Rafting the Russell River

The Russell River rafting trip started with a cup of tea (as most things do in Australia) at the edge of a designated wilderness rainforest. The only way you can raft this particular river is to have absolutely zero environmental impact. So we had to pack in everything – paddles, life vests, rafts on metal poles, an inflatable kayak, ropes, air pumps – along a rough track in the rainforest. Imagine a forest where every tree and animal is unfamiliar, including giant fruit bats, the largest in the world. These bats had wing spans comparable to large birds of prey. We really had to watch our step because wait-a-whiles and stinging nettles were ready to impale us and inject their toxins. We noticed the huge light gaps created in the forest due to blown-down trees during Cyclone Larry. This was particularly noticeable on the higher ground of each rise. Entire tops of trees had been snapped off.

One of the best parts of the trip was at the end of the hike when we arrived at a stream joining the river and were able to sip cool, refreshing, pristine, and highly oxygenated water right from the source with no purification necessary. Wow! Meanwhile, our guides were busy inflating the boats.

Soon we were ready to take off and paddle the river at high water, due to all the recent rain. Our guide showed us all the basic strokes as well as how to hold on so we didn’t fall out of the raft. We navigated 12 rapids in 3 hours – stopping along the way to hike by a waterfall, paint ourselves with ochre, and scout out each rapid to determine the safest route. One of the best rapids was ‘the rollercoaster’ because it consisted of several drops, one right after the other. Everyone must have been holding on really tight, I sure was, because no one fell out of the rafts. At the end of our trip, our guides cooked us a big BBQ meal, which was great because all of us were tired and hungry after paddling such a strong river.

The Russell was pretty amazing. Besides the two rafts and rescue kayak, no one else was on the river. We saw huge mountains rising out of the mist. Rainforest trees were covered in huge epiphytic ferns – a wild and beautiful environment!