Strange Beds and Sleepy canyons

21-05-22

Loz, Kylie, Madie and meeeeeeeee!

I believe all canyons are worth doing once and actually get some satisfaction of checking out those rarely visited ones. They are normally low quality scrub bashes but in this day and age the feeling of being one of the few who have been somewhere is rare.

I felt Whores Bed canyon would be one of those.

And too be honest I’m glad I didn’t do it mid drought. On a cold misty day after 6months of wet weather it was a pleasant little trip.

The company made it better.

It was Loz’s first canyon so to give her the true Flynny/Madie experience we changed plans last minute, hadn’t done any research, parked in the wrong spot and started down the wrong trail.

Classic

Anyhoo we eventually deduced we weren’t heading into the correct gully and reversed out. Some of us scoffed a quick hot chocolate. And then we corrected previous mistakes and dropped in right at the anchor

Looks dodgy and wet.. Aweome ©Kylie
Madie giving her mum a final pep talk… or threatening vengeance. One of the two
Demons disguised as cherubs
©Kylie

And then it was over ©Madie

There are bolts here but they are oddly placed and looked like they would give a difficult pull down so after a bit of deliberation we opted for a traditional anchor ©Madie

And that pretty much it. Shorter and a bit easier than the near by Boars Head trip (for which this one is a play on words) but in these conditions it’s a prettier trip.

And the walk back up the Devils Hole isn’t too bad either

Of course some of those worth doing once canyons are actually worth doing again with the right company or weather conditions. Thus back at the cars the day was young and still had adventure written on it so we slipped across the Darling Causeway and dropped into Karamah.

Somewhat fittingly Karamah is a first nations word meaning “Sleep”.

Like a most of the canyons in that area it has some nice bits and 1 very pretty chamber.

This one has the crappiest single bolt anchor that I take the sling off every time and switch to a natural anchor. This is last time I was single roping with a fiddlestick this time I double roped. That water is deep enough for a good dunk and cold….. The double rope made for some tricky bridging action
Lucky I somehow manage to stay dry and no video was taken ©Kylie

The main chamber is a bit of a pothole. Pretty in good light but I’m glad it wasn’t flooded today.

and a short section of canyon follows

they are all worth doing once: Shit Flynny says.

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BILLABONG

Mandy Beth and Meeee

03/01/2022

Mandy hasn’t abseiled for a few years, she lost the passion so when she asked if I’d take her out I got a so excited that I didn’t explain the 2 options she proposed, while short trips were actually 2 of the more awkward abseils…

Anhoo after a week that involved Danae, Rocky, and a quick afternoon running throu Empress 3 times squeezing another little canyon in sounded like just the ticket

Beth decided to join us and off we went to a pretty but short little canyon near Clarence

Off through the flannel flowers we go
It’s tight, twisty and very slippery
But very pretty and a nice spot for a dip on a hot day

and what better way to finish it off with

I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night― Sarah Williams

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Tigersnake

Izy, Leo, Madie and meeeee

I sometimes cop a bit of playful shit for living in Lithgow but it wasn’t not a bad LGA to be locked down in

Dates stopped having meaning but at one point We did a quick run through Tigersnake canyon then picked up the dogs and did a lap of Rydal XC track.

It was pretty cool

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Rediscovering back yard gems

2/8/20

Mandy And Me

When I was a kid a lot of amazing adventures started or finished at 166 Bells Street. We are 13 or 14 popping wheelies on our BMXes, or hanging out high up in the climbing tree, or digging tunnels in the river bank or making home made fireworks out of stuff you could still buy or find when we were kids or sumfink.

Let’s go yabbying.

We grab some string, stuff some form of meet into our pockets, race off on our bikes and head up to some long forgotten little dams in a long forgotten gully right at the edge of town. It all sounds very Huckleberry Finnish. But it’s nothing so grand, just a day in the life of me and my mate Smiddy some time in the 80s. Nothing overly memorable except we didn’t catch any yabbies and on the way back while bridging through what I’d now call a canyonette (but back then was just a nice bit of narrow creek) Pat slipped in. We are wearing jeans and jumpers, it was an icy winters day (the yabbies had been smartly tucked up in their nests) and it was cold ride home for Smiddy.

