national park

Hand Over Hand Canyon

| flynny101

08/11/2025

Gadget and meeeeeeeee

It had been a hectic week, we needed to get out and wanted to do something neither of us had done before but had limited time.

What about Hand Over Hand? It’s suppose to be a short half day.

Kylie did a quick bit of research and noted the trace on ropewiki did not match the description on ropewiki. While the notes mention several exit options the main description was for the shorter exit. The trace was for the longer exit if you went down South Bowen.

TBF the South Bowen option would make a good short day trip but if you had just glanced over the description expecting a couple of hours then blindly followed the trace you’d be in for a shock.

With mapping apps like alltrails becoming more popular this is becoming a bit of an issue. There have been reports of people looking for the infinity pool at the end of Fortress or the bush walker route to Dalpura but unknowingly loading the GPX trace for the canyon trips instead and getting themselves into trouble.

Don’t get me wrong, Alltrails and other mapping apps are a handy resource, but like any tool you need to know how to use them.

A good tip is to start with the premise that you have no idea who uploaded it, what their skill and experience is (an easy rock scramble for a gun climber might induce a BLM (Bowel Liquifying Moment) to the average canyoner). You don’t know what information or directions they themselves were following or if they just stumbled along and got lucky. You don’t know if it’s their trace or one they got off someone who got it off someone who got it off someone. Hell, you don’t even know if they have actually done the route, it might be just a speculatively drawn line on a map.

So, load it onto your mapping app and have a good look. Does it look to follow the best contours? Are there other options? Why does it do that big zigzag at the cliff? And does it match your expectations from the description?

Cross referencing the track notes with other sources and trip reports will also give you a broader understanding of the trip.

Anyhoo, enough pontification. that side track was longer than the trip and maybe well over the top for experienced canyoners on a simple trip like HoH but it’s how we role.

Now onto the canyon.

We leave home at the crack of 10:30am and make our way across to park up at the start of the Mount Wilson East Power Line fire trail. A short distance down here and we swing down under the powerlines.

The description hinted at horrendous scrub in the creek so I had hoped to drop in a little lower. I choose a nose I hoped goes between two side creeks and we make easy time down to the cliff line.

Right creek looks like it cliffs out. Calls I

Left looks like it goes, answers Gadget.

I make my way across and scramble into the side of the side creek. In doing so I disturb the biggest copperhead snake I’ve ever seen. Chunky boi makes a bee line toward Kylie.

Snake coming directly at you! warns I

WTF! yells Kylie. But in long form. This is no time for three letter acronyms.

Snekie snek dodges her ankles and disappears into scrub.

Well that was fun.

We gain the creek. Scrub and dead fall awaits. We hadn’t saved ourselves as much creek bashing as I hoped but we make our way down to the upper section of canyon.

It starts with a bit of promise, with a crystal clear pool below a small down climb as the cliffs close in.

But to call it an upper section is a stretch.

The “canyon” opens back out and a short way down the creek the cliff open as well. There is what looks to be a gentle ridge entering on the left. In hindsight this could be a much better spot to enter. It’s not to far a divert if you want to head up stream to bask in the glory of the upper section and it would miss a 1km of creek bashing.

We all know I have a rep for horrendous scrub bashes to canyons of questionable quality but up until now even I was wondering if this one was going to be worth it.

Just downstream the bottom bit makes up for it.

Gadget above the first drop
One of the few keeper potholes in the Bluies.

There is a couple of ways to get out of the pothole. 1. Scramble out over the lip or, 2. duck under and swim through an arch

Water levels looks low so scrambling over the slippery walls may prove difficult and we couldn’t see if the tight duck under was clear so we opted to by pass over the top and abseil in the side.

Once down I thought I’d try the duck under. It’s a bit deep to be called a “Duck Under” it’s a full on swim under and it’s silted up making a tight squeeze.

yes I chickened out. Got my head under the arch and thought screw that for fun

pretty but

A lot of these little side canyons have 1 really nice chamber and that’s it. I was kinda expecting that to be the case here but what we got was a very beautiful series of enclosed dells. it reminded me a bit of an untouched deep pass.

the water clarity was amazing

and the canyon opens up. We are a bit above the junction with South Bowen but follow a break in the cliff lines up to the left where a rough bush walkers trail leads up back up to the powerlines near where we first dropped in.

