The Mad One, The Saint, The Cool/Cute One, The Blond One, The Kiwi, The Climber Dude, The Mistery and Meeeeeeeee….. The Grumpy One
Our plan was to do 3 dry canyons up on the Plateau but with me and the Mad One both being a little indecisive, or as we like to say “spontaneous”, things are apt to change at the last minute and as the day was so good we decided to swap out the 3rd one with something more moist.
It was glorious April day and we find ourselves veering off track and working our way down to Crooked Crevice. Another one the Jamieson guide confused the name of and thus most people know it as Penrose Gully (Another slot nearby but not nearly as interesting).
Weirdly I’d never visited Crooked Crevice before. No idea why not but I’m excited to be doing something new to me and we follow Madie into the abyss. Which is generally where you end up if you follow Madie.
There are a couple of ways into the bottom section, despite this one bypassing nearly half the canyon it’s my fav and you can always scramble back up stream to check out the rest
It’s a bit of a bland canyon really…..
And then it was back up the hill where the decision was made to skip the 3rd drish canyon and go drop into something wet.
How many people do you think we could fit up here?
4 was a squeeze but…
6. The answer was 6
And thus ended our great day on the plateau.
Hey do you want to do another little short one that may or may not be a canyon?
We sure do.
And thus we set off down the maze of fire trails where I take a wrong turn and it gets dark and Madie says I’m a shit navigator… To be fair I usually only get lost while still in the car….
And thus ended our great day on the Plateau…
Time: Time is meaningless when you are having this much fun.
We are not nouns, we are verbs. I am not a thing, I am a person who does things… And I never know what I am going to do next. Stephen Fry
With a bunch of bike and family commitments throughout March it’s had been nearly 4 weeks since I managed to get a canyon in. Or is that get in a canyon?
Anyhoo, I was tonguing to get out and I had missed some good trips with some good people so when the mad one said she wanted to do a canyon out in the Northern Wollemi on a weekend I finally had free I begged a leave pass and we started to plan.
Invitations were sent and a few people were keen but in the end most were unable to make it.
Briefly we discussed doing it as a day trip but decided that if we camped at the increasingly popular Dunns Swamp we’d have time to squeeze in another little canyon while we were out there.
Let’s go down one and up the other.
Doesn’t the guide say the other has some abseils?
Pffft, It says 1 abseil or a down climb, how hard could it be.
I first visited Dunns Swamp back around 1992 for wild party, now it’s all families and quiet time, lights out at 10pm and stuff. Camp sites were filling up fast and continued to do so well into the night,
I can see why Shrek liked his swamp. What’s that? You want a trip report based on Shrek quotes? Challenge accepted
We set up camp. This is gonna be fun. We can stay up late, swappin’ manly stories and in the morning, I’m making WAFFLES!
In the morning no waffles were made but we make our way out to the forestry gate. For which I have the combination as it’s part of the bicentennial trail, ‘cept they have changed the locks. This would mean a 10km fire trail slog.
Sometime later we ditch the bikes and do the last bit on foot. I’d driven across this fire trail in dads jeep in about 86, it’s a stunning bit of the world.
We had next to zero info on the first canyon but it looked like we needed to get through some complicated clifflines to reach it. In the end with some less than attentive navigation it was fairly simplez, we just walked around until we found it
Then it was down to the main creek for lunch in the dappled sunlight. Now to reverse the next one. Some of you may die, but its a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
We follow the creek up. It may have been easier to head up the nose for a bit. @Madie
Don’t die… And if you see any long tunnels, stay away from the light.
Oh and it is LOVELY. You know, you’re really quite a decorator. It’s amazing what you’ve done with such a modest budget.
I like that boulder. That is a NICE boulder.
Look at that. Who’d wanna live in a place like that?
this isn’t right. You’re meant to charge in, sword drawn, banner flying
Wait a minute, I know what’s going on. You’re afraid of the dark.
And then we are at the top looking back down and it’s time to head home
Please. I don’t wanna go back there. You don’t know what it’s like to be considered a freak… Well, maybe you do, but that’s why we gotta stick together. You gotta let me stay!
Female and male golden Orb weavers with plenty of tucker to keep them going, I never realised they spun yellow silk until Madie pointed it out
Party Size: 2
Time: 7hr (and 2 minutes) car to car being fairly quick on the fire trail with few stops but lots of faffing in the canyons themselves
I’m not allowed the mention the canyons by name for fear of the canyon illuminati kid-napping me and beating me senseless. 1 source of info said we wouldn’t need wetsuits but I’m glad we took them as the second canyon was fairly cold and sustained. Good thing we didn’t wait until mid(dle of) winter to do it.
All in all it was another good day in the bush in a beautiful part of the world. After some late summer rain it sure was green up there on the hills
sleepwhenwearedead 