After the heat of Waa Gorge and Mount Kaputar we decide our best plan would be to get up super early and get the bulk of the Grand High top walk done before the heat of the day.
But first we have to get there. There was another feature just out of Coonabarabran we wanted to check out.
We pull into Hickey Falls, never seen them this dry before. Says a local lady we bump into.
as dry as Uncle Geoff’s sense of humour
The side trip to Hickey Falls meant we’d enter the Warrumbungles from the eastern side and the drive in is spectacular.
View after view.
We pull into the visitor centre to book into our camp we are thinking they are going to say we are nuts but when we mentioned we we planning the Grand Hightop Walk in the morning they just smiled and said, Oh lovely. You’d be best to start early in this heat.
Oh yeah we are going to start about 5 and try and get up to the breadknife for sunrise.
Oh that would be awesome…
Ok so we aren’t nuts. Or not as nut as when thought.
We pull into camp. We had picked our site based around the morning view
All set for the view
It took about an hour, though for the shade to disappear and we begged a change of site to find afternoon shade.
The afternoon is spent having a short section of song echo over and over and over and over.
It was a bit weird, at first I thought the grounds keep really likes his teeny bop but I go for a walk and there’s a K-pop or TikTok or whatever the kiddies call themselves these day <Old man shakes fist at Cloud> perfecting their dance moves to the song.
We are pretty much the only ones in the entire camp ground so good on them say I.
Still, I do my best to get into their background and ape their moves. It’s how I roll.
Anyhoo
We were up at sparrows fart and hit the trail at about 4.45am
It’s a lovely morning for a walk.
and the first of the pillars pops into view just as the sun lightens the sky and Kylie some how turns into Dicky Knee
Are you thinking what I am thinking?
yes, I just made a Hey Hey its Saturday reference…
I apologise.
and the views keep coming
It’s actually really shit at cutting bread
Sunrise and the Breadknife
We spend a bit of time here and a bit further up just watching the changing light and taking a gazillion photos
the light kept getting better
We are not sure how or why Kyle dressed as a school girl
We scramble up to the tops, the last 100m or so of trail is under construction so it’s still a bit of a scramble.
Topping out the wind is intense.
We take the short cut back down past Balors hut and get back to camp just after 9.
Another hot day poking around town and that brings a close to our epic first road trip in the Alucab
It’s pronounced “Bunoo Boonoo” Thou tbh I had to ask Kylie how Bunoo was pronounced differenty to Boonoo.
One is “bun” and one is “boon”. She explains patiently to her favourite idiot.
Anyhoo
After a pleasant morning at Bald Rock the day has heated up and so we drive past the campsite and head to the main falls.
The road runs along the creek as it tumbles through a little granite gorge. It looks like it would have plenty of nooks and crannies to explore.
From the car park tourist trails lead to rock pools above the falls or down to a viewing platform over the main drop.
We head down to the lookout. It’s an easy 5min walk.
A 260m cascading waterfall tumbling into the steep sided gorge below.
Beyond the fenced path glimpses of old trails hint at adventure. If it wasn’t so hot or dry we may have been tempted.
Instead we make our way up to the rock pools intent on a dip.
The main pools at the end of the trail are beautiful, but why stop at there when there’s so much to explore.
We make our way upstream
A bit of rock hoping leads us past a series of cascades and semi hidden water holes
You can see just how low the water is by the waterline on the rocks. But still enough for a cool dip on a hot day.
And we choose a plunge pool below a little waterfall tucked into an alcove and play in the current of the falls wondering just how nasty the hydraulic would get in higher flows
From here its a short drive back to the camp ground where we set up for the night then explore the camp ground
The camp is upstream of the gorge and gives access to the river
We spend the twilight chilling out on the bench by the platypus pool. Unfortunately we didn’t catch a glimpse of any this time around.
An evening storm is our first real test in the Alucab in heavy rain. Lessons learnt: the make shift rain gutter works well but even with it on leaving the door open wasn’t a great idea…
Next morning we get up early and head to BasketSwamp Falls for sunrise.
Kylie below the lower falls
Even after last night storm the water level is low but at least there is some flow over the falls.
Kylie had gifted me a Potensic Atom 2 drone for Christmas and had been forward thinking enough to also apply for permits to fly it in various national parks we’d be visiting .
We were denied permission as the first couple because it was peak tourist time over the New Years long weekend but even then they encouraged us to apply again.
Most of our requests were granted though. There were a few conditions on the permits but they were easy enough to comply with
So if you are taking a drone it’s worth planning ahead and doing the right thing. There were also a few times where we had permission but opted not to put it up due to not wanting to disturb other visitors.
Can’t deny the awesome perspective you get with them though.
