polblue

February 5, 2026February 19, 2026 | flynny101

25/01/2026

Kylie, Jason, David, Wisey, Rakesh, Tanya and meeeee

We had been tossing around what canyon to do today before settling on 1 none of us had done before.

We all pile into Jason’s ute and head across the range.

Ah shit, I meant to reach out to Tanya and Rakesh, Says Kylie. They are up here somewhere.

We pull into the car park.

Hey that’s Tanya and Rakesh…

5 become 7 and we waste no time suiting up and making our way down the creek to the first abseil.

I set up rope and everyone by passes it and scrambles down beside it.

I pull the rope up and follow.

The next couple of drops are a little lame. I’m starting to feel bad.

We had convinced Jason to do this one rather than one of his favourite, high adrenaline, high flow trips and this wasn’t really shaping up. but then we came to the first of the “Spicy Slots”

Kylie and H opt to take the less spicy line ©Kylie

And the rest of use follow.

It’s a tricky start into the white noise.

Just as you are able to see again you realise you are about to drop behind a chock stone and you most defilately don’t want to drop down behind the chock stone.

It’s a battle to resist the push and swing yourself over.

You emerge back into the light then drop off the chockstone into the noise once more.

It’s a fantastic abseil

Everyone one is grinning.

there’s an 800m creek walk to get to the next bit. lets just go back up here and do that again. someone suggests

hmmmm we are here now let;s at least check out the bottom section.

Lucky we did.

The 800m creek walk isn’t too bad and goes quick and the bottom section is the best bit.

The creek has spit into 2 channels. A sloping abseil (New anchor has since been installed closer to the lip) brings you to the edge in between them

You step over the edge and both streams recombine.

On your head.

Hello Spicy Slot 2

Jason helping to retrieve a stuck rope for the party in front ©Dave

The next 2 abseils come in quick succession

I scramble down the next one but signal up to the others that it isn’t worth it as there looked to be a nice exit from the ledge they are on.

The exit began on a steep loose scree slope but soon got steeper and looser before getting looser and steeper….

Other than the steepness and the looseness it was fairly easy going. The notes said to get to a certain elevation and then traverse around. While that would cut off some elevation gain it looked long and convoluted so we just went straight up and over a minor nose then dropped down onto the road not to far from the car park.

I nodded, pretending to be a hundred times more courageous than I felt. Lisa Tawn Bergren.

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GLOUCESTER

February 2, 2026February 5, 2026 | flynny101

24/01/2026

Jason, Dave, Wisey, Kylie and Me

Dr Forster went to Gloucester in a shower of rain.

He stepped in a puddle right up to his middle

and never went there again.

Ah English, where Forster rhymes with Gloucester and neither sounds like how they are spelt.

Anyhoo

What better way to pop my Barrington cherry than with a run through the upper section of Gloucester canyon.

Jason and Kylie had done it numerous times before at much higher water levels so today was shaping up to be fairy chill.

We had met Jason and Dave at camp the night before.

H had rolled in sometime through the night and we were all up early and eager.

It’s a short walk in and in high spirits we suit up and make our way down to the first abseil.

Kylie sets the rope and H leads the first drop

Jasons declares ropes are for the vanquished and jumps from a slippery stance

The next one is fairly basic down beside a smaller fall

A short hop skip and a jump down stream and we arrive at what we are here for.

The Famous chock stone abseil.

But to get there requires a short abseil and traverse

On their previous trips the water levels had been too high to attempt this one and there is the option to scramble out and do a dry line from high up just down stream of the chock stones.

Conditions today however are perfect so Jason sets a line and I traverse out and set the main drop

Jason follows me out and leads the big one

There are two redirects in place on this drop. The first gets you out, away from a sloping ledge that forms just as the water funnels into a ferocious torrent, the second keeps you out of the hydraulic that forms in high flow at the base. Jason sets them both for us to follow

it’s a stunningly beautiful waterfall.

And the view back up to it from just downstream is iconic

It was still early in the day. We were tossing up the idea of continuing downstream and completing the lower section. Jason had done it before and thought it was interesting.

The other option was to play around here.

It would be cool to get on top of the chock stone say Wisey.

There is the dry line option, said some one.

We scrmble up the start of the exit track and find our way across to the dry line.

