16/11/2024
Kylie, Jason, Matt, Jamelia, and me.
The “Gobsmacker” section of the North branch of Bowen creek is fun and spectacular.
And as a smaller day it was just the ticket.
And a steady hike back up to the hill. About 5hr car to car
They say a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing, but not one half as bad as a lot of ignorance.
31/12/2023
Kylie, Jason, Vince and meeeeeee
It might sound like a tacky German porno from the 80s but Bangalore is a fun canyon/wet abseil trip.
TBH I wasn’t sure what to expect as I had heard it described as more creek than canyon and after yesterdays slip’n’slidefest in Urumbilum we were a little battered.
Once again the forecasts was for rain and severe afternoon storms but the river gauge was still sitting at around a modest 30Ml range and we knew it was more open terrain.
With Jason and Vince carrying the ropes and sharing anchor duties I got to play tourist and take a metric crap load of (mostly bad) photos.
I’m not sure where the creek walking rep came from as you are pretty much straight into it after hitting the creek.
Despite the creek being more open the abseils are in some nice flow. And at these water flows they were pretty chill.
And once again the sunshine defied the forecasts
The stench at the out flow of this one was spew worthy. Something very dead but yet not dead enough was caught in the log jam.
No drinking the creek water today.
Then we come to the one that contains the log you can squeeze behind but poses a big risk in high flow.
There’s a line of traverse bolts we decide to check out. Vince has never set a traverse before so of course we send him first (we did talk him through it)
Jason is shaking his head.
We normally just sling off that tree over there. Says he
And he has a fair point. The traverse is a bit of dicking around when the tree is far easier and safer to get to and (looking back from the bottom of the drop) gives a far better line anyway.
Moral to the story: Don’t just blindly follow the bolts kids. Sometimes there are better options.
Anyhoo it gave us a bit of practice on a traverse in a non threatening environment.
There’s an option to exit here. We opt to keep going as it’s a bit of fun
A short creek walk gets us to the next bit
Another odd traverse bolt to get out to a weirdly placed anchor. Jason bemoans the original bolt placement on the other side of the creek had been removed.
The new anchor appears to be for better pulldown but Jason says the other had no issues and was a funner line. 🤷🏻
And just like that we are at the Jade Pool and our exit. There is 1 more optional drop we could do but as you just go down to come back up we decide to skip it and head out.
The track up is steep but a hell of a lot easier than falling over 2.5km of slippery river rocks.
If Rosewood is the Empress of the north. Bangalore is their Dione Dell (minus dry line options.)
Mr. Burns : You must find the Jade Monkey before the next full moon.
Smithers : Actually, sir, we found the Jade Monkey. It was in your glove compartment.
02/12/2023
Jason Muz and meeeeeeee
When I first did a trip through the upper middle section of South Bowen creek with Ed I thought it was a spectacular canyon and I’ve been meaning to repeat it ever since.
But, despite having a look through the exquisite upper section I haven’t revisited this section until now.
We then make our way down stream. There’s a bit of creek walking down through pleasant coachwood forest before it drops into another dark canyon section.
It was every bit as beautiful as I remember but now there’s nothing left to do but to scramble out
We are not nouns we are verbs. Stephen Fry
18-11-2023
Continued from Bubblebath
We have a lazy start to the day.
We weren’t expecting the others until 9:30 at the earliest and given our slow going on the ridge we decided to wait til 10.
A couple of cooeees and we thought we heard a faint reply. I slip up the gully a bit to guide them down. More cooees and whistle blasts but no response.
Back at camp we scratch a note in the dirt and head for Crikey. it’s 10:30.
We cross the ‘Boori (dingo creek) and start making up way up the opposite gully. It’s full of dead fall and scrub. It’s slow going and we’d already had a late start.
I spot a break in the cliffs and decide to try to climb out. Kylie is skeptical but we escape the gully and make heaps better time along the ridge.
Dropping into the creek at Kent’s entry (well downstream of Jamieson’s grid reference) we encounter walls of dead fall. So much.
It was a real punish. by the time we get to the canyon we are bruised and bloody and just a little over it.
There are several breaks in the cliff further down. I’d suggest future party’s explore their way down the spur and drop in closer to the canyon proper.
Anyhoo Crikey is deep and dark and our timing wasn’t conductive for photos but Kylie managed to get a few crackers
We reach the ‘Boori…. Bloody “dingo” creek.
We are bashed up and exhausted from battling the dead fall, sticks and scrub.
My memories of my previous trip to crikey was some hard going up the creek to get back to camp.
We have lunch and start making our way up stream
Somehow we pick our way up the banks and avoid strenuous swims or boulder hopping.
It’s about 4:30 when we reach the base of the pass up to camp. We strip out of the wetsuits, wash down in the creek and dry off in the sun before making our way back up.
Below camp we call out and are delighted to hear Dick reply.
Unfortunately Sunday morning dawns with me and Kylie having grumbling in our belly’s.
I’m careful where I collect water from and have never had issues before but that’s all we can put it down to.
A bit of running off into the bush and we decide it’s best to skip canyoning today and head back to the cars.
It’s a shame for Dick and Monica to walk all the way out and miss the stunning canyons but it is the wisest choice.
It was a tough walk out. Kylie did it real tough. She’s a trooper.
We have a tough next couple of days. It hit us hard.