Seeing places few others see and doing things few others do is what it’s about

About 3hrs car to car with a lot of photo phaffing

BACK

Popeye canyon, upper

| flynny101

02/11/2025

Gadget, Jason and, me.

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.

It’s a beautiful day.

BACK

Kosciuszko 2025

| flynny101

We were keen as mustard to give the new Alucab camper a proper test out and as luck would have it Kylie had organised a long weekend of adventures in and around Long Plain, Kosciuszko NP.

Rocking into Cooleman camp late Friday night it was so good to just pop the top and be able to crawl into bed

A near full moon blazed out potential milky way or comet shots.

We get a good night sleep but are up early for what would become and epic adventure in Landers Falls.

©Hywaida
There is something about sitting around a camp fire debriefing a big day
Sunday we got a sleep in and take advantage of sunrise in the Alucab

Then it was off to Clark Gorge for a more touristy micro adventure.

before returning to camp to chill out and dry off

not sure what’s that’s about

And we round the trip off with a slightly less cold dip in the Yarrangobilly thermal pool

back

Hat Hill 2025

| flynny101

23-08-2025

Kylie, Hywaida and meeeeeeeeeeee

Despite just getting back from Blue Lake hot on the heals of New Zealand we were feeling like we hadn’t been too active this winter. I hadn’t really been riding and Kylie was missing regular trips to the climbing gym and we were both missing canyoning.

We briefly considered a simple Empress run then I thought to myself, I haven’t done Hat Hill in like forever.

Hey Kylie, says I, I haven’t done Hat Hill in like forever.

Me neither, says Kylie.

So we put a last minute call out and H joins us.

Driving into Blackheath, Um, Does anyone know where we are going? say I

A quick check on Ozultimates to confirm the car park and we are off.

We had considered abseiling in via one of the side canyons but there had been a crap load of ran through the week and since we hadn’t done it in like forever we decided to stick with the standard trip as a reccie for later adventures.

We are expecting the water levels to be up and were prepared to abort the trip if it was too high.

The walk in is short and easy we get to the start of the first section now dramas

The water was a bit pushy, making the down climb a bit tricky

The first section is a nice little teaser, the walls close in then pretty much open out.

But it’s pretty creek walking in between the canyon sections

We take the time to explore up the side canyon on the right making plans for future trips before heading down stream
The high water made some features a bit harder to negotiate than usual.
We scope out the entry to the middle section and carefully consider it before committing.
A still from Kylie’s Video. Might not look like much but personally I would be reluctant to try it any higher. If you needed to reverse out for any reason it would be problematic

There is a lot of tree fall which would also create dangerous hazards in high water. the calmer bits between, though were noice.

The lower section was as pretty as ever with multiple side waterfalls
the infamous double arch waterfall in a side canyon

Making our way back up to the exit through the lower section was surprisingly hard work. The extra water flow and deep sand working like resistance training on every step.

And back at the exit there was nothing left but to have lunch then haul out.

It’s a different world out there.

How many worlds are in your world? Andy Anderson

back

Wild Swimming in the Wollemi

| flynny101

16-05-2025

Kylie and meeeeeeeee

Our weekend plans had fallen through so we thought we’d go in search of some waterfalls neither of us had been to before.

Kylie suggested a spot and during research got a tip off that the fire trail out to them had recently been gated.

So we put the mountain bikes in to help eat up the kilometres.

Not only are the swimming holes spectacular this could now be my favourite fire trail ride (Did I just say that? what have I become?) I have a feeling the guy who did the road work is a mountain biker. Each waterbar seemed to be a perfectly shaped step down. Even though recovering from a shoulder injury meant I couldn’t take to the air it was still a blast.

Anyhoo, that’s not what we are here for.

20min later we are stashing the bikes in the bush and heading down a steep trail cutting through subtropical rainforest quiet different from anything you usually see in the upper mountains..

