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Aphrodite Abseil

| flynny101

30/05/2026

Hywaida, Ed, Kylie and meeeeeeeeeeee

The Pool of Aphrodite is a well published spot in the Gardens of Stone that doesn’t get lot of traffic due to it being a bit of a scrub bash to get to.

Yuri referred to it as the Heaven pool (Thanks Matt M for that info) but Keats officially named it Pool of Aphrodite with the geographical naming board.

When they published it in the Gardens of Stone Guides people would bash their way around from the more popular Pool of Diana, But it was a long, leg slashing slog.

A while ago I punched a more direct pass down through the cliffs oposite it but got foiled with a last little cliff I didn’t have rope for.

Anyhoo a few weeks ago Gadget and I had a rare spare afternoon and as she hadn’t been to the North Bungleboori Arch we thought why not go for a quick look at that and then pop over the ridge to see if we could make it down to Aphrodite.

The Arch is spectacular.

We scramble down to the bottom of the arch and phaff around with the camera for a bit before heading back up to drive a bit further down the road to see if we could work our way down to the Pool of Aphrodite.

We get down to the cliff edge with a fantastic view to the slot that hides both the pool and the waterfall that feeds it. But for the life of me I couldn’t find the break in the cliff had got me so close many years ago

©️Kylie

Kylie pulls out the topo and studies it momentarily. I reckon theres a pass upstream on the other side that will get us there, says she.

We slip back up to the car and drive around the head of the gully.

Her pass was a winner and before long we are at the pool.

It’s barely shin deep, a little underwhelming as far as pools go. But it’s a pretty spot.

Looking up at the slot cutting through the towering cliffs above we agree it would make an amazing abseil. The satelite image suggested there might be a small slot above it.

Keats describes it as being fed by a 30m waterfall. It’s a lot higher than that.

We file it on our list of things to do when we have nothing to do.

Which brings us to today. We had a big overnighter planned but circumstances lead to it being canceled and suddenly we had nothing to do.

And on top of the things to do when we have nothing to do list… that abseil.

A last minute, late night invite was thrown out to see if anyone else would like to join us and to our delight both Ed and Hywaida were keen.

We were expecting it to be a short trip so it was close to 11am when we roll into our car park.

It’s a 600m bash down the ridge, skirting the swamp until a pinch in the cliffs force us into the thickests of scrubs.

Ed resorts to his tried and tested method. Turn, use his pack a a shield and throw himself backwards into the wall of vegetation.

I’ve missed scrub bashing with Ed.

In no time he had bulldozed us a path to the top of the falls.

Unfortunitely there’s no slot above them. Also more scrub and a slippery slope is preventing us from getting a good look at the drop.

Facing a wall of scrub and a slippery rock slope about 5m from the edge ©Kylie

We slip up the pagoda next to it to get a view over the impressive slot dropping into the pool somewhere below.

A loooooong somewhere below.

It’s a substancial cliff and the best anchor tree is a long way back from the edge We start to wonder if our ropes are long enough.

We decide to set up and send the first abseiler to the edge to get a better look.

Belatedly I realise I’m the first abseiler!

I’m not scared.

Honest.

Ensuring I have my ascenders at the ready I get on our 75m rope and work my way down to the edge. It’s set as single strand with the 60m attached to the other end in case they need to lower me further.

I can see the pool, calls I.

It’s an impressive if somewhat intimidating drop.

Does the rope reach? Call they

I can’t see, there’s a slope to an overhang then maybe a ledge. I’m going to head down to see.

Living up to Aphrodite’s name its a lovely, beautiful, and pleasurable abseil.

Alternating between steep, near verticle slabs and long overhangs.

And the 75m reachs with about 6 or 7m to spare.

The top of the slot feels like it wraps around and encloses you before funneling out. After 5 days of drizzle there is enough flow that you can’t really get out of the spray. Prefect on a late Autumn day.

And just like that we are all down.

All that’s left now is the traverse around to the exit gully and a quick punch back up to the road.

A grand micro adventure indeed.

“Not knowing is half the fun,” Aphrodite said.

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Whirlpool

| flynny101

20/12/2025

Gadget, Wisey, Brooke, Clare and meeeeeeeee

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.

