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Published: August 6th 2007
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The rafters and the calm before the storm!
(L-R:)Susan, guide Dean, me, Lindsay, Chad and Glen Arrived into Mission Beach on Sunday with a raging Townsville hangover! Made especially worse when it decided to bucket down from the heavens upon our arrival. So now I was hung over and soaked to the skin! Not fun at all. Mission beach itself looked pretty nice from what I got to see of it onboard the bus but unfortunately as luck would have it tropical rain was predicted for the entire duration of our Mission experience, so no beach for us!
We had booked into Mission beach shack which had a lovely lagoon out the back which again we never got to use. Trying to make the most of our stop in Mission, we thought "damn it, if we're gonna get soaked lets do it right!" so we wasted no time at all and booked our white water rafting trip down the Tully River for the next morning!
After a dull and depressing evening in front of the box at the hostel watching the most depressing of all movies 'Lord of war', I woke up the next day raring to go. The weather was still pretty grim but the day would prove to be an adventure. We arrived at the
Tully River early in the morning and got kitted out in our spray jackets, life jackets and helmets, oars in hand! We looked stunning!!
The Tully River is Oz's most famous white water rafting experience. It's the norths guaranteed white water, white knuckle adventure through a world heritage rainforest with rapids up to level 4 (level 6 being the highest.)
Ready to rock with the rapids we were put into groups and met our guide "Deano the rapid rider!." We were given a raft called elev8 and soon Dean took us through the techniques for rafting and started getting us up to speed on the drills which include; forward (paddle forward), backward (paddle backward), hold on (hold on for dear life!), sit down (get in the bloody raft and grab anything that will keep you in there!), hang left (lean left) and hang right (lean right). The last 2 actions seemed to have Linz and Chad pretty confused so Susan just shouted aloud "my side!" every so often!!!
The two lads Chad and Glen were put up front to steer (and break a shit load of waves for us girls thankfully!) Sus and Linz where in the next row and
I had row three to myself- a private suite if you will! Deano steered from the back and was within reachable distance to me if I just happened to be drowning which was a comforting thought!
The rapid rides started at a point named "Alarm clock" on the river, named that because the rapids wake you up and get you going! With each rapid point the names got more and more interesting and adventurous! Names include; staircase theatre, killer falls, my own personal favourite- foreplay, followed by- wet & moisty (I kid you not!), double D' cup (apparently it's known for unleashing the twins from time to time!), Jabba the Hut, flip wilson, sharks tooth, zig zag, minefield, little rapid and big rapid (they could have thought of better names for the last two eh?)
The day was jam packed riding the rapids with a riverside BBQ thrown in for lunch to keep the adrenalin going for the rest of the day. The highlight for me was riding 'Oh sweet Jesus' (that just does not sound right??!!!) It truly was mission impossible to actually stay in the raft at that river point and yes it rang true for all of
us onboard as we crashed on top of the waves- arms and legs akimbo! Kept a close eye on my Suzie though who wasn't the strongest of swimmers, but she was grand and took to it like a duck to water. Later on, Linz on the other hand wasn't quite as elegant as she decided to ride a rapid downstream with no raft (yes, this is actually a planned stunt!) with some other insane people rafting that day. The poor girl practically drowned the whole way down and missed two safety ropes that were thrown to her! I thought we'd lost you there Linz (...but we weren't so lucky!!! only kidding!) You'd make a great stunt woman one day... but no time soon!
And speaking of drowning, I just don't know what that hell Deano was thinking when he took us under the waterfall??? I think it was called "Disappearing falls" (I wonder why Dean? Oh yes, it's because our whole raft almost died of inhaling water! Not exactly one of the highlights for me...)
But the day as a whole was brilliant, a real adrenalin rush, one of many I've had on this trip and one not to forget
(didn't appreciate the raft rash though!). Next stop- one of our final destinations in Oz (Oh no, we're almost done!!!) Cairns....
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Colleen
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Can't believe the end is near......
Hi Bren, you mad, crazy lunatic! White water rafting, whatever next! Or should I ask. You seem to be having an absolutely fabulous time but I can't believe your going to be coming home soon. (Bet you can't wait). You have done so much in the past couple of months you'll be coming home needing another three months rest. Hope you arrive safe in Cairns and I can't wait to hear all your tales when you get back. Take care. xo