Anyhoo
There is a hidden message in every waterfall. It says, if you are flexible, falling will not hurt you!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan
Kris, Hywaida, Kylie and meeeeeeee
01/10/2023
It was a slightly cooler day which worked out perfectly as it’s a bit of a walk to get to this one
Pleasant banter ate up the fire trail and it didn’t seem too long before we were following the HITW exit trail down to Dingo Creek (but really North Bungleboori)
The old dodgy ledge that you could once use to stay dry seems to have washed away and so we stripped down to essentials and waded down to our exit on the other side.
Here we encountered the first of the many large tangles of dead fall we’d encounter today. b
After a bit of effort we were up North East canyon and had a morning tea break looking down over Banks.
We pick an easy path down to cross the head of Banks Canyon. Then over the next ridge to scramble into Nose Dive creek.
Making our way down stream there was lots of dead fall to negotiate.
The gully seemed to be openning out and I voiced concerns that we had dropped in too far down stream (I didn’t get the grid reference or study the map. I go by feel baby)
But then.
Ok it was more than ok.
And then we are in T̶h̶e̶ ̶‘̶b̶o̶o̶r̶i̶ Dingo Creek for lunch followed by a bit of creek walking and some long swims to get back up the the HITW exit at the big bend
You should sit in nature for 20min every day.
Unless you are really busy then you should do it for an hour.
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
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?
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.
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 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.
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
Part size: 2
Time: 4hr car to car.
Big places help you realise how small you and your problems are
10-06-2023
Kylie, Jason, Aimee, Jen and meeeeee.
With cameos from Dave and Phill
It’s June. We are sleeping in and heading to Kanangra for a lazy half day of canyoning.
If that sounds odd we aren’t really “canyoning.”
The plan is to do the abseil trip down Box Creek falls. Ropes aren’t really necessary as you can scramble down right beside all the drops (as Dave and Phill did) or take an even easier walk down a little bit further right.
But anyhoo we had ropes so we were going to abseil.
Friday had been misty and miserable Saturday dawned bright and cold!
Like really cold.
It’s been ages since I’ve seen Jen so it was cool to catch up with her. And it was the first time meeting Phil and Dave.
It’s a pretty creek. But for an abseil trip… as Jason said you could ride a mountain bike down it.
And then we get to the top of the big drop.
Normally if I was at the top of a 65m abseil at Kanangra I’d be a little nervous. They are intimidating.
This one wasn’t.
It didn’t look to be that big or committing.
We set up.
There’s a series of ledges. Says Jason as he leads the way.
Going over the edge I see it doesn’t really get vertical at all. But it’s a bit of fun.
So what did I think of it?
It’s kinda like an even less technical Dione Dell without the crappy walks between abseils. It’s not canyoning but a nice creek scramble between 2 optional abseils. It would be a nice spot for a swim early autumn.
Surround yourself with awesome people. Experience awesome things
4.5hrs car to car relexed pass
19/10/2019
Jamie, Aimee, Mamie, Gamie and shamie…. I mean Jamie, Aimee, Matt, Mark and Meeeeee
Confession time: I’d not done Kanangra main before.
Abseiling for the sake of abseiling doesn’t really float my boat so it wasn’t a trip that ever featured high on my priority list but with anchor options that put you into more of the waterfalls rather than beside them it sounded fun and when Mark invited me on a trip I thought it high time I pop my K-Main cherry
After an early meet up we set off into the Kanangra wilds amidst banter and bravo. Before long we arrive at the start of the epicness and gear up
Epic is a word used a lot with the Kanangra wilderness and I have to admit it humbles you as you get dwarfed in the terrain.
While water levels are down after a long dry spell, and even at normal level it’s not considered anywhere near hi-flow there is something about being swallowed into a waterfall halfway down a rope
Below is a typical “Ethical and safe” blue mountains anchor…. sling crumbled with 1 sharp tug
I’m glad Mark converted me to releasable systems and flaking ropes into/out of bags. Constantly coiling and uncoiling ropes on this trip would be a PITA. We got the others into it too
And then we rock hop down the the Kalang junction and begin the “gentle stroll” back up manslaughter ridge… Helps if you stop to smell the orchids every now and then
Another great day with great people
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face : Eleanor Roosevelt
Party Size: 5
Time: 8.5hr car to car taking it steady
Aimee’s take on the day
20/07/2019
Jen, Jodie, Diana, Joel, Ed, Russ, Chewy and meeeeeeee
In an effort keeping positive vibes flowing on the Australian Canyoners FB group through the “Off season” (And to break up the flood of stunning photos Madie’s been posting about European Canyoning. Not that we are jealous. Not us. No…) I put out a Xmas in July canyoning challenge, So far Kylie and Colin had lead trips resulting in awesome photos.. Now it was our turn.
After a round of photos it was into our first canyon, Zorro
And then it was back up to the tops for a lovely Xmas lunch over looking the One and Only Emerites Wolgan resort
Then it’s back to the cars for a short drive around to our next destination. Not so much a canyon as a crack.
Of Dooooom.
Those following along back home may remember me not finding it, not fitting through it and opting to go around it. Well 10kg down and this time through I went
And then it was around to have a look at a bigger crack/micro canyon. Catherdral Canyon. AKA The diamond cavern
From there we make our way back to our exit slot, The Crack of Doom 2.
All in all a great day in the bush decking the halls, prancing about, jingling bells and generally having a laugh with seriously awesome people.
Group Size: 8
Time: Is meaningless on Xmas
Tomorrow owes you the sum of your yesterday. Nothing more than that.:-Robin Hobb
sleepwhenwearedead 