in thick full body wetsuits that included wetsuit socks, jacket and boots and a helmet as the water was really cold (melting snow water). Felt pretty invincible once all dressed up in the thick gear.
Our first stop was at a waterfall where we could go cliff jumping. The highest jump i did was off the waterfall (4 metres) but some of the others jumped from the sides which was 6 metres. My first jump was a shock to the system...so cold it made me breathless! But the jump after that was awesome.

We then drove to a beautiful narrow Gorge which we were going to go canyoning through. I wish I could have brought my camera along because it was beautiful, but obviously couldnt cos of all the water around. We went to a waterfall that led into the gorge and one by one abseiled down into it. It was about 12 metres to the bottom where we waited for everyone to come down. I stuck my head in under the waterfall, it was such a heavy force!

We made our way down the current by either rock sliding, climbing or jumping. It was such good fun. The best part was abseiling down another waterfall that you couldnt see until you were dangling over it. I had no idea what canyoning was when I signed up for it but would definitely recommend it!

That night we went up the mountainside and had group dinner at a restaurant.
 Our last stop in Austria was a solemn one...Mauthausen Concentration Camp. We watched a DVD on the way there which explained the history and interviewed some of the survivors. It was so horrible to see what they did to people and walking through the camp it was quite chilling to know what had happened there. The Camp is still all set up as it would have been, and you can walk into the bunkers, the gas chamber and see the cremation ovens. It really was horrible but I guess good to see the history behind it.