Are these the ultimate Aussie adventures?

The Larapinta Trail in Central Australia delves into the region's most spectacular natural features: waterholes, gorges and razorback ridges. Picture: andydolman/Flickr Source: Supplied

Tourists white water rafting down the Franklin River. Picture: Tourism Tasmania and Matthew Newton. Source: Supplied

Great Adventures. Source: Lonely Planet

FORGET climbing Uluru or snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef, Lonely Planet reckons these are the greatest Aussie adventures.

WALK AUSTRALIA'S LARAPINTA TRAIL

Not all desert adventures need be about hardship and Herculean endurance. First mooted as a walking trail in 1987, and completed 15 years later, the Larapinta Trail delves into many of central Australia's finest natural features – waterholes, gorges, razorback ridges – squeezing the beauty out of Australia's harshest desert environment.

Such is its beauty, accessibility and infrastructure, the Larapinta has quickly become one of the most popular long-distance trails in the country.

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The trail begins (or ends, depending on which direction you choose to walk it in) at the actual springs that the township of Alice Springs is named after. Prior to that, it follows the length of the West MacDonnell Ranges to the summit of its most striking peak, Mt Sonder.

The trail's 223km of twists, turns, spinifex, mountains and gorges are divided into 12 sections, each one somewhere between 13km and 31km in length. Every section represents a day or two of walking, and each is determinedly intent on showing off hidden mountain wonders.

Camp sites are spaced at manageable distances and, though the land is as dry as bones, there are water tanks acting as virtual oases. These are found no more than 33km apart, making this a delightful desert experience that's far from barren.

Along the way the trail passes through tourist set pieces such as Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm, Ellery Creek Big Hole, Serpentine Gorge, the Ochre Pits, Ormiston Gorge and Glen Helen Resort, but also seeks out walker-only delights like Hugh Gorge, Inhalanga Pass and the signature Larapinta view at Counts Point, considered one of the West MacDonnells' best lookouts.

Making it Happen

Independent walkers can ease the walking burden by making food drops at Standley Chasm, Ormiston Gorge, Glen Helen Resort and the walkers' camp at Serpentine Gorge, meaning they need carry no more than four or five days of food at a time. A number of companies lead guided walks on the trail, from sample sections to through hikes. Locally operated Trek Larapinta is one of the most experienced. There are also walker shuttle services to Mt Sonder from Alice Springs.

RAFT TASMANIA'S FRANKLIN RIVER

Few journeys have such potential to change lives as a rafting adventure on Tasmania's pristine Franklin River. From the moment you launch your raft beside the Lyell Highway, right until you pop out into the Gordon River more than a week later, you won't have seen a house, a field or almost any other human mark on the landscape. You may not even have seen any other people on the river. And yet the Tasmanian capital city of Hobart is, at times, less than 150km away.

Named after Tasmanian governor and ill-fated North West Passage explorer Sir John Franklin, the river was first run by John Hawkins and John Dean in 1958, in collapsible canoes, seven years after their first attempt. It would be another 12 years before the river was rafted. Among the early pioneers was a Tasmanian GP named Bob Brown, who named many of its natural features and would go on to become leader of the Australian Greens political party.

By the late 1960s, the Franklin River was also being eyed off as a potential dam location, leading to Australia's most famous and furious environmental battle as protestors blockaded the remote site. It was a fight that eventually helped sway a Federal election, when the Labor Party promised in 1983 to prevent the dam's construction. Spearheading the battle was a moody photo of Rock Island Bend by Peter Dombrovskis that would become perhaps the most famous landscape photo in the country.

It wasn't long before commercial rafting trips began operating on the river, with floats fluctuating from barely moving flat water to unraftable rapids through the Great Ravine. This may be the ultimate accessible wilderness experience in Australia.

Making It Happen

Rafting the Franklin independently is a serious business, in the reach of only the most experienced white-water warriors. Most rafters will choose a guided trip, putting in on the Collingwood River and finishing at Sir John Falls on the Gordon River. A small number of companies, including World Expeditions, offer guided rafting trips.

DRIVE THE CANNING STOCK ROUTE

At the turn of the 20th century, a tick problem meant that East Kimberley cattle couldn't be shipped to Perth for fear of spreading the disease. By opening up a land route from Halls Creek to the south, the stock could be sold directly to the booming gold fields of Kalgoorlie, thereby breaking the monopoly of the West Kimberley cattle barons, and the ticks would die off in the blazing heat of the journey.

Keen to keep beef prices down, the government hired Alfred Canning to map a route through the desert that would provide enough water and pasture for large droves of cattle. Canning had already traversed much of Western Australia while surveying the famous Rabbit-Proof Fence.

Canning made his first trip in 1906, with a team of 23 camels, two horses and eight men. They relied on Aboriginal people to help them find water, but their 'guides' were not always voluntary – Canning sometimes used chains and denied his captives water until they led the white men to their precious soaks and waterholes.

Two years later, Canning returned to the desert with 30 men, 70 camels, 267 goats and 100 tonnes of food and gear to construct the wells, each one a day's journey from the next. Most of the wells were built on water sources that were both sacred to the Aborigines and essential to their survival.

The first bullocks set out in 1911, but the drovers were killed by desert people at Well 37. A punitive expedition was sent out – nobody was arrested, but the sergeant admitted killing several Aboriginal people. Drovers became afraid to use the track and for the next two decades it was rarely travelled. It reopened in 1931, after repair work – many of the route's wells had been destroyed by Aboriginal people who were unable to draw water from them.

After ladders were fitted, the stock route became more peaceful and about 20 mobs of cattle were driven down it over the next 20 years. Since then, the route has not been maintained, making it one of the most unforgiving roads in the world.

Making It Happen

The stock route runs from Halls Creek to Wiluna. Some people start out from Alice Springs, taking the Gunbarrel Highway to Wiluna, then heading north; others begin at Perth. If setting out from Halls Creek, the nearest large cities are Broome on the Western Australian coast, or Darwin, in the Northern Territory. Global Gypsies offers a recommended tag-along tour.

This is an edited extract from Lonely Planet's Great Adventures © Lonely Planet 2012. Available in stores now, RRP: $49.99.