Franklin River

Summary

The almost-annual Franklin trip of 2025/2026.

Day 1 – Drive to the get-in

After touching down in Hobart from Brisbane at about 7:30pm, with a few little hiccups, we dealt with a flat key battery and the sniffer dog GSP smelling our salami; we finally made our way North of the state. Arriving at the Collingwood bridge at 1245am; we scoped out who was currently on the river and settled off to sleep. 

Day 2 – 28/12 – Get-in to Irrenabys 

Given the change in forecast, we opted for a much more lieusrely schedule with the plan to no longer paddle to Correscades in a day but to Irrenabys. 

The river was slightly higher than anticipated, Luke previously predicted somewhere in the 0.9 region; however, the gauge read 1.08. In hindsight this made sense given the later Christmas rain. The higher level definitely led to greater uncertainty regarding what to expect as neither of us had paddled it at this level but will definitely make the trip go by fast.  

The Collingwood River was easily and quickly navigated and confirmed our suspicions regarding the change of character due to the water level, with us reaching Junction Camp in just under an hour. For the first time we got to paddle sticks and stones, by taking a flowing left chute. 

The fast pace continued down towards Angle Rain with a few fun rapids. With Gordian, boulder brace and surprise rapid were all quickly negotiated. We arrived at log jam and were pleasantly surprised to find the second log no longer present (or under the flow). We sped through the Nasty Notch Portage in 6 minutes, next time we’re aiming for 5. 

Descention Gorge was a step up from the normally expected summer flows with two sets of three continuous rapids, ranging from 3 to 3+. 

We arrived at Irrenabys to be pleasantly surprised to finally have the campsite to ourself (fourth time’s the charm). Arriving at midday, we had a leisurely lunch and spent the days enjoying the sun, cooling off and catching up on some much-needed rest. 

Day 3 – 29/12 Irrenabys – Churn Caves

We started the day off at ideal levels, anywhere from 25-28 cumes. With a leisurely 9am start, we quickly found our groove down to Finchmands Crossing, taking less than an hour to cover 8km.

Following on from Finchman’s, we quickly came across Hind Side Leg and Duck Chute and navigated both without issue. In a packraft, duck chute isn’t realistically worth naming 

Throughout the morning we enjoyed scouting out future camp locations, including Maud Creek, The Beach and Rafters Race. 

We ended up having lunch just above Camp Arcade, having done 22km in 3 hours. Over the next 30 minutes we made our way down to Blush Rock Falls and had a little dip in the pool just below the falls. It had a huge flow pouring from the falls compared to previous trips. 

Dean Hawkins quickly passed and Side-Slipped easily, navigated before reaching the thunderous roar of the Churn. Luke took the ambitious line to reach the close portage track (to my dismay) . Unlike previous attempts, the portage was much quicker this time around, taking only 40 minutes to reach Churn Caves, including packing up. 

Day 4 – 30/12 Chrun Caves to Newlands 

An early start had us at the Coruscades by 7:30am. An hour’s portage later, we were on our way after bypassing the Forcett. 

We stopped at Livingston’s Cut briefly and portaged two smaller rapids before arriving at Thunderrush – the crux rapids of the trip. After a hupe up session and too many scouts of the final drop, the decision was made that Erin would run the drop first, followed closely by Luke. Both navigating the drops cleanly and the subsequent smaller series of rapids. The entire rapid taking less than 45 minutes.

We arrived at the Cauldron shortly after; however, due to our decision to internally pack all of the gear for Thunderush, we were left with a tricky situation in which the main landing of the portage track was up a very steep embankment, meaning it would be hard to pack up the gear before reaching that point. We fortunately packed significantly less gear than on our previous trips, and Luke was able to carry the boats directly up to the Eagles’ landing. After repacking the bags, the portage took 30 minutes. 

We continued along, navigating a few grade 3 rapids before arriving at Rafters Basin for lunch, of course, where it decided to rain. 

We made our way down past Mt McCall takeout and through Propagating Gorge, portaging Ol’ Three tiers after debating whether to run it or not. The Torjans were fun, with Luke taking an alternative line down the main drop (a little spicy) before paddling ABC and onto Gaylards Rapid.

We were able to portage Gaylards via river right without issue and stopped to admire Rock Island Bend before smashing out a quick lap of Newlands, where we ended the day.

Day 5 – 31/12 Rest Day at Newlands 

We enjoyed a rest day at Newlands, sharing the camp with a commercial tour. We ventured up to Rock Island Bend to observe an incoming commercial trip navigating Gaylards. Thankfully, not a snake was seen on our short hike. 

We enjoyed a few laps of Newlands, Erin managing a flip in the middle of Newlands and ending up with a monster bruise. 

We celebrated New Year’s with our goon bag of Tawny Port.

Day 6 – 01/02 Newlands – Sir John Falls 

An early-ish start of 8am had us on the water savouring the final rapid of the Franklin before finally reaching the Gordon after paddling for just over 8 hours. What a joyous sight it was to see the dock of Sir John Falls. We enjoyed sleeping in the newly renovated hut for our final night on River. 

Day 7 – 2/02 Sir John Falls – Hobart 

An early 6am-ish departure saw a stunning sunrise reflection over the Gordon and making our way to Strahan before being shuttled back to our car to return to Hobart.