Economy
Smart Traveller: Franklin rafting takes No.1 spot
Respected US magazine Outside has ranked World Expeditions’ Franklin River trip in Tasmania as the world’s best whitewater rafting.
The magazine says the river’s ecosystem is one of the most pristine thanks to “hawk-like activism and conservation efforts”.
Former Greens leader Bob Brown was at the forefront of protecting the Franklin River in the late 1970s and early ’80s from state government plans to dam the Gordon River below its confluence with the Franklin and log the surrounding wilderness.
Brown has described the Franklin as a mix of canyons and waterfalls, with sea eagles, platypuses and ancient Huon pines.
World Expeditions has a long history on the river, having pioneered commercial trips more than 30 years ago.
Rafters camp under rock shelters on some nights and often see no one else for the duration of a nine-day adventure that costs $2595 a person. For the year to March, 837,400 people visited Tasmania.
The state’s tourism sector directly and indirectly employs about 35,000 people
Also on Outside’s top 10 list are Peru’s Rio Cotahuasi River, Tibet’s Drigung Chu River and Arizona’s Colorado River.