This brings us to a pleasant creek and we head downstream.

the stunning cliff lines close in ©Kylie

And we reach the top of our first waterfall

It really is breath taking
stunning

We play around here for a bit then continue down stream.

At the junction with the next creek is another spectacular pool.

It’s a beauty

We slip up to a large rock shelf above the falls to find a bit of sunshine.

The shelf was riddled with keeper holes. ©Kylie
beautiful

We have some lunch and a splash then make our way out.

The Haul up the hill is steep but interesting enough that I wasn’t in a world of suffering. And while I thought the ride back to the car might be tough it was just as much fun as it was coming in, with some pinches to keep you honest.

On the way back we spy some interesting mushrooms.

So of course we had to head back in the dark to see if they still had a shine.

It was faint, barely able to be made out with naked eye but some long exposures brought up their beauty.

Click to enbiggen

Ghost Mushrooms produce bioluminescence for around 22hrs a day. And for 14 of those hours you would think they are just another mushroom. People are like ghost mushrooms, if you can’t see their glow you are looking at them in the wrong light: C Flynn

BACK

Good ol’ henry Deane and thomas Penrose

| flynny101

04/05/2025

Jason, Russ, Vince and meeeeee

I always enjoy discovering there’s hidden canyons in areas I thought I knew fairly well.

Suddenly finding ourselves with a spare day we organised a last minute semi exploratory trip to a little canyon none of us had been to before.

Vince had prepared the lidar maps which suggested the constriction would start a bit further downstream than the spot I had selected to enter.

The one source I had said the lidar hadn’t picked up a small cliffline near the creek. says I. I’d hate to miss something.

So we bush bashed in to the spot I had picked. Somehow picking a path to the only 2 cliff lines in that area, luckily there was a path down in-between the two outcrops that look surprisingly like a butt on the lidar. We went down the crack.

The first part of the creek was a bit of a scrubby dub dub with 1000 fallen trees to clamber over but then it opened up a bit

I’ve visited worse creeks
A nice spot for a dip on a warm day. Today was not warm.
and soon it dropped into something that looked very canyon like

A slippery scramble down brought us to a deep, crystal clear pool. Vince spidermaned across. Russ and Jas follow.

This is going to be a test for my shoulder.

I manage to bridge out but as I try the next move I feel the shoulder giving way….. In I go.

It was refreshing.

It should have been a simple bridging exercise.

Couldn’t support my own weight

Not overly deep or consistent but a canyon non-the-less
With some very noice sections.
the next pool looked less avoidable
Even Russ suited up and swam through
Jason decided to give traversing along the side a go. And very nearly made it.
And more pleasant canyon follows
Getting down this tangle of rotting logs and loose boulders was one of the biggest challenges of this little canyon.
And soon we came to the tributary we had planned as our exit.

A little bit of scrambling and a tad of scrub bashing and we were back at the road and quickly headed back to the car to pick up the ropes and harnesses then head off to visit another little canyon not too far away.

Everyone’s favourite squeezy canyon
Russ sitting on everyone’s favourite dodgy anchor
Jason on everyone’s favourite cheese grater abseil
Everyone’s favourite Go/No Go gauge. Don’t go down go over!
Everyone’s favourite helpful team mate
Everyone’s favourite return to the big wide world.
a noice ramp back up through the cliffline.

Then all the was left to do was to bash some more scrub to the main trail and a 3km walk back to the car.

Searching is half the fun. Life is much more manageable when thought of as a scavenger hunt: J Buffett

BACK

Wild wet Wollemi Wilderness 2

| flynny101

Continued from WWWW1.

Saturday dawned clear but heavy rain was predicted to set in late in the day.

All the comforts of home or sumfink

Today we would leave the camp gear behind and head to the canyon we came out here for. We navigated our way along the, well you can’t call it a ridge but lets say “convoluted yet connected spur” and down to our target creek, which soon canyoned up.

Doesn’t look like much yet but just down there…
It was as specularly beautiful as I’d imagined

Many times throughout the day we would, once again reflect on similarities to Carnarvon Gorge and some of the remote slots we had explored well upstream of the usual tourist hikes. Just all rolled into 1. And greener.

it was grand
Deep, narrow, and twisty
and it went and went
Before opening into a cliff lined oasis.

