Month: December 2025

boomerang and Hell Holes Falls

| flynny101

30-12-2025

Kylie, Jason, Jonathan and meeeeeeeeeee

We were up visiting Kylie’s cousin in northern NSW. Jason was visiting family in Southern Qld.

Seemed like a good opportunity to catch up to send some waterfalls.

Jonathan had fond memories of canyoning in the blue mountains back in the day but hadn’t been on rope for a while.

Wanna come. ask we

Absolutely, said he.

So we find ourselves heading up into the hills behind Mullumbimby.

First stop Boomerang Falls.

Kylie had abseiled them before with the Northern Rivers Bushwalking Club.

I first visited them with her a couple of years ago but we didn’t take ropes.

It a nice spot, not really canyoning, just a single drop of about 50m into a lovely plunge pool.

And with a quick walk in it was t to be a chill way to start the day.

Water levels are low, very low.

Everything is slippery.

We opt for natural anchors that would put us into the spray.

©Jonathan

We spend a bit of time making sure we get it right as the rock can be damn sharp in these parts. Canyon and rope bags are put to use as rope protecter, then I head on down.

Jonathan comes next.

It’s just like riding a bike. Only nothing like riding a bike ©Kylie
It’s a great pitch, slippery start to free hanging in the spray, finishing on a slab into the pool
the sun was in the wrong spot so these photos don’t show the amazing colours of this place.
and the water was warm!

As my old mate, Super Goose, likes to say “It’s like getting hit up the bum by a rainbow.”

Whatever the hell that means. He made it sound like it was good or lucky or sumfink.

Jason and Jonathan

What makes it even better is a quick and easy exit back up to the top. So Jason and I opted for a second run. TBH I could have done this one over and over

But we make our way back to the car and head across to the Hell Hole!!!

Apparently we missed Henrik and his mate by a day here which is a shame as it would have been great catching up with him.

Hell Holes is a little more canyon like, but still just 2 (or 3) pitches down a waterfall.

Again the water is super low so Kylie and Jonathan decide it’s not worth descending.

Probably a good choice.

But Jason and I think we may as well.

More of a questionable choice.

There wasn’t much in the way in natural anchors at this one.

Good Luck. It’s bolted.

Bad Luck. P1 is carrots.

Good Luck. We have bolt plates.

Bad Luck. We didn’t bring them with us this trip.

Good Luck. The carrots stick out a bit and I’m able to hero loop a sling.

Bad Luck. They want me to be crash test dummy….

And again the rock is super sharp so we opt to do the first pitch on isolated double ropes.

the anchor for P2 is solid though the top nut is starting to show signs of corrosion
the start of P2 is, um awkward. It’s a tight wedge with the rope trying to pull you into the wedge. I could imagine in high-water this would be very tricky indeed.
The water is barely a trickle.

You can do P2 all the way to the bottom as a ~52m drop. But the notes say it has a habit of trapping ropes so we had planned to split it into 2 and rebelay off the large ledge 2/3 of the way down.

Turns out my 62m rope was enough to double rope to the ledge which removed the risk of getting a knot stuck the wedge.

Looking over the ledge at a slabby P3 we opted to forego going all the way to the not so impressive pool and walked off the ledge river left onto the exit track, saving ourselves an extra 20meters of vertical to climb back up.

The exit back to the top of the falls was steep with lots of loose rock to be wary of, but it’s reasonably quick.

Back at the top we cool off in the pools and head on out.

All in all a pleasant day. Hell Holes isn’t somewhere I’d rush back to, but it was worth a look.

to top it off Jonathan made this awesome video of our day

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Whirlpool

| flynny101

20/12/2025

Gadget, Wisey, Brooke, Clare and meeeeeeeee

There’s some great side canyons along the Wollangambe with the most popular ones clustered around Mt Wilson.

Of those accessed from the Fire Shed there are a couple of outliers that get less traffic due to being a little harder to get too.

Whirlpool canyon is one of these.

Expecting a stinking hot day and a long scrubby walk in we meet early and head off.

The others had obtained a GPS trace of the entry, I had my usual plotted way point for the canyon start and sometimes/usaul/mostly wackily off gut feel…

Banter made the walk in pass in a flash, well not really but it was surprisingly simple, even if I did get completely turned around at one point, thankfully Clare and Kylie kept us on track. Though when H suggested we try a short cut I was all in.

It was also relatively scrub free(ish)

Slipping down H’s side gully hoping to cut off a fair bit of the GPS trace.

And soon we find ourself at the start of the canyon.

©️Kylie

We weren’t expecting much out of this one but a short abseil gets us into a surprisingly nice slot.

Kylie sussing out the first abseil

There was some interesting anchor set ups and a couple of the abseils have very tricky starts. This problem solving aspect is part of what I really enjoy about canyoning.

Don’t get my wrong, on popular trips where hordes of foot steps compact tree roots and pulling rope after rope wears grooves in the rock well placed bolts are a Good Thing (TM) but they do take something away from the overall experience of problem solving. That’s probably not a major draw for most, but for me it’s a big part of it.

Anyhoo that’s off topic.

