I arrived in Cairns, Tropical North Queensland in April 03. The Tully is a river that comes with a reputation on the world rafting circuit. Technical, steep, stunning and dangerous. I would say it fulfills all of its reputation despite the fact it can appear tame and very easy to negotiate when water levels are friendly and the guide competent.

Was I ever out of my depth when I arrived. The river is very intimidating and my skills were simply not polished enough to raft this river. It was a close call for me and the Tully. I was exceptionally close to not getting my ticket to work but I knuckled down and after some very hard work and soul searching I eventually reaped the reward. Mission Beach is a fabulous spot. Literally where the rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef ‘the Beach’ is an idyllic place to live. Saltwater crocodile, huge iguana, spiders, snakes, lizard, weird forest mammals, bats, birds, cassowary (like ostrich), plants, trees, vines, python. Stuff that u don’t find in Glasgow. See Bars for some more ‘Beach Chat’. Me and the raft boys gave ‘the beach’ a fair pounding over the time I was there.

The river winds down from the hills behind Tully, through the rainforest, amongst boulder fields smoothed by centuries of river erosion. It is a truly beautiful place. Steep drops and long continuous rapids make for a great day of class IV rafting. After my first month of work I was approached to work for a new company on the river that would raft 3 boat trips down the river in a more intimate style of trip than RT or RnR. Slightly scared I accepted and never looked back. My rafting developed hugely, to the point that 4 months later when I left I felt I had the confidence to raft anything, anywhere.

Whilst in Mission Beach me, Wazza and Calum undertook a 3 day, 2 night sea kayak expedition around the islands off the coast. The trip started in farce as Wazza and Calum decided to go out on the piss in Tully the night before departure. Tully of all places, you muppets. Anyhow, I instructed the idiots to pick up some supplies on their way home as they were so late that we wouldn’t have time to get anything in the beach. Still drunk they turned up with 2 tins of beans and 2 tins of peas. We had some bits and pieces in the house to supplement this shambles and Calum had some fishing lines which he assured us would flourish with fish. What an awesome trip, I can underestimate how good this trip was. Deserted islands teaming with rainforest life, ringed by beautiful beaches and surrounded by tropical waters and reef. The paddling was about 20km’s a day and the first two days was flat calm seas and cruisey. However the food was an issue and although we did catch fish, most were mini and provided minimal substance. Combined with our peas/beans and 25 litres of red wine we survived just, although Wazza did take a massive whitey on the last night due to under nourishment, sun exposure, dehydration and excessive toxin abuse. The last leg of the journey, back to Mission was the longest and unfortunately the weather turned sour but even worse my kayak began to leak. 4 foot waves in a sea kayak is very disturbing and I have barely worked harder in my life to get my water logged boat back to the beach. On our safe return we celebrated with an all you could eat buffet at the Mission Beach Resort. Job well done.