Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park

Franklin-Gordon Rivers National Park at the epicentre of Tasmania's acclaimed World Heritage area. Being a wilderness area the best way to see this park is by either white water rafting down one of the wild rivers or via cruise boat or seaplane from Strahan.

Established in 1981, Franklin Lower Gordon Wild Rivers National Park was designated a part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage site in the following year. The park comprises a wilderness area of quartz peaks, rainforest, and limestone caves. It includes Frenchmans Cap National Park, an older conservation area named after its highest mountain, and the Kutikina Caves, an important archaeological site inhabited by Aborigines during the last Ice Age.

The park exists for its own sake more than anything, most of it being virtually inaccessible. You can cruise up the Gordon, or fly over it, but the really adventurous can explore by rafting the Franklin and walking the Frenchmans Cap Track, both accessible from the Lyell Highway, which extends from Strahan to Hobart and runs through the park between Queenstown and Derwent Bridge. There are also plenty of short walks leading from the highway to rainforest, rivers and lookouts.

The Franklin River is one of the great rivers of Australia, and the only major wild river system in Tasmania that’s not been dammed. It flows for 120km from the Cheyne Range to the majestic Gordon River, from an altitude of 1400m down to almost sea level. Swollen by the storms of the Roaring Forties and fed by many other rivers, it can at times become a raging torrent as it passes through ancient heaths, deep gorges and rainforests. The discovery in 1981 of stone tools in the Kutikina Cave on the lower Franklin has proved that during the last ice age southwest Tasmania was the most southerly point of human occupation on earth.

A seaplane from Strahan flies over the national park, and from it you can see the confluence of the two rivers – the planned site of the ill-fated dam – surrounded by thick forest, much of it impenetrable and probably never traversed by humans. The Gordon appears wide and slow compared to the narrow, winding Franklin. From above, the forest reveals its beautiful combination of textures and colours, the delicate white and greens of the myrtle, pines and other trees a complete contrast to the typical Australian scene of dusty green gums shading to blue in the distance.

Along the Lyell Highway

In fine weather, the white quartzite dome of Frenchmans Cap, looking a little like snow, can be seen from the highway. For a more spectacular viewpoint that takes in the Franklin River Valley, Donaghy’s Hill Wilderness Lookout Walk begins further along the highway on the right. Walk from the parking area along the old road to the top of the hill, where a sign marks the beginning of the forty-minute-return track. 

Further along the highway, the walking track to Frenchmans Cap begins with a fifteen-minute stroll to the suspension bridge over the river. Continuing on the Lyell, you have another opportunity to see the Franklin on a ten-minute Nature Trail, at a point where the river is tranquil, as it flows around large boulders; there’s also a longer 25-minute circuit. At the start of the trail there’s a picnic area and a wooden shelter with an interpretive board about the river. Beyond this point, open buttongrass plains take over, huge uninhabited expanses fringed with trees. This is Wombat Glen, which looks as though it’s been cleared into grazing country until you step out into it and discover its bog-like nature.

At the foot of Mount Arrowsmith, the highway begins to ascend, winding around the mountain’s southern side above the U-shaped glacial Surprise Valley. The Surprise Valley Lookout offers a good view of the valley and, across to the southwest, another excellent aspect of Frenchmans Cap. Continuing down, you come to King William Saddle, another fine lookout point with views of the King William Range to the south and Mount Rufus to the north.

Frenchmans Cap Track

Frenchmans Cap is much more demanding than the relatively straightforward Overland Track, as it has some very steep extended climbs and sections of mud, and should be attempted only by skilled bushwalkers – preferably with experience of other Tasmanian walks. The weather is temperamental: it rains frequently, and it can snow even in summer. Beyond Barron Pass, the track is above 900m and at any time of the year is subject to high winds, mist, rain, hail and snowfalls.

The track begins at the Lyell Highway, 55km from Queenstown, served by Tasmanian Wilderness Travel’s scheduled Hobart–Queenstown service (tel 03/6334 4442; 1 daily Tues, Thurs, Sat & Sun), or you can charter Maxwell’s Coaches (tel 03/6492 1431) for $60 from Devonport or Launceston or $10 from Lake St Clair. 

A fifteen-minute walk from the road brings you to the suspension bridge across the river for the start of the walk. Record your plans in the registration book here and again in the logbook at the two huts at Lake Vera and Lake Tahune that provide basic accommodation (though this is usually full and you must bring tents and stoves with you); Frenchmans Cap is a proclaimed “Fuel Stove Only Area”.

There are composting toilets at both huts and plenty of camping spots along the way; water along the track is safe to drink. From the Franklin River to Lake Vera the well-defined track crosses plains and foothills, then becomes steep and rough as it climbs to Barron Pass, where there are magnificent views, becoming easier again on the way to Lake Tahune, close to the cliffs of Frenchmans Cap. From here it’s a steep one-kilometre walk to the summit, before returning the same way.

For further information, get the free Frenchmans Cap Track Bushwalker Notes from Service Tasmania, 134 Macquarie St, Hobart 7000; you can also buy the Frenchmans Cap Map and Notes ($9) there; or contact the Queenstown Ranger Station (tel 03/6471 2511). If you don’t feel equipped to tackle the walk independently, contact Craclair Walking Holidays (tel & fax 03/6424 7833; $1195), which organizes seven-day guided treks.

For more information on the Franklin-Gordon Rivers National Park, go to:

• Rafting on the Franklin