Like every other day of my trip so far, this morning involved
another early start and long bus journey to get to the next adventurous, sign
my life away activity which today involved Xtreme White Water Rafting down the
Tully River!
As soon as the bus pulled up in the middle of the rainforest towards the top end of the Tully River we were straight off and equipped with a helmet, life jacket and paddle - essential, life saving equipment, and also some beautiful florescent yellow trousers to protect us from and deter the very annoying marsh flies that bite (I mentioned them the other day) - which after the day of rafting, I would also consider essential and life saving considering how many of the bloody things there were! We then quickly got into a rafting team of 6, of which I was the only girl in ours and lead the way being the daredevil I am, jumping into the raft to take a front seat – the prime seat everyone wants to sit in because you get the brunt of the rapids!
When we first set off we had a little training session and safety briefing and our guide showed us the main tips and commands which we had to follow, the main being paddle and paddle hard (self explanatory), duck down (sitting off the edge in the raft holding on with paddles pointing upwards), paddles up (holding on to the rope around the edge of the raft, pushing the handle down in the boat so the paddle was in the air) and to the left or to the right (meaning jump to the other side of the raft to stop it from capsizing or in some cases make it capsize - we are on xtreme rafting after all!). My favorite command was duck down because it always meant a big rapid was coming up but jump to the other side was always fun too because it meant me usually had the raft on its edge and were close to capsizing (adrenaline junkie I know!).
Our team struggled a bit with the paddling initially, I'm not sure why, but we just didn't seem to get the consecutive rhythm or have the strength to build up a good pace, but after a bit of instruction and encouragement from our guide, it wasn't long before we picked it up and were well on our way. Going down the rapids was good fun and we started with a couple of grade 1 or 2 rapids (baby rapids) but very quickly we came across a grade 4 rapid (the biggest rapids we would come across). When we come up to these big and dangerous rapids we had to wait a bit sometimes because the guide of the rafts went to the banks to create a safety precaution if anything were to go wrong. It was good in ways because it meant we got to watch the other rafts go first and see how it was done (most of the time we went last) however on this first big rapid we ran into a bit of trouble and was close to needing the safety precaution haha! We went down the rapid fine but then went up and got wedged at an angle onto a rock, which caused the raft to start to capsize. It felt like we were stuck for ages and the guides on the bank were trying to throw us rope to grab because it was very much looking like we were all gunna fall out and if we had we'd have finished body rafting our way down the grade 4 rapids (or not finished it at all), but after a big scram we managed to get off the rock and make it safely down the rest of the rapid. It was a massive adrenaline rush and I was buzzing when we got to the bottom of the rapids and was actually glad we had got stuck on the rock.
The rest of the day rafting was so much fun with a good mix of the tamer grade 1 and 2 rapids and the more interesting and exciting grade 3 and 4 rapids. Because I was on the Xtreme Rafting trip I not only experienced adrenaline from the rapids but other daring activities aswell. At every opportunity when the water was calm and the raft was just drifting down the river, we could jump out and just float down the Tully which was nice and provided an opportunity to cool us down, especially as it was another very warm day. At one point down the Tully on one of the grade 1 rapids we were able to body surf down the rapids which was great fun being dunked and held under water along the way and it made what would’ve been a boring and tame rapid in the raft into a fun and exciting one – of which I went back for a second go! At another point further down the river we did a similar thing although this time we went off a single rapid/drop – like a slide, and was plunged down and held under water for around 10 seconds. Furthermore at several points down the rapids there was opportunity for rock jumping from around at least 10 meters, which was great fun but also pretty scary. One of the jumps involved climbing along to the end of a tree branch which was collapsed and over the river and that was probably the scariest jump because of the dangerous climb to the end of the branch, of which there was a great risk I would say of falling off – I still went for a second go though! Our rafting guide was the best one of the bunch and maximized our Xtreme rafting experience as he purposely capsized the raft on a couple of the rapids which was fun and also got us raft surfing where the raft was held in the rapids by the natural current. I was sitting in the front of the boat when he did this and was on the side which went into the rapid so I got the full effect of the rapid crashing on me which was awesome, although I nearly fell out in the process!