It’s a bit down stream of the chock stones but I manage to swing across to the upper stone to help the following party with a stuck rope (Notes say to throw the pull cord over the chockstone. This lead to the stuck rope. If the flow isn’t too high just bring the pull strand down with you. it pulls fine.)

then drop in.

Jas, Wisey and Dave follow me. It’s a surprisingly fun abseil and we opt to run repeat son it for funzies.

Then we head on out and enjoy a relaxing afternoon at Camp

Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people: WC Fields

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Warrumbungles grand high tops walk in Summer

January 22, 2026February 19, 2026 | flynny101

After the heat of Waa Gorge and Mount Kaputar we decide our best plan would be to get up super early and get the bulk of the Grand High top walk done before the heat of the day.

But first we have to get there. There was another feature just out of Coonabarabran we wanted to check out.

We pull into Hickey Falls, never seen them this dry before. Says a local lady we bump into.

The side trip to Hickey Falls meant we’d enter the Warrumbungles from the eastern side and the drive in is spectacular.

View after view.

We pull into the visitor centre to book into our camp we are thinking they are going to say we are nuts but when we mentioned we we planning the Grand Hightop Walk in the morning they just smiled and said, Oh lovely. You’d be best to start early in this heat.

Oh yeah we are going to start about 5 and try and get up to the breadknife for sunrise.

Oh that would be awesome…

Ok so we aren’t nuts. Or not as nut as when thought.

We pull into camp. We had picked our site based around the morning view

It took about an hour, though for the shade to disappear and we begged a change of site to find afternoon shade.

The afternoon is spent having a short section of song echo over and over and over and over.

It was a bit weird, at first I thought the grounds keep really likes his teeny bop but I go for a walk and there’s a K-pop or TikTok or whatever the kiddies call themselves these day <Old man shakes fist at Cloud> perfecting their dance moves to the song.

We are pretty much the only ones in the entire camp ground so good on them say I.

Still, I do my best to get into their background and ape their moves. It’s how I roll.

Anyhoo

We were up at sparrows fart and hit the trail at about 4.45am

It’s a lovely morning for a walk.

and the first of the pillars pops into view just as the sun lightens the sky and Kylie some how turns into Dicky Knee

Are you thinking what I am thinking?

yes, I just made a Hey Hey its Saturday reference…

I apologise.

It’s actually really shit at cutting bread

We spend a bit of time here and a bit further up just watching the changing light and taking a gazillion photos

We are not sure how or why Kyle dressed as a school girl

We scramble up to the tops, the last 100m or so of trail is under construction so it’s still a bit of a scramble.

Topping out the wind is intense.

We take the short cut back down past Balors hut and get back to camp just after 9.

Another hot day poking around town and that brings a close to our epic first road trip in the Alucab

sawn Rocks

January 22, 2026 | flynny101

After spending the night at the Glacial Rocks camp we get up early hoping to catch sunrise light up the cliff face.

Sunset would potentially cast a better light onto the rocks at this time of year but it’s a spectacular feature at any time of the day and a short, wheel chair friendly, walk from the car park.

Like a pile of chopped and neatly packed logs you can see where it gets it’s name.

As is our usual we push beyond the formed tourist trail on a rough but well used foot pad to explore the creek beyond.

And more of the amazing shapes

The cliff lines soon peter out and the creek snakes it’s way cross the plateau so we retrace out steps and head into Narrabri for coffee and a bite to eat before deciding to drive up to Mt Kaputar for a look.

We decide it’s way to hot to do any of the walks in the middle of the day but the road up is outstanding and well worth the drive.

The road itself is an adventure and the views with in a 5min walk from the car just keep coming

But the temperature is pushing into the high 30s again so we make track down to Coonabarabran where we decide to splurge on a motel room with air conditioning.

Cranky Rock

January 17, 2026January 19, 2026 | flynny101

Leaving Girraween and dropping back into NSW we are aiming for Warialda but decide to take a bit of a detour into Kwiambal NP for a look at Macintyre Falls.

Macintyre falls are located about an hour out of Ashford, near the Ashford limestone Caves (which at the time of writing were closed to the public).

