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Elev8 Crew
Front row: Chad and Glen
Second row: myself, Brenda and Lindsay
Third row: Dean the guide Greetings from Mission Beach, gateway to the Tully River! Myself, Lindsay and Brenda arrived here on Sunday (27th) "arvo" (austrlian linguo for afternoon) and checked into the Mission Beach "Beach Shack". It is aptly named yet still retained a sort of funky charm, i.e. aboriginal art work decorated by contemporary additions such as Durex thanks to fellow backpackers...ha. All in all hostel was sweet, we were in a ten person dorm room which was pretty big and decorated in pink and purple with pictures of trees/frogs, etc. all over and the bathroom was enormous, it even had a shower/jacuzzi which could have fit 10 people--maybe that was their intention to save water...ha...jk
At this point it is safe to say we have entered rainforest territory as it hasn't stopped raining since we arrived. However, we were informed this was good news as we booked whitewater rafting with R n R rafting on the mighty Tully River for Monday. The Tully River is the ultimate full day white water rafting experience in Australia with 45 rapids over 5 hours through World Heritage Rainforest, in the middle of the magnificant Tully Gorge National Park.
Early Monday morning myself, Brenda and
Lindsay woke up rearing to go. We were picked up and taken to the Tully River via coach while watching a rather entertaining safety dvd. Upon arrival we met with the rest of the R n R staff to get kitted out in our jackets, life vests, helmets and paddle's. Now believe it or not these paddles are fairly dangerous weapons--word of advice, never sit opposite Lindsay when rafting on the Tully River or you will have black and blue legs as a souvenir..ha.. Soon after getting our gear we were split up into groups of 4-6 people and met our rafting guide named Dean. Our raft was aptly named "Elev8" and we were joined by two guys from Sydney named Chad and Glenn. Chad and Glenn were in the front of the boat, myself and Lindsay were behind them, Brenda was behind us and our fearless guide Dean was at the rear laughing at us all.
Once we got in the raft Dean went through a 411 whitewater rafting course (which was pretty necessary given that Ms. Roe can't really swim..ha!!!). Though the instructions were simple, i.e. "Forward" (paddle forward), "Backwards" (paddle backwards), "Lean Left" (self explanatory), "Lean
Tully River- after
"Doesn't it look like Dean is beating us?" Right", "Hold On" (grab the ropes and pray) and "sit down" (my favourite, meaning to hide in the middle of the raft, position the paddle up, and pray the rosary). Some people on board seemed to have a bit of a problem with the left and right commands, so on a few occasions i just roared out "my side of the raft" or 'other side dummies" (ha..jk, i didn't say dummies).
The weather conditions made it a perfect day for whitewater rafting, the river was high and the current was strong. The first rapid we hit was called "Alarm Clock," which was appropriately named as we got drenched within seconds on the river, it was the perfect wake up call. Rapid after rapid the names became more interesting and the stories behind them were slowly being weaned from Dean. Some of the names included : Little rapid, Big Rapid, Wet and Moisty, Killer Falls, Midnight Rock, Foreplay, Disappearing Falls, Double D cup, Two Inch (lets just say if you fall overboard, the current can steal your trousers!!!) Jabba the Hut, Sharks Tooth and Minefield (danger all around). The rapids went up to Grade 4 which is pretty intense in
rafting terms, apparently 6 is the highest and extremely dangerous.
Around mid-day we stopped on the river and ventured inland for a nice afternon BBQ. Myself and the girls were ravenous and I ate two cheeseburgers and a sausage. Lucky for the wild bush turkeys I am lousy at catching birds... cause they coulda been on the menu as well I was that hungry..ha. After lunch we headed back onto the river. On several occasions we had "near flips" where we got stuck on a rock in the middle of a rapid, at which point we all had to jump around like monkeys in the raft to try to get it to shift off the rock without flipping. On one particular rapid, I think called "Oh Sweet Jesus" we weren't that lucky and all of us fell overboard. Thank heavens for the life vests!!
At one stage, they stopped all the rafts and gave people the option to jump into the water and ride the waterwater down to a point where the guides were all waiting with their ropes to pull people in. I decided it was best to give this a miss, but it was fun to
watch the people shooting down the river on their backs, legs in the air... but there were a few times we got a freight when a rope was thrown and the person missed, and then another rope, and another.. but everyone made it back in the rafts safe and sound including Lindsay. After this Dean was in an evil mood and rather than taking us around 'Dissapearing Falls" he took us directly under it. We truly were like drowned rats when we came out the other side. After hours and hours of paddling I can say that my arms are probably about as big as Arnold Swarzanagers'. It was a great day but I was glad to get onto land and get some dry gear on as we were soaked from the rapids, falling in the river and the non-stop rain. Once everyone was dry we drove back and they showed us a DVD (which I am glad they didn't show us before we went out on the Tully)--it was all the flips, etc. of other people out on the water. Then they took us back to the bar for a drink and potatoe wedges before dropping us back at
our hostel for the nite.
Once back at the Beach Shack we made some pasta and settled down in front of the tellie to watch "Desperate Housewives" and "Brothers and Sisters" and enjoy some Cadbury's chocolate.
Next stop: Cairns and Cape Tribulation!
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Amy
non-member comment
Mission Beach
Three cheers for whitewater rafting! What fun! Hahaha, it does look like Dean the guide is beating you!! I like those instructions for "hold on" and "sit down!" LMAO! Seriously sounds like a total blast though. Australia must have some awesome rapids! :D