Jungle Surfing in the Daintree Rainforest

jungle surfer – noun

“an adventurer who effortlessly flies from tree to tree, soaked in the ancient beauty of the Daintree Rainforest”

So, one of the best things about staying a bit closer to home for our Fealy Family Adventure this year, was less fuel costs meant a little bit of ‘treat’ money towards doing something really awesome on our trip.  After setting up camp at Lync Haven Camping Ground, we did some research (asked the campground receptionist, google, trip advisor) and decided that a Jungle Surfing Canopy Tour looked too good to miss and we sure weren’t disappointed!  A Cape Tribulation Sea Kayaking Tour and Cape Tribulation Hore Rides were close contenders, but we had to leave them for next time!

The Jungle Surfing Canopy Tour was absolutely, hands down worth the ticket price of $95 per person (adult and child rate the same).  Even Matt, who is a little bit of penny pincher sometimes, said that it was a terrific experience and well worth the money we spent.  We are firm believers in the benefits of adventurous activities to foster self confidence, self esteem and new skills in our kids, not to mention making some magic memories together as a family.  Adventures are some of the best bits of heading off camping together and our kids (and Matt and I!) have been very fortunate to have several amazing experiences in the past few years – climbing/walking around Uluru, the Kings Canyon Rim Walk, paddling in Lawn Hill National Park and swimming in Lake Argyle just to name a few – but Jungle Surfing in the Daintree is now right up there with one of the best things they have ever done!

Helmuts on ready to go!

The walk up to the first landing

The ‘Human Hamster Wheel’ which starts off the zip lining adventure

Matt & Toby were paired together

Go, go, go, go!

Toby and Jack ready for fun!

Jungle Surfing Tours are for ages 3 – 103 and no experience is necessary.  A word of advice though – make sure you book ahead of time as the tours are very popular!  We didn’t and only managed to get three spots on the tour for the time we were visiting the area due to a cancellation!!  So unfortunately on this trip Kipp, Lexi and I missed out, but we had a nice time at the beach eating ice-cream and playing in the playground instead. I would love to have a turn myself, so we will be going back again when the cousins visit in a few years, for sure!

We were a little worried about how Toby would go as he often struggles with some of the more scary/new experiences but he was more than fine!  In fact, he volunteered to go first out of the whole group!!  The boys managed the tour with no problems at all – even the hanging upside down – no hands part!  Matt said it was a little daunting having Toby go first, because that meant that if his 7 year old son could do it – then he had to ‘man up’ and do it too!!  The tour had plenty of exhilarating moments – even for adventurous adults – which was terrific, all the while you felt totally safe and well looked after by the guides.  The boys said it was an amazing way to see the Daintree Rainforest and they learnt lots about the Cape Tribulation/Daintree National Park on the tour as well, as the guides do an interpretive tour of the surroundings from each canopy platform.  Check out the views they got to experience!

The tour had lots of different elements to it – scary bits, slow bits to take in the views, fast bits to get the adrenalin pumping, upside down and no hands bits to make it a little bit more tricky, stopping bits etc – there was certainly no way you could be bored and the guides had lots of funny stories and jokes to tell too.  Matt’s tip is also to make sure you check out the bathrooms up there – really unique!  Here’s a little video clip of the boys adventure.

A few more photos too, so much fun ……………………..

The Jungle Surfing Tours leave from the Snake House in Cape Tribulation (lots of snakes to look at while you fill out your paperwork and wait for the bus to pick you up) – its easy to find at the end of the Cape Trib ‘village’ precinct.  Add it to your bucket list everyone, such a great experience and the boys all returned from their couple of hours on a real high. The kids still talk about how ‘epic’ it was and how proud they were to do it!

What experiences have you had that you think everybody must do at least once?  Let us know in the comments so we can add them to our ‘must do’ list!

The Fealy Family xoxo