13/11/21

Hywaida, Kristo, Jason, Kylie and meeeeeee

Plans were hatched but the weather played havoc with them.

I wasn’t comfortable entering the canyon we wanted to do after so much rain. Luckily the others sort of agreed with me.

Alternate plans were needed. In the end we settled on a return to Wolgan Falls

When Laurie first took me on the trip he had pioneered I was impressed. It’s a lovely waterfall and I had wanted to get out to it for a long time. It’s a testament to his drive to find the line in and out.

But…. Well, I’ve said it before, abseiling for the sake of abseiling doesn’t really do it for me. Sliding down a rope on one wall is much the same as sliding down a rope on another.

For me it’s always been just a means to see new things and get to the next bit of canyon.

So after we had done the standard dry line we were itching to get back and do a wet line. Which was fun but now we had done that too.

Still, in the back of our heads was always, Geez it would be good with more water.

After 2 weeks of constant drizzle interspaced with a couple of good gully rakers we thought it would be worth a look.

Hearing the roar of the falls from the ridge top sent a tingle down my spine. But I’m a notorious over thinker and despite what some might think I tend to the cautious side so we dropped down the first abseil knowing we had an escape route and wandered down to the point to get a look at the falls.

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My only concern now was that the water coming across the shelf above the falls might make it tricky getting off rope on the standard line that required you to swing in to land on the shelf.

So we modified the line and dropped into the side just to play it safe. As it was the water wasn’t quiet all the way across

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And then there was only 1 thing left to do

The water wasn’t a bad temp. The icy wind thou….

Anhoo

Mission accomplished. What now?

I knew of another waterfall on the other side of the plateau that might be worth a look in the rain.

I’d first done it last year with Russ after a good dump of rain in what may have been a first decent. But anyhoo the drive to get back across was longer than the trip….

Sadly H and Kris had to leave us.

That left 3

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Ok so last year was not long after the fire and the gully out was an easy scramble… Post fires, bit of rain and it’s Jurassic Park with full grown T-Rexs hidden in the ferns. Like lots of them.

Breaking a trail through the ferns was tough but we were soon back at the top. People knock my nav but we popped out onto the road 100m from the car. I aint need no stinking map and compass…

And as it was so close it would be rude not to drop into Alcatraz.

All in all a most excellent day

<insert pithy inspirational quote or sumfink>

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