Finding Strength on the Franklin: How a Wild River Journey Transformed One Woman
Stephanie Wood embarked on an eight-day rafting expedition down Tasmania's Franklin River with significant trepidation. Feeling unfit, unprepared, and questioning her decision, she discovered something remarkable during the challenging journey through one of Australia's most formidable wilderness areas.
A Childhood Connection Rekindled
The Franklin River had captivated Wood since childhood when her father took her to see environmentalist Bob Brown speak during the 1982 campaign to save the river from damming. "I was captivated," she recalls of that formative experience. Growing up in Queensland with a free-range childhood exploring creeks and waterfalls, she had gradually lost touch with that wilderness connection through years of city living, university, and what she describes as "a silly degree of pretence and affectation."
Decades later, a social media image of the misty Franklin River prompted her to contact a rafting company. Despite being middle-aged with average fitness and no paddling experience, she received encouragement and impulsively confirmed her place on the expedition.
Confronting Physical and Mental Challenges
The reality of the journey quickly set in during pre-dawn hours on day two, shivering in a sleeping bag on a sandy riverbank. Wood faced numerous physical challenges: an overloaded pack, scaling cliffs along the river's edge, exhausting portages where the group had to carry rafts through dangerous sections, and the constant battle against cold and fatigue.
"I am old, I am unfit for this project and I am colder than hell frozen over," she thought during the early stages. The indignity of her wetsuit-clad appearance and the mortification of tumbling from the raft into a logjammed whirlpool tested her resolve. Yet she discovered a stubborn persistence that refused defeat.
Transformation Through Adversity
As the journey progressed through challenging sections with names like "Nasty Notch," "the Great Ravine," and "Deception Gorge," Wood experienced a profound shift. The terrifying river drops she had most dreaded became "intoxicating, a fun park ride." She learned to distinguish between fear and thrill, choosing not to dwell on the guides' stories of the river's merciless power while still respecting its dangers.
Collaborating with fellow travellers to navigate the wilderness, she began to rediscover herself. "I find myself too," she reflects. "In the knowledge that strength of mind can be as valuable as strength of body."
A World of New Possibilities
The Franklin River expedition opened Wood's eyes to capabilities she hadn't recognized in herself. "I know now that I have the strength for almost anything," she declares, contemplating future adventures she previously wouldn't have considered: treks in Alaska, Canadian forest expeditions, pilgrimage walks across Japan, or rainforest adventures in Costa Rica.
More importantly, she reconnected with what truly matters: "streams tumbling over stones in rainforested gullies, mist layered on a river at dawn, the water's roar over boulders the size of houses, towering trees born during the Roman empire, eagles dipping and soaring, moss and lichen and ferns."
The journey became more than an adventure holiday; it transformed into a pilgrimage back to her essential self, proving that sometimes we must venture into the wilderness to find what we've lost in civilization.
