Meg's Adventure Down Under: White water rafting & studying

Hello!! I had lovely weekend to tell you about. Well, Friday was uneventful, I slept in and wasn't feeling well so I went to bed early to get up at 5 am the next day for white water rafting on the Tully river! After getting ready I went with my friends Annie, Amanda, Cat and Nick on a 30 minute walk to the place where Raging Thunder (the rafting company) was to pick us up. We arrived just in time and were taken to the Adventure Tours headquarters where we checked in. There was some issues at reception where the woman was being crabby and unhelpful as we attempted to update our package to the Extreme Tully (more rapid swimming and rock jumping).We held up the whole line and she confused me with another person, Phillip Beattie. Do I look like a Phillip to you??? Well eventually we got all sorted out and were equipped with a wet suit shirt to keep us warm as it was a rainy day and the water would be cold. We then boarded a gigantic tour bus with lots of other people and took about a two hour drive north to the top of the river. Once we arrived we got off, got set up with a life vest, wind breaker and helmet before hopping onto a boat. We were lucky enough for all 5 of us to be in the same boat and get a great Aussie guide named Cal. Very funny, he made it a great day. Since we were part of the smaller extreme tour we got to go first and went at the level 3-4 rapids at a faster pace. So exhilarating! A quick look at my face in the pictures will give you an idea of how fun it was. We travelled 14 km in a little over four hours with a quick lunch break for kangaroo burgers in the middle. It was breathtaking, rafting in the middle of World Heritage tropical rainforest. At some points along the way we hopped out of the boat and got to swim through the rapids and climb up giant rocks and jump into the river! So great. Now I have to say I did experience two moments that were probably the scariest of my entire life. Going through some of the larger rapids I fell out of the boat twice. Well more like thrown out. (Mind you, Amanda was the only other person to fall out of the boat that day and she only did once, I was the laughingstock of the whole tour) The first time I got stuck underneath the raft when I tried to come up for air, for a few frantic moments I thought I was going to never find the surface. Fortunately, I did. Later in the afternoon when I fell out again it was even worse. This time the rapids swept me under the water for 10 meters and I was underwater for around ten seconds. I could see the surface above me, but no matter how hard I tried I could not reach the surface. Very freaky. When I finally popped up I was way down the river from the boat and had to get rescued by another boat who plopped me on shore so I could wait for my boat to pick me up. They found it pretty hysterical, me standing on the bank, paddle in hand, abandoned. It was kind of funny. Exhausted and exhilarated we finally arrived home at around 6:30 pm starving and ready for dinner. That night I went to my friend Ella's brother's house with some friends but I was ready to go home by 10, I couldn't stay awake a second longer.

Sunday I spent some time by the pool before going with my friends Ian and Jordon to the PhD student's house who I did the dingo volunteering for, Liz. She was having a BBQ for all the volunteers who helped her with her project. It was a lovely afternoon. We sat and talked and had some really great food! It was nice to have something home cooked. And she had so many pets: 2 rats, a bearded dragon, 3 dogs, and a kitten named Miss Pickles. When the sun was setting we walked to Kewarra Beach with the dogs and stayed there for a bit before we went home.

Today was my first day spent on hardcore studying for my exams. My first one is this Thursday. Ahh! Very scary. Tomorrow is my last day at the zoo!