Anybody want to be be Gobsmacked in North Bowen this weekend?
The above mentioned crazy folk said yes.
Schaaaaaaaweeeeeet!
A trip through Lower North Bowen with Thing 2 and the boys was one of the things that got me back into canyoning in 2015. It’s a great little canyon but for some reason I hadn’t done it since.
Before that the last time I did it The Osbournes were on the telly. Time to get back me thinks.
Not to the Osbournes, like, they are entertaining and all but yeah na, back to Gobsmacker canyon
Some land slips on the walk in were a reminder of the effects of the extended wet weather but they don’t dampen our enthusiasm. (See what I did there?) and the track was in far better condition than in 2015 so top work there (though I’m not convince we took the same gully)
Fernalicious
The water was up
Wasn’t it cold? People ask. Of course it was but with the right gear it wasn’t unbearable or even that uncomfortable
It is pretty but
Kylie and Dick embracing the bracingness
He is smooth, he is funny, he is Russell!!!
Kylie’s not scared
Russ and Kylie keep it real… I mean keeping us safe… I mean doing the things with the things
It took a bit of care to stay out of the churn
If you haven’t met Dick I feel sorry for you. I really do.
A few years ago I had an epiphany with modern canyoning techniques. Could you imagine dropping into that with a tangle of rope in the water you needed to disconnect from? After carefully considering the flow with the group Russ set the rope in just the right spot at just the right length. So satisfying
Dick having his twice weekly cold shower
Warning: Photo bomber on the loose
Aimee is unafraid
Dick hasn’t got a fear gland
the flow was a but pushy in spots so a bit of extra care was needed
Some spots you could just go with the flow
That log usually keeps your feet dry
a quick bite to eat and some interesting methods used to warm hands and we head up the exit gully. The handover hand climb was a small waterfall. Sux for those who choose to put dry clothes on.
To be honest it was nicer doing the exit in this temperature…..
It takes more than 1 idiot to get this stupid. Krispy
Gadget, Penny, Chief Quimby, Professor Von Slickstein and Me… I mean, Dr Claw
Whatya doing on the Monday of the long weekend? Asks Gadget
No plans. What do you have in mind? Says I
Options were thrown up before settling on a Go Go Gadget excursion back to Wolgan falls.
We’ve been talking about getting back there to do a wet line after rain. It almost happened after the March deluge but we wimped out fearing the road maybe impassable.
And the stars just haven’t aligned since.
But now we have had a bit of rain through the week, then a good dump of snow on the plateau.
Time to give it a crack
Unfortunately Brain had to bail last minute…. Now I was concerned. How would Penny help Gadget and the others foil Dr Claw without him?
Anyhoo
We meet up at the ZigZag railway on a crispy morning, pile into cars and head in (Yeah we were going the long way, or at least the slow way, but we had our reasons)
The road was boggy but some awesomely excellent driving by Von Slickstein saw him follow us through in his 2WD ute.
Packed up, nervous whizs and off we go
The trip is pretty basic, some easy nav along the ridge, and a couple of dry abseils land you on a large flat shelf above the falls.
And it’s from this point we plan to mix things up. The usual line is in 2 stages a few meters to river left of the falls. Despite ice in puddles and a few patches of snow up top we are hoping to rig things to go straight down the guts.
We discuss options, a tree would have us in the perfect spot, but it’s a looooooong way back.
We have everything we need to build a long anchor but ideally we’d set it as a retrievable so we don’t leave anything behind.
Options were discussed before deciding to use a shorter rope around the tree set on the fiddlestick near the edge then tie jthe main line below the stick…
Go Go Gadget retrievable anchor and Roberts your Aunty’s husband or sumfink
Should put us right in the flow, says Gadget
Right about here I reckon
So Kylie, now we do the things with the things so we can do the thing we came to do, or sumfink
Von Slickstein offers to guineapig. Trust us Stirlo, sure we’ve never done it before but what could possibly go wrong
Looking good so far
Stirlo’s down and so far nobody has died. Wootwoot
And we are all down, now to see if we can retrieve things
Kylie pops the fiddle stick. Success.
Stirlo and Ed pull the rope. Success
‘Cept the fiddlestick then wedges itself in the only crack on the halfway ledge and the tail of the rope wraps itself around the only stick in the only crack on the halfway ledge…
Luckily the way out goes up to the halfway ledge and a delicate bit of rope work with the spare rope gets me in a position to release both
We high 5 and begin to pack up for the haul out
Voices…. Up above smiling faces pear over the cliff. I recognise Dick. He is with Laurie, Mick, Peter and crew. This is 2 trips in a row we’ve run into them. We head up and say g’day
Then we are back in the cars for a bite to eat and then back through the mudbath for a little add on that took longer to get there than to do.
Worth it but
Artemis a short little canyonette above the pool of Dianna
Anchor trees in this one can be a bit hard to get and ghosting (Fiddlestick/smooth operator..) is definitely the way to go. Would hate to see slings or chains in this one
With too many hobbies and a bunch of commitments I just wanted to get out for a pleasant, short afternoon canyon and thought to myself Dalpura is pleasant and short and a canyon and Saturday has an afternoon. A plan started to form…
I’d hadn’t caught up with this lot of awesome folk for few weeks and they were keen enough to join me. Awesome.
Dalpura starts with a nice little section
You only get wet to your waist, said I. Forgetting that takes a bit of effort and even then it was more like chest deep
Um, Russ, did you not pack your harness and stuff? said all of us as Russ rigged up a munter hitch on makeshift tape harness
I have them in my bag, says Russ. But I couldn’t be bothered getting them out. I’m a minimalist….
OK then, cool beans. Rock on,
Jeremy
Russ
Aleasha
The second section starts with a short abseil into what I reckon is one of the prettiest canyon chambers in the Blue Mountains. In the right light it is magical. Today we were a bit late in the afternoon
It is still a nice spot thou
From there the canyon opens out, closes in and opens out again. There are some nice bits but nothing mind blowing
It’s odd how compelling these little challenges can be. We were already wet but we all had a crack
The I’ll have a Crack kid may or may not have made it to the end… You can do it Jez… Maybe
Never overly deep or narrow it does have pleasant bits
And crystal clear water
Hey there is a little ledge down here with stunning views…. It was fogged out
Hey from up here there awesome views toward Mt Vic and Blackheath…. FoggyMcfogfog.
Still the wild flowers were out on display
How awesome are Waratahs? The correct answer is Very.
And Spiderwebs in the rain… this one was tiny, Captured with the macro setting
Party Size: 4
Time: 2.5hrs car to car
If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be,
sleepwhenwearedead 