17-10-2026
A weekend at Wombeyan Caves Karst Reserves is always pleasant. This week end I headed in with the Fam for a relaxed couple of days chilling out.
Onthe Saturday we did the self guided tour through FigTree cave and a guided tour of the Wollendilli Cave. Of course I had to visit Mares Forest Creek while there.
09/04/2026
Gadget and meeeeeeee
How about we pack and picnic and do a run through Koombanda this afternoon, says Kylie.
TBH I’d enjoyed a rare lazy morning so it took a bit of a prod to get me going. But finally, Sure, says I
You get the canyon gear ready, I’ll pack the food. Should we take wetsuits?
Na, says I. There are only two short swims. Lets go light and do an Undie run.
Cool but pack my rashie just in case.
And in no time we are off.
The cutty grass on the way in was cutty but we make our way down and find Tom’s pass that avoids the abseil out of the side creek
Some easy creek walking down the pretty uppersection and we get to the first abseil. I set the rope and Kylie leads the way.
I’m trying to avoid the plunge pool. She calls. It’s slippery. Oh F$#%! there’s a snake!!!
A bit of swearing ensues.
Are you Ok?
I’m wedge directly above it. I can’t move. I must have almost stepped on it
I gingerly descend down to wedge myself in next to her.
And down there on the rope end a very cold and not very happy little Tiger Snake stares up at us.
Bloody gate keepers
What are we going to do?
You need to bridge out and jump into the pool.
what if it comes after me?
If anything you are going to scare it back towards me.
The thing about baby snakes is just about everything eats them. And most of those things swoop in from above. So sitting above one like this generally a good way to get it very defensive.
Contary to the popular myth that Australian venomous snaked can’t climb (they all can) tiger snakes are great climbers.
The side of the canyon was very slippery though which was preventing it coming up to us but this made bridging out over it f#$5ing difficult. 1 slip and we’d be landing on the poor little dude, which wouldn’t end well for either party.
Kylie carefully bridges out and jumps.
Success.
Now my turn.
Not quite as graceful but neither snake or human were harmed.
woot woot.
and we make our way down to the drop into the gorgeous chamber that Koomband is renown for
And one more quick swim and the canyon opens out and we make our way down to the old Coal mine and set up a picnic.
All in all a great little afternoon outing.
Do the thing: Alex Honnald.
05/03/2026
Dave, Hywaida, Jason, Kylie, Kristo and me
We are not the fastest group out there and don’t intend to break speed record but we go alright. Even taking the time to soak in the experience and take 1001 photos our group of 6 had cruised through Robinson, Cross Creek, Wilsons, and Mill Creek well within the suggested timeframes so we weren’t expecting Mathers to be too big a day.
As it was, it turned into a bit of a mini epic.
No idea why, TBH.
We did have a couple of stuck ropes ( first one the figure 8 block flipped over and caught on the anchor ring) but they didn’t take us long to sort out.
Maybe in our complacency we spent a bit too much time enjoying the slides and jumps in the upper section.
The middle section seemed to go on for-fucking-ever…
End result we were well over the suggested time but still had an absolute blast.
In hindsight a 4th rope in a party of 6 would have made it a lot more efficient.
Anyhoo. This one is a little less descriptive than my usual write up (Most of these ones from NZ are mostly from it all being a blur of awesomeness)
We were frothing to get into it. Mathers was rumoured to be very pretty with lots of slide and jumps.
We make our way from the campground, along the Haast and up into Mathers creek.
The canyon ends at one of the prettiest waterfall Archways going.
It’s recently become a social media hot spot. I can see why
Unfortunately Haast river is infected with Didymo and the increasing crowds of influencers either don’t know or don’t care about cleaning it off their shoes before entering the side creeks. Sadly the pool below the Arch is showing signs of Rock Snot.
While we tried to avoid walking in the water you can pick up cells in the dirt along the banks so we had brought bottles of detergent and scrubbing brushes and paused here to SAY NO TO DIDYMO.
And then up we went.
and before we know it… Wait no, that’s not right, I mean eventually spent and almost over it we finally get back to the arch
Back to the Canyoning Page
On to Imp.
Had a fantastic road trip testing out the Alucab and generally have a great adventure.
