20/10/2018
Gaz, Jodie, Mckenzie and meeee
The forecast was for rain, lots of it topped by severe storms…
Gaz had been keen to do Starlight canyon and I suggested the MTB/canyon combo rather than the full loop. If the tunnel was dry we’d get all the way up to the waterfall. And if it was not abseiling in from the top is not the best idea anyway.
Anyhoo. Dawn came sunny and warm and we crossed the Wolgan and pedalled our way down the management trail.
Even with a detour through the ruins the bikes turned an hour long walk into a 20min ride.
Almost immediately we ran into this little beauty
This use to be our go to winter trip before realising the impact to the Bats. The tunnel is an important hibernation cave for bent wing bats so the canyon is now officially off limits over the winter months.
I’ve done this one quite a few times and while I’ve heard tales of people be caught out by high water levels personally I’ve never had water over ankle deep before
Just before the little climb up/down in the tunnel the water became too deep/cold for us to continue today so we turned back early
These guys did a few laps, some of the were so low it seemed we we looking down on them.
And then as it was only early and the predicted storm was still a few hours away we followed the cliff line around for a look up Devils Pinch
The better way to do this combo would be to abseil down Devils Pinch and then reverse up Starlight.
Once again more water in here than usual and after a coupe of cold wades and tight canyon sections we were startled by a gawdaweful rachet and something dashing past us into the next pool.
A young lyrebird… Not sure if it fell in or was nested here and got trapped by the rising waters after a wet couple of weeks but it was was panicked and trying to swim and not doing very well.
Producing a small hand towel Mckenzie and Jodie caught it as genitally as they could and carried it back out past the deeper pools to release it at the lower end of the canyon.
For a bird renown for mimicking the best sounds they sure produce horrible pitches when they are scared.
Party size: 4 (3 experienced I beginner)
Time: 6.5hrs relaxed pace bit of photophaffing
“There is a hidden message in every waterfall. It says, if you are flexible, falling will not hurt you!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan
sleepwhenwearedead 