Anyhoo, fast forward mumblemumble years. (Would you believe 10? No? How about 20? Ok it’s closer to 30, and by closer I mean over 30) Mandy is keen for a small walk and thinks Ida falls might be the go.

Pulling up in the little car park it’s packed (well 4 or 5 cars but enough to ruin the uncrowded feel I like.)

Hey there’s another gully we use to frequent and from memory it’s kind pretty too… says I

Understatement!

Especially after we’ve had a bit of rain through the week.

Memories are Golden. Get out there and make some

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Mt Boyce

A quick morning climb with Libby and Russ. It was good to dial back the difficulty and concentrate on trying to unlearn some bad technique that I have found myself falling in to.

Pun not intended.

Wait, yes it was.

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Munmorah Sea Caves

9-01-2020

Laurence, Chris, Tal, Della, Gabby, Ev, Matt, Adrian and meee

The bushfires that raged across much of Australia threw a spanner in the work of a family holiday to the south coast so some last minute phone calls were made to me old mate Della who generously offered us a couple of beds on the central coast, I threw the ropes in just in case

Laurence had been promoting some abseil trips to sea caves that looked quite alright and while under normal circumstances I probably wouldn’t have driven up just to visit them while I was in the area I thought why not drag Tal out of a mini adventure.

A quick message to Laurence to get some info and tips and he offered to meet us there and show us around.

Hey Dell, can you get Thursday off work?

It’d been about 20years since he’d done any abseiling but he was keen. A few other invites were sent out and before we knew it we had met up with the above mentioned folk and were setting up ropes above our first cave. The Nudie cave

We set ropes, and exit ladder and Matt even jumps in at the exit to test the water, then after a few quick tips and reminders me and Dell get on rope and drop on in

Looking up my snoz…
Me and Della dropping in, or “dangling for great whites.” as it was later described ©Laurence
©Gabby

.

Dropping off the end of the rope we swim into the cave and wait for the others

Inside was surprisingly large and the pebbly beach gave an awesome underfoot massage
Gabby and Ev dropping in to join us

As he was finding his feet on the beach the only wave we saw all week swept up to smash Adrian face first into the pebbles. We shouldn’t have laughed… but we did

What foul creatures lurk in the Nudie cave? Oh, those idiots…. ©Gabby

And then we swim out and make use of Laurences cave ladder to climb out of the water

Exiting without placing a ladder first would be difficult at best

Be a cool jump. Say I. Looking back up to the arch

Oh Coop jumps from that platform there, Says Laurence

I don’t take much convincing. Nor does Della

And then we make our way around to the next one, Pinney Cave. This is just a dunk in the ocean with a bit of a scramble out. By all reports the scramble out is much harder in normal conditions and out right dangerous if the swell is much over a foot. We must have got very lucky with not much swell at all as I found it much easier

But with Laurence’s warning only myself, Matt and Della decided to give it a crack, with Gabby and Ev opting for a dry landing on the exit route and the rest waiting for us up top.

Matt descending Pinney ©Gabby
Me scrambling out on favourable seas while Laurence descends the exit ©Gabby
Ev opting for the dry landing

And then we make our way a bit further along the coast to the Shark Hole. An ominous name for us country bunkins.

Actually this is the snake hole, explains Chris. The Shark hole is where u swim out.

Oh, well then. In we go.

So almost like a canyon I got a tear in my eye… or sumfink
What a top mob of fellow adventurers to spend a relaxing day with
Making our way our of the Snake Hole

And to finish things off we head to the Catho Bay hotel for a cooling beverage or two

Did I mention what a awesome mob this lot are? ©Gabby via Adrain

Group Size: 9

Time: I have no idea

Caution: You need low tide and a swell of under 2 feet to run this trip the way we did it. Also the rock is sharp as a finely honed cutty thing so rope protectors and good start technique are a must.

Adventure pushes your limits and lifts your soul or sumfink

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