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Published: September 19th 2010
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I'm back! I survived! And it's my job to write the blog again, as my lovely darling Michele was unable to attend the Tully River White Water Rafting with us.
Up at 5:30 this morning. Bugger that for a joke. Although unlike most people on the coach, I didn't nap on the way to Tully. Speaking of the trip to Tully, never in my life have I seen so many bananas. And Speaking of Tully itself, it is apparently known for being the wettest place in Australia (which they decided to honour with a giant gumboot in town). Oh yeah, and also apparently the best rafting river in Australia and NZ.
We organised our rafting trip through Raging Thunder, whose staff were all very friendly and amusing. After all the introductory jibber-jabber, we headed to the starting point of the river (a hydro-electric plant) and got things going. Bill and I were put in a group with an English couple, and the wife's parents. I didn't know just what we were in for.
Our tour guide, Ashley, had the fitting nicknames "Crashley" and "Smashley", as it seemed he enjoyed bumping off things, and seeing just how close we
could come to tipping over. Bill and I were seated at the front of the raft to paddle, and everyone was meant to follow our lead. On one of the very first rapids, the raft crashed down a fall and folded in half, causing the back of Bill's helmet to make quite heavy contact with the nose of the elderly woman behind him, who felt quite sore after the collison. Not long after that, the same woman, Tess, was swept away a bit to the other side of the river, during a casual float downstream, and those of us back in the boat were forced into action for a rescue mission.
We were told about the scale for measuring rapids going from 1 to 6, with 1 being very easy and 6 being life threatening. There were over 45 rapids along the river, plenty of them Grade 4. We continued on and on through various colourfully named rapids such as "Wet and Moisty", "Double D Cup" and "Satan's Water Bowl", coming very close to going into the water on various occasions. We did however go into the water many times deliberately. We were allowed to jump out and just
glide downstream in the "white water float position", which is basically just floating on your back with your feet facing downstream. About a third of the way down the river, we stopped for some lunch and a bit of a break (they were also kind enough to supply veggie patties, woo!)
Continuing on after lunch were more and more crazy rapids and near capsizings. We were stopped behind a big ol' rock and given the option to jump from the top (about 5m up), which about half the people took. The very first guy, from our raft, clearly thought about it too long and hesitated, and when it was my turn to step up, I saw why. But before I could talk myself out of it, I was in the water, and swimming back to my raft. That was absolutely exhilarating! The last two girls sat atop the rock for a solid 10 minutes trying to psyche themselves up for the jump, with over 20 onlookers waiting impatiently.
Further down the river, we had our first overboard of the day, by the elderly gentleman from our raft, and Ashley, the guide, almost went in after him. But everybody
survived, and we continued to learn about the rainforest from Ashley and take in all the breathtaking views of such beautiful scenery.
We finally finished after 4 hours of rafting, a bit battered and bruised, and many of us exhausted. I can honestly say this was one of the great experiences of my life, and I think it's an activity deserving of a place high on everybody's bucket list. If an elderly couple from England can do it, with Bill trying to break their noses, and the river trying to take them down, so can you! Get to Cairns and get rafting. It's a little scary at times, but very very worthwhile.
P.S. I also learnt today that Bill is quite the prankster, and seemingly unable to ever resist the urge to splash water at anybody within range, using his paddle.
Direct from Cairns and loving it,
Bren.
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