It’s been a hot minute so the inevitable call goes out.
Any one want to go canyoning?
Me. said they.
And so it went
A quick meeting of good friends. A hello to the tour groups and then we make our way in to cross the ‘Gambe and bash our way up the other side
Cool for cats
The Wild Flowers are stunning this time of year. We almost had to swim throu fields of Flannel Flowers
And as Paul Kelly once sang, Before too Long…… Um, we found ourselves gearing up and plunging in to Geronimo
Ethan
Some of us brought full wetsuits and were smiling at the pool below
Some of us went a bit lighter
Aimee and Ethan and selfies in a stunning part of the world
Geronimo has such a pretty start
It has some lovely bits of canyon
Clear and cold
Ok I may have pulled out my shark skin jacket here
Kylie had lead the way and was waiting in the cold for the rest of us.
Did I mention pretty ?
And the Canyon opens out just before it rejoins the ‘Gambe
The water is warmer here but not by much
To me this section and the bit just upstream of the Geronimo junction are the most stunning bits on the Upper upper Wollengambe
And soon we are back to the spot where we crossed the river earlier. A quick bit to eat and the guys decide to scramble back up for a quick run thou HorseShoe canyon
Guns out
Hey Flynny. Says Stirlo, This is the first time I’ve ever set and anchor on my own. Now get on rope…
Ah the old dam the flow with your bag until he’s half way down the abseil trick. Leo would be proud.
Horseshoe canyon is pretty much all about this chamber
The wall is slippery as snot
As Ice T once rapped: Colors Colors… Being a Seppo he was all out of Us
And then, about an hour and a bit later we are back at the ‘Gambe
Another great day with truly special people
You need to practice your flow state by getting into some dangerous positions: Andy Anderson
It’s kind of become a tradition that we do something for Russ’ birffdee.
Come to Bungonia, they said. It will be fun, they said.
Only coordinating every one this year was difficult so it got spread out over a coupe of days with Russ and Lib being the constant and the rest of us joining for a day.
Anywoo, I’m in for the Saturday shenanigans and rock on down Friday night just in time for a good old fashion curry cook up.
The camp ground at Bungonia is amazballz. If you are into that sort of thing
At some point during the night someone asked, so what are we doing tomorrow?
I don’t mind says Russ
It’s your birthday, you choose says us
Awwwww I don’t like decisioning, says Russ. But I’m not keen to put a wet wetsuit back on tomorrow. How about Long Gully,
Now I’ve never really given Long Gully much consideration because nobody really raves about it. But they are all worth doing once and anything is good in the right company. so we get some sleep, rise not so early and break camp at the crack of 8am. Or there abouts.
After an easy amble along the fire trail amid banter and giggles we head into the scrub to follow a ridge down into our gully
As far as gullies go it’s not jaw dropping beautiful but it’s not hideous either
It reminded me a little of Dione Dell without water. Walk a bit, nice abseil, walk a bit, repeat
Libertybell getting it done. I think this was the only bit where I got my feet wet
And soon we come to this amazing view over the Shoalhaven
And the big abseil was cool. Kylie on rope. You might be able to see Rus and Libby way down below
Russ had gone first. Called out Awwwwwwwww! and gave us the tip to put our rain jacket on. There wasn’t much spray off the falls but it was chilly
I have no idea if I have the order of the abseils photos right but you get the idea.
There was no anchor set up for this one and it looked like it could be scrambled. I contemplated scrambling but considering how slippery the rest of the canyon had been I opted to set up the fiddle stick. Good call. says Libby. it’s slippery as snot and not in the places that look snotty
and before you know it we are on the banks of the Shoalhaven basking in the glorious sun shine.
Our Gully out of screen to the right and the canyon that shall not be named coming in mid right
A lounge about, some lunch and more laughs and then it’s back up the hill.
It has similar if a bit more elevation than the Kanangra canyons but it’s a much easier grade. And in good company it goes fairly painlessly
All in all Long Gully might not be the best canyon but its a reasonable abseil trip, worth doing at least once especially in the company of some of the best adventure buddies going
Hywaida, Kristo, Ethan, Kylie, Rus, Madie and meeeeeeeeeeeeee
Who wants to do Butterbox this weekend, said I
Me, said them.
As they say in Canada (probably) Well alrighty then
A cold wind blew on the morning of our gathering.
