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Tully Rafting is the ultimate rafting tour in Cairns and Far North Queensland. This river hosted the International Rafting Federation World Rafting Championships, and is legendary for its exciting and challenging rapids, paired with a high volume of clear, blue water. If you’re seeking an exciting experience in a truly beautiful location, this one is for you. We’ll whisk you away to the Tully Gorge National Park, a remote wilderness location made for adventure. There’s giant granite boulders, white water rapids, a waterfall and cool deep pools for paddling. River Guides lead the way, providing you with safety and rafting briefings, and each raft has its own guide to navigate your way down the river. There’s 2.5 hours of rafting, which might include a backward slide (pending conditions), with the option to jump off rocks into the river.
This full day tour runs all year round and with limited numbers, books out in advance. You can self-drive or book return transfers from Cairns and Mission Beach. The tour price includes rafting instruction and an experienced River Guide, helmets, life jackets and everything needed for rafting, as well as a hearty pub meal. The minimum age to participate is 13 years old.
What We Love About This Tully Rafting Tour. We loved the remoteness of it. It felt like you were on a rafting expedition in a wilderness area. There’s no one around. It’s remote, just you, your raft and the river (and the other tour guests and River Guides of course). The Tully River has clue blue waters, rushing down the gorge with some hectic rapids, but the experienced River Guides were there to help navigate and we felt very safe. Going under the waterfall was heaps of fun, as was jumping off rocks. Definitely a bucket list experience, make sure you purchase the professional photos at the end too, worth it!
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Get a free underwater camera rental when you book tours through us valued at over $750, we’ll lend you a GoPro underwater camera to use for the duration of your tours. Numbers are limited and allocated on a first-come basis. Get in touch with us to claim this deal today.
The Tully Rafting tour is run by the Cairns Adventure Group, which is a locally owned and family operated business committed to showcasing the best of our area to guests. We love their tours, taking you to all the locals’ favourite places. Rafting is in their DNA, the owner used to be a River Guide, so you know every aspect of safety and experience is ticked off. If you are self-driving to the start of the tour, which is at the Golden Gumboot in Tully, then the tour is just under 6 hours. If you are booking the return transfers from Cairns, then the whole tour is around 11 hours long. The Tully Rafting tour operates all year round with guaranteed water levels thanks to the release by the Tully Gorge hydroelectric station each day. Minimum age to participate is 13 years old and there’s no prior experience necessary, but you must be able to swim with confidence in currents. Suitable for solo travellers, friends travelling together and family groups.
The Tully Gorge National Park is a powerful, ancient landscape shaped by time, water and rock. The force of the Tully River itself carved out the gorge along a major north-west-trending fault system, but the river has since been partially tamed with the introduction of a hydroelectric station (which enables year-round rafting coinciding with the daily water release). What hasn’t been tamed is the wild beauty of tropical rainforests that define this area, lush and thick from the forest floor to the closed canopy above. You get a unique perspective of this from the river, as you glide down the gorge.
The Tully is a world class rafting river, so if you want something really challenging then this is the tour for you. To put it into comparison, we have done the Tully Rafting tour and the Cairns Rafting tour which is in the Barron Gorge National Park. The Barron is a half day of fun, suitable for beginners and families, while the Tully is an all day, adventure ride down a stunning rainforest river. The Tully is more out of your comfort zone, but if you can swim and want to push the boundaries, then this is the rafting tour for you! Tully River has cool, clear water with high volume flows. You have more time rafting, with the chance to go under a waterfall.
One of the highlights of the Tully Rafting tour is splashing under the gentle flow of the very pretty Ponytail Falls (seasonal and subject to weather). The falls is in a quiet section of the Tully River and is almost like a fairy pool, cascading down the granite and basalt rock wall into the clear waters below. It’s like you’ve found yourself in your very own postcard and is a ‘pinch me’ moment.
The timing for the Tully rafting tours is dictated by the water release schedule of the hydroelectrical station in the Tully Gorge National Park, so it can vary pending weather and season. The itinerary shown below is reflective of the ‘usual’ Tully Rafting itinerary run by the CAG and is based on self-driving to the tour starting point in Tully. There’s also the option to book transfers from Cairns and Mission Beach. The tour is fully guided and the price includes all safety equipment (helmet and life jacket), safety and rafting briefings and a River Guide for every raft. It also includes a hearty pub meal. You should take additional funds to purchase souvenir photos.
