Wow, 2019 was a bit of a year of contrasts. It started with some epic trips and some bucket list tick offs and ended with our playground burnt out and inaccessible. And in between a lot of friendships were generated, epiphany’s had and adventures sought.
So what were the outdoor adventure highlights? It’s hard to say, going through the trip reports it was difficult to cull any of them off the highlight report.
The year kicked of with our, now traditional, NYD float. this time to Mares Forest Creek
Then onto epic trips. Twilight was fun. Camping on the Bungleboori to visit Bridge, Bjelke’s Mind and Bubble Bath was such an awesome weekend. Joel’s Empress falls trip was so much fun. Luna Park was another bucket list tick off. UpperWollangambe had been on my bucket list for a while. A night trip to Rocky Creek is always great and with this mob it was such a quality night.
The westpac helicopter charity ride took place again in march which was perfect training for the Rocky Trail 24hr mountainbike race which we hosted on our home trails at Rydal
A visit to Midwinter Canyon was my first time venturing out into the slot canyon paradise of the Northern Wollemi.
Then life got a bit busy and canyoning slowed down a touch. But there were still quality trips and new friendship forged. Such as repeat of some South Wolgan slots in June and some Xmas in July shenanigans.
2019 also saw me make a brief return to Climbing, before injuring myself trying to keep up with the cool kids…..
Dione Dell wouldn’t usually make a highlight reel but add the right crew and the descent of Margaret Falls and it gets a gong. Same with Looking Glass Canyon
Kanangra Main gets two spots on the list, once for the right reasons and once for reasons that, while not ideal, certainly made it memorable.
Then I managed to jump in on Kylie’s trip to Arethusa before bushfires devastated the state.
And finally and quick NYE jaunt through Empress and up Sweet Dreams
The 2019 Wollemi fire will go down as one of the biggest bushfires to hit NSW. It started wayout in the wilderness and by the time they turned already stretched resources to try and put it out it it was too big to fight. So far it has ripped through all the canyoning areas in the Blue Mts/Wollemi. Combined with the fire in Kanangra Boyd NP there are very few canyons near Sydney that are not currently off limits.
The fires have destroyed homes, torn apart towns and left a trail of destruction across vast tracts of wilderness. I have no idea when we will be allowed to venture back out into these areas but I know we can expect a much different landscape when we do.
But the bush will bounce back so enough negativity. Thanks 2019, you’ve been a cracker. And here’s to 2020. Catch you all out there somewhere.
Flynny
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