Back in the land of dodgy anchors, we check each one carefully (as you should every time). Replace what needs to be replaced and carefully consider the remnant dodginess

The canyon starts with a crystal clear pool snaking through a beautiful twisted hall. Just moments before this shot Brooke was battling diner plate sized spiders like a knight slaying dragons ©️Kylie
The canyon had some pretty sections where the slot would close in
More monsters!
The water was so clear and the yabbies plentiful.
Happy canyoners
A couple of the abseils involved awkward over hanging ledges and careful rope placement was needed to protect from dragging across sharp edges .©️Kylie

Before lone you could feel the warmth chimneying up from the ‘Gambe

H leads the way down the last abseil and soon we reach the Junction with the Wollangambe

But the day is not over. Our exit is about a kilometre and half downstream.

Having pretty much traced this enigmatic river from its source at Clarence to below Mt Irvine on various trips over the years I reckon this bit is the most stunning section of the ‘Game

Deep walls and beautiful pools.

That’s said it’s not easy going with deep sand and boulder hoping between long swims zapping your energy after an already longish day .

Having less foot traffic it’s also a lot slipperier in spots.

Just before our exit we catch a group from the central coast who had completed Geronimo.

We chat at the exit, cooling off at the sandy beach before making our way back up to the shed.

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable day but it was also a long day for a shortish canyon so I wouldn’t rush back to repeat the trip.

Whirlpool itself was nice and as stated it’s a beautiful section of the Wollangambe so worth doing at least once.

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Morong Falls

| flynny101

13-12-2025

Kent, Pete, Joel, Tam, Cotter, David and meeeeee

I’m walking out of Butterbox and I get a missed call from Kent

I hadn’t heard from him for a while so called back straight away in case something was wrong.

Nothing is wrong he’s just been thinking about an abseil trip in one of his favourite places at Kanangra Boyd.

And so a trip down Morong falls is set up

Morong falls is a bit like big brother of Box Creek Falls.

But Having a much larger catchment it can be a disappointing trickle or a wall of white water death.

We got it almost perfect.

We meet up and waste no time walking to the end of the fire trail and making our way down to the upper falls.

We bypass the first cascade and its inviting plunge pool.

Kent leads us pass an anchor set mid river left to find another just to the left of the main flow.

All abseils except the big one have easy escape routes back to the exit trail so you can pretty much choose your own adventure with doing a part or the whole.

Our first 3 slabby abseils are between 8 and 15m high. They are a bit of fun and nothing technical.

It’s a beautiful series of falls interspaced with plunge pools

Joel and I have the long ropes and get sent ahead to set the big drop.

From Kent’s description I’m nervously looking for a narrow ledge I need to traverse across which may or may not be slippery.

I’m standing on the edge of a wide slopping platform with heaps of grip looking for something below.

Bolts are behind you. Says Joel

I look at the wall behind me.

On the ground.says Joel.

Oh

I know this particular drop was pioneered by members of one of the caving clubs a few years ago.

2 odd looking bolts are set on the ground 7 or 8m back from the edge. 1 is a 8mm cap screw. The other a type I’ve not seen before….

A nice shiney new glue in has been added and all 3 equalised using D shackles.

We set up and Joel leads the way down. We have about 76m of rope out and by the time he gets to the next big ledge and traverses across to the rebelay there is maybe 3m of tail left.

As Kent heads down the rope snags behind a nub of rock which gets dislodged as he traverses at the bottom. He calls up a warning over the two way.

Dave about to descend

The rest of us get down no drama but Kent is reluctant to pull rope from directly below.

Joel devises a plan which will allow us to descend the next 12m abseil on a biner block, tie the pull cord for the previous ropes to the biner and pull rope from both pitches together from a safe spot on the far side of the plunge pool

We all head down. Most swim across the pool. Joel does a nice traverse climb to avoid the swim.

Pete follows Joel but does not avoid the swim…

I stay dry, just

The main falls. Around 90m

We start to pull and the system works perfectly

1 rope down.

2 two ropes down

3rd rope clears the anchor the end tumbles down and lands in a ledge. I start to pull.

It comes.

It comes .

It does not come.

Joel and I spend a bit of time trying different angles and stuff and it’s stuck good and proper on the only ledge not accessible from the exit track.

Next time we think we’d set this drop, leave the rope there and collect it on the way out. Not only would it avoid a stuck rope but it would avoid the need for 2 x 76m+ ropes and carrying it out the bottom half of the exit.

Joel looking further down as storm clouds begin to roll in.
Kent on the next one which passes under big boulder halfway down
Looking back up the main series of drop. Can you spot Dave, Cotter and Joel?

Finally we get to the wetter part of the trip. We are not quite 3/4 of the way down, still 150m or so above the Kowmung.

Below a series of falls and plunge pools

Above thou, the sky is cranky.

Dark clouds, thunder and a spattering of rain.

Big storms were predicted for later in the day. It looks like they arrived early. Standing on exposed granite in a lightning storm probably isn’t the best idea so we opt to abort the trip and scramble out to the exit track.

The storm doesn’t really hit in full, thou I later learn it hit the mountain with a good smash of hail. While disappointed not to complete the trip to the bottom we are comfortable with the call.

Besides, it gives us a good excuse to comeback and finish the journey.

“A river cuts through a rock, not because of its power but because of its persistence.” – Jim Watkins

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