Wednesday saw us take a boat out to Fitzroy Island. This Island is famed for it lush rainforest walk, snorkelling and diving. It was another hot, sunny day and the ferry ride over was pure bliss. We sat on the top deck, our walkmans on, letting the morning sun warm our faces.

The island was very small but we didn’t do any of the walks, preferring to do some swimming off the beach and some snorkelling. We had a rather hurried (but tasty) lunch and then went on a little trip on a boat with a glass bottom so we could see the coral and see life below us. The highlight was seeing a large turtle, it was very cute.

For the rest of the afternoon we lazed on sun loungers by the pool, reading and having an ice cream. It was a good thing we didn’t have too much of a crazy day because the next day would be one huge adventure!

We had booked ourselves onto a white wafter rafting trip with a company called “raging thunder” who picked us up with a huge coach at another early hour and about a hundred of us drove down to the Tully river. I have to admit I was very scared about this trip, I’d seen clips of white water rafting on tv in the past and it looked hair raising!

Upon our arrival at the Tully River we split into groups of six. There was Lee-ann and myself, James Morton, and two married couples, one of whom were newly married, on their honeymoon and spoke little English! Our instructor was a young dude called Cam who was very direct but friendly and gave us a good talking to about safety and what we needed to know and do in the boat. We had to learn several commands and actions that we would need for different parts of the rapid. Things like “OVER LEFT!”, “GET DOWN!”, and “ON THE JOB!”.

We went over the various procedures used when someone fell out and practiced them. Typically, over the whole day I was the only person to fall out of the boat and it wasn’t even on a very fast bit! I was very embarrassed as you can imagine but didn’t hurt myself except for a bruise on my bum where I hit a rock.

Well, the rafting was a wet wild thrilling ride!!!! It was so, so so good! James and I were at the front of the boat and were ‘the muscle’ apparently according to Cam?! I could understand that of James but not me. Cam shouted his instructions constantly and we worked well as a team. Our boat never tipped over and no one fell out at any of the rapids where you are most likely too. Going down the rapids was terrifying, thrilling and you got utterly soaked. It felt like I was either laughing, screaming or getting my mouth full of water for the whole day!!

We got a chance to swim the water at a couple of safe points and at one place (with our prior knowledge and permission) Cam sent the boat down this mini rock slide and then flipped the boat so we thrown in the water, it was a hoot!

The day went by in a flash and as much fun as it was, it was nice to get dry! We had to help carry the raft back up to where the coaches were and then we got changed. James, Lee-ann and I all bought a souvenir pack of four photos and they are great shots. I’ll try and put them on the web when I get home.

Needless to say that on the way back I slept nearly all of the way! If anyone goes to Cairns in the future you should definitely go white wafter rafting, it was excellent.

Sadly, our fifth activity on the Friday (and our last in Cairns) turned out to be a bit if a disaster but Lee-ann and I managed to see the funny side of it in the end so that was ok. We had booked ourselves for a day of horse riding at a place called Springmount Station, about three hours outside of Cairns.

Lee-ann was keen as she had done riding lessons back home and I was up for trying something new, so off we went. We got picked up in small van similar to the one we had gone to Daintree in. However, this van was considerably older and had little, or no, suspension from the bumpy as hell ride we had out there. On the way we stopped at a supermarket (our driver needed to pick up some groceries?!) and the second time we stopped I don’t remember the reason why but Lee-ann and I spotted a sign giving directions to a Young offenders prison farm in the area. Where on earth were we?!

When we arrived at Springmount it turned out to be a small, run down family farm. The guy who drove us was the owner and when we arrived we met his wife and grandkids. The set up was a shambles basically, they had employed some other backpackers to take us out in horses and although we were given some basic instructions and a helmet it all seemed very unprofessional.

The horse I was given constantly stopped to graze, and, at the beginning of the morning ride, two of the three guides kept having to come back to me to get the horse to move. Being on the horse was kinda fun but it was very slow going and there was just barren bush around as we were going along in single file conversation was almost impossible.

I didn’t feel particularly safe on my horse and the fact that it clearly was ignoring my instructions was very frustrating. I’d never ridden before and I felt uncomfortable about whacking the horse with my heels or a stick. This was because I thought it would hurt the horse and also I was worried it would flip me off in a buck-a-roo stylee! We all had a go at cantering which was frankly awful.

We were not taught how to move with the horse so my nads were a little sore after!!!! Towards the end of the morning ride my helmet was well on the way to giving me a cracking headache, and Lee-ann’s horse was being more than a handful. It wasn’t doing what she wanted, and at the top of steep slope, the horse nearly bolted as one of the guides shouted at it when it wouldn’t move. Unsurprisingly this freaked out Lee-ann and she was helped off her horse by one of the guides.

Clearly, these horses were not suited to trips like this. I made sure Lee-ann was ok and she was escorted back to the farm by one of the guides. I finished the ride and was very happy indeed to get off the horse and take off my helmet.

Lee-ann didn’t want to go on the afternoon ride and, frankly, I didn’t blame her. The group had a swim in the nearby creek where we basically baby sat the grandkids and after lunch (the best thing about the day!) I stayed behind with her and we walked around the farm and chatted. We did get to pet two baby goats though and they were cute.

I had fun, simply because I was with Lee-ann, but we were the first people back in the van at the end of the day and we were glad to leave. The drive back was an adventure in itself though. The guy drove at breakneck speed and we were very, very scared we wouldn’t make it back at all!

Cairns was brilliant. I had such a good time that even the nightmare at the horse riding didn’t dampen my enthusiasm about the last week. Lee-ann and I did so many cool things and it was great to catch up with James and Martin.