Rafting the Tully River

As usual, we got our stuff ready the night before for our 730AM pickup. I made sure that all we had to do was get up, brush our teeth and go since we are not morning people. Surprisingly, I was the one in charge of setting the alarm on my side of the bed and getting Rich up. Usually it’s the other way around.

The next morning, I hear this weird beeping noise and I look at the clock and it’s only 620. Why is the alarm going off when I set it for 7? Why is it coming from Rich’s side of the bed? I realized it wasn’t the alarm but the phone and I make Rich answer it. It’s the concierge saying that our pickup was waiting for us at the lobby? WHAT?!?! We jump out of bed and I check the coupon and it’s true….pickup was scheduled for 615! I just assumed it was 730 like all the other trips.

After brushing my teeth, I run downstairs. Rich can’t function without coffee and with his sprained ankle, was even slower. The driver was pretty ticked off and told me how lucky we are that he’s waiting and most drivers would have left already. Rich finally got down there around 630. To my relief, there was no one else on the bus. But we did have to pick up more people before being dropped off at Cairns.

We headed to the next stop and first of all, we couldn’t find them. The property was huge and they were on the opposite side of where we were waiting. Then when we do find them, there are only 2 out of 6 people waiting. They were Japanese tourists. One of them had to run back and get the other girls. Even though we were late, they were even later which put us in an even worse mood. We still had to make the bus at Cairns.

Luckily they waited for us and we were the very last ones on board. The Guides blamed the delay on the tourists saying they were still adjusting to the time difference. We’re just glad we made it because this is something we really wanted to do and saved it for last. The Tully River is one of the top 5 Rivers in the World to Raft.

The ride to the river was 2.5 hours away. While we were on the bus, one of the rafting guides asked us if we wanted to do the Extreme version of rafting. Usually it costs A$20 extra dollars but they had 2 extra spaces and thought we would be perfect for it. We didn’t even know it existed and definitely didn’t want to turn down the opportunity.

On the bus, they announced that we were not allowed to wear wet clothing on the bus since the seats were cloth. In the US, I never bring an extra pair of shorts since the bus seats are vinyl. I was bummed! I didn’t bring an extra pair of shorts. That meant I had to go rafting in my bikini! Not fun! At one point, when they pulled me back in the raft, I almost left my bottoms in the river and had to make a quick grab for it!

The catch with being part of the Extreme team is we had to be on the river before everyone else, otherwise we’d be stuck in a “traffic jam.” They rushed us through their base site and we were able to grab a quick bite to eat. We literally had less than 5 minutes to get our life jacket, helmet, and oar.

I made sure I brought my dive camera since it was waterproof. Once we got on the river, I turned it on. But when I looked at the case, the light didn’t come on. I opened it up and in my horror realized I left the actual camera on the bus. I took it out of the case on the bus ride to make sure I had enough batteries and in my rush forgot to put it back in. I was so bummed because there were so many great picture opportunities.

Our first Extreme experience was noticing how the guide would ram our raft onto the rocks on purpose. And when he trained us how to all go to one side of the raft, he tipped it over on purpose. I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like this. But they said that we got to stay on the river longer and instead of wasting a lot of time trying to figure out what path to take, they just took us right in!

All the guides on the Extreme were the most senior guides of the company. Our guide’s name was Ricky. He ended up being such a cool and funny guy (not as funny as the bachelorette party guide) that he made the trip really memorable.

Before lunch, they took our raft underneath a waterfall. (This picture isn’t us. I had to download it). Surprisingly the pelting water was really strong.

Then we went down this little waterfall and our raft was supposed to go to the right. Instead it went to the left and we got backed into a corner. I was on the front right corner of the raft and it probably wasn’t the best place for me to be sitting at this time. Ricky maneuvered the raft so we can “surf” the wave before we made it out. But, I really felt like we were in trouble. He had a hard time doing it by himself and kept on calling orders. At this point, the water from the falls started coming into the raft. I knew we weren’t going to sink because they were self baling rafts but the water was literally rushing over my head. The raft was tilted to the side and at first Rich was laughing. Then he saw me panicking and blowing the water out and trying to get air. That’s when he started to worry. I literally had to stand up (not all the way) but enough to get my head above the water, take some air in and sit back down. I must have done that about 5 times. Then Ricky took us back into the corner. (Again this isn't us but the falls looked like this)



The whole time I was watching another guide that was standing on a rock across from us. I wasn’t worried (as much) because he wasn’t worried. But I did have to shake it off for a minute. And then we tried to get out of there again.