Self-drive guests meet up with the transfer guests at the Golden Gumboot in Tully. You should aim to be there by 1pm to avoid missing the tour. You should also have lunch prior to the tour, because dinner isn’t until after the rafting at 6.15pm.
With all of the guests together, it’s time to jump on the air conditioned CAG coach and travel to the top of the Tully River Gorge, where you receive your safety briefings and equipment. Along the way you’ll drive through sugar cane fields and banana plantations. It’s very scenic.
Your River Guide completes your briefings, which includes going over some safety terminology and positions in the raft, showing how to safely hold your paddle in the rapids and then it’s time head over to the rafts to get started.
The next 2.5 hours are spent rafting the Tully River. There’s challenging rapids, stunning scenery, a waterfall, cool pools and the chance to jump off boulders and into the water. There will be squeals and shouts of excitement and you’ll leave with smiles for miles. Please note a photographer will be getting pics during your river time, which you can review and purchase after the trip.
Rafting time comes to an end. There’s time to dry off and get changed, before it’s back on the bus and head to the pub for dinner.
Dinner is at the Feluga Hotel in Tully. You can choose between hamburger and chips or chicken burger and chips, grilled Spanish mackerel with salad and chips or vegetarian / vegan schnitzel with salad and chips. Cold drinks are extra and at your own expense.
If you self-drive, time to get back to your vehicle and head off. Guests with transfers will board the bus for the return to Mission Beach or Cairns.
The Tully Rafting tour is one of those days that you’ll remember for the rest of your life. Rafting down a clear blue rainforest river, surrounded by a living landscape and smashing down white water rapids. There’s waterfalls, chutes and sometimes even backward slides (pending conditions). It’s a whole lot of putting yourself front and centre to one of the most stunning locations in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. Go big or go home.
It takes you high into the hills, in the Tully section of the Tully Gorge National Park. You can self-drive and meet the bus in Tully, or you can book return transfers from Cairns or Mission Beach. From there you raft down the Tully River for around 2.5 hours to the extraction point, and then it’s back on the bus to Tully for dinner.
This is a full day tour. If you self drive, you meet the rest of the crew in Tully at 1pm and return to your vehicle around 7.30pm. If you book transfers from Cairns, then pickups commence at 10am and you get back into Cairns just after 9pm.
Cold drinks and the professional photos, which you have the option to purchase at the end.
The smartest way to save is to create a “Reef and Rapids” combo, rather than searching for third-party promo codes which are rarely available. By booking Tully Rafting alongside Passions of Paradise, you secure a discount on both the river and the reef. Additionally, we reward bigger bookings (over $750) with Free GoPro Hire. This is a massive plus for the Tully River, allowing you to strap the camera to your helmet and film the extreme rapids hands-free.
Apart from the Cairns or Mission Beach transfers, the tour starts and ends in Tully.
Yes, the tour is suitable for families who have adventurous children aged over 13 years, and competent at swimming currents.
Yes. The entire tour is guided by Cairns Adventure Group’s River Guides.
Yes, pre-booking is recommended, especially during peak holiday periods. Tours often fill quickly due to limited tour times and rafts.
There are no toilets on the coach, there are toilet facilities at Tully.
The Tully rafting tour does operate in the rain. You can’t have a rainforest river without rain. However, in the event of heavy monsoonal rainfall, there may changes made to the tour. This usually happens in February or March and you will be contacted if you are affected.
You should bring a small day pack including a towel, sun sunscreen and insect repellent. Change of clothes, river shoes (crocs are fine) a hat and additional funds to purchase the professional photos and cold drinks.
If you have any question regarding this tour, please do not hesitate to contact us, we can help you find the perfect tour for you, we understand it can be overwhelming trying to decide. Our advice and booking service is free.
So Much Fun! Barron River Rafting is an epic way to spend a few hours in Cairns. You’ll head deep into the Barron Gorge National Park, where you’ll raft your way down the Barron River over bouncy rapids, surrounded by beautiful rainforest. Seriously – Smiles For Miles!
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