Monday on the Picton

This trip report rather breaks the convention about trip reports in that although rafting did occur, this report chronicles the adventures of Will on dry land and features only minimal rafting content.

Noticing the Picton was up, a plan was hastily concocted for a straightforward paddle down the Picton. With a leisurely meeting time of 10:30 at the sheds, an easy and pleasant day was expected. Will was recovering from a knee injury so decided he shouldn’t paddle, but would come down and have a relaxed day by the river and could drive the shuttle for the group. As such, an initial plan of a single car trip was decided. Just as we were leaving the sheds, Gabe messaged the group expressing interest, and we decided to meet him at Huonville.

Both cars arrived at the get-in without incident, and before too much longer, Will was seeing  the group off. With plenty of time to kill, it was agreed that Will would into walk into the gorge, hopefully meeting the group there to check-in and deliver the all-important second sugar hit of doughnuts. Will drove off in Gabe’s car, stopping on the road above where he though the gorge was. Getting out of the car, he couldn’t help but notice a distinct hissing noise coming from the left rear tyre- it was going flat. After some cursing, Will decided the best course of action was to continue with the plan made at the get-in, and try to meet the group at the gorge.

Will then started off down the hill through the scrub toward the river. After about fifteen minutes of wading through cutting grass and negotiating many fallen trees, Will reached the river and realised he was at the upstream end of the straight leading in to the gorge, approximately 500m above the gorge itself. Battling scrub with densities up to 9 out of 10 on the universal scrub index, Will made his way along the river bank down to the gorge, taking another 25 minutes or so to traverse the 500m meters. Will reached the gorge just in time to see the group appear at the top of the straight leading into the gorge.

And now for a brief interlude about white water rafting. Will scouted the rapid and gave the ‘go’ signal to the rafters upstream. I refer to this technique of scouting rapids as the ‘phone a friend scout’ and suggest it may be utilised more often on rafting trips. All the rafters came down, cutting clean lines through the gorge, with none of them able to embarrass themselves in front of the camera. Hearing about the flat tyre, a new plan was agreed upon, in which Will would go up, change the tyre, and drive to Tahune, whilst the rafters would continue rafting and with any luck, everyone should arrive at Tahune about the same time.

With the rafters continuing downstream, Will set off back up to the road. Although still thick, the scrub was slightly more amenable to walking down here, and Will was back up at the road in fifteen minutes and back at the car in another five after that. Will then set about the task of changing the tyre. Deconstruct half the car, he was able to find all the requisite tools… well sort of. He jacked up the car and got the spare wheel ready only to find the wheel brace didn’t fit the wheel nuts. Indeed there weren’t any tools in the car which would fit.

After a few more choice words to the heavens, Will decided his best option was to run to the get-in to get Josh’s car. He could go and collect the rest of the group, and hopefully Josh would have something which would fit Gabe’s wheel nuts. Having already thoroughly given up on his relaxed day by the river, Will ran the three Ks to the get-in in reasonable time and was able to drive to Tahune without incident. He arrived just as the rafters did. They had had a largely uneventful paddle, with the only event of mention being where Gabe had his paddle recirculated several times in a hole.

Driving back to Gabe’s stranded car, everyone were pleased to find that the scouting moto of ‘be prepared’ had stuck with Josh, and he had a full socket set in his car. In no time at all, the flat was off and the spare was on. Unfortunately, the spare was one of those dinky little wheels that doesn’t really fit the car. Once we returned to Tahune, Josh eagerly showed off more of his collection of car fixing tools and prowess, patching and reinflating the flat tyre. With it seeming to hold air, we departed Tahune back to the sheds, stopping for a mandatory chip stop in Huonville on the way. The general consensus was a solid 8 or 9 out of 10 day was had, with Will even managing to squeeze in a bit of type-two fun scrub bashing in there.