We repeated the whole thing all over. This time, people were concerned and kept on asking if I was ok….they were actually yelling because the rush of the water was so loud. I couldn’t speak and just nodded yes. Finally, we made it out!

We went down the river a little more and then he asked if we wanted to go surfing again. I guess there was panic in my face because Emily, a girl from Oregon, offered to trade with me. I didn’t pass that up.

After that episode, I started to relax again and started to enjoy the day. The Tully is a Class 4 river and honestly, if we didn’t do the Extreme, I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much since we’ve been on some crazy rivers in California.

Our next adventure was swimming an actual rapid. I opted out and Rich took off. But when I saw everyone diving in, I wanted to face my fears and dove in as well. It was so cool to do. Although at one point, a couple small waves take you under and you have to be prepared by taking in some deep breaths as you see them coming. I was able to make it with a couple of bruises from some rocks in the river.

Then after lunch, they took us to a huge rock, about a 25 feet drop, where we could jump off. I’ve done this before in Hawaii when I was in my early 20s but I guess I've become a little more fearful in my older age. I climbed up there but I hesitated. I was wearing my dive boots and had this small fear that when I pushed off to jump, I would slip and hit my head on the rock or something…..very dramatic, I must say. The only reason why I actually jumped is because I saw all these people behind me waiting for me. I think I freaked Rich out because he hesitated because of me, when it was his turn.

Our next crazy thing was going down a small waterfall….maybe about 4 feet. He gave us 2 options. We could either go down tipping over….We said no way and asked what the other option was……It was to go down tipping over. He pulled off to the side so we could watch 2 rafts go down before us. Either way we chose, the people in the raft all went to the front half and sat on the edges hugging each other. The choices were to go facing the waterfall or our backs to the waterfall. The raft facing the front didn’t tip over so we chose that way. Well, as we were going down, Ricky turned the raft around on purpose. We were doomed! We went backwards and all spilled out of the raft. This girl Miranda, Emily’s cousin who lives in Oakland, landed on top of me and I had to swim to get out from under her. Sounds pretty scary, huh? But the thrill was so amazing.

The rest of the day was pretty mellow. We took our rafts through this gorgeous rock maze.



And later we jumped out for more swimming on the river.

Rich gave me a souvenir to remember the trip by. He was using his oar to slap the water to splash another raft and somehow, he rammed the handle of the oar on my arm. My arm was bruised for 2 weeks after getting back from Australia.

By far, this was the best thing we did in Australia! Because we had to work hard as a team. We befriended the rest of the people on our raft. Other than Miranda & Emily, there was Julia from England and Corey from British Columbia (for you Canadians out there). Julia ended up being a strong swimmer and we called her the lifeguard of the raft since she had to swim out to rescue a couple of us when the current seemed to be taking us the other way. Corey’s brother is actually Tyler Christopher, the Canadian champion 400m runner, 2nd worldwide. He’ll be representing you Canucks in the next Olympics. Corey was actually offered a contract with Nike (he’s faster than his brother) but gave it up for a life of drawing cartoons. He wants to be a comic book artist one day.

Everyone wanted to meet up for dinner since they were all staying in Cairns. We, on the other hand, had to go back to Palm Cove (a 25 minute drive), shower, then come back. We missed the bus back to Cairns and had to wait a while to catch a cab.

After dinner, we did our final souvenir shopping and bussed it back to Palm Cove and back into our hotel around 1 am. Talk about an exhausting day. But it was the perfect way to end our adventurous honeymoon! It’s exactly what we wanted and so much more.

Now all we needed to do was pack for a 330am pickup to go to the airport. G'day Mates. We hope to one day see the Land Down Under once again!

PICS: Palm Cove Day 4