This was one of my first flights.
From here we’d be heading west into Queensland… sounds weird but the border does a little curve here. Bald Rock in NSW is North East of Girraween in Qld.
Ash wanted to head to Surface Paradise so we thought it might be nice to drop him off for a day out and drive up to check out a couple of the touristy waterfalls on Tamborine Mountain.
We knew Jason was up visiting family in Brisbane so we threw him a shout out to meet us there.
Our first stop was Cedar Creek falls.
This is another popular swimming spot and it has limited parking. We needed to park way back at the turn off (Junction of Tambourine Mountain Road and Cedar Creek Falls Road.) which gave us an extra 800m walk each way.
Locals at the end of the road had set up a paid (donation) parking lot in their paddock and the kids had an esky set up sell cold drinks. Kylie half jokingly wondered if said locals rushed out of a morning on public holidays and filled the car park up with their own cars before the crowds appeared. Clever them if so as their paddock was just about full.
And to be fair, imagine having this place pretty much as your private back yard extension before the crowds discovered it and the tourists (like us) rolled in.
From the car park a boardwalk style trail leads you down past a nice picnic area beside the creek then down to a lookout above the main falls.
The trail then continues down to the base of a lower cascade and a nice swimming hole.
There are two main pools accessible from the trail.
A series of other cascades and pools are off limits due to safety concerns and rangers were on and to remind people of the need to comply.
We have a dip and laze about then head back up the mountain to check out Curtis Falls.
There’s a much bigger car park here but it’s equally full, luckily people are leaving and we get a park close to the trail head. Winning.
There is no swimming allowed in this one but is a lovely walk along a shaded creek and a very pretty waterfall.
Veering slightly south we thought we’d check out Killen falls as a spot of cool off
Killen Falls if a nice little waterfall in Tintenbar, near Ballina. It’s very touristy but worth a look.
It’s accessed from Friday Flat road and there is plenty of signage to get you to the car park.
From there it’s about a 400m walk to the base of the falls along a nice tourist trail.
There’s a large plunge pool at the base that is a popular swimming hole.
Being use to the crystal clear waters of Blue Mountains canyons it’s little brown and agricultural run offy but it’s a nice enough spot to cool off on a hot day if you are over the beach
On the drive back Kylie asks, Have I shown you the quarry
No, says I
Yeah I have, says she
No you haven’t, said I
Bexhill quarry is an old brick quarry that operated from the 1890s through to the 1940s. When operations ceased it filled up with water and became a popular swimming spot.
With no through flow the water became quite acidic and was found to have high levels of dissolved metals, such as Aluminium and magnesium, so in 2016 it was shut off due to “safety concerns”.
No sooner had the fence gone up than locals cut holes in it…
But nature seems to have found it equilibrium, subsequent testing found acidity levels returning to normal(ish) levels and plans were submitted 2021 to turn the area into a public reserve.
That hasn’t happened yet so in the mean time you’ll still need to climb through the holes in the fence. To be fair though, it’s more hole than fence.
The Quarry is accessed of Coleman Street (Bangalow Road) Bexhill. About 10km from Lismore
Not sure if the starling green water will give us superpowers or just melt the flesh from our bones..But the Lilly Pads and Dragonflys seem to enjoy it
And Kylie isn’t scarred
Water was quite pleasant indeed.
It’s a great spot for photography and a nice dip though, I recommend proficient swimmers only because I have no idea how deep it is.
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
Popeye creek pops in and out of canyon sections along much of its course and it’s one I’d not done before.
A big Saturday trip had been foiled by thunderstorms and we just needed to shake out the cobwebs but couldn’t be arsed repacking ropes and stuff so thought why not have a look at some non abseil sections in Popeye.
Meeting at the crack of 10am, or there abouts we make our way in in no time.
We’d be entering the canyon a long way upstream of where the jamieson guide recommends but not too far from the increasingly popular Popeye falls.
The creek cuts a deep, promising looking cleft in the sandstone.
A short section of narrow u bends hide a pleasant little canyon.
There’s a bit of bridging to stay dry above the knees. But the water is a pleasant temp anyway
Not the figure 8 pool
It is very pretty.
Parts very similar to the Dumbano tunnels.
We are already impressed. the canyon opens up a bit and Waratahs line the banks.
Waratahs along a spur off Waratah ridge? Who would have thunk it
And soon we come to the falls.
Most visitors to here avoid the canyon bit and keep their feet dry by scrambling down the nose.
It’s a funky little waterfall through an arch in a side creek
We phaff about with photos for a bit, we have to pool all to ourselves., but then push on downstream to the next canyon section.