©️Kylie

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

The canyon starts with a crystal clear pool snaking through a beautiful twisted hall. Just moments before this shot Brooke was battling diner plate sized spiders like a knight slaying dragons ©️Kylie
The canyon had some pretty sections where the slot would close in
More monsters!
The water was so clear and the yabbies plentiful.
Happy canyoners
A couple of the abseils involved awkward over hanging ledges and careful rope placement was needed to protect from dragging across sharp edges .©️Kylie

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.

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Popeye Canyon Lower

| flynny101

23/11/2025

Jason, Kris, Hywaida, Kylie and Meeeeeee

Continued on from Banks Canyon

It teemed down overnight at camp. But our trusty tarp kept us cozy and by morning the sun was peaking through the clouds.

We had said goodbye to Levis and Monica and talked ourselves into another short canyon while we were out here.

Kylie, Jason and I had visited the top couple of sections of Popeye Canyon as a day walk a few weeks earlier which had some pretty bits in it, and so we were keen to have a look at the lower section.

I cooked up a plan to head straight down from camp to the grid reference that the Jamison guide lists as the start of Popeye (a kilometre or so below the upper section).

We start down a ridge in between two faint gullies. These soon join to become a stoney bottom creek that tumbles over a substantial cliff line. We only brought a short rope with us today so make our way a bit further long the left hand bank and find a way down into what we came to christen MCPCC. Mega Clear Path Creek Canyon.

heading out to enter via the upper section may have been easier.

Anyhoo we find ourselves in Popeye creek. It’s not looking like much but H and K don light wet suits.

Looks like there’ll be some more creek walking, I’ll suit up later, the rest of us say.

10 steps later, literally, like literally 10 steps babes, we round a bend and the creek drops into a tunnel like canyoney section.

This would be the theme for this section of Popeye. boulder hoping interspaced with tunnels and cavey bits. A few abseils and short swims
and awesome company

but not much quality canyon.

Plenty of weirdness thou

we head all the way down to the…… it hurts to say it…. Dingo *fugging* Creek for the final 10m of “canyon”

The plan is to head down said creek to an exit Kylie had mapped out opposite gateway canyon. I’m hopeful this section is similar to the bit below HITW and we can just float with the current.

There was a bit of floating.

A bit of boulder scrambling.

Some scrub bashing.

And lots of sinking knee, sometimes hip, deep into fine sand to have it defy the sand traps and fill the bestards.

I still have sand in places sand has no place being.

Still, it’s a wild and beautiful part of the Bungleboori system worth visiting. Once.

The bottom of Gateway canyon was a welcome site

The walls lining the creek had gone from broken slopes to towering cliffs and I’m wondering just how tricky this exit is going to be.

Surprisingly it’s straight forward, cutting back along a gentle ramp to a not too steep nose that avoided the cliffs altogether.

Nice one Gadget

All in all a fantastic weekend out in the wilderness with my kind of people.

just what the doctor ordered.

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Slavens Cave

| flynny101

01/10/2018

Mandy Tal and meeee

There’s not much to see. Says Tal. It’s just a hole in the ground

In one sense he is right, it is just a hole in the ground.

But the hole had significance in a couple of ways.

  1. As drab as it is it happens to be one of the largest sandstone caves of it’s type in NSW, possibly Australia (1 report I read claims 10th biggest in the world). From what I’ve been able to make out from what I’ve read sandstone doesn’t tend to form these large subterranean cavities that often.

and

ii. 25 years ago, when we first started going out Mandy dragged me out on a wild goose chase trying to find this cave that was suppose to be near her grandfathers property. Way back before we got really into the adventurous outdoors we had a couple of goes at finding it and never did

 

So when Tal comes home after a weekend of camping with his mates and nonchalantly announces they found the cave I was 2 parts proud dad 1 part jealous.

You’ll have to take us there one day. Says I

Meh, shrugs he. There’s not much to see. It’s just a hole in the ground

Any way with a bit of bunged up ankle and a free afternoon I con him into taking us for a walk. He and his mates had traversed quiet a bit of private property on their journey. We try the approach from the other side.

It’s further around then we thought and hard to spot until you are on top of it but he navigates us in with nary a wrong turn.

Like he said it’s just a hole in the ground.

 

But that’s not the point

 

 

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Tal leading the way in. The big depression this hole lies at the base of suggests the cave was once much much bigger

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A little witchcraft is needed to find it

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Bad photo of a pit left over from an archaeological dig done in the 80s(?) Apparently nothing was found

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Mandy Exiting back out

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