White Water Rafting on Tully River

One of the other reasons that we decided to stay in Tully was the prospect of going white water rafting. The Tully river is supposedly one of the best places to raft in Australia. This is due to the fact that the river is very steep and rocky. It also helps with the hydro powered electricity station that sits at the top of the river and releases water every morning into the river from its reservoir. Unfortunately for us though, the day we booked to go on the rafting with Ian and Amy was a public holiday and their was not as high a demand on the grid. Therefore the hydro company did not release any water. As it was dry season it meant that the water levels were shallower than they should be. It was still a grade 4 rapid river though, out of a scale of 5 or 6, which meant that there was still fun to be had.

We started the day by being put in groups and the 4 of us were joined by 2 Irish girls and a raft instructor. Me and Ian were put at the front with Gemma and Amy behind us. After being briefly shown some instructions it was time to go. The rapids were pretty good and we loved it, however we felt that there were too many other rafts on the river and because the rocks were holding people up there was a safety element where we had to wait until everyone was through each stage before you could move on. This resulted in a little bit of hanging about after each stage which wasn't the best.

A little later on we were going through one of the bigger rapids when our boat got stuck and it started to tip. This had happened a few times previously and the boat had just levelled off. However this time the raft went up further and eventually tipped over throwing us all in the water. This was amazing as it happened so slowly that you were left wondering if it was actually going to tip and then we were in the water! It was quite funny as people started getting hut in the face with paddles and arms, and Amy got a kick in the face from Ian! Getting back in the boat was a challenge as well as the material and the water combined made your skin stick to the surface and when pulling people into the boat everyone ended up in one massive pile before we could get on our way again.

After a few more rapids our instructor steered us under a freezing cold waterfall before we were allowed to go in for a swim. It was then lunch time and it was another bbq. I quickly spotted the square sausages that they called meat pate's but Gemma was more interested in the good selection of fruit on offer.

It was then time for part 2 and we all got back in the boat after struggling to put our lifejackets back on again after the big lunch. This part of the river was a bit calmer as the water levels had dropped even further due to the fact it was now 34C. It was still a good day out and we had a laugh with our rafter who was from New Zealand. He informed us that rafting was even better there, especially the South Island, as there was much more rain. Therefore I think we will try it again when we get there if anyone is wondering about ideas for Christmas presents :p

After the rafting theyt took us back to the hostel we got picked up from and Gemma managed to find us some showers that we took advantage of. Due to the fact that we had hung around for a while, everyone else was away and one of the instructors, who records the days events on a dvd, came up to us and handed us a free copy as there were 2 unclaimed ones left over that would have been binned. therefore you may get to see some clips of us from the day soon. In the meantime here are a couple of pics:







The 2 Irish girls also had a waterproof camera and took a few photos of the day and said that they would email them on to us when they get a chance. We will put them up here if we get them.