“No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don’t have, and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.” -Seneca, Moral Letters, 123.3
Gabe recharging his solar batteries on the final leg of the walk to the Cracroft. Pentax MX, Cinstill 800, Nov 2025.
Day 18.
Our torturous seven day portage was over: we had made it to the Cracroft River! Given the amount of rain that had fallen, we had abandoned our aspirations of paddling through Cracroft Gorge, and given the river had risen a foot overnight, our decision was justified. The Cracroft at our camp was about 30 metres wide and flowing fast. We were all very eager to put on the river and to not wear our walking boots for a change!
Looking down at Cracroft Crossing. Pentax MX, Cinstill 800, Nov 2025.
We put on at 8am and covered the seven kilometres of distance to the Huon in about 45 minutes. We were on a vast conveyor belt and the forest on the sides of the river were flitting us by. We encountered grade 2 rapids, and plenty of logs in the river, but none of them were river wide and they were all reasonably easy to avoid. We read and run all rapids and all three of us managed to stay in our boats the entire way.
The mighty Cracroft River rose about a foot overnight. Pentax MX, Cinstill 800, Nov 2025.
The Huon had some great wave trains and due to the high water most of the islands had turned to strainers. The RH bend before Harrisons opening had a bit of a constriction and was quite exciting for some moments, especially since there was a rather large tree in the middle of that rapid which was crucial to avoid at all costs. Later we saw a rather large floating log in the middle of the river, gently bobbing along in the flow. Eventually the log got pushed into an eddy but the sheer size of it was something to behold!
There were some adventurous green beetles that hitched a ride on my dry suit as we paddled down the Huon; at one point, one of them climbed on top of the other. These bugs were really living life on the edge, mating while being splashed by white water from the waves, at any moment facing certain death if their grip on my dry suit was to slip.
We stopped for lunch on the river and pulled ashore in one of the eddies. The graceful swallows put on a great show for us snatching insects out of the air above the water. It was satisfying eating our last dehydrated lunch, knowing we were only a couple of hours away from the cafeteria at the Tahune.
The great conveyor belt of the Huon River at moderately high flow. Pentax MX, Cinstill 800, Nov 2025.
Where Mount Riveaux’s dominant ridge meets the river, that’s where the most significant rapid on the Huon River is (below Huon Gorge). Gabe went down first and pointed river right. Grant and I had pulled into the eddy on river left so we had to paddle hard to ferry glide across the main flow and clear a rather large hole that Gabe was trying to get us to avoid. I made it around the hole, if only barely. Grant on the other hand managed to end up on the line Gabe wanted us to avoid and ran straight into the hole backwards. To his credit, Grant managed to stay in his raft. It was an amusing moment, even more so because we knew the Riveaux Rapid was the last rapid of significance. We were past our last real hurdle!
We arrived to Tahune just a bit after midday. We had covered more than 30kms in four hours! The rain arrived while we were packing up. We retreated to the cafe and placed an order for the food that we had dreamt about in the preceding days.
We had made it, without any real incidents, although not without difficulties. From Scotts Peak along the Port Davey to the Crossing River, down to Port Davey, across Bathurst Harbour, up the Old River, over the Eastern Arthurs and out via the Cracroft and the Huon rivers. Perhaps Grant was right and it was an elegant trip after all. Despite everything the South-West could throw at us, we managed to pull through.
But the trip is not over when you get home. When you get home the final phase of any big trip begins: the return! And for me, the return from this trip was a tough one.
Morning light on the Huon. Pentax MX, Cinstill 800, Nov 2025.
-A.S. 27/3/2026, Brushy Creek.