Rafting the Barron Gorge

MY TRIP TO FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND
Follow Kate as she dives, climbs, eats and sunbakes her way through lush Far North Queensland.

Each day at around 2pm, the master controllers nature (or the dam upstream) let a massive outflow which trickles down the Barron River creating rapids so that the rafting companies can run their tours. I think there are 3 companies, each with their own mini bus full of people on it - maybe 30 people on each bus. Maybe there's some collusion going on, because they or they are the same company, but each tour company is the same price.

We were picked up in the mini-bus from Palm Cove and drove to the Barron River, which is approximately a 20 minutes. Somewhere half way up to Kurandra, which is up the mountain, we got out. We were asked to take our shoes off and to keep our valuables on the locked bus, including our cameras because they would get wet. We were asked to fit ourselves with a helmet and life jacket then we were selected based on our height to help bring down the equipment - paddles and rafts. I was a bit annoyed about this. We are paying a hundred dollars to go rafting and we have to take our shoes off and walk down a rocky road with a raft balanced on our heads? Can that be right? And if you want shoes, you have to pay another $5 to hire their shoes because you can't take your own shoes. And there's another $25 charge for environmental management levy. And this is all before you have even the touch water.

Once we had gotten all the administrative things out of the way and we were put into groups of 7 including our guide, we were ready to raft. Our guide was aptly named Brook and was from Canada (many of the guides were from abroad - maybe there's a rafting guide skills shortage in Australia), he wasn't as muscular as the other guides, but he seemed to have the lingo down and that was enough for me and my raft posse.

The tour companies state that all guides are certified to raft on category 3 rapids, so they should be able to get you into sticky situations, which are exciting but not dangerous, and get you out of sticky situations which are dangerous. In our raft, we had a couple of kids who sat at the front, with 4 adults at the back and Brook as our Cox guiding us through. This was peak hour on Barron River - the two or three other tour companies were all lined up to launch their rafts too and we had to wait literally 20 minutes before it was our turn. This gave Brook sufficient time to explain all the types of paddling, do some practise and explain what to do when the rapids get too big - his instructions were complete and detailed.

When we finally got to go a small distance, we seemed to get stuck waiting again, as certain parts of the rapids were occupied with other rafts; we had to wait until the rafts in front of us were out of the way and everything was safe. This is because the Barron River does not actually flow and the water is released from the dam each day to allow the tours to run their rafting tours. This is where your $25 environmental management levy is going.

Up and running
Once we hit the river, it was fun; everyone was putting in an effort paddling when Brook echoed "forward". At one stage, the kids had to sit on the bottom of the raft as there were fears that they would be knocked out of the raft - one of the kids was thrown out (limbs flailing), but was caught mid air by Brook and flung back into spot.

One of the rapids was particularly dangerous as we were stuck and the water was flowing into our raft and we weren't going anywhere and Brook couldn't get us out - in the rafting world, they called it "surfing" or maybe it was rapid specific. In the end, the other guides had to throw us a line and drag us out of there. Obviously, you have to wear your bathers - we were all soaked!

After the rapids, there was a beautiful paddle to the end of the tour. Most of us exited the raft and floated down, buoyed by our life jackets. This was peaceful and beautiful, as you could float on your back and look up to the sky to see the crystal blue sky. There were locals who were paddling along on private kayaks, a man who was paddling on a surfboard and local indigenous children swimming and having fun.

At the end, we had to lift the raft up to the car park. Again, this was annoying, I�m not sure why they didn't hire some people to do this for us as it was heavy and we were walking on stones, with the weight of the raft on our heads. Once we finished, there was a kiosk where we could buy some refreshments and get changed into some dry clothes. A group picture was taken and was to be sent back to our homes as a souvenir. The kiosk was very busy and some other tours had organised food for their customers, but we didn't have anything. Maybe they could spare some crackers and dip and some water for us, but we had to buy our own.

After everyone had refreshed themselves, we were bundled back onto our bus and returned to the hotel.

Trip Notes

GETTING THERE
Bus pick up from hotel - we were staying at Angsana Resort

DURATION
Approximately 2 hours

COST
AUD98 for adults and children. No children under 13 allowed.
The price doesn't include a $25 environmental management levy.

PROVIDED
Life jacket and helmet. Not much provided to make you feel more comfortable.

BRING

Shoes that can get wet and will stay on your feet (crocs are ideal)
Sun cream
Wear your bathers and a t-shirt so that the lifejacket is not directly on your skin.
A change of clothes to leave in the bus.
Some money for a drink and a snack.