Franklin River and Frenchmans Cap

We suggest asking your pre/post tour accommodation about car parking or there are secure carparks in Launceston where you can pre-book a spot.

Our Franklin departures run from mid-November to late February, the window with the most reliable combination of water level, daylight and settled weather. Rainfall drives everything on this river - there are no dams —- so November and early December usually bring higher, faster water, and February runs lower and more technical.

It changes everything. The Franklin is undammed, so it runs on rainfall alone and can rise or fall by metres within hours. High water means fast travel, long rides and fewer portages. Low water means more time lifting and lining rafts over rock. Your guides read the level daily and plan from it.

We wait. The Franklin can rise several metres in a matter of hours, and when it does the safe response is to hold at camp until it drops. Guides monitor the river continuously and carry emergency communications. The itinerary is built with enough slack to absorb a delay of this kind.

The Franklin carries rapids from Class 1 to Class 6. We raft mostly Class 2 to 3, and run up to Class 4 where the level allows it. Class 5 and 6 rapids - including several inside the Great Ravine - are portaged or lined every time, without exception.

The Great Ravine is the crux of the Franklin and one of Tasmania’s deepest gorges. We paddle, line and portage through Coruscades, Livingstone’s Cut, Thunderush, the Masterpiece and the Cauldron to the Mousehole. It takes the better part of two days and it is the hardest work of the trip.

Portaging means carrying or roping the raft and gear around a rapid too dangerous to run. On the Franklin it happens several times, most of it in the Great Ravine. You unpack the raft, carry loads over boulders and repack on the far side. At low water it takes longer and costs more effort.

Hard. It is roughly 7 km (4.3 miles) each way and 8 to 10 hours return, from base camp at the Irenabyss to a summit of 1,443 m (4,734 ft). The trail is very steep, often muddy and slippery, and the final section needs scrambling. Two days are set aside so weather can be waited out.

A shorter Franklin trip is only possible by using the Mt McCall road, cut through World Heritage wilderness during the dam campaign. We decided not to use that road and we have held that line. Every one of our departures runs the full navigable river, from Collingwood Bridge to the Gordon.

Almost every day. The 8-day trip is seven days on the river and a final day sailing out; the 10-day adds two days based at the Irenabyss for Frenchmans Cap. Days vary from long hauls to shorter ones when the water level or the weather calls for it.

You do not need to be a strong swimmer, but you must be confident swimming in a buoyancy vest if you come out of the raft. A buoyancy vest and helmet are compulsory and supplied, and a professional guide paddles in every raft on the river.

No. Most people on our Franklin trips have never rafted before. Your guides run a full safety briefing and paddling instruction on the first day, and there is a guide in every raft for the whole river. What you need is fitness, balance and a tolerance for being wet.

Guides carry emergency communications and a group first aid kit, and all our guides hold wilderness first aid training. Evacuation from most of the river means a helicopter, and bad weather can delay that by hours or longer. Travel insurance covering rafting and emergency evacuation is a condition of booking.

Shoes with soft, grippy soles that you are happy to soak all day. The good old Dunlop Volleys are our specific recommendation - they grip wet Franklin bedrock better than most technical footwear and they drain. Avoid sandals, wetsuit boots and hard-compound soles, which slip badly on polished rock.

We supply the raft, wetsuit, paddling jacket, helmet, buoyancy vest, a 65-litre waterproof gear bag, all group camping and cooking equipment, and every meal on the river. You bring a sleeping bag rated to -5°C (23°F), a self-inflating mat, thermal layers, a headtorch and river shoes.

There are no toilets and no facilities of any kind on the river. We carry a portable contained toilet system and remove all solid human waste from the catchment on every trip, without exception. Washing is done in the river, with no soap or detergent.

Yes, and that is the trip. You will be wet for most of each paddling day, and south-west Tasmania can deliver cold, rain and wind in any month of the season. We supply the wetsuit and paddling jacket. Your job is dry warm layers for camp and a sleeping bag rated to -5°C (23°F).

By yacht. The rafting finishes at Sir John Falls on the Gordon River, where the Stormbreaker collects us for a cruise down the lower Gordon and across Macquarie Harbour to Strahan. From Strahan it is roughly four and a half hours by bus back to Launceston.

Private parties do raft the Franklin, and with real whitewater experience, the right gear and a competent group, you can. Most people cannot - and we would strongly discourage it if you have little experience. What you are paying for is guides who have read this river in flood and in drought, and the judgement to know which of the two you are on.

Portaging, and being wet. Lifting a loaded raft over boulders in the Great Ravine is the hardest physical work of the trip and it arrives on days three and four, before you are used to it. Very few people say the rapids were the problem.

