#tully river

Between April and August, I averaged one rafting trip down the Tully every two months. Unfortunately, I can't afford to go back until my brother visits (unless someone wants to gift me a trip back... Anyone? ... Yeah, didn't think so) so the memories of this most recent trip have to last me a few extra weeks. Thankfully, even with a screwy foot that caused me to be more klutzy than normal, it was an absolutely brilliant day to remember: clear blue sky, more water than I've seen in the river so far, an all around lovely group of fellow rafters, and my favourite guide Jack.*

Fortuitously, I managed to catch Jack on his last day guiding on the Tully before he leaves for a summer rafting guide job in New Zealand.

Extra fortuitously, I wasn't in Andy's raft when he accidentally flipped it mere meters from a fall.

We were parked on a rock right beside the top of the fall when he flipped so we were able to fish everyone dumped into the water out before they took solo swims over the waterfall but it was an exciting few minutes—especially when the rescue efforts caused our raft to swing sideways towards the fall, precariously floating across it's top, lightly touching the rock against which we'd been parked with one end of the raft and the tall rock on the fall's other side with the other. I was convinced we were going to go over sideways especially when Jack stopped shouting at us to pull people in (though everyone still in the water was at least clinging to a raft at that point) and started shouting for us to get down and stay down so we did, crouching motionless in the bottom of the raft (I'm not sure the lady beside me was even daring to breathe), and the raft stopped edging closer to the fall.

After other rafts pulled in the unintentional swimmers, righted Andy's raft, and restored his passengers, Jack sorted us into the positions he thought best to make it over the fall given our position on it, tugged us around a bit, hopped in, and over it we went.

Due to the extra water in the Tully, after lunch Jack took us exploring down a side of the river you can't normally navigate. We floated between the dark rocks and under a tree whose sun dappled branches overhung the water by a good two meters. As we approached the tree, I wished for a camera. When we reached it and the sun glinted down through the leaves above us, I wished even more that I could make my fellow passengers vanish, anchor the raft to that place, stretch out and just stay there for several hours, staring up through the branches to the blue sky and soaking in the beauty and peace.

I seriously love the Tully. The first two trips both had a few moments of out and out terror which resulted in post adrenaline rush highs which this trip lacked but I think I may have enjoyed it even more because I could completely focus on the river which is just stunningly gorgeous. I'm really going to miss visiting it.