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 kayak 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.

Written by  Cam Walker.

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