Anyone who needs a hot shower, a dry bed or a phone signal inside eight days! It is also not recommended for anyone not confident in moving water, or who cannot carry a load over uneven wet rock. Once the trip starts there is no way off the river except downstream.

This trek commences with a COMPULSORY pre-departure briefing at 1pm on the day before departure. It is ESSENTIAL that you make your travel arrangements to enable you to attend this briefing and that you bring along all of the gear/clothing required for your expedition with you.

This trip includes one day of walking as we summit Frenchman's Cap. The trek is challenging but immensely rewarding. Some sections are steep, there will be sections you need to scramble over, and mud is common in the area. You will need an excellent level of fitness for this day. Previous walking experience is essential.

It is a condition of booking a tour with us, and your responsibility to ensure that you are adequately insured for the full duration of the tour in respect of illness, injury, pre-existing medical conditions, death, loss of baggage and personal items and cancellation and curtailment. You must provide evidence to TEX that you have obtained personal travel insurance. You must ensure that your personal travel insurance covers all of the activities you expect to participate in.

Book the 8-day Franklin River Rafting trip if the river is what you came for. Book the 10-day Franklin River and Frenchmans Cap trip if you also want to climb tuynti/Frenchmans Cap at 1,443 m (4,734 ft) - it adds a summit day plus a spare day for weather, and the climb is a serious undertaking in its own right.

We run it ourselves. Tasmanian Expeditions is a self-operated brand (part of the World Expeditions Travel Group) - our own guides, our own rafts, our own safety equipment, and no third-party operator between you and the river. Our group ran the first commercial descent of the Franklin in 1978 and has run it every season since.

It is not suitable for people with limited mobility, for anyone under 14, or for anyone not confident swimming in a buoyancy vest. It is also not for travellers who want a comfortable base each night. If you want Tasmanian World Heritage wilderness without the water, the South Coast Track is the walk to look at instead.

You swim, and your guide gets you back in - which is exactly why we ask that everyone is confident swimming in a buoyancy vest. Your guides run the group through what to do before the first rapid, and every crew member wears a buoyancy vest, a helmet and enclosed footwear whenever the raft is on the water.

Swimming and upper-body work in the months before you travel is the preparation that matters most, along with day walking over steep, uneven ground carrying a load. You do not need to be an athlete, but you do need the fitness for six to eight hours a day of paddling and lifting rafts over rock.

The Franklin is the river Australia chose to keep. It runs through the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park inside the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, and the only way to travel it is to raft it end to end - there is no road to it and no track beside it.

No single river holds that title, and any operator who tells you otherwise is selling. Difficulty depends on the water level on the day. The rivers most often named among the world's hardest commercially rafted whitewater include the Zambezi, the North Fork of the Payette, the Futaleufu and the upper Indus, and they earn it on rapid class.

Yes. The Franklin can be rafted privately and it costs less than a guided expedition. It also means being self-reliant for a week with no road access, no phone reception and no fast way out. If price is the deciding factor, a private descent will beat us. What you pay us for is guides who have read this river at every water level it produces.

As the Franklin River is renowned as being a true wilderness area, you cannot expect phone reception while on the trip. For certain mobile carriers, there is sometimes sporadic phone reception. However, this cannot be relied upon. Our guides carry emergency satellite phones which allow them to communicate with our base in Launceston if any emergencies arise. Rest assured you are not completely alone in the wilderness.

Unfortunately there are no charging facilities on this trip. We recommend bringing extra batteries or solar chargers for your phones. To conserve battery power on your mobile devices, turn your phones into flight mode.

You can either leave your excess luggage at the hotel that you stay at the night prior to the trip beginning, or alternatively, we can store it for you at our office in Launceston.

You will be returned to your accommodation at approximately 5pm on the final day of the trip.

Unfortunately there are no shower facilities on the trip. For those who are concerned about washing, you can have a quick refreshing dip in the Franklin River when we stop in the afternoons. However, for a real cleanse we recommend you bring baby wipes (remember to take them out with you as well!).

You’d be surprised how much food you’ll eat after a day’s rafting. Our guides are experienced when it comes to preparing meals in wilderness locations. Lunches usually consist of vegetable wraps with hams, chicken or salami, while evening meals can vary from curries, stroganoff and pastas. Deserts include improvised apple pie, and even a chocolate mousse if you’re lucky! Start your day with a hearty porridge or muesli, with snacks throughout the day including fruit and nuts, muesli bars and some fruit. All types of dietary requirements are catered for, including vegetarian, gluten free, lactose free, nut free etc.