Australia, and indeed Queensland can be a mecca for white water rafting enthusiasts, with excellent sites covering all grades avaiable for enjoyment throughout the state.

White knuckles start to White Water Rafting
By Chris Davidson

Foaming Fury is one of several white-water rafting companies operating in far north Queensland where the high rainfall, steep mountain ranges and narrow coastal plains create some of the best white-water rivers in the world.


While most of the action is on the better known Barron and Tully Rivers north of Cairns, Foaming Fury is the only company with a licence to operate on the Russell River, 60km to the south. Foaming Fury's Russell River trip has been accredited under the National Ecotourism Accreditation Program.

The tour started at 9:30am when the Foaming Fury bus picked up the day's rafting group from different accommodation houses in Cairns. When everyone was aboard, we found there were six different nationalities in a group of 12 adventurers, suggesting that rafting is high on the international tourist agenda in Queensland.

Also with us was a Foaming Fury filmmaker with his waterproof video camera, ready to capture all the excitement on tape.

We drove down the Bruce Highway to the small township of Mirawinni which is in the shadow of Mt Bartle Frere (Queensland's highest mountain). The Russell River rises near the mountain and runs steeply down a course of less than 80km to the coast. From Mirawinni, it was a short drive to a picnic ground on the banks of the Russell River, a spot that turned out to be the end point of our journey.

Our starting point was five kilometres away, at the end of a rainfor est track that had once been an Aboriginal fishing trail, and also used by Chinese prospectors searching for gold a century ago.

Like the Aborigines and the Chinese miners, we had to carry all our rafting equipment along the track. It was part of the rafting experience.

So, after donning lifejackets and helmets, we shouldered the rafts, paddles, pumps and other gear we needed on the river, and headed into the rainfor est in single file.

Our hike through the World Heritage-listed rainfor est was a valuable lead up to the river trip. It gave us a sense of being at one with the for est befor e we rafted past it later in the day. Also, by carrying the equipment in, we felt self-reliant and involved in the adventure.

We stopped several times along the way to catch our breath and share the loads around while our guide explained some of the features of the tropical rainfor est and why it is World Heritage-listed. He showed us how the large brown seed casing of the black bean tree could be used as a waterproof pouch and explained how lots of bushmen in the Wet Tropics used the black bean seeds to keep their tobacco dry.

After 45 minutes on the track, we emerged from the rainfor est at a beautiful spot on the bank of the Russell River where the waters flowed, fast and clear, from the ranges we could see up the river valley.

Some of us took time out for a swim in the clear shallows near the bank, and tried out the disposable underwater cameras we had brought with us.

Meanwhile, the others helped the guides inflate our two rafts and load the gear aboard. Then we were sorted into two crews, and climbed aboard the rafts for lessons in paddling, safety and other rafting matters.

We were told that there are two types of rafting rivers: "pool-drop" and "descent".

The better-known rafting rivers north of Cairns, the Tully and the Barron, are both "pool-drop" rivers, which means there is a series of rapids and pools, with each rapid dropping into the next pool.

The Russell is a "descent" river, meaning it's a short river with a downhill course that is so steep the river is really just a series of rapids that are rough or calm depending on the size of the boulders in the river and the depth of the water.

On an international scale of rating rivers that goes from 1 for easy rafting to 6 for impossible, the Russell River rated a 4. After recent rains, the river was high and fast running so we knew we were not in for an easy cruise.

The lesson over, we paddled gently out into midstream and headed for the first rapid, known as the Leichhardt.

Under instruction, we paddled hard until the raft was caught by the current, and then we held on tight as the raft was sucked between two huge granite boulders, and flushed into an eddy beyond. Then we paddled hard again, as our guide steered us out of the eddy to bring us into clear water.

We were through! There was time for a victory yell and some splashing of the other raft befor e we headed into the next set of rapids, the Pinball. By now we were a team working together and enjoying the experience.

Beyond the Pinball, we pulled into the bank, left the raft and clambered single file through a cutting under a high cliff. We emerged from the cutting in the middle of a thundering waterfall where, because of the play of the sunlight on the cascading water, we were surrounded by rainbows. It was spectacular.

With the encouragement of our guides we painted our faces with reddish ochre from the bottom of the waterfall pool, and boosted our team spirit and gave us an added confidence in our ability to meet the challenges of the river.

A challenge came up soon enough. Beyond the next set of rapids, the river narrowed and the bank became a long basalt ledge with the water churning beside it. We went ashore here, and jumped from the ledge into the churning water where we were swept along, buoyed up by our lifejackets, to the next river bend where one of the guides was waiting to throw us a rope and haul us in. Everyone took up the challenge, including me and made it through.

Back in the raft, we tackled the Three Stooges rapid and then it was on to the meanest of them all, the Rollercoaster, where the raft was catapulted off a rocky shelf and dropped down about 1.5m into the sluice of fast-flowing water. We held on tight, blinded with spray, and thankfully everyone was still there when it was over.

With all the activity and excitement, the three hours on the river passed quickly and enjoyably because, even in the rating four rapids, we were sure the Foaming Fury guides knew their job and could get us through safely.