The two hour bus ride gave us a chance to see the sugar cane and mountains of Far North Queensland. It was just the calm before the excitement that was our four hours white water rafting down the Tully River.
Mum booked the eight of us adult members of my family on the Extreme Team tour. So we slipped on red thermal tops, life jackets and helmets before boarding our seven person rafts.
It wasn’t long before we were encouraged to take a swim down some rapids. This is part of the extreme option. The water was icy cold despite the tropical warmth. But it was brilliant. We floated through small rapids and into a pool where we learned how to hoist ourselves back into the boats.
For the next four hours the sound of roaring water filled our ears; interrupted occasionally with the sound of birds singing in trees as we drifted through pools of crystal clear water. The only human sounds were those of our guide calling out instructions and our laughter ringing through the air.
Bright blue butterflies, pretty patterned day moths and water dragons flittered around our boat. They seemed unafraid of our presence.
The rock jumping was scary for me because I am not great with heights. But I did both of them. You all probably heard me screaming during the first; I was that loud in pushing through my terror. The second was much more dignified.
We swam down some rapids with a series of three big waves. It was tiring and challenging not to give in to the temptation to panic. So I went back to swim the section again.
Our boat stayed upright during the adventure. The same can’t be aid for Mum’s boat and she had a long swim through the most challenging and dangerous rapids of the day. Dad, one of my sisters and her boyfriend were also in that boat but were rescued by the guides before hitting the scariest section.
I can’t wait to get another chance to go white water rafting. It was so much fun. It’s just a shame we have few raging rivers here Down Under.
Total: 13km white water rafting
Transventure 