adventure

Central Queensland Adventure: Day 2

| flynny101

Continued from Central Queensland Adventure Day 1 part 2

Ever since my episode of heat stroke/ dehydration a few years ago I struggle a bit in the heat and yesterday was hot.

We plan a lazy start for day 2 and then some exploring.

There’s a waterfall marked on the map, googling before we came showed some photos of a fairly shit looking waterfall but with the other side creeks being so dry we though we might as well check it out.

We boulder hop and scrub bash up stream.

Canyon 6

The mouth of the side stream is bone dry, it’s not looking promising but we head up. A cool breeze comes down,then we round a corner and…

Bam!

If it had a couple of inches of water running down it would be a match for the section in Claustral between the Hulks Fist and Thunder canyon.

And it kept going

I wanted to call it Betty. Kylie wanted to call it Jon. Which is ridiculous. Everyone knows the correct response to calling it Betty is to call it Al.

You mean Al, says I

Jon, says Gadget.

What ever

Further up it had a Bowen creek feel. Only dry as an English backpacker waking up on Bondi beach in the noon Sun on New Year’s Day.
You could see by the moss that it had water recently.

The map showed this creek cuts its way up high up the escarpment but so far a few easy scrambles were all we needed to make our way up.

1 thing I learnt this day though was the location of the creeks on the topo were accurate. The contour lines in the gullies however, were a guess at best and complete fantasy for the most.

We made our way up a kilometre or 2 of slot canyon before getting blocked by a large chockstone. No shitty waterfall to be seen.

We could not believe several blogs had photos of the waterfall but we had found no hint of this anywhere. I guess bushwalkers use a pass up beside the canyon to access the falls and maybe as another pass up to the great walk.

We head back to the gorge and onto the next.

Canyon 7

Further up stream our next target didn’t look like much. A scrub bash into a wide gully. Then a gap in a side wall gave a hint of something.

I almost didn’t bother but I’m going to duck up here for a look, says I.

I’ll come too, says Gadget.

It’s a shallow canyon but it won’t go far. It’s running parallel to the main gorge cutting back downstream but going up…

It might not be as pretty as the previous one But again it is deceptive and just keeps going. Twisting and turning, cutting deeper into the walls.

It took a couple of sketchy climbs but we made it up to where it begins to open out and then retraced our steps to once more bash up the gorge

Canyon 8

A beautiful big Carpet Python guarded the way. It’s curled up in the shade with a full belly getting ready to shed.

The next canyon started with promise

But a few hundred meters in we are blocked by a 8m dry waterfall.

There’s some promising looking lines on the map further up the gorge but it’s getting late and we are fairly cooked from all the boulder hoping. We decide to head back down to camp.

But along the way there was 1 gully we had skipped, originally planing to do it tomorrow. But we were here now so pop in for a look.

Canyon 9

Another dry slot canyon greets us

The map showed this as one of the longer ones on this side of the gorge upstream of the big bend camp but as tired as we were from all the boulder hoping in the heat of the gorge we were keen to see how far up we could push it.

More dodgy scrambles/climbs were needed. We took a bit 3mm amsteel rope as a hand line to assist getting back down.

Finally we couldn’t get any further up so made our way back to camp content with a big day in the heat.

Continue to day 3

Central Queensland Adventure:Day 1 part 2

| flynny101

Continued from day 1 part 1

We make our way back to the camp ground and park in the over night car park.

Our plan now was to hike up to the remote camp ground at the Big Bend , a bit over 9km up the gorge.

Along the way we’d do the side trips to the touristy stuff.

It was already 35°. We stock up on water.

Canyon 4

The Ampetheter.

Is it a canyon? I don’t know

Is it touristy as all hell? I don’t care.

I was pretty keen to see this one. It’s just off the main track.

It’s a short but impressive slot
Kylie climbing the ladder access
A short but impressive Hall leads to an otherwise enclosed chamber

Back on the main trail we head up stream.

The next thing on the tourist map is Wards Canyon. Just before it is a break in the cliffline and a small stream, the first we’ve seen with clear water.

And if you are good at spotting trails you may spot a vague track leading up beside.

We dump the packs and go for a stickybeak.

The soil is the finest white sand I’ve ever seen. Almost as fine and white as the cliffs towering above.

The trail continues up but it’s a wide gully. I guess it’s used as a sneaky short cut up or off the great walk or sumfink, we head back to the trail

Canyon 5

Wards Canyon.

Wards canyon looks like the most adventurous canyon in the lower gorge. However you can only access the very lower bit. I think tour company’s might run trips through it so it might be worth applying for a permit

It’s pretty and hosts the only known non-coastal population of King Ferns, Angiopteris evecta, in Queensland.

