Back Country Bliss Adventures is famous for its eco-tours highlighting nature. Photo / Tourism Tropical North Queensland
For a side of Australia you’ve never seen before, floating down a river in the heart of a tropical rainforest is hard to beat, writes Vaimoana Mase.
Sometimes, there are moments in life when you find yourself doing something you know you will regret later.
That thought comes to me like a slap in the face while trudging through knee-deep water, hauling a large inflatable sled through the Mossman River, on a hot and very humid day in tropical north Queensland.
The immediate regret is the mouth-wateringly good pork belly main I chose for dinner two nights before at the Rattle n Hum Bar & Grill, in Port Douglas - just over an hour’s drive from Cairns.
The other regret is skipping church Zumba for way too long.
I’m one of a small group of fellow adventurers taking part in the River Drift Experience - a unique tour that has you trekking and floating through pristine waters in the heart of a rainforest.
Back Country Bliss opened in 2004 and is famous for its eco-adventures that bring people up close and personal to the lush rainforests and island beauty of this slice of paradise across the Ditch.
“Lush” and “island beauty” are not exactly the first words to spring to mind when thinking about Australia.
Before this, I’d only ever been to Sydney and Melbourne. Other than “city life” and “fast”, the only other words associated with Australia - in my vocab, anyway - were “outback”, “dry” and “kangaroo”.
The tour is one of many offered in these parts that show off the Mossman River and Daintree Rainforest, which is said to be more than 180 million years old, making it the world’s oldest tropical rainforest. They are also described as “a stone’s throw” (about 20 minutes away) from the lavish and laidback town of Port Douglas.
A van picks us up for the River Drift Experience session. Among our group is a couple from China who tell me they were so excited after seeing videos of it, that they caught an Uber after touching down in Cairns that same morning - at a cost of $120.
Our driver and one of the tour guides is Guy from Wellington, he proudly tells me. He laughs when I point out his heavy Aussie twang accent and drops a joke about it being one of the perils of living in Australia for “too bloody long”.
As the van heads to the river, Guy pumps up the music, including songs from Six60, Stan Walker and Fat Freddy’s Drop - hinting he probably still supports the All Blacks.
It’s every man and woman for themselves when we arrive at the spot, where we all have to get changed into the provided wetsuits or thermal rashies and swim shoes. We arm ourselves with an inflatable sled and head off to the river.
The first splash into the water is a refreshingly cold relief from the sun’s rays and hot temperature, already peaking around the 29C mark even before 10am.
It’s like walking into a movie - namely Avatar, or the cult 90s classic Anaconda. Thankfully, the only major reptiles you have to keep a keen eye out for in tropical north Queensland - crocodiles - stay away from clear and rapid-flowing water. We might see a platypus if we’re lucky, Guy says. But I’m not too keen on bumping into a platypus bill either.
We are surrounded by lush greenery. Huge trees tower over us as we walk (or struggle, depending on your fitness level) along the sandy and sometimes rocky riverbed. The sound of flowing water and chirping birds all around us completes the magic.
At times, the water only just sloshes around your feet. On other parts of the river, we navigate knee-high and then deeper waters. Much of the river is calm, but it also merges into slightly faster rapids, which make for an adrenaline-filled activity later in the tour.
Every now and again, Guy stops us to share a fact or secret about the rainforest or point out a poisonous plant. At this stop, he picks up a piece of clay, sweeps up some water from the river to mix it and then starts applying it to his skin - the best natural mosquito repellent you will find anywhere, he says.
The tour takes about two hours and includes a somewhat dicey ride through some rapids. Those of us who wear prescription glasses are asked to remove them beforehand, so as not to add to the list of glasses, wedding rings and other jewellery lost to the Mossman.
The biggest reward is right at the end, when we get to float down the river calmly and truly appreciate the serenity that comes with it. Looking up towards a moving blue sky framed by the tropics and birds flying high above, with the trickling sounds of the river in my ears, life feels simple, easy and free from regrets.
Tropical North Queensland, Australia.
GETTING THERE
Fly from Auckland to Cairns, via Brisbane, with Air New Zealand. Drive just over an hour from Cairns to Port Douglas.
DETAILS
Visit their website: Back Country Bliss Adventures
The journalist travelled courtesy of Tourism Tropical North Queensland and Air New Zealand.