We wondered down through remnant Gondwana rainforest, in that moment we were content and complete.

There is not enough superlatives to do it justice.

Mini Hunks fist

But the day wasn’t done with us yet. We wound our way through lush coachwoods and ferns to the jaws of another deep and impressive slot.

We wasted no time roping up to drop in
Once again we are dwarfed by moss covered walls
and still it drops
and once we reach the bottom a beam of sun lights up the spray of a side waterfall. The photo does not do it justice but Magic happens.
It’s hard to feel anything but humble out here.
We explore side canyons, again struck by similarities to side slots in Carnarvon Gorge.
We go slow, carefully pick our footsteps not wanting to damage the thick, spongy moss carpet and just soaking in the experience.
And of course before the canyon was done with us it would give us one short swim.

A ways downstream we refill our water bottles and quit this creek via an easy pass onto another convoluted but connected spur.

The sky is ominous so we punch up the spur back to camp.

just over six and a half hours after we left we make it back to camp and attempt to dry things off a bit while cooking diner before retiring under the tarp just as the storm hits.

Sunday

We had some canyons planned but it had rained hard all night and was not letting up. The dump was predicted to get heavier through the day cumulating in a thunder storm after lunch. So we opted to retreat down our first spur back to the pretty creek. The flow had definitely increased since yesterday and by the time we waded upstream to the bottom of a canyon that would lead us back up to the fire trail we had walked in on the rain was getting heavier.

Knowing this canyon was deep, narrow and long and still expecting a storm we reluctantly decided to slip up a pass beside it instead. The ridge I was hoping to use to avoid dropping back into the head waters of the canyon proved to be far more complex than the topo map suggested but it eventually got us to the road via another spectacular knife edge.

With empty heads and full souls all that was left to do was to follow the trail back to the car and the long drive home.

At the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy, and your eyes sparkling: Shanti

BACK

Wild Wet Wollemi Wilderness 1

| flynny101

2025 Anzac Day long weekend.

Kylie and meeeeeeee

This trip nearly didn’t happen. I’d been coughing up a lung and had full body aches after Ashcroft Ravine. I was ummming and arrrring about calling it off, especially when the weather looked to be turning wet and cool and the rest of the crew pulled out due to illness and work commitments.

How about we do a shorter over night trip? says Gadget.

Um I’m not sure says I

Come on this has been on your list for ages, says she, Let’s pack the bags and decide later in the week.

I started improving and once the bags were packed it seemed silly to repack for a shorter trip.

Anyhoo

In 1904 or there abouts the bush poet, vagabond and phrenologist, Cecil Poole wrote a description of the creeks in the area we were headed “The term gorge is not applicable to the creeks of this district. They are true canyons.”

Early cattlemen, ruffians, vagabonds and rogues knew the wild, twisted beauty of this section of the Wollemi. Not as intricately as the natives who had travelled its passes and decorated its walls for time immemorial, but well enough to know it was a maze of ravines, canyons and complex spurs.

Still, being further from Sydney and with lots still to discover closer to train lines and highways the area was largely overlooked by modern canyon explorers.

Until, that is, legendary bushwalker, ecologist, and all round nice bloke, Roger Lembit, was leading a midwinter bush walk in the mid 80s and ventured down what he thought would be an easy pass and instead stumbled on a deep slot canyon.

With no ropes or waterproof gear they opted not to venture down. Instead, they retreated and found a spur that took them to the bottom where they camped the night. The next day Ian Wilson and Michael Donovan opted to brave a cold pool at the end of the slot and ventured up, finding an astoundingly beautiful slot canyon. (It has a total of 0 abseils but I still put it toward the top of my list of favourite canyons based on shear beauty.)

This sparked an explosion of canyon exploration in the area and it was soon found to be densely packed with canyons. Some more scrubby creeks but many containing high quality slots.

But all that is neither here nor there nor anywhere in between.

The fact is I’d barely dipped my toe into this region but had day dreamt of one particular canyon situated off an isolated spur, well off the beaten track. I was well overdue to go for a look.

As luck would have it both Kylie and myself had an extra long weekend to do just that.

