Rafter's Basin to Diana's Basin Packrafting the Franklin River, Tasmania.

Another great day of portages and long exciting rapids. It was quite a bit cooler with looming rain, so I wore my drysuit.
Having an experienced person like Dan on our trip has so many benefits. Things like having the confidence to let an untethered packraft simply run down a rapid - simple when you see it, but knowing the fall line and outcomes boil down to years of experience.
Our packrafts drifted nicely into the eddy below.
All along, the Franklin has presented some exciting challenging white water. It is a wonderful playground for those with the appropriate experience, coupled with a good set of conditions.  So far we have had great weather and ideal water levels.
An exclusive club was being formed by all the other members of the group - the Immersion Club. I had "fomo", keeping my head above water, until the last day of the trip of all things - and on a not so challenging section either.
Packrafts are not like kayaks, they take more effort to manoevre due to the width and height of the tubular sections. Negotiating rock strewn fast moving streams takes timing and anticipation. sometimes aggressive strokes are required to get around obstacles in order to avoid a spill though reading what's ahead and understanding the flow dynamics counts the most. It's part of the fun to get it wrong - and right of course.
Before this trip, Dan asked us to bring 5m of lead for lining the boats as well as carabiners. I did not understand the term. On this river, I learnt what lining the boats meant. We tethered the stern of the packraft and drifted it down the rapid whilst guiding it on the shore, then restrained them afterwards. There needs to be adequate length in order to scramble over boulders.
Tonay there were some very dangerous rapids with serious outcomes should you have the misfortune to go down them inadvertently. It can be a nervy exercise to cross from one side to the other to portage around them. The val ley topography could mean a high an possibly dangerous option if we chose not to. For a few less confident paddlers, we tossed a throw rope across to provide a tether.
The thundering water, huge boulders - the atmosphere - I was in awe, what a special place.
After all that clambering, we had a break and each of us reflected on our experiences so far.
Our campsite was a contradiction to our passage to get here, by no means a let down: one needs to rest !
Just a bit about the camping. The sites have been a combination of sand, rock and dirt. I have been able to pitch my ultralight tent (Zpacks Hexamid, Dyneema) using my split paddle as support poles. For pegs I often used sticks to get better grip in the sand. A free standing tent is probably a better choice, especially if it came to camping purely on rock. It is possible also to tarp or use a hammock in this area as it is relatively free of insects and has plenty of trees.
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Location: Franklin River Rd, Southwest TAS 7116, Australia

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