Uncle Brian's Fun & Falls

The other day I went on a tour of the rainforest and waterfalls from Cairns, Australia called Uncle Brian's fun and falls. This was probably the best tour I've ever done, and not even because of the places we went, but because of the way the tour was run. This could've been a highly uneventful day where a bus takes you from one place to another, but instead it was full of random fun and stories so there was never a dull moment.

Immediately after driving off with all of us, our guide Cousin Rohan talked about the bus, who was personified into Gus the Bus. There were all sorts of stories with Gus the Bus, his other car loves, his feelings, and Rohan would honk and make the bus bump around using the clutch if Gus didn't feel like doing anything. Later in the day we couldn't find Gus' girlfriend and he cried by cleaning his windshield. We would also wave at people down the road just for fun, which was always a good time. We waved at everyone, but mostly street workers. Always good to brighten people's days like that. :)

And of course the places we went weren't too shabby either.

The first place we went to was a place called Babinda Boulders. Not much there actually, just some dangerous plants, a nice view, and some cold water we could swim in. They did talk a lot about all the danger signs that littered the place. Many people had not followed the signs in the first place and died in the falls, since a few places look like a great place to swim but you get stuck under the water. The water was pretty cold, so a few of us got in for a bit but didn't stay in too long.

Babinda Boulders

The second place we stopped was called Josephine Falls. This was the best place since there was a natural water slide to hang out on. You could go down the rock where there was only a little bit of water or a crazy rushing rapid. Head first, sideways, you name it, we did it.

The third place we went to (other than stopping for lunch on top of the tablelands) was Milla Milla falls. This place was cold. By the time we got there it was all in shadow, so it was hard to get in the water, but most of us did, since Rohan was talking about sticking your head in the water and flicking it up to get a nice effect. Guys could even do it as long as they stuck their whole head under water and flicked it up. Here's my try.

Woosh kahhhhh

The last place we went to was a big lake. No rivers ran into the lake, it just caught all the water from the nearby mountains and ended up being very clean, clear, and calm. There was a tree by this lake that grew outward in a certain way that made it easy to walk over and jump into the water. By this time I was done with cold water, but I got peer pressured by my friend Heledd into jumping. She jumped first, now it was my turn. I climbed the tree...damn it felt high. When I got to the jump point, I was scared. The guy with the camera was ready, and I said 1, 2, 3, and jumped. Whew that was a hard one, I got a shot of adrenaline when I jumped off, and I have to say I think I was less scared before I skydived out of an airplane than when I was jumping off this tree 15 feet above the water. But of course I landed with a splash and was fine, and with all that adrenaline I wasn't cold at all! The pic was on Heledd's camera, so I'll post it here after it eventually comes up on facebook. Once was in the lake, I realized it was really nice, and we swam around a bit. It was a good workout not touching the bottom for about half an hour.

With Gus the Bus and Cousin Rohan

We actually went to one more place after getting back on Gus the Bus; platypus hunting! There was one place where it was very common to see a platypus right at dusk, and so we all ran around by this river and caught a few glimpses of the popular Australian mammal/fish/whatever.

On the drive back, we had the most epic singing and dancing session, we had red and yellow lights than Cousin Rohan would flash and yell "disco lights" while the song was playing. We went back on a road that wound down a mountain for a very looong time, so it was good we were occupied instead of getting car sick. My favorite song was when we did "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and did row alternating head bobbing to the chorus haha.

Overall, highly recommended tour that everyone going through Cairns should definitely do! I haven't said everything, so there's still plenty of surprises if you were to actually go on it.