|
|
 YOUR SAY - TRAVEL
|
-
-
 Send to a friend
-
 Print
 del.icio.us this Digg this
|
Review:
I have been fascinated with rafting Tasmania's Franklin River ever since I saw Peter Dombrovski's famous photo of Rock Island bend. It was the photo that became the centre piece for the "Save the Franklin" campaign in the early 80s. A campaign that started the Greens party, the political career of Bob Brown and, thankfully, saved the Franklin for rafting enthusiasts like me.
The company I chose to raft with – Rafting Australia is one of three major operators on the river today. Its founder Graham has a long association with the Franklin and tells stories about rafting the river in the 70s with friends and a vague sketchy map.
The company offers 5, 7 and 10 day trips. I chose 5 days simply because of budget restraints. It's not cheap, but food, equipment, guides and transport to and from the river are all included. My fellow rafters consisted of a family of three teenage girls and their parents, a young married couple, a recently divorced man and me – a thirty something girl from Sydney. We had two professional and easy going guides, Simon and Anto. They were poster boys for the benefits of a life spent in the outdoors – tanned, fit and chilled out. They did everything from cooking excellent meals to loading up the rafts to serving as our navigators on the river.
As a paying guest on a professionally run trip, rafting was easy. We rolled out of a sleeping bag to a cooked breakfast, put a wetsuit on, jumped into the raft and off we went. Our days were spent paddling, drifting, swimming and joking around. Camping at night was wonderfully basic – just a sleeping bag on the river bank. Thankfully the weather was so gentle that not once did it rain or feel cold – quite a treat for this part of Tasmania.
By the end of the trip I was so relaxed that I had forgotten what day it was and didn’t care to know. I am already dreaming about my next rafting adventure and I hope one day to raft the Franklin again.
|
|
Franklin River, Tasmania
Average User rating:
3 Exceptional, 2 Great, 1 Good
|
|
|
 |
Thursday, 8 May, 2008
Too Seasoned
By MikeOne from Port Macquarie |
|