Thought I’d try my hand at an interactive map to tie it all together. You should be able to click the icons to take you to the blog post with more photos and stuff
27-01-2026
Hywaida, Kris, Vince, Kylie and meeeeeeeeeeeee
Kylie and I had done this one before and really enjoyed it.
It’s a fun little waterfall style canyon and the water was up a little today compared to last time so we were keen to see what it would bring.
There are 2 choices here, You can scramble over and say out of the flow or you can get frothed
There’s a short drop on to a knub, From here there is the option to drop down through a hole behind the chockstone but with the water a bit bumpy we opt to go in front.
Next up is the abseil through another hole. This time we go through.
we get to the infamous drop that goes down through a massive log, last time we have avoided the hazard using the bolted traverse. this time we followed Jasons advice and cross to creek right and abseils off a tree. Much simpler
And before long we are at the jade pool and exit stage left up a steep Ridgeline back to where we had dropped a car.
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”
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
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.
Ash wanted to head to Surface Paradise so we thought it might be nice to drop him off for a day out and drive up to check out a couple of the touristy waterfalls on Tamborine Mountain.
We knew Jason was up visiting family in Brisbane so we threw him a shout out to meet us there.
Our first stop was Cedar Creek falls.
This is another popular swimming spot and it has limited parking. We needed to park way back at the turn off (Junction of Tambourine Mountain Road and Cedar Creek Falls Road.) which gave us an extra 800m walk each way.
Locals at the end of the road had set up a paid (donation) parking lot in their paddock and the kids had an esky set up sell cold drinks. Kylie half jokingly wondered if said locals rushed out of a morning on public holidays and filled the car park up with their own cars before the crowds appeared. Clever them if so as their paddock was just about full.
And to be fair, imagine having this place pretty much as your private back yard extension before the crowds discovered it and the tourists (like us) rolled in.
From the car park a boardwalk style trail leads you down past a nice picnic area beside the creek then down to a lookout above the main falls.
The trail then continues down to the base of a lower cascade and a nice swimming hole.
There are two main pools accessible from the trail.
A series of other cascades and pools are off limits due to safety concerns and rangers were on and to remind people of the need to comply.
We have a dip and laze about then head back up the mountain to check out Curtis Falls.
There’s a much bigger car park here but it’s equally full, luckily people are leaving and we get a park close to the trail head. Winning.
There is no swimming allowed in this one but is a lovely walk along a shaded creek and a very pretty waterfall.
Back
Veering slightly south we thought we’d check out Killen falls as a spot of cool off
It’s accessed from Friday Flat road and there is plenty of signage to get you to the car park.
From there it’s about a 400m walk to the base of the falls along a nice tourist trail.
There’s a large plunge pool at the base that is a popular swimming hole.
Being use to the crystal clear waters of Blue Mountains canyons it’s little brown and agricultural run offy but it’s a nice enough spot to cool off on a hot day if you are over the beach
On the drive back Kylie asks, Have I shown you the quarry
No, says I
Yeah I have, says she
No you haven’t, said I
Bexhill quarry is an old brick quarry that operated from the 1890s through to the 1940s. When operations ceased it filled up with water and became a popular swimming spot.
With no through flow the water became quite acidic and was found to have high levels of dissolved metals, such as Aluminium and magnesium, so in 2016 it was shut off due to “safety concerns”.
No sooner had the fence gone up than locals cut holes in it…
But nature seems to have found it equilibrium, subsequent testing found acidity levels returning to normal(ish) levels and plans were submitted 2021 to turn the area into a public reserve.
That hasn’t happened yet so in the mean time you’ll still need to climb through the holes in the fence. To be fair though, it’s more hole than fence.
The Quarry is accessed of Coleman Street (Bangalow Road) Bexhill. About 10km from Lismore
Water was quite pleasant indeed.
It’s a great spot for photography and a nice dip though, I recommend proficient swimmers only because I have no idea how deep it is.
Back
We were keen as mustard to give the new Alucab camper a proper test out and as luck would have it Kylie had organised a long weekend of adventures in and around Long Plain, Kosciuszko NP.
Rocking into Cooleman camp late Friday night it was so good to just pop the top and be able to crawl into bed
We get a good night sleep but are up early for what would become and epic adventure in Landers Falls.
Then it was off to Clark Gorge for a more touristy micro adventure.
before returning to camp to chill out and dry off
And we round the trip off with a slightly less cold dip in the Yarrangobilly thermal pool
