JilinTourist.com: White Water Rafting at Tully River

ROAD TRIP DIARIES # 21

Tully is popular among young backpackers on working holidays with its numerous banana and sugarcane plantations providing them with seasonal employment, but it’s the thrilling rapids of the Tully River that bring the visitors in. That said Charles and I only made the decision to brave Tully’s notorious rapids after two days of deliberation at Mission Beach.

The calm before the storm

It wasn’t our first white-water rafting trip, but for some reason we were both hesitant to jump into this adventure right off the bat. In fact, our last experience with raging rapids had happened just three months before our road trip, and the delightful flipping, swirling and tumbling in the water were still fresh in our minds. Perhaps we overestimated its difficulty and were intimidated by its tragic past. Tully River, also called River of Death, has claimed several lives.

Going, Going …

Truth be told, with my very limited swimming ability, I would rather bungee jump from the Burj Dubai, which I think is safer and less terrifying, than venture into the Grade 4 rapids of the Tully river. And I’m sure Charles would find cliff hanging on one of Yosemite’s rock walls more yielding and effortless than rafting for the first time on an unfamiliar course with a partner who can’t swim.

Down!

But then, we didn’t want to add it on our list of “things we should have done” so we ended booking a day trip rafting tour with Raging Thunder Adventures the next day. It included lunch and transfer from our camping ground in Mission Beach.

“So why did you choose Raging Thunder over the other?” I asked Charles while we were on our way to the tour company’s office. “Oh well, between the two, statistically this one has fewer cases of deaths and injuries and with thousands of tourists rafting it every year, most of them first-timers, I think it’s pretty safe.”

We registered our names and signed a waiver upon arrival at the company’s office, while waiting for the busload of tourists from Cairns. Wet suits and rafting shoes are available for rent but we opted to wear our hiking shoes, which badly needed a good wash anyway after the muddy Tully Show the day before. After signing the waiver and a quick brekkie, we found ourselves huddled in the bus with a mix of families, backpackers, and couples on holiday.

In half an hour, we made it to the starting point of the rafting tour. The trips are timed to coincide with the daily release of the floodgates by the hydroelectric company so thrilling whitewater is available all year round.

After the final briefing, like-minded people were grouped together and were assigned with a guide. There was an all-Korean team with a Korean-speaking guide; there was a family that included the grandparents all in one raft, while Charles and I were grouped with a Chinese couple and backpackers from England.

We rafted under surging waterfalls, free-flowed on the calmer parts of the river, jumped-off from a huge boulder and were purposely thrown out of the raft to the delight of our cheeky guide. It was 14 kilometers of pure fun and full-on rapids and in between the stunning scenery of the rainforest made the whole trip one of the best highlights of our road trip.

Our rafting team with our guide Ash

(This is part of our 6-week North Queensland Road Trip Series, which took place July- August 2010)

White Water Rafting at Tully River adventure

The Tully Show: My First Aussie Fair
27 July 2011 2:16 PM
26 Comments
Tully takes pride in its reputation as the wettest town in Australia and the 7.9 meter gumboot represents the 9.5 meter of rain it received in 1950.
Read More...
Mission Beach: Where Have All the Cassowaries Gone?
29 July 2011 5:00 AM
23 Comments
Mission Beach is a cassowary conservation area and this alone was enough reason for Charles and I to drop in for a few days.
Read More...
Davao: River Tubing at Talomo River
05 March 2010 9:18 PM
19 Comments
The initial mounting of the tube was the most nerve-wracking because once launched, the tube will drift freely down the river until you reach the chosen landing spot.
Read More...