River Tubing, Uncle Brians

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On Wednesday I ended up booking an impromptu river tubing experience, a safer tamer version of white water rafting. I wasn't too sure if I wanted to do white water rafting so I thought that this was probably a tamer version. So Thursday I get picked up at the hostel by Foaming Fury and in total I think there was only 5 of us altogether for the trip. I prefer smaller groups, once you get one silly buggar mucking about in a bigger group it just ruins it. We went down to Goldsborough Valley and past Walsh's pyramid (which is a mountain) and just past there we found our lake. One word AMAZING! Initially I was a little nervous, I wasn't sure what to expect, after all I didn't want to go tumbling into giant rocks! But it was one of the most amazing experiences I've had and I am more than up for white water rafting now! Once you go through your first rapids you get such a rush, and no, I didn't fall out. Some stretches of the river were really calm and you could just go with the current and take in the scenery. After being here for a while you realise just how vast the land is. Around here it is so lush and green, as the trees don't lose their leaves in the winter (a small minority do) instead they shed their bark. So you can look all around you and take in the mountains, the mist from the trees and the beautiful plants. It was a shame it didn't last longer. It's got my thirst for adrenaline now!

Friday I did an Uncle Brians tour where we had a tour of the Atherton Table Lands and the waterfalls which were immense. It was a really long day from 7.30am til 8.30pm and I had such a blast with the tour guide and the people on board. Uncle Brians tours are not your average tours. In between our stops there are games, puzzles to play with, singing and lots of info on where we were going to. Our route took us through the Goldsborough Valley and onto Babinda where we went to Devils Pools and Boulders Gorge. All the lakes we could swim in too. I waited til we got to Josephine Falls and the view is spectacular, to get there you have to walk through the rainforest where our guide taught us about different plants and what they do. If I've learned one thing, its to stay away from wild plants, they can be vicious! We then trekked down to Josephine Falls where you had to climb over rocks and then jump into the water. And my was it cold! I'm glad I did it, I've never been swimming in a lake before, especially in such an amazing setting, but I didn't go down the rock slide! Yes there was a rock slide!
Next stop we had lunch at a tea house in the Atherton Table Lands where it was quite chilly and so much mist that you could only see maybe four metres in front of you!
After lunch we went down to Millaa Millaa Falls which literally means "water water waterfalls". It was HUGE and so beautiful. And yes you guessed it, this is where Peter Andre filmed "Mysterious Girl" music video. I definitely didn't get into this waterfall it was far too cold, very few did.
Next stop was to Mallanda to Lake Eacham where the water is so still it's almost like a mirror reflecting the surroundings. We spotted some turtles and plenty of fish and apparently this was by far the warmest lake to swim in but I decided I was happy just having been swimming in the one waterfall. After all we didn't have a long time in each place. We also went to spot Platypus in a brook nearby but alas they decided to stay at home.

After having tea in the Lodge we all got dropped off back to our accomodation. I had such an amazing time and it's definitely opened my eyes to whats out there.

Last and final stop to Singapore tomorrow and then back to the UK on the 28th.

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