Soggy Bottom, Balls Deep, All in, Just a Bobble, Dragged a Toe and Ah Stuff it I’m in, AKA meeee
It’s 9pm, it’s the middle of May and I’m following Madie down a fire trail on another wild adventure.
The snow clouds that swirled around all day had hampered the drive out with constant rain and a smattering of sleet yet as we pull into the car park to meet the others they miraculously clear and we have a crisp stary night for our walk out to where we will camp above the canyons.
We’re not the only obsessive compulsive canyoning weirdos this time around, joining us are Rus, Ryan, Stu and Phil.
Madie had been recently converted to fiddle stick ghosting/Leave-no-trace techniques and I’m keen to check it out but first we pitch tents and enjoy a night of banter around the camp fire.
We’re up before sun rise and set off at first light amid one of the most spectacular pretty dawns I have witnessed.
After a few kilometres walk further along the fire trail we spear off into the bush looking for our first canyon. There are no track notes for the canyons out this way and the un-tracked terrain makes the whole area something special.
After a bit of navigation deliberation, something that would become somewhat of a theme for this trip, we find the entry point of our first canyon and after some tips from Madie, Ryan and Stu on the finer points of fiddle sticks we drop in
A game of “The water is lava” ensued. Pleather pants for canyoning is a thing now.
Another notch for our Bow or sumfink
Fiddle sticking is all well a good but for true leave no trace techniques some of us down climbed this one, but the bottom has a bit awkward and Phil was not comfortable so Madie set a rope for him and followed him down
Tolkien use to write about places like this, we all thought it was fantasy
And then the canyon opens out and we make our way down to the main creek aiming for a pass up to our next canyon
With a bunch of bike and family commitments throughout March it’s had been nearly 4 weeks since I managed to get a canyon in. Or is that get in a canyon?
Anyhoo, I was tonguing to get out and I had missed some good trips with some good people so when the mad one said she wanted to do a canyon out in the Northern Wollemi on a weekend I finally had free I begged a leave pass and we started to plan.
Invitations were sent and a few people were keen but in the end most were unable to make it.
Briefly we discussed doing it as a day trip but decided that if we camped at the increasingly popular Dunns Swamp we’d have time to squeeze in another little canyon while we were out there.
Let’s go down one and up the other.
Doesn’t the guide say the other has some abseils?
Pffft, It says 1 abseil or a down climb, how hard could it be.
I first visited Dunns Swamp back around 1992 for wild party, now it’s all families and quiet time, lights out at 10pm and stuff. Camp sites were filling up fast and continued to do so well into the night,
I can see why Shrek liked his swamp. What’s that? You want a trip report based on Shrek quotes? Challenge accepted
We set up camp. This is gonna be fun. We can stay up late, swappin’ manly stories and in the morning, I’m making WAFFLES!
In the morning no waffles were made but we make our way out to the forestry gate. For which I have the combination as it’s part of the bicentennial trail, ‘cept they have changed the locks. This would mean a 10km fire trail slog.
Sometime later we ditch the bikes and do the last bit on foot. I’d driven across this fire trail in dads jeep in about 86, it’s a stunning bit of the world.
We had next to zero info on the first canyon but it looked like we needed to get through some complicated clifflines to reach it. In the end with some less than attentive navigation it was fairly simplez, we just walked around until we found it
Then it was down to the main creek for lunch in the dappled sunlight. Now to reverse the next one. Some of you may die, but its a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
We follow the creek up. It may have been easier to head up the nose for a bit. @Madie
Don’t die… And if you see any long tunnels, stay away from the light.
Oh and it is LOVELY. You know, you’re really quite a decorator. It’s amazing what you’ve done with such a modest budget.
I like that boulder. That is a NICE boulder.
Look at that. Who’d wanna live in a place like that?
this isn’t right. You’re meant to charge in, sword drawn, banner flying
Wait a minute, I know what’s going on. You’re afraid of the dark.
And then we are at the top looking back down and it’s time to head home
Please. I don’t wanna go back there. You don’t know what it’s like to be considered a freak… Well, maybe you do, but that’s why we gotta stick together. You gotta let me stay!
Female and male golden Orb weavers with plenty of tucker to keep them going, I never realised they spun yellow silk until Madie pointed it out
Party Size: 2
Time: 7hr (and 2 minutes) car to car being fairly quick on the fire trail with few stops but lots of faffing in the canyons themselves
I’m not allowed the mention the canyons by name for fear of the canyon illuminati kid-napping me and beating me senseless. 1 source of info said we wouldn’t need wetsuits but I’m glad we took them as the second canyon was fairly cold and sustained. Good thing we didn’t wait until mid(dle of) winter to do it.
All in all it was another good day in the bush in a beautiful part of the world. After some late summer rain it sure was green up there on the hills
David-Stephen, Jess, Ev, Madie, David, Tim and meeee
The only way to back up a fairly late night in Rocky would be a reasonably early start for another canyon
And so, blearied eyes and muddle-headed I find myself driving up to join Madie and Ev waiting for the others for a quick trip through Arethusa canyon.
I was suffering sleep deprivation and the trip is a bit of a blur so I’ll let the photos tell the things
Standard way in
More exciting way in
It really is a stunning bit of canyon
Butterbox gets all the glory for being an adventurous canyon with climbing exit but for me Arethusa is hands down a better all round canyon and the climb out excellent.
Ev asked if she could lead and we happily let her. Wow she handled the climbs like a bomb and set belays like seasoned pro. So cool to watch
itch 3 is 1 tricky move then an exposed traverse
Ev on lead
Madie on the other hand…..
Sure my climbing style sucked the big fat one too but people were kind enough not to capture that in too many photos..
And with international women’s day just gone what better way to celebrate
Party Size: 7
Time: 7hrs car to car
The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly without fear for newer experiences: Elenor Roosevelt
Madie, Ethan, Dave@, Kylie, Shauna, Roy, Mark, Dick, Luke, Joel and meeeeeee
I’ve said it before I’ll say it again Rocky creek is my favouritest canyon ever. I’ve been through it many times and hearing the the little waterfall on entry never fails to give me goose bumps and remind me of the first time Scott dragged us through there to spark my canyon addiction.
The light is always magical, even at night
Anyhoo with people coming from all directions several meeting places were teed up, things got confused, no one had reception but eventually we all met up at the Rocky Creek car park. Late but keen.
A quick meet and greet and then down the hill and into Twister.
We head on into Twister right on dusk and the light quickly fades and the glowworms begin to appear.
We found a way to stop Madie giggling… briefly
And just like that we drop out of Twister and make our way down to Rocky Creek
The glowworms are out and the crew spend some time just checking them out, but we are still on the walking track and I try to explain they are only going to get better.
I don’t care how many times I see glowworms I will always be stuck with a sense of awe. In a canyon setting that is amplified a thousand fold.
Most canyons around these parts have glowworms, especially at night but Rocky is next level
There are 7(possibly 8) species of glowworm found throughout the world. 5 of those are found only in Australia and New Zealand and are the larvae of a fungus gnat, most live of fungus and their glow is redundant . The ones endemic to NSW are Arachnocampa richardsae and they are still predatory. Their light attracts small insects that get trapped in silk snares they trail down off the roof which they then consume.
For the most part if they are hungry they glow brighter and just after a feed they dim.
They are sensitive to noise and light and will turn off to hide
The pupae also glows but the males dim and stop glowing altogether just before they emerge as adults, while the female’s glow gets more intense to ensure they have a choice of males waiting as she emerges.
The adult flies can’t do much but reproduce, they can’t eat, they can barely fly but they do flash little lights to attract their mate.
Anyhoo, Glowworms are freakin cool ok.
But on we go
Dave@ Ethan and Madie under a ceiling of glowworms
And we are back to the start and climb out to change into semi dry clothes for the slog up the hill
Broad tailed gecko, AKA Southern leaf tailed gecko AKA Sydney leaf tailed gecko AKA phyllurus platurus. What ever you call him he was a cool little dude Kylie spotted on the walk out
Back at the cars we revel in the night but some have long drives home and some have an early morning for their next adventure.
Party Size: 11
Time: 3hrs 40
Surround yourself with exceptional people, experience exceptional things
Disclaimer: While canyoning at night poses pretty much the same risks as doing it in the daylight the consequences of things going wrong is much greater. Without the beams of sunlight to warm you between darker swim sections Hypothermia is a heightened danger. Limited peripheral vision may mask hazards that would otherwise be easily identified.
Navigation can also be much harder. You should be very familiar the canyon and it’s entry/exit tracks before attempting it.t.
It’s also worth noting the creatures out and about at this time of day are creatures of darkness. They don’t want thousands of lumins shone on them and massive groups disturbing their peace. We kept our beams set on low and trod as lightly as possible. As you always should in these pristine environments.
*March 2019 I am once again participating in the Wests Cycle Classic to raise money for the Westpac rescue helicopter. If you enjoy my blog or just want to help this great cause think about making a small donation
Beauties and the Beast in the Bungleboori boondocks
12/01/2019
Me, Madie and Gabby
I’ve never given Steep Creek much thought but Kent talked up Bridge canyon as a great trip. Took me a bit to realise they were the same thing.
Anyhoo another trip out to this part of the world was high on my wish list for this year and me and Madie had started talking about doing it even before we had finished last weekends trip in Twilight Canyon.
I wasn’t sure when I’d be able to fit it in but then my weekend freed up and Mandy granted me a leave pass…
You want to do it this weekend? It was like Wednesday morning.
Hell yes!
Some last minute invites were sent out. We weren’t sure we’d get any takers with so late notice but Gabby jumped at the chance.
Some off the cuff planning was done.
The rest of the week saw afternoon storms roll through including a big one Friday that just seemed to keep coming. It made me a little nervous about the camp but the worse Fridays storm got the better the revised weather forecast for Saturday became. In the end the weather and water levels were near on perfect
Keen as beans for an awesome weekend in nature
It’s amazing how quick a long walk in can go with good company, a bit of banter and high expectations of what you are going to find. With just a small hickup in navigation that was easily corrected we arrived at the bag drop where we decided to stash the camp gear before spending the rest of the day exploring Bridge and Bjelkes Mind Canyons.
We make our way down to the start of the canyon don our wetsuits and scramble down.
But then it opens out and it’s a long creek walk, scrambling over boulders with a few interesting abseils
It was pretty but not canyoning Wow
Madie in the “Steep creek”
It seemed like we we getting very close to the junction with the Bungleboori and I was starting to wonder what Kent saw in this trip and then the creek dropped into this
And then it opens out and we have one more abseil before we reach the bungleboori. We spend a bit of time backing up the anchor which was a large rotten tree that felt like crumbling paper.
We find a sunny rock in the bungleboori for a bit of lunch. I think we need to go down stream a bit but the going is difficult and Madie finds a way to scramble out onto the bank, stumbling across a faint exit track by chance.
We follow it up through the first cliff line and then make our way around for the second canyon of the day
*March 2019 I am once again participating in the Wests Cycle Classic to raise money for the Westpac rescue helicopter. If you enjoy my blog or just want to help this great cause think about making a small donation
Former Qld premier Joe Bjelke-Peterson was renown for being narrow minded, whether that was straight and narrow or narrow and twisted is neither here nor there but his name sake canyon is one I’ve had on my radar for years.
Anyhoo, armed with some tips from Kent it was surprisingly quick and easy to follow the contour around from the pass out of the Bungleboori and before we knew it we had entered the creek smack bang on where it dropped into the canyon
Gabby in a fabulously narrow section of canyon
MadieIt looked like it opened up just down stream and I remarked to the girls that I hoped there wasn’t sections up stream that we’d missed
But the canyon dropped and twisted and dropped again
Each drop seemed to get narrower, this one had me wandering if I’d fit
and the canyon was just stunning
And then Madie found a cave full of glow worms
We sat in complete darkness, even Madie was silent… Without a tripod I wasn’t sure how the camera would go picking them up but had a try. Bloody flash went off.
Your flash will turn them off! Madie swings a playfull elbow at me in the dark. It connects with my Crittr, driving it into my crittrs…. Some deep breaths were needed…
Back at the Bungleboori and we fight our way upstream to the exit
The river had a bit of flow after Fridays storms
And then it was up hill to some stunning views over the Wollangambe Wilderness
Gabby admiring the view
Madie escaping from her cave
Ecstatic after a great day of canyoning
and then it was an easy but longish walk up the ridge and back down to collect the camp gear. We opted to exchange it for the canyon gear, hanging wetsuits, ropes and harness in a tree to dry. this saved us carting it all into the camp cave only to carry it back out tomorrow.
At camp we change into dry clothes and settle in for an evening of relaxation and banter. Gabby had carted in a feast, no idea how she managed to fit it all into her pack but it was awesome.
I wonder if there are glowworms in the end of Bubblebath, asked someone after the sun had set. Let’s go for a look.
Again we sat there in silence but this time we had no need to push on. Never have I ever sat for so long with nothing but a constellation of glowworms to break the darkness.
Madie declared a rule: no torches, no flashes. and we sat there admiring the worms in all our glory.
A magical experience.
Sometime later the torches came back on and we made our way out to get some sleep and prepare for the next day
*March 2019 I am once again participating in the Wests Cycle Classic to raise money for the Westpac rescue helicopter. If you enjoy my blog or just want to help this great cause think about making a small donation
We’d just finished an epic day canyoning at Glen Davis. It had been a big day in scorching heat, we were driving home exhausted.
Oh course we started planning our next trip.
I wouldn’t mind doing Twilight some time this season says I.
Wanna do it next weekend replied Madie
Wheels were set in motion…
Anyhoo a ragtag group of adventurous folk meet up in the camp ground, the plan is to ride our bikes down the Wolgan river maintenance trail then stash the bikes and find a way up the hill. A bit of asking around had us confident our pass was viable and the bikes, in theory would make the haul down and back up the river faster, if not easier.
The ride down was fairly non-eventful and we were soon stashing bikes. The heat had already kicked in and Mark took a slight detour to lay in the river to cool off.
We follow a steep ridge littered with loose scree to the base of the mighty Wolgan cliffline. Breaching the cliff was surprisingly easy. Our original plan had been to scramble out onto the tops, across a ridge to descend into the top of the canyon. With the sun blazing overhead we opted to stay in a shady gully and found this gave us a relatively easy way onto the halfway ledge that runs above the canyon all the way up to the start.
After a hot haul in this pool was so welcome
Mark cooling off, Sterlo dropping in with Steve on belay while Madie checks out the cave
The jump through the arch was a definite highlight
And then the canyon opens up. A short bit of boulder hopping and we scramble out onto the ridge for an easy walk back to the bikes and hence back to the cars
Wanna sit in the river and drink beer? Oh shit yeah!
All canyon trips should finish like this
Party size: 7: 6 experienced 1 semi experienced
Time: I did 7hrs car to car relaxed pace with a bit of laying in the river prior to the ride out but Steve busted a deraileur so Gibbo had to do some bush mechanics to convert it to single speed and I rode back down to assist with carting packs once they had it going so the group did 8hrs total
Live your life governed by a compass, not a clock:- -Stephen Covey
*March 2019 I am once again participating in the Wests Cycle Classic to raise money for the Westpac rescue helicopter. If you enjoy my blog or just want to help this great cause think about making a small donation
This was another one people rave about. The canyon has 4 or 5 branches that all contain good quality canyons. The 2nd branch, or B branch, is one I had wanted to do for a while and one I had built up in my mind so when Kent put it on during a 5 day trip to Glen Davis I jumped on it.
Madie met me at my place early and we drove on down to meet up with the others. A quick meet and greet, ropes sorted packs on and we are away.
For the first part of the walk in we’d traverse the southern cliff line and then up into the bottom of the canyon so had bits of shade in between the baking heat.
The cool shade at the bottom of the canyon was a welcome haven and we took the opportunity for morning tea and a quick dip to cool off. Then it was back into the heat up the other side.
So much up
Kent on the tops
While the scrub was quite thick at times it offered little shade and so it was with a bit of relief, 5hrs after leaving the cars we reach the top of the canyon and wasted no time dropping in for lunch in the cool confines.
Madie
Madie, me and Slavr then went ahead to explore the canyon and set ropes while the others followed passing ropes forward as needed.
We soon came to the junction with 1 or A branch and explored up it aways. I failed to get up this little waterfall, Madie decided to show me how easy it was….
Slavr on a narrow bit
But wait, there’s more
and more
and more
Every time you think it’s about to open out… Boom there’s more
The water was a bit odd. It went from black to crystal clear to murcky brown and back in between disappearing for long stretches all together
We must be at the end now….. Nope
Madie and Slav
regrouping
and it continues
And then, just after I began to think the canyon would go forever we round a corner and we are back at the morning tea spot.
What an awesome day full of challenges, wild beauty and great people. A great way to finish off 2018 outdoorsP
Time: 11hr car to car. The fluctuation between heat stroke and hypothermia taking its toll a bit
So what did I think of it? The people I had spoke to about it invariably rated it “Best ever” or “Top 5”. Whether the low water levels affected my views I cant say but too be honest I wouldn’t put it in the same category as Claustral or Rocky Creek as far as jaw dropping beauty nor would I rate it on the bang for buck and out and out fun scale as high as Whungee Wheengee or Danae Brook but for complexity, length of constrictions and true untouched wilderness feel it’s certainly up there.
It’s a true canyoners canyon. Tricky Nav, obstacle after obstacle to figure out in a constriction that just seems to go and go and go and get better as it goes… I’d def do it again but maybe not when it was so hot and maybe I’d wait until just after a bit of rain.
Don’t waste time waiting on sometime. Get out there now.
*March 2019 I am once again participating in the Wests Cycle Classic to raise money for the Westpac rescue helicopter. If you enjoy my blog or just want to help this great cause think about making a small donation
Jen put out the call to see who wanted to do a canyon on her birthday. Much banter ensued. Problem was it was it was going to be mid week.
Then after a couple of big weeks the boss suggested I take a day in liue. Woohoo. How’s Wednesday suit he said? More Woo. Longer Hooo.
The organisational banter continued online and before we knew it it was a dress up party.
Not your usual canyoning attire
Anyhoo, Breakfast creek is a short trip with a couple of nice sections in it
Dropping in
Portal into the strangeness and charm
Latest styles for the fashion conscious canyoner
One of the nicer bits
You may be cool but you will never be Zoot Suit canyoning Baboon cool
Unless you are a penis headed canyoning morman cool
Environmentally friendly anchors to maintain the wilderness experience
A quick look up another canyon (Quick Dip?) on the opposite side of Rocky creek, I’m sure there was a deep pool at the bottom of this when I last visited it
All little girls want a dress up party
New album drops March 5th. Or sumfink
I’ve done this climb twice previously. Once I disturbed a venomous snake on one of the ledges and the other we got stuck in a massive hail storm
Mandy and Della climbing out in the hail some time around the mid-late 90s
Another fun day in the bush with great people
Party size 4: All experienced
Time: 6hr car to car with some photo phaffing and hi jinx
“and I am convinced that the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones. For the common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed.” The Scarecrow
sleepwhenwearedead 