Wait! That’s an understatement and a half
It was an icey gale that ripped through us as we met at the car park.
And it seemed like it would be whipping up through the canyon
Are we sure we want to do this?
Of course.
And so it went.
We layered up and headed in.
Couldn’t quite get the Beetles abby road shot… It may have been cold but patches of blue sky and sunshine lighted our spirits.
Excitement on faces and interesting places.
And it’s about to get real
Butterbox is, for the most part, more open and has less swimming than the trip we did through North Bowen 2 weeks ago. But there are more abseils which could lead to more standing around waiting. we had enough ropes to keep moving. My only concern was the small stance on the chockstone pitch might mean we have a line up of people waiting in ice wind.
Good news for us, once we dropped off the ridge there was hardly any wind at all. I had a set of sharkskin T2 chillproof underneath my 5mm seland wetsuit (* this is not a paid endorsement. but if seland or sharkskin are reading this….. 🙂 ) I had put them on at the first abseil. I’d packed a windcheater jacket but left it in my pack.
By the time we got to the first swim I was keen to cool off
Ah the ol’ hump the log technique. I’ve given up going that way since the logs deteriorated a bit but H isn’t scared
A couple of short swims, a slide and we get to the bit we are here for
Butterbox is a fun, adventurous trip but lets face it. The next 2 abseils is what it is all about
Kristo on rope heading to the chockstone as Madie bleeds rope. There may have been comment made about how the official sign up top shows photos of old school technique and terrible rope management, having a massive pile of twisted spaghetti at the bottom. Something I was guilty of for many years. I’m thankful at how far my knowledge and skills have progressed in the last few years thanks to knowledgeable people sharing their, um, knowledge
RKEHOurs truly
So at the bottom of that you go over the edge and pop out to a large rock wedged between the canyon wall, The chockstone. Well I say large, there’s room for 2 people to set up the next abseil, 3 if you don’t mind getting up close and personal. 4 if you want a group hug with little room to do anything else much less try to set rope or maneuverer to abseil.
And 3 or 4 meters below the Chockstone the canyon takes a sharp right and you swing out under the roar of the falls and into the chamber of awesomeness
And I just noticed Madie creeping in the background of the above photo as Kristo descends. What is she doing up there? How did she get there? How will she get down? The answers to all this and more will not be forthcoming in the next instalment of “What’s Madie up to now”
Another short swim, some boulder hoping and a final abseil and we reach the lunch spot and spread out in the sunlight. Pulling on dry clothes Rus reminisces about the time it was so stinking hot when we got here that we found some shade and snoozed for a couple of hours waiting for it to cool down enough to climb out.
Of course the Butterbox adventure isn’t over yet. There still the steep walk out to the clmb.
I put my windcheater on expecting to be in the full force of the icy zepher. Soon I stash that back in the pack and strip down to a tee shirt. It was pleasant in the valley
I failed so hard. Russ keeping the barefoot madie safeMadie leading the wayThe trees look so small. Did I say something about rope management earlier. it’s not a twisted as it looks. Kylie rocking on up with Me and Madie Duel belaying the others up
Up top it wasn’t until we were cross the saddle from Butterbox point back to the car park that the full force of the wind hit us. At one point I think I was leaning 45° to the right trying to resist it blowing me off the hill.
You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t loose it: R Williams
Anybody want to be be Gobsmacked in North Bowen this weekend?
The above mentioned crazy folk said yes.
Schaaaaaaaweeeeeet!
A trip through Lower North Bowen with Thing 2 and the boys was one of the things that got me back into canyoning in 2015. It’s a great little canyon but for some reason I hadn’t done it since.
Before that the last time I did it The Osbournes were on the telly. Time to get back me thinks.
Not to the Osbournes, like, they are entertaining and all but yeah na, back to Gobsmacker canyon
Some land slips on the walk in were a reminder of the effects of the extended wet weather but they don’t dampen our enthusiasm. (See what I did there?) and the track was in far better condition than in 2015 so top work there (though I’m not convince we took the same gully)
Fernalicious
The water was up
Wasn’t it cold? People ask. Of course it was but with the right gear it wasn’t unbearable or even that uncomfortable
It is pretty but
Kylie and Dick embracing the bracingness
He is smooth, he is funny, he is Russell!!!