The Art Gallery

I couldn’t find the indigenous name for the art cave which is a shame. It looks like it was painted yesterday but archeological studies found evidence it’s been in use for at least 3500 years, sites just over the hill date to 19,000 years.

And on we go.

Pitjara Cave

It has another name on the tourist map but this is the name on the old topo. The art is top notch.

And finally we make it all the way up to the camp and stumble into one of the only semi secluded spots at the camp. Winning!

We haven’t done a huge amount of Ks, probably only 15 or 16 but it’s bloody hot so the myriad of No Swimming signs at such a beautiful hole were a little soul crushing.

So we set camp and relax in the shade

Home for the next few nights.

Continue to day 2

Central Queensland Adventure:Day 1 part 1

| flynny101

27-09-2023

Gadget and meeeeeeee

Gather around friends, adventure family, misfits and, vagabonds I’ve got a story to tell.

Or sumfink

30 odd years ago when Jameison published the first edition of Canyons Near Sydney he included a short section at the back for other canyon areas with a short paragraph on Carnarvon Gorge saying it had sandstone slot canyons similar to the Blue Mountains.

The only description was try starting at the homestead, make your way up the gorge and look for a routes up.

My curiosity was pipped and it got filed in the back of my brain.

Since that time it’s become a tourist mecca with a wilderness lodge going in around 1996 and National parks developing a good trail network. But I had a feeling there’d still be some hidden gems.

So when the stars aligned and Gadget and myself found ourselves with a week off I said fugg it, let’s go.

Of course abseiling is frowned upon in QLD national parks. There are permits but from all accounts these are about as hard to obtain as diamond impregnated rocking horse shit.

So our plan would be to just have a look. Scramble up from the bottoms or down from the tops as far as possible then retreat.

Day 1 though would be the touristy stuff. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We rock into the NP camp ground late Thursday night. Not realising the nondescript pop up gazebo was the visitor check in we cruise past and pull into a random camp site to get our bearings.

Hey Kylie, what number site is on our booking ? says I

9, says she

You’d never guess what number we had pulled into at random.

Ok, most of you guessed 9. But Shit yeah! good start to the trip.

Not a bad view out of the tent

Our first target was back up the road a bit, Micky Creek Canyon.

Micky Creek is on all the maps, tourist brochures and instagram posts but 1 person I spoke to said the side creek next to it was betterer.

Canyon 1

Weirdly Warrumbah creek is sign posted and has a tourist trail that leads to the mouth of the canyon but there was zero info on it.

A short way from the end of the “formed trail” we find ourselves in a proper slot canyon

The start was impressive but it was dry as a dead dingo’s donger.

The further we scrambled up the better it got. We met a guy who said he had visited in June and it had been flowing.

Note: to self September is a shit time to visit. Hot as hell and dry. you could see the moss drying on the walls, with a bit of water the colours would pop.

It got a little damp as we scrambled higher but the water was manky
The canyon just kept going

About a kilometre on we come to a long section of stinky pea soup looking water. We thought about trying to bridge over it but the walls were slimey and it’s our first canyon on our first day and it already exceeded expectations so we headed back down.

Canyon 2

Micky Creek right branch.

Once again the tourist trail takes us to the mouth of Micky Creek canyon. It ends while the creek is still a wide gorge but soon after there’s a junction and we head up the right branch.

It soon starts to canyon up
There were a few tricky scrambles to get up into the good bit

Eventually we got to a scramble that,while confident I could get up, I wasn’t overly keen on getting back down the slippery stone without a hand line. so once again we decided to turn back down.

Canyon 3

Micky creek left branch had a short section of canyon just upstream of the junction. This seemed to be the source of all the brochure and instagram photos. It was pretty but short. We continued up and it was narrowing but it wasn’t long before we were stopped by another scramble ropes would be handy for.

Continue to Day 1 Part 2

A little Blue Mts surprise

| flynny101

02/09/2023

So I kinda like visiting the little canyons most people would not bother with.

Part of it is seeing beautiful places most people don’t get to and part is just getting out and exploring with mates.

When Tom posted photos of this one on https://ozultimate.com a few years ago it caught my attention as I had a reasonable knowledge of the canyons in that area but didn’t recognise this at all.

Then a month or so ago a YouTube video was posted that had a few clues.

10mins of comparing images in the video and the areal images on sixmaps and I was confident I knew how to find the start and how to get out.

Anyhoo it had been so long since I’d dragged friends out on a scrub bash to a low quality canyon that they had forgotten the pain and agreed to come again.

Was it scruby? Yes it was
Was it low quality?
The canyon section was pretty. Pretty short. But actually pretty.
Wetsuits were over kill. I thought there might be a bit more flow in the falls after last weeks rain but most of us stayed dry above the knees.
Just a few abseils and a short hallway and the canyon opened up
Then it was back up the ridge and we avoided some of the scrub back to the car

A bit under 2.5hrs car to car with a large group and giving Muz some abseiling refreshers along the way.