We were rafting for a total of around 4 hours, with a brief stop
for lunch half way down, which I was pleased about because it gave me loads of
time to make the most of my first white water rafting experience and I can say
I had such a fun, adrenaline packed day. I was fairly tired after the day of
rafting and had a quiet evening just chilling at the hostel, especially as
tomorrow I am going to embark on my most daring and dangerous activity yet. Maybe
I should say my bye’s and love you’s now just incase I don’t get to write
tomorrows blog ;)
Until then, xoxo
As soon as the bus pulled up in the middle of the rainforest towards the top end of the Tully River we were straight off and equipped with a helmet, life jacket and paddle - essential, life saving equipment, and also some beautiful florescent yellow trousers to protect us from and deter the very annoying marsh flies that bite (I mentioned them the other day) - which after the day of rafting, I would also consider essential and life saving considering how many of the bloody things there were! We then quickly got into a rafting team of 6, of which I was the only girl in ours and lead the way being the daredevil I am, jumping into the raft to take a front seat – the prime seat everyone wants to sit in because you get the brunt of the rapids!
When we first set off we had a little training session and safety briefing and our guide showed us the main tips and commands which we had to follow, the main being paddle and paddle hard (self explanatory), duck down (sitting off the edge in the raft holding on with paddles pointing upwards), paddles up (holding on to the rope around the edge of the raft, pushing the handle down in the boat so the paddle was in the air) and to the left or to the right (meaning jump to the other side of the raft to stop it from capsizing or in some cases make it capsize - we are on xtreme rafting after all!). My favorite command was duck down because it always meant a big rapid was coming up but jump to the other side was always fun too because it meant me usually had the raft on its edge and were close to capsizing (adrenaline junkie I know!).
Our team struggled a bit with the paddling initially, I'm not sure why, but we just didn't seem to get the consecutive rhythm or have the strength to build up a good pace, but after a bit of instruction and encouragement from our guide, it wasn't long before we picked it up and were well on our way. Going down the rapids was good fun and we started with a couple of grade 1 or 2 rapids (baby rapids) but very quickly we came across a grade 4 rapid (the biggest rapids we would come across). When we come up to these big and dangerous rapids we had to wait a bit sometimes because the guide of the rafts went to the banks to create a safety precaution if anything were to go wrong. It was good in ways because it meant we got to watch the other rafts go first and see how it was done (most of the time we went last) however on this first big rapid we ran into a bit of trouble and was close to needing the safety precaution haha! We went down the rapid fine but then went up and got wedged at an angle onto a rock, which caused the raft to start to capsize. It felt like we were stuck for ages and the guides on the bank were trying to throw us rope to grab because it was very much looking like we were all gunna fall out and if we had we'd have finished body rafting our way down the grade 4 rapids (or not finished it at all), but after a big scram we managed to get off the rock and make it safely down the rest of the rapid. It was a massive adrenaline rush and I was buzzing when we got to the bottom of the rapids and was actually glad we had got stuck on the rock.
The rest of the day rafting was so much fun with a good mix of the tamer grade 1 and 2 rapids and the more interesting and exciting grade 3 and 4 rapids. Because I was on the Xtreme Rafting trip I not only experienced adrenaline from the rapids but other daring activities aswell. At every opportunity when the water was calm and the raft was just drifting down the river, we could jump out and just float down the Tully which was nice and provided an opportunity to cool us down, especially as it was another very warm day. At one point down the Tully on one of the grade 1 rapids we were able to body surf down the rapids which was great fun being dunked and held under water along the way and it made what would’ve been a boring and tame rapid in the raft into a fun and exciting one – of which I went back for a second go! At another point further down the river we did a similar thing although this time we went off a single rapid/drop – like a slide, and was plunged down and held under water for around 10 seconds. Furthermore at several points down the rapids there was opportunity for rock jumping from around at least 10 meters, which was great fun but also pretty scary. One of the jumps involved climbing along to the end of a tree branch which was collapsed and over the river and that was probably the scariest jump because of the dangerous climb to the end of the branch, of which there was a great risk I would say of falling off – I still went for a second go though! Our rafting guide was the best one of the bunch and maximized our Xtreme rafting experience as he purposely capsized the raft on a couple of the rapids which was fun and also got us raft surfing where the raft was held in the rapids by the natural current. I was sitting in the front of the boat when he did this and was on the side which went into the rapid so I got the full effect of the rapid crashing on me which was awesome, although I nearly fell out in the process!
 |
| Map Of All The Rapids I Went Down |
Until then, xoxo
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