What to do on a wet Friday

---

If your gonna get wet, then get wet properly and that's what we just did......Whhhoooooooooooooooo Whheeeeeeeeee did we get wet. Put this combination together: Water, Rock's, Rapid's and a Raft, and what do you get, that's right white water rafting on the mighty Tully river.

Our day started at 7.45am when we where picked up outside of our caravan park and then whisked 40 minutes up the road to the HQ of "RAGING THUNDER" the company which run the rafting on the river. After getting kitted out out with a wet suit & a pair of sandles (street cred down the drain there), we jump back on the bus and head to our start point. Here once off the bus you get your helmet, life jacket & oar and then given your crew number, these will be the guy's who you will be rafting with. Our guide for the day was a tiny 4ft nothing lady by the name of Gabby, how wrong whould I be in thinking she was nothing, and I guess the pictures will help tell her story. After we all get introduced, it's down to the river and boad our vessel, a sleek white blown up raft...................Gulp! are we really going over rock's on that thing we both thought.

So after a few instructions and practice of certain manouvers we set off on a full day's rafting covering roughly 14km of the river. Now before I mention the rapids we ride, I must first of all explain the difficulty of them to give you some idea what we were letting our selfs in for. They go in grades, grade one being like a sneeze through to grade five which may require hospital treatment afterwards, we were hitting, and I mean hitting, grade three & four rapids. The first rapid we hit was aptly named the "NINJA SHOOT" as it sent us flying through the air only to safely land back in the raft (I have a licence to elaborate on the truth dont you know), followed quickly by two other drops called "Double waterfalls " and then "Robins nest". With the expert advice from Gabby our guide (or should I say screamming advice) we got through our first test in style.

I wont bore you with every rapid name we hit, but to give you a few: "Full stop drop" "Fore play" followed by "Wet & Moist" (I promise I'm not making that up), "Satan's toilet bowl" & "Sharks Tooth".

We stopped for a quick lunch, nothing to write home about, then back in the raft to get going again. Now it all sounds quite easy so far with no dramas, but that's not so true. We navigate through a rapid called the corkscrew, which was tough going, hard paddling forward then backwards, then all of us dropping into the bottom of the raft holding on for dear life hoping we get through, which luckly we did. We then pull up next to the rapid & our guide watches two more rafts go through for saftly, which was a good thing cos the last raft turned over, spewing her contents right into the water which was acting like a washing machine. What happened next turned our stomachs as we though we were going to loose some one, right infront of us one person goes under water, only for his fet to then come up, but not his head. He was wedged upside down between two rock's underwater, our guide tried to grab him, but everytime she did he just slipped further into the water remaining upside down, then.............he dissapeared...............luckly he managed to wriggle free and was shot down the water to reamerge further down the rapid. Realyl scary stuff I can tell you, and he was then pulled back in to a raft and was fine, just really shuck up thank god.

So after that we raced to the finish, carefully watching where we went, but the fun had come back to us, and we flew over some more wicked rapids and ended the journey at the take out point. Onething I forgot to mention, after all the 25 Rapids we rode, Lynds manages to just fall out in the calmest water you can imagine, ahrrrr that's our Lynds.

It was a great day, exausting, but loads of fun, it's a must do on anyones list.

---

Photos

Get Down!!!!
Lynds cramping my style

Thumbs up
What the hell am I trying to hold on to through these next pictures?

holding on
still looking for that rope that isn't there

We made it to the other side
holding on works then I guess

Alive & extremely happy
What an amazing buzz that was, cant wait to see how we are feeling in the morning!

Comments

[Ange]

Braveery!
You guys are sooo brave - again spitting in the wind, literally. What an awesome adventure, I could feel every stomach lurching minute from your discription - puts Dinseyworld into perspective hey Lynds? Angexx

[Windy]

Oh my god how cool!
Fantabulous!!!!! That is my kind of thing am well jealous, although not of the guy that nearly drowned put a slight dampner on things I guess! Kynds, I so would've been the same and fallen out at the calm bit, you just wanted to test the water didn't you??!!?? Lynds, seriously if you get any browner you're going to start looking like a native! xxx

[mum and john]

oh my god!!!
You must be raving mad! I feel sick just looking at the pics. What some people will do to have a shower, I hope your soap was on a rope? Keep on a great time. Love you both Mum and Johnxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Liz T]

Beats selling cornflakes
Wow looks awesome! Hope you're having a fab time out there Lynds, wanna swap places? No, really haha?!