Meeting early at the sheds on a sunny Sunday Morning we packed the a couple of rafts into Toby and Aaron’s Subu’s due to a lack of tow bars to tow the club trailer. After a pleasant drive through the Highlands (Glorious Sunshine coming past Projection Bluff) we met up with Erin, Luke, Luke's parents and brother in Meander. Also in tow were Lawrence and Linnea.
After pumping the rafts up we walked past the flowering spill way and got on river. Toby and Luke each guiding a old blue raft with Lawrence packrafting. The first stretch of river containing the biggest rapids of the day were a lot of fun and with guidance from Like were negotiated without incident. Continuing onwards the rapids cooled to a stead grade 2+, very boney and some fun shoots. With the low river level grazing over rocks was common with the occasion bounce being required by all crew members.
Before stopping for lunch by a 'beach' a third of the way along river Lawrence had a nice swim, followed by Aaron falling out mid rapid (with a speedy recovery by fellow crew). Post lunch a more lenient approach was taken with rafts and pack rafts swapping for lead. Lukes’s brother had his first go in a pack raft, and Toby had fun packrafting catching a surf wave before mayhem brock out and Toby forfeited his pack raft rather than being flipped by Luke. Linnea was thrown from the raft and found herself clambering into a pack raft in a very shallow section of river. After a brief period without a paddle her pack rafting career commenced.
The car shuttle competed we packed the rafts (one in the back of Toby's Outback, one in the roof cage). Luke and his family returned to Hobart with the subu gang staying over for a night. Due to a slow packing session at the sheds in the Morning with people flaking last minute (Freya…) and it being Toby's first time packing the safety gear there wasn't time in the day for a second lap. Suggestions were made to run the Mersey the next day as it was flowing, but due to the lack of a senior guide these plans were parked.
With a few hours of daylight left the Subi’s headed into Deloriane. A meander was had including stops at a goth costume store (one of few establishments open) , an open mic event and an ice cream by the river. Liffey Falls was visited before making camp with plans to hike Projection Bluff at Sunrise. Waking up in the mist sunrise plans were attempted to no avail, instead a pleasant drive was enjoyed over the Great Lakes with a detour to Oatlands for breakfast by the Lake and a stop at a Whisky Distillery.
All in all a fun overnighter despite ever changing plans. The river was run at 1.17 and fell to 1.1, slightly lower than the previously rated by the club (1.2_1.5). This was a fun level with more prominent shoots then at a higher level, but more rocks to ground out on. Rafting at any lower a level would not be ideal.