They are all worth exploring at least once.

BACK

Bindook Chasm

| flynny101

19-08-2023

Gadget and Meeeee

Despite being right next to Bindook cattle Station Bindook falls are in the middle of nowhere.

Sure it’s an interesting bit of nowhere but it’s a longish drive from anywhere.

The creek cuts a short but pretty slot down a series of Falls that have 2 main points of interest

1) they cut through hexagonal columns of basalt (Edit: apparently it’s not basalt but Barrallier Ignimbrite. Ignimbrite is basically the result of hot ash flows if I am understanding things, which I usually don’t)

b) it’s called a chasm.

Plus

iii) the distance means it’s less visited than a lot of blue mountains canyons.

Any hoo it’s been on my radar for a while only I thought you needed permission to cross the private property and I thought it was a very long drive to get to.

A tiny bit of research revealed you can skirt around the property within the boundary of the National park and it wasn’t that much longer a drive than it is to Kanangra which makes it an easy day trip from my place.

And so we thought why the hell not.

It’s a pretty drive made prettier by a dusting of snow coating the pine trees on the way out through Shooters Hill. And the road past mt Werong to Bindook is very scenic indeed. It’s awe inspiring country

We had no problem finding a spot to park and making the short walk to the start of the chasm.

Making our way down to where the creek first cuts into a narrow slot we are greeted by 2 smallish drops each with a long swim at the bottom and little to no anchor options between

The start of the chasm

We discussed setting an anchor for the first abseil and linking them together but it looked like it might be a tricky pull down in cold water so we opted to bypass a short section and abseil in from the side.

There was a reasonable flow of water so I believe the murky green is due to calcites in the strata?

Bypassing the first 2 drops with a 40m traversing abseil from trees above.
Looking down the amazing “chasm” towards the chock stone. With a bit of effort we were able to use the ledge on the left to avoid the early swim.

The anchor for the next abseil was threaded throu a single piton jammed in the back of the chock stone.

We searched for a while for a feasible back up without luck. Test weighting the anchor showed the piton to be solid and with a stepped, scrambley abseil we decided it was good enough and Gadget went down first.

You don’t really notice the columns until you look back

I perch above the pool and pull the rope. It comes easily and I stop to take out the biner block I had in place then go to pull the last bit down…. It locks solid!

It had come super easy til then. But nothing I could do would get it to budge. I assume the end has knotted itself on the ring and not wanting to waste too much time as Kylie was wet and waiting at the next anchor, I resort to cutting the rope.

The next anchor looks like it needed replacing 15years ago… it partly crumbles as Gadget inspects it. Other bits are so stiff we had to cut them out.
Gadget checking angles.

The next abseil is off old pitons again. At least there are 4 of them but we take a bit of time to set new tape. It was impossible to equalise them in the direction we wanted to abseil but again they felt solidly placed. And Gadget lead the stepped 45m abseil.

Another cold swim greeted us at the bottom of this one.

We pull rope from the far side of the pool then have a brief look for an anchor for the final 60-70m drop.

There wasn’t much in the way of obvious anchors and spying a steep ramp leading up to the right we opt to exit early.

It’s steep, loose and at times narrow but it goes.

Back up top we push our way through black thorn thickets up to the clearing below the property fence line, then make our way back to cross the top of the chasm and thus back to the car

Nice spot for a picnic

Part size: 2

Time: 4hr car to car.

Big places help you realise how small you and your problems are

BACK

South Bowen, upper

| flynny101

Upper upper. Like, the very top bit.

08-04/2023

Kylie and meeeee

It’s been a while since I’ve organised an obscure trip.

Others take the piss out of my scrub bashes to shit canyons but I get a kick out of checking out places the majority wouldn’t bother with.

So when we were thinking about what to do and South Bowen formed up as the front runner I suggest how about we go in fro the top.

Not that’s it’s overly obscure, for as long as I can remember David Noble has been commenting that people miss 3 or 4 canyon sections by going in the “standard” entry.

Still upper sections tend to be hit and miss so I wasn’t expecting high quality but they are all worth doing once.

The only hitch was the car shuffle. We didn’t have a second car.

Let’s just do the top and scramble out the Cork Screw entrance. Says I. That way it’s only a 2km walk back up the highway and we can do that first.

Deal.

We pick one of the branches below Mt Wilson turn off and make our way in. It was scrubby on the spur and muddy in the creek line.

Like scrubby scrub and muddy mud

But it’s only a short bash to the first canyon section. And it’s surprisingly high quality.