The falls aren’t massive but they are impressive none the less, check out the little whirlpool near the top of the main falls in the top view. hate to get stuck in that in high flow.

the view from the lookout is impressive and a tourist trail leads down to the pool below

large Murray Cod could be seen swimming in the waterhole and fishermen are setting up so we opt not to swim and disturb their hunt for dinner

We spend a bit of time rock hoping and exploring then head across to Lemon Tree Flat for a swim in the Severn River.

This is a beautiful little camp ground I got zero photos of…

Then it was onto Warialda and the very cool little council run camp ground at Cranky Rock.

At $20 a night for a powered site it’s a great low cost campground with hot shower and clean toilets.

Now I have to be honest, being spoilt in the crystal clear waters you find in Blue Mountains canyons the water hole here did have that agricultural run off look and slight whiff but on a stinking hot day with no better publicly accessible swimming holes within cooee it’s an oasis.

Sure, I wouldn’t drink it but there is no hesitation at jumping in and cooling off.

and the colours in the rocks pop at sunset

With the battery in my head torch now charged I thought I’d have another go at spot lighting.

The creek and waterhole was weirdly devoid of frogs and their predators. I spent a bit of time poking around but was giving up and heading back to camp when this little guy came out to say hello

Spotted Black Snake, **Pseudechis guttatus**, aka the Blue Belly Black snake

this species comes in range of colours, from creamy grey to shiny black but how good is the camouflage of this speckled version against the blotched granite.

Back at camp Kylie had luck with the furries. Spotting several sugar gliders running amuck in the trees behind our camper.

and also managed to

1. find this little burrowing frog

and

2. find it a second time to show me

But it is getting late. We are mindful of our fellow campers so call it a night.

we also have a long drive tomorrow.

Our next stop will be Waa Gorge (It’s pronounced “War” not “Wah”)

Girraween Underground Creek

January 17, 2026January 17, 2026 | flynny101

Returning from The Sphinx as the heat began to ramp up a visit to the underground creek sounded ideal.

If nothing else the name was cool.

A short drive from our camp took us up into the surrounding hills. The car park is well signposted and gives access to both the Underground creek trail and Dr Roberts Waterhole.

The walk out to the underground section the creek is just over a 1km and fairly flat.

So what the hell is it?

This section of creek drops down through boulders into a a short section of old lava tube

If you find the top secret… I mean really obvious entry it’s such a cool feature

of course we spend no time scrambling down

It’s a short section but well worth exploring a bit.

Just upstream we scrambled up past this feature. Belatedly we found an easy trail that bypasses around the little cliff line up to a sunny platform that’s worth a look

On the way back we made the detour to Dr Roberts waterhole. It’s a nice spot for a dip.

We’d spend another night in Girraween before hitting the road and head towards Cranky Rock

Girraween the Sphinx

January 17, 2026January 28, 2026 | flynny101

The trail out to the Sphinx was longer but far less steep than what we did yesterday to the Pyramid summit but the day was meant to be even hotter so we got an early start.

The trail winds it’s way up a gentle ridge and there is plenty to explore just off track

I’t a tad over 3.5km out to the Sphinx, gentle uphill most of the way.

Given the weather forecast of heat heat and more heat we opted not to do the side trip to the top of the castle.

More like Darth Vader or Batman if you ask me

A short skip further down the trail gets you to turtle rock. The track ends here and you could scramble up but, again with the day heating up, we just have morning tea then head back to camp.

By the time we get back we’ve worked up a sweat and decide it’s a good time to visit an underground creek.

Girraween Granite Arch and the Pyramid

January 17, 2026January 28, 2026 | flynny101

From Booboo Booboo we do a bit of a down and around, crossing the boarder into Qld and into Girraween.

Bald Rock and Girraween are not that far apart as the crow flys, but we aren’t crows and the road needs to circle around the mountainous country in between.

We roll into an almost empty camp ground, the Christmas/New years crowd have dispersed. Just about everyone else we see here we saw at Boonboo Boonoo. Haha

We have a couple of nights here and planned to smash out as much as possible. but the heat was oppressive so we cut our list of things to do from “Everything all at once” to our “must sees” and worked out a bit of a plan for best time of day to see the things. In between we do something rare for us. We chill out and enjoy the camp ground.

and with views like these out the back of the camper why wouldn’t you

The neighbours were amusing. Knobbie the dragon was preaching the virtues of sun baking. Maggie Pie seemed very engrossed in the topic.

