Thru the eyes of Road Warrior Stefany
Breeze blowing. Warm water grazing the shore. Sun shining on my face. I’m in bliss. Or so I thought before being rudely awakened by a blaring alarm clock. My dream world faded away as I crawled out of my bed at 5:30am. It was a 2-hour drive to the Tully River, where our white water rafting adventure was to take place. So this early morning start was necessary, but not welcome after our late night of dancing yesterday. Ugh!
Edna and I dragged ourselves onto the bus and immediately fell back asleep for the bus ride. When we arrived to the base camp for rafting, it was a warm yet cloudy day for rafting. Once we were situated with our life jackets, helmets, water shoes and paddles, we headed down to the river in groups of five to begin the 12 km journey.
The day was divided into 4 km and 8km ride with a lunch break in between. Our guide Sam informed us that we would be encountering grade 3 and 4 rapids. After a quick breakdown of the commands he would shout at us throughout the day, we pushed off the bank into the river.
It was absolutely beautiful! The river cut through the rainforest and as we glided thru, I couldn’t help but notice the all the vegetation and waterfalls. But Sam yelling at us to row forward as we entered our first rapid interrupted this moment of awe. “A baby grade 3,” Sam explained as we began our twists, turns and drops.
Rafting is such an adrenaline rush! You are in this inflatable boat that looks as though it could be punctured at any moment. There are no seatbelts, so the only thing keeping you from falling into the water are your feet that are hooked either to the seat in front of you or into a crease on the side of the boat. Not particularly reassuring, but when you are being bounced back and forth you take what you can get. And as I learned at one point during our trip, the front is the hot seat.
After lunch, we headed out to complete the longer leg of our journey. Each of the rapids had a name, which was inspired by a story of some sort. As we approached a rapid called “Double D Cup,” Sam explained to us that was named after a girl who when she fell out of the boat lost her life jacket and top. You can figure out the rest, ☺
At this point in the trip, one of the other girls in the boat and I had switched places with the boys. The boys had been sitting in the front, but wanted to give us the opportunity to be in the lead. Before we entered Double D Cup, Sam reminded us of our basic commands including “Get Down.” This is position where you squat in the boat, holding on to the paddle with one hand and to a rope attached to the boat with the other. I guess I wanted to understand what the girl from the story went through because at the last drop of the rapid where Sam yelled to get down, I somehow lost my grip on the boat and went flying into the rapids.
Nothing is scarier then being underwater without warning. You don’t have the chance to breathe before you go under, so you are under trying not to panic and use all your power to kick to the surface. Though I had a life jacket on, I wasn’t surfacing automatically. I had to power away from the base of the rapid where the water swirled and continually churned creating a holding-you-under affect. All I could see was water swirling around me. The closer I got to the surface, the lighter the color. Kicking with all my might, I headed towards the white water and away from the brown. The first time I surfaced, I instinctively knew I was going back under. So I took the largest and quickest breath I have ever taken and back under I went. With air in my lungs, I had a surge of adrenaline that propelled me to swim as hard as I could away from the rapid.
When I surfaced, I was far enough away from the rapid to have a boat near-by. Though they weren’t with our group, they pulled me in. After realizing that I was ok, I couldn’t help but start laughing. Not a nervous laugh, but an actual laugh. With all the crazy things that have happened to me, adding being thrown from a white water rafting boat was only natural. The guide of the boat that rescued me informed me that longest I had been under was 8 seconds, which is pretty respectable in rafting (or so he said). But believe me when I say, it felt SO MUCH LONGER!
Once returned to my boat, I vowed never to ride in the front again and we continued down the river. No other rapids along the way seemed as scary or as threatening, but I never unhooked my feet from under the seat in front of me. By the time we reached the end of our journey, we were all so tired and emotionally drained that we slept the entire way back to Cairns.
That night we had a pub-crawl where we had games and drink specials set-up at 4 different bars throughout town. Tons of fun and the best way to end the very exciting day.
Tomorrow: Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef
