Dave, Jason, Hywaida, Kristo, Kylie and meeeeeeeee
A canyoning trip to New Zealand has been on the wish list for years but just hadn’t popped to the top of the priority list.
Until now.
The lead up was a bit chaotic and at various points it was looking like not all of us would make it but somehow the stars aligned and, thankfully, all 6 of us found ourselves making the acquaintance of every sand fly in Haast.
With the flies in a suitable frenzy over the taste of our blood we started our adventures off with a bang in Robinsons Creek.
a 15min walk up the hill and we are straight into it.
The patterns and colours in the Schist was beautiful. Haast Schist is a metamorphic rock formed from sand and mudstones that have been reheated and placed under pressure then subjected to folding and uplifting to give it the patterns and swirls.
All good, gentle fun so far. A couple of small hydraulic features to be aware of.
The route is really well set. Unlike the typical Blue Mountain canyons we are use to there are times where you need to set traverse lines to avoid the hydraulics at the bottom of the waterfall, or loose log jams that act a sheives part way down. We are not unfamiliar with high flow canyons and practice this stuff a lot but it was a lot of fun putting our skills into practice in an easier canyon on day 1.
Then we come to the cavern pitch.
Jason sets the rope and I jump on, peering over the void.
It looks epic.
Then I notice a guy in board shorts below…. He’d scrambled up from the bottom but doesn’t hang around long. It was cold enough in the 5mm wettie.
Anyhoo, this pitch was amazebalz
Kylie at the top. The roar of the water beside you is awe inspiring.
Buzzing from Robinson Creek we make the short drive down to the Cross Creek Bridge.
Now I may have been a little over hyped.
I may or may not have mis-read the notes to say “From the Bridge Walk 10min back toward Haast to find the obvious trail.”
Well we walked toward Haast for 10min…
What the notes Actually said was “Walk 10m (As in metres everybody) back towards Haast Pass (As in toward Wanaka- away from Haast, like der Fred ) You would have thunk the friendly guide having a chat with us while suiting up his clients might have said “Hey Bros you’re going the wrong way. It’s just there aye”
Anyhoo, we correct our (my) mistake.
what’s a Flynny trip with out a slight navigational hiccough anyway?
The warm up walk curbed our enthusiasm slightly so we opted not to go all the way to the upper sections and dropped in to the middle section a little early to get the jump on the guide group.
and we are pretty much straight into it again.
while the canyon was a little more open the colours were even more vivid.
and a few fun little slides greeted us
And some easier features to be wary of
And natures artworks
It was a little bit fun
all on wonderfully grippy Schist
and crystal clear water
And once again the canyon finishes pretty much at the car. We change and eat and swap tall stories about our first 2 NZ canyons then make our way back to our rented house at Haast where the lovely flies had told all their friends just how tasty we are.
Unfortunately the Haast river itself and some of its tributaries, including Cross Creek are infected with the invasive Didymo slime, AKA rock snot.
And while we didn’t see any it’s important to do the right thing, this means cleaning all our gear in diluted detergent and drying it off each day. Most parties we spoke to suggested we get a plastic tub each for this.
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
We had this one ear marked in case water levels were up. They weren’t up too much but we thought what the heck let’s do it anyway. None of us had done it before.
Making it more appealing was it was just a 15min drive from camp meaning a sleep in and trio to the cafe for coffee and stuff.
Notes say to park on next to the bridge and get in the creek.
We do our best billy goat gruff impressions. We are not trolls, honest.
A short walk down the creek brings us to the first abseil
TBH this one is a bit of a nothing abseil, but it does shortcut the top part of the tourist trail.
We get back onto the tourist trail and make our way down. There is a spot where it crosses to the left, now we are not sure if we were just a bit excited but it wasn’t over clear you needed to cross straight over and where we do cross doesn’t seem to be a trail. We make our way down stream a bit and I think I see a bit of flagging tape up the hill on the right.
The Kris and Vince see it too, or at least they think they do. we angle up to where we think the trail is.
No trail. We angle “down stream” a bit before deciding to drop back into the creak.
I put down stream in quotation marks because as we hit the creek and start “down” before Vince says
Isn’t the water flowing the wrong way?
We must have struck up the hill just before as a tributary came in and the main stream swung away.
anyhoo
We pop over the small ridge back into the right creek and pick the tourist trail up again and follow it down as the creek drops below us.
We take a guess at where the second drop might be and descend back down. Spot on.
Vince cleaning R2
From here down the drops come with just short walks between.
It’s a pretty creek and more canyony than I thought it would be.
R3
The abseils are varied too, from easy slabs beside the flow, to stepped ledges through it.
Kylie on R5
Vince R6
Vince on R7
Hywaida R7
Abseils 7, 8 , 9, and 10 were definitely the highlights though R8 has to be the slipperiest slab I’ve ever slipped slab down.
The infinity pool at the base of R8 is without a doubt the prettiest, most awesome natural cliff top pool I’ve been in.
And Absolutely none of us got a photo of it. we have to be fairly well gobsmacked not to get a photo.
Saying that I can see how it would be problematic in high flow.
R9 is the big one. 50m from an exposed, semi hanging anchor.
But it’s an easy run down a gentle slab
Can’t believe I took photos of this but missed the pool up top.
R10 is the most technical of the trip. It has a couple of over hung ledges right in the flow with some foot entrapment hazards to keep you on your game.
Kylie negotiating the second ledge. There a deep grooves here that just feel like they want to grab your boots.
All while copping a face full of white
Hywaida is in there somewhere as Kylie watches on
Kris basically walking on water
Vince on rope duties
From here there is a long creek walk down to R11, then a longer creek walk down to the bottom exit. We choose just to forgo all that and just exit from the base of R10..
It’s a steep narrow, not quite knife edge ridge, full of wait-a-while and leeches but it goes easy enough. and gets us back into the upper section from where we pick up the tourist trail back to the cars.
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” — Phil Jackson
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.
view from the tourist lookout
We suit up on the open slabs and then make our way down to the first abseil
There are 2 choices here, You can scramble over and say out of the flow or you can get frothed
Kris Emerging from the white out
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.
it was at that moment Gadget realised she was going first
Kylie leading us into the froth
the creek is beautiful and the water warm.
Next up is the abseil through another hole. This time we go through.
Gadget
Hywaida
Kris
Vince
and more pretty water falls come
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.
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”
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.
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.
The next one is fairly basic down beside a smaller fall
A short hop skip and a jump down stream and we arrive at what we are here for.
The Famous chock stone abseil.
But to get there requires a short abseil and traverse
On their previous trips the water levels had been too high to attempt this one and there is the option to scramble out and do a dry line from high up just down stream of the chock stones.
Conditions today however are perfect so Jason sets a line and I traverse out and set the main drop
Jason follows me out and leads the big one
There are two redirects in place on this drop. The first gets you out, away from a sloping ledge that forms just as the water funnels into a ferocious torrent, the second keeps you out of the hydraulic that forms in high flow at the base. Jason sets them both for us to follow
And the view back up to it from just downstream is iconic
There was a bit of horsing around
It was still early in the day. We were tossing up the idea of continuing downstream and completing the lower section. Jason had done it before and thought it was interesting.
The other option was to play around here.
It would be cool to get on top of the chock stone say Wisey.
There is the dry line option, said some one.
We scrmble up the start of the exit track and find our way across to the dry line.
It’s a bit down stream of the chock stones but I manage to swing across to the upper stone to help the following party with a stuck rope (Notes say to throw the pull cord over the chockstone. This lead to the stuck rope. If the flow isn’t too high just bring the pull strand down with you. it pulls fine.)
then drop in.
Jas, Wisey and Dave follow me. It’s a surprisingly fun abseil and we opt to run repeat son it for funzies.
Kylie, Jason, Beck, Robin, Alex, Dane and meeeeeee
We were in northern NSW and it was too good an opportunity not to have a New Years Day play date with Jason and his QLD crew.
Every one else had done this one before but it had been on Kylie and my wish list for a while.
Pictures of it pumping in previous years had us frothing.
However, recent photos look like a trickle.
A storm the night before got our hopes up.
We meet at the top secret location (note: location may not be top secret) and skirt private property boundaries to access our canyon.
The storm had done nothing. Nothing !
The creek was dry as a nuns nipple.
Well not quite. There was water flowing, just
Jason wondering where the water went.
Alex on rope while Dane waits
Kylie thinking, well at least it’s a little wet
It might be a trickle but still pretty
Taking on Vecna
Robin wondering if he should avoid the pool or plunge in
There is a teeny tiny lathe you can unclip and jump from
Coming last I made an error. I didn’t unclip it just did the usual Empress release the brake hand and jump.
I knew my centre mark was just beyond the anchor.
I figure I jump out and when I reach the end it will pull the pull strand with me.
I’ve done that before, but I unclipeped first.
This time I’m sailing through the air, there’s “a bit” of a jolt snap the plastic lug it was tied to and the end of the rope recoils up And is now on a teeny tiny ledge 4metres above the pool.
Up I jug to retrieve it.
Lessen learned, double check your centre mark, especially when doing abseils exactly as long as half your rope. And keep an eye on your end of rope markers
I have marks at the 10 and 5m points to let me know I’m getting to the end. I didn’t even look for them. Dumb arse.
Anyhoo all good, no harm, rope retrieved. Let’s never speak of it again.
One more abseil and she’s all over.
Beck doing it in style Only slightly rinsed but Happy canyoners
There’s some great side canyons along the Wollangambe with the most popular ones clustered around Mt Wilson.
Of those accessed from the Fire Shed there are a couple of outliers that get less traffic due to being a little harder to get too.
Whirlpool canyon is one of these.
Expecting a stinking hot day and a long scrubby walk in we meet early and head off.
The others had obtained a GPS trace of the entry, I had my usual plotted way point for the canyon start and sometimes/usaul/mostly wackily off gut feel…
Banter made the walk in pass in a flash, well not really but it was surprisingly simple, even if I did get completely turned around at one point, thankfully Clare and Kylie kept us on track. Though when H suggested we try a short cut I was all in.
It was also relatively scrub free(ish)
Slipping down H’s side gully hoping to cut off a fair bit of the GPS trace.
And soon we find ourself at the start of the canyon.
We weren’t expecting much out of this one but a short abseil gets us into a surprisingly nice slot.
Kylie sussing out the first abseil
There was some interesting anchor set ups and a couple of the abseils have very tricky starts. This problem solving aspect is part of what I really enjoy about canyoning.
Don’t get my wrong, on popular trips where hordes of foot steps compact tree roots and pulling rope after rope wears grooves in the rock well placed bolts are a Good Thing (TM) but they do take something away from the overall experience of problem solving. That’s probably not a major draw for most, but for me it’s a big part of it.
Anyhoo that’s off topic.
Back in the land of dodgy anchors, we check each one carefully (as you should every time). Replace what needs to be replaced and carefully consider the remnant dodginess
Before lone you could feel the warmth chimneying up from the ‘Gambe
H leads the way down the last abseil and soon we reach the Junction with the Wollangambe
But the day is not over. Our exit is about a kilometre and half downstream.
Having pretty much traced this enigmatic river from its source at Clarence to below Mt Irvine on various trips over the years I reckon this bit is the most stunning section of the ‘Game
Deep walls and beautiful pools.
That’s said it’s not easy going with deep sand and boulder hoping between long swims zapping your energy after an already longish day .
Having less foot traffic it’s also a lot slipperier in spots.
Just before our exit we catch a group from the central coast who had completed Geronimo.
We chat at the exit, cooling off at the sandy beach before making our way back up to the shed.
All in all a thoroughly enjoyable day but it was also a long day for a shortish canyon so I wouldn’t rush back to repeat the trip.
Whirlpool itself was nice and as stated it’s a beautiful section of the Wollangambe so worth doing at least once.