A bit wider and deeper it’s a nice walk through section
It’s nice
Again the canyon opens out. We believe it’s a 1km scrub bash down to the next bit so, happy with our easy day, we retrace our steps back up to the waterfall. A crowd of people are here now.
There’s an easier way in, says old mate sucking in a vape.
We came that way, replies Ellie very politely. We just had a look at some other stuff while out here.
We leave the guards and scramble out into the cliff top for lunch.
From the Clay Cliffs we make our way up to White Horse Hill campground which is nestled below the towering peak of Aorali/Mount Cook.
White Horse Hill is a paid ground. During the winter the main toilet/shower blocks are closed off as the frequent negative temperatures lead to burst pipes and what not. What you are left with is two of the smelliest drop toilets I’ve ever encountered, And I’ve done long weekends at Newnes Camp ground in it’s heyday.
Take the biggest breath you can here and hold it as long as you can, a young whipper snapper was heard giving advice to her younger brother…..
Don’t let that put you off though, the scenery is well worth a skinny loo or two.
We roll in late afternoon and set the camp up. The temperature is already -2ºC and falling. The little diesel heater fitted in the van is amazing.
As night settles in and the temp plummets to -8º we decide to brave it for the sake of the most amazingly clear night sky.
Clicky Clicky to see full photo
The next day we head out on the Hooker Valley Trail.
Normally this gives the closest access to the base Aoraki the general public will get and also views over the proglacial Hooker Lake, complete with icebergs, however only a short section of the trail was open at the time of our visit due to track work and a bridge being washed out.
the short open section did, however provide great views over the Mueller Glacier and it’s lake.
Next we return to the van and duck over to the village for a coffee. While there we dropped in to the Department of Conservation information centre.
Wow!!!
What an amazing free resource. If you were in the area and the weather was bad you could easily spend a whole day in here. There are displays and videos and more lots more.
But today was a blue bird day so we have a quick look and then head over towards the Tasman Glacier.
Here you can take helicopter tour or a boat tour on the lake. We opt to just do the tourist walks.
Sitting between NZ’s two tallest peaks the Tasman is New Zealand’s largest glacier, being up to 4km wide and 600m thick in places. It had remained a fairy constant 28km long through out its recorded history up until it starting to retreat in the 1990s. It’s currently 23km long and retreating on average 180m/year.
Looking up the lake from the tourist lookout the glacier is’t much to look at. Compared to the white snow and crystal blue ice on the Franz Josef, the Tasman crunches up and contains a lot more rock and minerals (Glacier flour), giving it a dark, almost dirty appearance. Without the information sign at the I doubt most people, me included, would pick it out in the distance.
The lake, however is stunning.
The Blue Pools. When named they were connected to the glacier and very blue. Now they are cut off they are more a stagnant green.
Back at the van we start heading back down the valley.
On the way in I’d caught a glimpse of Wakefield Falls. It caught my eye on the way back out.
Is that waterfall frozen?
Looks like it.
It’s difficult to come to terms with scale here. That waterfall tumbles 230 vertical meters.
We pull over for a better look.
Na, it’s flowing. Looks like a cracker of a slot it’s tumbling into.
Should we go for a look.
hell yeah.
I grab the camera and off we go.
There is what appears to be a former tourist trail that comes and goes through the scrub and scree.
Did I mention it is hard to come to terms with scale here? It becomes apparent it’s further than it first looked.
Belatedly I realise in my excitement to get going I failed to grab my puffer jacket and beanie. This is how silly tourist get themselves on the news kids. Luckily not today though
Halfway up we meet to Russian(?) guys coming back down.
Did you get to the waterfall? ask we
Yes yes. Beautiful. Very careful. Very careful.
We push on. We reach the end of the flatter basin and the terrain gets steeper and looser. We had been yeeting up but slow here. A rolled ankle, rock fall or dislodging the scree here would be bad indeed.
There is still a fair way to go. Says Kylie. We should set a hard stop point.
Good idea.
It had been about 2:15pm when we left the van. We decide at 3:15 we need to turn around to get back prior to loosing the light.
I think we gained about 200m of elevation from the road. A bit after 3pm we get to a point where we had a a reasonable view into the slot where 3 streams of the falls converge.
We are so close. Another 10-15min and we’d be at the base of the falls. but hard stops are hard stops and but I know by the time I get the camera set up and get some shot we’d be close to time so thats what we do.
I’d guesstimate the bottom tier you can see here is about 50m tall
We get the shots and video in and scoot back down.
Part way down we come across this old information sign. Weird spot but I guess the old tourist track came up to this vantage point.
Explaining how the moraines pushed up by the glaciers formed dams in the rivers as the glacier retreated. or sumfink
Back at the van we chug down the road making for a freedom camp at lake Pukaki