We thought we’d start our stay with a quick walk up to the Granite arch.

An nice easy walk lead us past serval granite outcrops up to this beauty.

On our way to Bald Rock we had stopped at “Thunderbolt’s hideout.” and joked at the time that if we didn’t stop on the way in we wouldn’t stop on the way back as we’d be sick of looking at Granite tors and boulders .

Narrator: Neither Craig nor Kylie got sick of looking at granite tors or boulders.

Just adjusting the placement for a better composition

A big storm role din with lots of thunder and lightning so we dashed back to camp.

Knobby Dragon. I think. Could be a Jacky Dragon. I aint know. I’m not a dragon tamer.

The storm passed over without rain and the sky cleared so we thought a late afternoon walk up the Pyramid would be just the ticket.

It’s about 2km from the campground to the summit, so not a big walk.

But it’s steep.

While not the steepest signposted tourist track we’ve been up (I’d probably give that to the Red Track at Bungonia) added to the steepness is the exposure.

Grippy shoes and dry weather is a must for this one. Once the rock is wet you’d have more grip on an ice skating rink.

The first part is along a clear easy path. This leads to some stairs. They lead to a big granite slab. White dots lead the easiest path up. All good so far

Then you scramble up this rocky chute, referred to as the pyramid passage.

Then comes the traverse.

You make your way out, angling up. To the right the granite slab towers above. To your left a steep slope dropping off to nothing but air.

It’s terrifying but worth it. Say a couple coming back down.

(Belatedly, on the way down, we find there is a less terrifying option of veering right and around the back side of the boulders above)

Past traverse its another little scramble before you round a corner to views of the infamous balancing rocks, defying gravity (for the meantime) right on the edge of the dome.

Breath taking in the soft afternoon light of sunset

The view across to the second “Pyramid” and equally impressive granite dome.

If you close both eyes and try really hard to imagine a pyramid it looks just like a pyramid.

The aboriginal name for these peaks seems to have been Terrawambella. Early pastoralists mapped them as “the domes” at some point they became known as the Pyramids.

With the sun sitting low in the west the light was magical and we had the views all to ourselves.

I only recently learnt that Cunningham skinks have the ability to change their colour a bit, sort of like a chameleon, to help blend into the background.

Once back down off the dome we veer off track to check out other balancing rocks and views

Gadget and The Great Pyramid of Girraween

It’s been a good day. We have punched out a couple of short but steep walks. Basketswamp Falls, the Granite Arch and the Pyramid.

We get back to camp as another storm rolls through. The temperature was due to ramp up again tomorrow so we plan an early morning trek out to the Sphinx

But not before a bit of late night herping

it was a frogathon but I forgot to charge my head torch so had to call it before the snakes came looking for diner.

Bald Rock

January 16, 2026January 17, 2026 | flynny101

Finishing up our coastal sojourn we head west. Our plan was to come back down the western line.

As usual we had planned to pack a fair bit in to a short time.

The Western line probably isn’t in the forefront of most peoples minds as a summer trip. We are not most people

Are we crazy? asks one of us

Yeah. says the other as if it was the most obvious answer in the history of obvious answers.

The fact was summer was when we both had time off so…

Our first destination was Bald Rock.

I’d never heard of it but Kylie said it was something she really wanted to see.

It’s right on the Qld border and part of the New England Granite belt, which was formed about 250million years ago. It’s called the New England granite belt because, you know, nothing resembles Old England more than goannas running across massive granite domes…

Anyhoo

We pull into the car park and cook up a breakfast then make our way up to the trailhead.

There are several walk options, from super short to all day. We opt for the summit walk.

A reasonably short walk leads us to the base of the massive granite dome. This point is wheel chair accessible and if its as far as you get it still bloody impressive.

A mountain of granite towers above.

White reflectors stuck on the rock were the only indicators of a path up.

Of course we follow them. Mostly

It was steep.

Jokes

It’s a little steep but not *that* steep

It’s a short, punchy walk up to the summit and it was spectacular.

Rising 260m above the surrounding terrain, Bald Rock is the largest granite monolith in Australia and the colours are amazing, even on an overcast morning.