Rafting in Cairns! Whoohoo! (09.11.08)

Yess!!! Today, we were picked up by Cindy from Foaming Fury. She was a funny lady, driving us around, first to the rainforest where we had a walk, and we saw the Barron Gorge. We drove to Kuranda, where we got some time to buy breakfast (we were starving as there was no breakfast included at the hotel (hanneedit: Julie was starving apparently, Hanne had been smart and gotten up early to buy breakfast somewhere else)). I also bought some Christmas presents :) We drove on, on a bumpy ride up a hill, where we were told not to walk off the path as the world's most dangerous snake frequented the area. Thanks for telling us. Being very aware of the possibility of dangerous snakes, we walked down the path to a lookoutpoint, where we had a splendid view. We walked further down to a pondish pond, where som of us ahd a swim (I did not, but I did splash my toes in the water). We walked along the river, and back up to the bus. It was terribly hot, and we were happy to get a small pack of frozen orange juice to cool us down. All the possible ways of melting orange juice were tried out, some more successful than others. Finally, the bus bumped us along and down to Lake Placid, where we could have a swim before lunch. Lake Placid was a very nice place, it's a pretty (warm) lake, with people bathing and diving and so on, and a reastaurant where there is live music. We were served hamburgers and fries, and it was quite good. We met back up at the bus, and we drove further up from Lake Placid. We stopped a lot higher up, and left all our stuff int he bus, which they drove back down again. We watched as they unloaded all the rafting equipment, and we rented rafting shoes, and got our life vests and helmets. We didn't need wetsuits. We were 6 boats with 7 people in each + one instructor. We from Volda had 3 of the boats, and the other 3 with other people. We carried the boats and the paddleoars down to the river, got in, and had a basic instruction. We started off, and it was really fun. We apparently got the instructor who was in charge, as he radioed orders to other people and so on. He was quite a good instructor. My group (Hanne, Christine, Siri, Nicole, Tiril and Hilde) were quite enthusiastic, and the instructor kept slowing us down. We managed to get down some of the waterfalls more gracefully than some of the other non-Volda-students-boats did. It was very funny when our boat totally outshined a boat full of young, strong men, and you could see how ashamed they were to be beaten by a bunch of girls. There also had to be a lot of rescuing, as many of the non-Volda-students tended to fall inn, or get stuck. We also got to have a swim at one of the calmer parts of the river, where we just jumped out of the boat and got carried down some slower falls by the current. It was very fun.When we got one the bigger falls, there was one where they used to 'surf'. It basically meant 'trying to get back up the waterfall', resulting in the boat tipping under the waterfall at the nearest end. We were asked if we wanted to do it the normal way, or the way where we might get turned upside down. We definiately chose the latter. Me and Christine (who were usually at the back of the boat) were moved to the front, to make the boat go under more easily. It did, and Christine fell inn. She was rescued and everything was okay. We wanted to do it again. We got down to the lake, where all jumped out of the boat and had a swim in our lifevests. The water was incredibly warm, and it was really nice. We got back in the boat, paddled to the shore where our instructor told us that we were one of the more fun boats he had been in for a while. Yay! We walked to the bus, where a group shot was taken, and we were bus'ed back to the hotel. We changed clothes and went immediatly out for mexican food, which was lovely. We were 10 people eating out, and we celebrated Trine's birthday. We went back to the hotel, and got straight into the pool, which was really warm even if it was pitch dark outside. We played some fun games, including singing & listening under water, and guessing which song is being sung. After having skin like a raisin, I went to bed. The day had been great, and we were looking forward to the next one here in
Cairns.

Hanneinput: I did not go out for Mexican (cause I hate Mexican), I went out for Indian instead, And let me say, although the sauce was too mild, the meat was the best meat I've ever tasted in an Indian dish. After dinner, I walked the streets and got lost. No surprise there. I had bought a beautyful (pink!) dress and was probably still a bit woozy after shopping. I asked a shopkeeper for the way, she told me, I walked, I walked further, and I realized it was clearly not the right way. So I asked another shopkeeper, and told him about the first blunder of a shopkeeper I met. He looks at me and says: "Aussie?" and I say: "No..." And she was female as well.. One should never ask females for help. He got me sorted, I found the hotel og alle hjerter gjelder seg :)