Tasmania trip report

Photos

Hey mate, this is the bumper issue.

First things first, check out this random film on our Tassie trip. http://www.entropygear.com/vid/Tasmania.wmv

Just goes to show that the journey is most times more important than the destination.
Well my trip to tassie was awesome. The place is spectacular, such an amazing place and has a whole lot to offer. We took one of Australia’s newest Rockers to a few rivers. The problem is, just like the rest of Australia, Tassie is not getting much rain at all, so we opted for a few lubricated rock slides and a couple of smaller rivers. I was also really amazed at the amount of logging that is going on down there, it seems a little overboard and now understand why this has become such an important issue on the island. All it took was one trip, and I have gained quite an understanding on this topic. If you have a chance, educate yourself on the issues here http://weblog.greenpeace.org/tasmania/styx_background.html

Arm river was an amazing place in the middle of no where. Spectacular forest as far as the eye can see, great access and the water quality is nothing short of perfect. Colin andAdrian know the area very well, guided me to the right spots showing off this gem of a place. A big thanks goes to these guys as they helped me out a bunch. The Rocker was as usual, outstanding. The boat took the slides with ease and the foot system made for very quick pilot changes, one adjust of the rope and you are done. Simple, comfy and strong, not to mention those embarrassing ankle breaking pitons are a thing of the past.

Now somethinga little off the topic, but getting out there none the less…..

So a couple of days before the start of competition for the Australian Rafting Nationals I received a call that there was a spot available on the team that won thelast competition. I made a few quick bookings and off to Tasmania I went. Such an amazing place, with huge mountains and immense forests.

We got straight on the water, early on the first the morning and briefly got our head around our positions and strokes. Then with a few strokes warm up we were off for our first time trial. With hardly any practice prior and no rafting competition experience, I was feeling a little daunted at it all. Our time trial was fast and we got off to a great start. We got down the bottom feeling happy with our performance, then it was straight on to slalom. Our first run down touched a few gates however we were happy with our time. Our second run down saw us slightly miss an eddy and we paddled extremely hard to try to get back up stream, all to no avail as we found ourselves slipping backwards down a rapid and missing a gate all together. Obviously not a great result but we were still fastest overall.

As this was taking place, the Teva Cataract Extreme race was also being conducted which is probably Australia’s largest Kayaking Event, a race down some spectacular grade 4 rapids with some interesting sections. The first day saw a few paddlers swim, a few paddles smacked some faces, but one paddler managed to land so hard that the bolts in his C1 seat were pushed through his knees meaning a quick trip to the hospital. I guess it’s not a real kayak event without some sort of carnage.

That night saw a few presentations and a party in the middle of the mountains. Thanks to red bull most of the competitors at the event were up most of the night although no one knows exactly why…..The following morning started off with the down river race. Now this is where things got a little interesting. None of our team had run the Cataract River. We got a quick heads up on some of the lines and we were off. Most of the team were not excited about the prospect this, however this is the kind of thing that really gets me going. I love the unknown, I guess I am a true adrenaline junkie, and the thought of running racing down a grade 4 river blind fired me up.

Our run down the river was by no means clean and the raft got held up on a few rocks. One drop saw us pounding a rock fairly hard which ejected Stuart, our front right paddler, out of the front of the raft. He really got some huge air and luckily was ok. A few rapids on and I took a tumble myself. The boat got pined between two rocks and stuck there for a couple of minutes before the rest of the team could force it out. To my dismay the boat floated on past me which meant I had to swim the next rapid to catch up. Just before I swam on, Mullet, a mate who was in a C1 close by said.. just keep your feet up on this one. I pushed off and then remember being under for what seemed like a very long time. Apparently at the bottom of the rapid Mullet saw my paddle come out of the water first vertically which I was holding upright, so yes, I was way down. A quick scramble up the raft and we were over the line. A slow result but we got through it safe.

With just one win, it all came down to the head to head race in front of some 3000 spectators. At the start we took off fast and grabbed an early lead. Around a few rapids we extended this lead to what seemed an impassable distance. We took our usual river right line and looked like it was all over, unfortunately this right line was by far the slower line and the Tully boys caught right up so we were side by side over the final rapid. Our team dug deep and we only just managed to stay in front winning by about half a meter. An amazing competition and a great team result, the crowd went wild. National Champions and off to the Worlds in Korea.
I also managed totake a trip down to an awesome Jackson Kayak retailer, Wetspot Watersports in Canberra. Mick and the gang down there really know their gear….Although after a second trip down there I managed to completely screw my car. While making the trip my car over heated and decided to die. I made two trips to the nearest rest stop which was about four kilometers away, to get water for the car, however after my third trip I realized how much of a tool I really am as the water was leaking straight out the bottom. 5 hours later I was in a tow truck, hundreds of kilometers from home. An epic day that’s for sure.
Well stay safe people, and remember that the route taken is half the fun.

jez