Kylie’s not scared
Russ and Kylie keep it real… I mean keeping us safe… I mean doing the things with the things
It took a bit of care to stay out of the churn
If you haven’t met Dick I feel sorry for you. I really do.
A few years ago I had an epiphany with modern canyoning techniques. Could you imagine dropping into that with a tangle of rope in the water you needed to disconnect from? After carefully considering the flow with the group Russ set the rope in just the right spot at just the right length. So satisfying
Dick having his twice weekly cold shower
Warning: Photo bomber on the loose
Aimee is unafraid
Dick hasn’t got a fear gland
the flow was a but pushy in spots so a bit of extra care was needed
Some spots you could just go with the flow
That log usually keeps your feet dry
a quick bite to eat and some interesting methods used to warm hands and we head up the exit gully. The handover hand climb was a small waterfall. Sux for those who choose to put dry clothes on.
To be honest it was nicer doing the exit in this temperature…..
It takes more than 1 idiot to get this stupid. Krispy
Oh, the weather outside is frightful And the canyons look delightful But they closed the park where we want to go Let us go, let us go, let us go
It doesn’t show signs of stoppin’ But we’ve been costume shoppin’ The light is gentle and low Let us go, let us go, let us go
It’s Kylies birthday And Christo’s just gone by It’s time to get crazy With another Xmas in July
The rain is barley drizzlin’ But the dirt roads copped a prizzlin” So we pick a canyon we all know Let us go, let us go, let us go
We don’t care if it’s ten below Red costumes setting the drizzle a glow We don’t care about the cold and the winds that blow We gear up and say, let us go, let us go let us go
Ooh-wee, goes the storm Why should we worry when the wetsuit is warm? Great friends by our side and the lights pretty and low Let us go, let us go, let us go (I don’t care!)
The weather outside is frightful But we’re back at the pub and the food is delightful Since we’ve no place to go Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
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
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
Stirlo, Madie, Leo, Kylie, Jason, Aimee, Mark and meeeee
I was hankering to get out. Some options were discussed then Leo says BMNP is set to re-open.
Claustral it is than.
It seems impossible to me but I’ve never done Claustral with the above mentioned folk before. It’s one of my favourite canyons and they are some of my favourite people.
And on to Claustral. Whether you think it Claustrophobic inducing or Cloister like or a combination of the two is irrelevant right now. We meet up, gear up and shut up….
Wait, that’s not right.
We meet up, gear up and set off, chattering like magpies with lots to chatter about.
That’s more like us.
Once again photo credits go to a mix of the crew
Rightously Ferntacious
I’ve never abseiled this one before but Madie had the rope set up and threatened to cut me if I didn’t use it. Kylie follows me down
And we work our way down to where the real show starts
Stirlo on the first drop into the Black Hole of Calcutta
Click the photos to make the magic
Compulsory “Hulks Fist” photos and shenanigans ensue
Sure I’d done a heap of other cool stuff in mean time but I was itching to get back out.
Wanna do Arethusa?
Does the pope shit in the woods…. wait, um, that’s not it. I mean, hell yeah
So the top photo is my Bestards, renownly awesome boots for Blue Mtns style canyons. On the bottom are my skeches renownly comfy for old men but super slippery. I had the bestards out ready to go with my wet suit booties. Guess which shoes I put on that morning.
Anyhoo we meet up. Head in and gear up.
So yeah 5 weeks since last canyon but more like 9 since I was last on a rope . I may have been a little excited
and before long we are into it
It’s a big call but Imma call it anyway, Arethusa is the best bang for buck micro adventure in the Blue Mountains.
All thrilla no filla. Beautiful canyon sections with minimum creek walking. Pretty waterfall and cascades. Abseils that can be techie unless it’s supper low water levels. Interesting down climbs with optional jumps. Stunning views at the end. And some easy but adventurous climbing to get out.
Some extra bolts have appeared recently and I would caution people to assess the landingzones. We scrambled/walked past most (all) of them simply because it was quicker and easier (even in the slipperiest-shoes-known-to-man(tm). OK I had a few moments but none of them near the optional abseil bolts) but one anchor in particular looked like it would drop you into recirculating water at the flow level we did it in. At lower levels (and maybe higher levels) it mightn’t be an issue but today we looked and said nope to that.
So make sure you assess things yourself rather than just blindly follow. And that goes for all canyons. We got use to the low water levels during 10years of drought, now they are flowing again reassess things.
sleepwhenwearedead 