And once we got to the junction with the “standard” entry we reversed back up the Cork Screw section and found a break in the cliffs to scramble up.

Party size:2

Time: 4.5hrs car to car.

BACK

Juggler

| flynny101

07-04-23

I’m not going to make it.

I’m suppose to be catching up with the crew for a trip through Claustral. But the early start was delayed so I crawled back into bed to wait out the unusual morning storm.

Then I forgot to factor in Good Friday traffic.

I’m no chance of making the new time. Go without me, texted I

Now what?

Hey Kylie want to do a chill half day?

Sure

I’ve never been overly impressed by Juggler but it seems like the least hassle.

It’s was kinda nice after the storms.

Opting for the wet lines
A couple of guys in front

And that’s about it. We are not really fussed on adding in Grand today so we go for a little optional extra

We invited the two we caught up with in juggler to the add on.

Party size:2

Time: 3.5 hrs car to car with a relaxed lunch break.

BACK

Rosewood

| flynny101

Continued from Wayper

Styx will be doable, says Leo over diner, a fairly ordinary steak at a fairly extraordinary price.

I’m excited as we head to find a camp.

Stix is the one I wanted to do when I suggested the trip.

But also… I don’t know. I’m not as excited as I should be. I’m feeling a bit shit.

Saturday dawns bright.

Me not so much.

I crawl out of bed and spew.

I struggle to walk down to the others. I’m going to have to tap out. Says I

I think you should harded up, says Madie. Then looks up. Oh, you look like death.

Thanks

Here, she hands me some pills. I take them and take a sip of water. I spew.

Yeah I don’t think you should come says Leo.

I find a tree to lay under and try not to feel too sorry for myself as the others head off for an amazing adventure.

At some point through the afternoon I scratch something out of my itchy ankle.

I think nothing of it.

I’m not in much of a state to think. I don’t even think to be worried the others are running late until Russ gets me a message over his InReach to say they are ok and have just reached the exit.

It’s almost dark.

Some time later they arrive back in camp with tales of amazing adventures.

I ain’t even care I missed it… but I take the first bite of food I have been able to without spewing

Next day I wake feeling a little worse for wear but much better.

Belatedly I realise I’d started picking up almost as soon as I scratched whatever it was out of my itchy ankle.

I can’t be 100% sure but I think I’d had a reaction to a tick. It was dumb luck that let me scratch the little fecker out without doing more harm.

Anyhoo I still haven’t made up my mind if I’m up to canyoning today.

We’ll do Rosewood, says they. It’s an easy half day. It’s like the Empress falls of the Northern NSW. You’ll be fine.

Well alrighty then

19-03-2023

Kylie, Madie, Leo, Russ, Jason and meeeeeee

I’m glad I listened to them. It’s pretty with action packed abseiling at the end.

The moderate water levels made it hella fun too

Suited up and excited for a cruzy day
Still there were some water hazards to negotiate
And some fun abseils
In a very pretty setting
With a little spice to keep us on our toes
And the final abseil down Cedar Falls was pretty nice.

Zero leaches or ticks were taken home by Flynny this day.

Winning

the dreamers of the day are dangerous, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes to make them possible.” – T.E. Lawrence

BACK

Wayper

| flynny101

17-3-23

Jason, Russ, Madie, Leo and me

It’s late, very late as we find somewhere to pitch tents. There excitement in the air and a bit of a buzz as you get after a long drive for adventure.

We have an early start so it’s pretty up straight to bed to find some sleep.

We’ve come north to the hills inland of Coffs Harbour with grand plans but the weather is fickle. Rain through the week has the creeks pumping.

The big canyons are heavy.

The water is dropping each day but still they are heavy.

With this in mind we opt to start with Wayper. It’s relatively high in the catchment so unlikely to be a handful

We hit the creek a little too high up and begin boulder hopping down stream

Creek walking and boulder hopping become the theme of the day.

The water is fairly tame and there are some nice falls at this level

And lots of creek walking and boulder hopping in between

It reminds me a bit of Dione Dell
with a bit of swimming
At least it had some cool jumps.
But it was stinking hot and there was a lot of creek walking between the gooder bits

I’m not going to mention the abseil where I came last only to realise I’d left my bag up top.

The awkward over hanging start made it challenging to get back up. But a bit of creative thinking and a foot loop got me there.

We do the final abseil and decide to beat a retreat straight up a scree gully to hit an old logging track.

The leaches are tenacious up here. My ankle itches but we haul out.

At one point I liken the trip to Dione Dell with a Danae exit.

But it’s hotter than a Lithgowite is use to and there may be another reason I find the exit a tough slog.

Kylie greats is at the car park and we decide to head to Dorrigo because all we want and all we need is a good a pub feed.

And there’s options to chase a bit more water

To be continued.