Over the river and through the falls, to Uncle Brian's house we go.

After having more than our share of sand on Fraser Island (in the food, in the tent, in the bikini bottoms) we headed north to Cairns in search of some fun in the water. Wow, did we ever get that!! We spent our first 3 days in Cairns diving in the barrier reef (separate post on that next), rafting on the Tully River, and swimming in the waterfalls of the Far North rainforests. Poor Tom was not given any opportunity to rest... I'm a tough travel guide!

We hopped on a bus and headed 2 hours south of Cairns to the Tully River. (we could have done a much shorter trip to the Barron River, but that is only a class 3 rapid river, which is basically calm enough to lull a baby to sleep. Ok, maybe not, but it isn't going to give you the feeling like you may die... which is really the only one I'd pay $$ for.) It was a great time, and the rapids were very technical. I am used to being in massive rapids in big 12 man boats (Ottawa River... famous for mom not paddling and Dave nearly losing it in the seat behind her! hehe), and these were tighter rapids with sharp turns in small 6-man boats. Not sure if you can tell, but the pic of the rapids on the right is showing on of the bosts stuck nearly vertical in one of the runs! We got to jump out and swim down the rapids and I even pulled a back flip off one of the rocks :) A really fun day, even though our guide wouldn't flip our boat for us! haha.

2 days later, on a whim, I booked us in with a small company called Uncle Brians. It turned out to be one of the best organized, most original guided trips I have ever been on. A dude named "Cousin Rohan" picked us up in a van called "Gus the Wonder Bus" and was our guide through the Cairns rainforests and waterfalls. We stopped at some beautiful places, got to swim in the waterfalls, behind them, and even slide down one! (That's Tom riding ME down the falls!) Tom was by far the most coordinated Englishman, with the other 2 pommie boys not fairing so well. One of them basically waddled around and couldn't stand up long enough to get a decent picture taken, and the other, after detailed instructions from us, tried to climb onto a rock then slipped and fell directly on the side of his face. He is a med student in England: you have officially been warned. At one of the falls, there was apparently a famous shampoo commercial filmed for the brand Timotei where a hot girl flipped her hair and made an arch of water. I reckon that Tom gave her a run for her money!! Throughout the entire trip, Cousin Rohan kept us entertained with great tunes, facts on the region, and general fun (I am now on every one of our group member's cameras dancing to Abba on the bus with an Elmo doll. Long story.). Highly recommended for anyone who makes their way to Cairns!