BROWN WATER RAFTING - SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

Hi everyone, I'm from Sydney and wanted to share one of my adventures here! It's summer here at the moment so it isn't very cold, even on rainy days...

Firstly, I know full well how dangerous brown water rafting is so I’m not going to reveal any definite locations here. If you live in Sydney or you're resourceful enough you will probably be able to figure out where this is from my description or some of the dodgy images (screenshots from a video).

So, me and a couple of mates decided to go for a rafting adventure through one of Sydney's larger drains. We took a look at the entire system a short while ago and decided it was alright for rafting in the dark.

We started off by walking down a side tunnel that joins the main one just inside the entrance. Despite all the rain Sydney has got over the last few days, the water was barely ankle high! Jumping into our inflatable boats, the flow quickly sped us along the tunnel floor. Our arses scraped along the slippery floor of the tunnel through the bottom of our flimsy rubber dinghys because the water was so shallow.

1. HOPPING IN THE BOATS
Brown Water Rafting by sydnavigator, on Flickr

Having gone first, I quickly came to the first obstacle, a 5ft RCP set into the wall 4m up. Now normally (when it isn't raining) this isn’t much of an obstacle, but today it formed a huge waterfall blocking one half of the tunnel. Fortunately, I was able to squeeze past in the tiny gap between the fall and the wall without getting too wet, but as I turned around I saw both my mates get absolutely drenched, having cannoned straight through the middle.

It was here I tried to stand up, only to have my inflatable wrenched out of my grasp by the merciless flow. Sprinting after my boat, paddle in hand, I soon caught up and launched myself face first back into the inflatable. I was relieved to have it back, but by this point I was going way too fast for my liking. I tried to stop myself by dragging first my paddle, then my legs and eventually my entire body along the floor behind the boat, but to no avail - the slippery floor kept me sliding along uncontrollably.

I quickly gave up and flopped back into the boat, waiting until a more flat section before I finally succeeded in gaining some grip on the floor with my feet. Finally my mates caught up to me, and we held on to each other’s rafts for the last few hundred metres, spinning around in the dark together. All too soon, the end was reached and we scampered along the rocks to a bush track to trek it back to the start, or so I thought...

2. END OF THE TUNNEL
rafting2 by sydnavigator, on Flickr

3. GETTING OUT (AND NEARLY FALLING BACK IN)
rafting3 by sydnavigator, on Flickr

Instead of walking back to the start like I expected, we then made our way down past a natural waterfall section and into the creek, where we rafted for a good 1.5km, ending up at a park in a steep valley.

4. CREEK RAFTING
rafting4 by sydnavigator, on Flickr

5. FLOATING ALONG
rafting5 by sydnavigator, on Flickr

There we encountered a few people who waved at us before we disappeared into another drain that leads under that park and out into the harbour. The spiders in there were HUGE, some seemed as big as a dinner plate!

6. WITNESSES TO OUR UNCONVENTIONAL JOYRIDE
rafting6 by sydnavigator, on Flickr

7. DISAPPEARING UNDER THE PARK
rafting7 by sydnavigator, on Flickr

Anyway, it was kinda a challenge to not get our boats popped by the oysters on the walls but we succeeded. We ended up near a boat ramp so we paddled over to the adjacent jetty and got out there before walking/running the 3kms back upstream to where we left our bags (by the place we hopped in). Although it was quite scary at times I reckon that the rafting was heaps of fun!

8. FINISHING UP
rafting8 by sydnavigator, on Flickr

We did film most of it with a gopro but the footage was really bad and unfortunately we missed the part near the start with the waterfall
If you ever try this make sure you know the drain/canal very well and fully explore it to understand the features you will need to negotiate. NEVER RAFT ALONE - I would suggest going in a group of 3 or more. I take no responsibility for anyone's actions as a result of reading this post, I'm just sharing what I think was a cool and very fun adventure.

Chuck us a reply if you've done this before or have any questions!

Ok, this is fucking awesome.Thanks for sharing. Looks like so much fun!

That is awesome! Great experience share!

Drain rafting is awesome!

Great stuff!

Although orange is a bit ho-hum ;)

I just realised that pictures number 1 and number 8 don't work so here they are again:

1. HOPPING IN THE BOATS

Brown Water Rafting by sydnavigator, on Flickr

8. FINISHING UP

rafting8 by sydnavigator, on Flickr

Awesome ride. I have heard spiders and other critters can get pretty big there. Were the spiders in the tunnel the funnel web variety?

Posted by crockett85 Awesome ride. I have heard spiders and other critters can get pretty big there. Were the spiders in the tunnel the funnel web variety?

Don't think there were any funnel webs but the spiders in the last tunnel were just terrifyingly huge. Most of them probably could have covered my entire face with their leg span!