We made a late start Thursday afternoon.

happy at the start

The walk into our first camp is along an easy fire trail. However, I soon had a bit of a niggle on my left heal. It’s been so long since I’ve had blisters and it was such an easy walk I didn’t even register that might be what was happening. Needless to say by the time I stopped to check it was too late.

Idiot.

But really, blisters! After a couple of kilometres!! I can’t remember the last time I had bloody blisters!!!

Anyhoo we press on.

We reach the usual camp site to find a family already setup. They had been there for the full week and the kids, 7 and 5, excitedly regaled us with tales of the canyoning adventures they had experienced. Legends have done more wilderness canyons than most adult canyoners.

We set up and snuggle in for the night. Gadget did an amazing job researching our light weight over night gear before settling on the Sea the Summit Escapist Tarp and Spark sleeping bags. I’ve always been a fan of the Nemo sleeping mats. It makes a great combo

Friday

Morning dawns and we have a lovely breakfast, repack then head off for our first canyon

Having done canyons either side of our target for today I had high hopes of it.

I pick a spot to leave the road and Kylie navigates down ridge.

Shelob was guarding the pass but we weren’t scared. Honest.

We gain the creek surprisingly easily and follow it down.

It soon drops into a narrow canyon.

With a bung shoulder I opt to abseil things I would usually scramble but we get down soon enough.

The expected chest deep pool had silted up to be ankle deep so we forewent the usual circus tricks of trying to bridge across and skipped on through.

Well, not skipped. The boys warned us last night of a brown snake lurking near the first pool so we went a bit cautiously.

No sneaky snek was spotted but the canyon snaked on.
then opened up a little
and closed back in
cameras at 10 paces
the walls soon open out to a wider canyon.

The slot had been nice and all but not mind blowing and a lot shorter than I was expecting. Compared to others in the area it was a bit of a fizzer. And we were still a fair way off the junction of the main creek below.

the gullies were brimming with ghost mushrooms. These glow in the dark but we’d be camping hours away so won’t be back to check.

We follow the the widening gully down, boulder hopping and creek bashing to the major creek below

A pretty spot for a picnic or sumfink

Long sidetrack: The names of the creeks around here have such evocative names, but that could have been very different had we had a different Surveyor General intent on mapping the state.

Major Mitchel, of the pink cockatoo fame, was by all accounts a bit of a cock. Invariably described as pigheaded, arrogant and boorish he was the protagonist in Australia’s last recorded pistol dual with soon to be NSW Governor Darling. None of this old west quickdraw Hollywood bullshit. The combatants stood back to back, marched out 10 paces, turned, and like the civilised gentlemen they were, took turns having a shot. Flinch or get shot (obviously) you loose.

Mitchell having thrown down the challenge by slapping Darling with his glove had to go second. Darling took a shot and missed. Michell then took his shot and knocked Darling’s hat off so was declared the winner.

Anyhoo none of that is important to this side story other than I found it fascinating. What is important is Mitchell also had a redeeming factor in that he insisted that, where possible, aboriginal place names were to be used on his map.

When an early sketch was sent in by one of his under surveyors making a nearby creek with the local land owners piss take of a name “The Upper Nile” he basically fired back words to the effect ‘stop being a dickhead and find the bloody native name for the creeks, and if you can’t do that don’t name them at all.’ (probably so he could name them after Macquarie or some shit…)

And thus we have the Coricudgy, Umbiella, Numietta, Coorangooba, and Capatee. (pronounced Kay-pa-tee by the locals and originally spelt Capata on the sketch map )

Of course we still have the Bogee Nile and the Capertee Nile…. but that’s not important either.

Too get back to the story, we’d be using another high camp tonight so we’d need to cart water up. Enough to get us up, cook diner, breakfast, and at least part way through the canyon the next day.

We fill up and start up a creek that should allow us to scramble out at the top. However, a couple of tangled tree falls at the bottom and Screw this shit, says I. I’m going up there.

And we forge a pass up the nose onto the spur.

A break in the cliff line lets us gain the spur with just a short, easy rock climb.

And Kylie leads us up the spur avoiding some minor cliff lines by simply skirting around them.

