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Home » Travel ideas » Environment » Natural World » Rainforests and Jungles » The Franklin and Lower Gordon Rivers
Average rating 2.6 / 5.0 (19 votes)
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Add this experience to your wishlist The Franklin and Lower Gordon Rivers

See more Rainforests and Jungles. See best of Tasmania in Australia.


Back in the early 1980s, a massive community campaign stopped the flooding of these rivers, the last large un-dammed wild systems in Tasmania. The lower end of the catchment is a massive plain covered in rainforest and bordered by button grass plains (a system nurtured by Aboriginal people for millennia), rugged ranges of rocky mountains, and the great expanse of the Southern Ocean. It has some of the cleanest air on earth, tannin-dark rivers and diverse wildlife such as the Tasmanian Devil. A dusk paddle along the river by canoe or kyak sometimes brings the company of platypus. Despite heavy logging in the 19th century, there are still great stands of the Huon pine. It is the second longest lived organism in the world after the Californian bristlecone pine, reaching ages in excess of 3,000 years. A rafting trip down the Franklin is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. When: late summer is the driest and hence easiest time to camp out in the south west.

5 / 5 Review by expert member Cam Walker's photo Cam Walker


‘Franklin River’

The Franklin River is one of the world greatest wilderness rivers and holds a legendary status among Australians, thanks to the epic environmental battle ... Read more »

5 / 5 Review by expert member Chris Buykx 's photo Chris Buykx

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The Franklin and Lower Gordon Rivers
 Photo by flickr user williewonker
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