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Published: March 17th 2007
After another 9 hours on the bus yesterday, i am slowly but surely making my way up to North Queensland and the first stop along the way to Cairns is Mission Beach. Mission Beach is known for its Cassowary Birds (they look a bit like an Emu, get to be about 4 feet tall, cannot fly, are super fast, and are native to the rainforest around Mission Beach). The landscape around Mission Beach and the surrounding area is dominated by banana orchards , sugar cane fields, the ocean on the right side, and the rainforest on the left as we are driving up the coast. Since the rainforest dominates the landscape, i thought it only to be fitting to spend the night in a "treehouse" in the jungle, and since the YHA has a hostel up here right in the rainforest, i spend the night, listening to all sorts of chirping, singing, humming, and of course the ever present rain.... . This morning, the folks from Raging Thunder Rafting company picked me up around 7:15 am, and we drove to their main headquarters, the RT cafe and i got checked in for my day of rafting on the Tully river. 5
hours on the river!!!( and i mean rafting, not driving to the put-in place or lunching at a river side BBQ sight, which of course we did, but that time has to be added to the 5 hours) ) 44 rapids ranging from grade 2-5!! Rafting heaven is all i can say. Also, just to relief your anxiety... there are no crocodiles in the Tully, so other than the rocks that where everwhere, and the massive water that we rafted down stream on, there was no danger at all Since it is the rainforest after all, and Tully records the most rainfall of any area in all of Australia, we also had rain on the river, but it actually only added to the mystic of this fantastic river.
After an exhausting and exhilirating time on the river, RT took most passengers up to Cairns, and so i arrived in the Gateway to the Great Barrier Reef at 6:30 pm, and was picked up by a family friend and her kids, and once again am now enjoying the luxuries of a "homestay" with the locals.
More abou the reef tomorrow... read on...
cheers SL
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