Up top we have astounding views including this one over the Numietta looking towards Pantones Crown at the other end of the Capertee Valley. This spot put us in mind of battleship spur in Carnarvon Gorge.
And sunsets over the stunning peaks. With Tayan Pic, Grassy Mountain, Mount Coorangooba and many others appearing in a 270° panorama on the other side of the peak.

Continue on to

Saturday

Stalactites and Scrub fights

| flynny101

Kylie, Jason, Jen, Kirstie, H, and meeeeeee

Anyone want to come on a trip that might be a big day of scrub bash to a poor quality canyon? Say I

Hell yeah! says the above awesome folk.

It’s been a hot minute since I’d organised a semi exploratory trip to a canyon I’d not visited before so it was about bloody time I got out of my funk and Kylie might have gave me a bit of a nudge.

The entry in the Jamieson guide labels it “Ashcroft Ravine” with the description it includes the best bit of Wentworth Creek. There was a reference elsewhere of “Cut-throat canyon.” None of it was clear on what was what and where was where but anyhoo.

The little information we could find suggested the first part of the creek (Variously marked on maps as “Franks” or “Franki”) was a viscous scrub bash so we substituted that for a slightly less scrubby bash down a ridge to drop in right at the start of a canyony bit via 2 short abseils.

Straight away it was more impressive than I was expecting and every bit as slippery.

No scrub in sight and a pleasant bit of canyon greeted us
It was dark and cool but pretty
The canyon section only went a short way before opening into a beautiful, more open gorge

And that would be the theme of Franks(i) short, South Bowenesk canyon sections and more open ravine.

With some tunnel sections and squeezy bits along the way
And it kept going
Very South Bownen like in spots
With tunnels
And happy smiley faces

We made it to the junction with Wentworth creek and had Elevensies.

Wentworth creek put me in mind of the end of Bell creek or sumfink big and grand.
And soon we came across one of the features that when I heard about them really piqued my interest

Tucked away in alcoves along the walls are a series of Stalagmites and Stalactites. In sandstone! I’m assuming there is a drip line passing through an ironstone layer high in manganese or some such, but if any geologist out there have a better explanation please leave a comment.

Older flowstone covered in moss and algae
They were awesome and more numerous than I had expected
On we went and the gorge continued to be impressive

The banks opened out a little and we alternated between traversing high on banks and wading down the creek depending.

Just before the tributary we had marked as our exit Jen and Kirstie spotted a ramp leading up in roughly the right direction that looked like it might bypass one of the 3 climbs Jamieson described.

Kylie and Kirstie scouted up while the rest of us got changed.

It’s bit dodge but it looks like it goes, Called they.

Be careful, called us.

Before long the agreed whistle blasts came to inform us it did indeed go.

We were now in the exit creek but soon came to the small waterfalls that would be the main challenge of getting out.

Reports I had been able to find described a climb on the right.

Jason running out of handholds and grip on the left while Kylie tries the tree roots on the right. ©Jen

Kylie gets up to a series of fractured ledges that looked doable but sketchy and dropped a rope down. Jason and I ascended up to her.

The next section looked shit and we weren’t sure what was above. Kylie stood on a log to step up to the next ledge but the log snapped with a thud.

In the meantime the rest of the group were looking for other options.

Back to the left might be doable. Called they

The lidar looks better on the left. Says Jen

I’ll drop back down and check the left option. Said I

Kristie leads me back around bulge and across a very narrow ledge. A short slab climb (maybe grade 7 or 8 but very exposed) presented itself. Up I went. A narrow ledge ramped up below the cliff line.

It goes. says I.

We got a rope up and the rest followed.

It had taken us about an hour and a half to work this puzzle out but once solved it was simple enough.

From there is was a trudge back up to the top of the ridge and back to the cars.

William Charles Wentworth, Billie C-Dubb to his mates, was a statesman, pastoralist, newspaper editor, politician, author, reformist, and advocate.

That’s the type of stuff people could achieve before TV or social media.

That and having 10 kids (Seven daughters and three sons.)

Who Frank, Franki or Ashcroft were I have no idea.

But the creeks named after them are both worth an explore.

BACK