Travelways

The wetsuited walkers waiting for us at the end of the Mt McCall track are
hopping from foot to foot.
It doesn't feel terribly cold but we've just left the protection of a troop
carrier.
We don wetsuits, reorganise waterproof backpacks and begin a descent of
several hundred metres to the river.
There is a safety briefing, paddling lessons and then, well before noon on
this early autumn day, we are floating down a swelling river.
As our guide encourages a gentle forward paddle, I pick a leech off my neck
and savour the moment.

Here we are, torrent below and heavy rain above, on the Franklin River.
We plough through white water and yell with delight at the passing of each
challenge.
The varying river level makes each rapid behave differently.
Guide Elias will pause before each set and read the water.
For all its fame and adventure, the Franklin has also taken several lives
so the caution is well warranted.
The end of the Mount McCall track is a rendezvous point for this Rafting
Tasmania trip.
Four rafters leave and four join guides Elias and Franzi, who are half-way
through a 12-day journey.
We learn that the rising river almost made the Great Ravine impassable;
our rendezvous could easily have been delayed a day or two while the party
pitched camp and waited for lower water.
We are lucky to be on the river and from here on, the rain will mostly work
in our favour.
The trip had low water for the Upper Franklin, which meant beautiful
weather for the walk up Frenchmans Cap but also a lot of portaging.
A portage involves lugging the gear-laden rafts over land.
Our rush through Propsting Gorge is interrupted by a portage around Ol'
Three Tiers.
The newbies are introduced to a simple but effective technique _  ``One,
two, three, heave!'' _ and the flexible convoy inches over river-edge boulders.
Paddling again, there's a brief lull at Ganymede's Pool before we run rapids
called the Trojans.
We portage again, this time around the deadly Pig Trough.
All gear must come out of the rafts so it's slow and steady progress along
a bush track.
We twist and lug the empty rafts past the Pig and emerge for lunch in sight
of Rock Island Bend.
A photograph of this scene by Peter Dombrovskis  became emblematic of the
campaign to prevent the damming of the Franklin.
The campaign led to former prime minister Bob Hawke's 1983 decision to
stop the dam.
We carry our gear past the rapids of Newlands Cascades and take
advantage of what the guides call the best campsite on the river.
Here limestone ledges hang over caves to give perfect, dry shelter.
Elias recommends we stay two nights and take advantage of the fast water
to run the Lower Franklin in a day.
As we choose our troglodyte homes the catering kicks in: Elias and Franzi
announce happy hour, where rafters can have a hot cuppa and nibble on dips
and cheeses.
It's very civilised, this Franklin River.
My raft has Elias and the newcomers:  Hobart-based Danes Asger and Lif
and South Australian IT manager Clive.
The second raft has father-and-son Queensland doctors Michael and Nick,
Hobart anaesthetist Trudi, and Norway-based couple Tony and Corine.
The whole-river rafters learn that the state election looks like a 10-10-5
split and that the Liberals appear willing to govern.
The thought that we carry this news emphasises the exquisite isolation of
our position.
It's been a huge day.
We woke up at 6am in Queenstown that day, took a long ride in a four-
wheel-drive, lugged gear down a slippery canyon track and paddled and
pulled rafts to Newlands.
The sleeping spot I chose had been atop a neatly arranged rectangle of
leaves, courtesy of a previous rafting expedition.
``You'll sleep like a king there,'' says Elias, as he starts the meal
preparation.
He could also have said that we'll eat like kings, because the food is superb.
It begins that night with pan pizza and chicken curry, and builds like a
crescendo over the next two nights.
The river's been building too.
It sounds like the sea as it roars past and masks the sound of the rain.
I sleep light but secure in my cave.
It's hard to monitor the rain but it will affect everything we do for the next
two days.
Authors Peter Griffiths and Bruce Baxter call their Franklin River guide
The Ever Varying Flood.
As we sleep 10 metres above the torrent, the river thunders, rages, surges
and varies.

Travelways; for all your Tasmania Accommodation