A Raft With a View

Six days into a rafting trip down the Franklin River in Tasmania's southwest, you'd think getting wet wouldn't worry me. True, I've fallen off the raft, fallen into the raft, been drenched and dunked and dipped so many times I never feel completely dry. But I haven't been wet like this. Maybe the siren-like chattering of the pure waters distracts us - in any case, we're careless on this rapid, too slow and uncoordinated in our approach, and too late to change course when we realize our error. The current of a mighty river doesn't indulge mistakes, which is why I...