Highest drop 10m (30m required)

Public access

8hrs

Main river gorge, with extremely high water levels and numerous huge syphons. Only in condition at the end of a long dry summer.

First descent by: Gus Schavion, Andrew Humphreys and Ross Fraser Jones, April 2014.

All photos by Gus Schavion.

Download Rockburn info as a PDF

Andrew Humphreys
“Had a look through Rockburn the other day. No verticals over 10m, super high volume, and siphons galore. Beautiful narrows though. It was very low when we went, and I would not recommend going in any higher flow; the siphons would be unavoidable.”

Gus Schavion
“Hi Chucky, here is some info about the Rockburn: Access from the Dart side, using the Rockburn track, 1h45min walk up and then cutting in towards the stream;

Descent was 5 hours We took a 60m rope just in case but it’s not needed; a 30m would do fine The first gorge section starts with a jump crossing the pool, a couple of syphons in there Walking through the river with lots of white water, it wasn’t long until we came across a 4 meter drop. We traversed TR until reaching a ledge and jumped in, quite strong current. From here there was no return, steep walls and strong white water Next drop was another jump, this time on the white water. There is a lot of swimming and down climbing after that. You can escape between the 2 gorges. You can avoid the water in a lot of occasions, but in a higher flow it would be tricky.

Second section, also committing. The big jump (8 meter) is in this area. We abseiled over a siphon from a boulder. Tricky spot in higher flow, not recommended!! Siphons everywhere!!! It’s A7 for sure. So much water!