tops

polblue

| flynny101

25/01/2026

Kylie, Jason, David, Wisey, Rakesh, Tanya and meeeee

We had been tossing around what canyon to do today before settling on 1 none of us had done before.

We all pile into Jason’s ute and head across the range.

Ah shit, I meant to reach out to Tanya and Rakesh, Says Kylie. They are up here somewhere.

We pull into the car park.

Hey that’s Tanya and Rakesh…

5 become 7 and we waste no time suiting up and making our way down the creek to the first abseil.

I set up rope and everyone by passes it and scrambles down beside it.

I pull the rope up and follow.

The next couple of drops are a little lame. I’m starting to feel bad.

We had convinced Jason to do this one rather than one of his favourite, high adrenaline, high flow trips and this wasn’t really shaping up. but then we came to the first of the “Spicy Slots”

Kylie and H opt to take the less spicy line ©Kylie
Jason goes full spice ©Kylie

And the rest of use follow.

It’s a tricky start into the white noise.

Just as you are able to see again you realise you are about to drop behind a chock stone and you most defilately don’t want to drop down behind the chock stone.

It’s a battle to resist the push and swing yourself over.

You emerge back into the light then drop off the chockstone into the noise once more.

It’s a fantastic abseil

Kylie
©Jason
©Kylie
©Kylie
©Kylie
©Dave
© Kylie

Everyone one is grinning.

there’s an 800m creek walk to get to the next bit. lets just go back up here and do that again. someone suggests

hmmmm we are here now let;s at least check out the bottom section.

Lucky we did.

The 800m creek walk isn’t too bad and goes quick and the bottom section is the best bit.

looks nice and tame from up top

The creek has spit into 2 channels. A sloping abseil (New anchor has since been installed closer to the lip) brings you to the edge in between them

You step over the edge and both streams recombine.

On your head.

Hello Spicy Slot 2

Jason helping to retrieve a stuck rope for the party in front ©Dave
Kylie in the flow ©Jas
©Jas
Dave geting a rince ©Jas
Me ©jas
©Dave
©Dave

The next 2 abseils come in quick succession

I scramble down the next one but signal up to the others that it isn’t worth it as there looked to be a nice exit from the ledge they are on.

The exit began on a steep loose scree slope but soon got steeper and looser before getting looser and steeper….

Other than the steepness and the looseness it was fairly easy going. The notes said to get to a certain elevation and then traverse around. While that would cut off some elevation gain it looked long and convoluted so we just went straight up and over a minor nose then dropped down onto the road not to far from the car park.

I nodded, pretending to be a hundred times more courageous than I felt.  Lisa Tawn Bergren.

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GLOUCESTER

| flynny101

24/01/2026

Jason, Dave, Wisey, Kylie and Me

Dr Forster went to Gloucester in a shower of rain.

He stepped in a puddle right up to his middle

and never went there again.

Ah English, where Forster rhymes with Gloucester and neither sounds like how they are spelt.

Anyhoo

What better way to pop my Barrington cherry than with a run through the upper section of Gloucester canyon.

Jason and Kylie had done it numerous times before at much higher water levels so today was shaping up to be fairy chill.

We had met Jason and Dave at camp the night before.

H had rolled in sometime through the night and we were all up early and eager.

It’s a short walk in and in high spirits we suit up and make our way down to the first abseil.

Kylie sets the rope and H leads the first drop
Jasons declares ropes are for the vanquished and jumps from a slippery stance
Kylie handling the rope duties ©Dave
The next one is fairly basic down beside a smaller fall

A short hop skip and a jump down stream and we arrive at what we are here for.

The Famous chock stone abseil.

But to get there requires a short abseil and traverse

On their previous trips the water levels had been too high to attempt this one and there is the option to scramble out and do a dry line from high up just down stream of the chock stones.

Conditions today however are perfect so Jason sets a line and I traverse out and set the main drop

Jason follows me out and leads the big one

There are two redirects in place on this drop. The first gets you out, away from a sloping ledge that forms just as the water funnels into a ferocious torrent, the second keeps you out of the hydraulic that forms in high flow at the base. Jason sets them both for us to follow

Me at the second redirect ©Dave

it’s a stunningly beautiful waterfall.

And the view back up to it from just downstream is iconic

There was a bit of horsing around

It was still early in the day. We were tossing up the idea of continuing downstream and completing the lower section. Jason had done it before and thought it was interesting.

The other option was to play around here.

It would be cool to get on top of the chock stone say Wisey.

There is the dry line option, said some one.

We scrmble up the start of the exit track and find our way across to the dry line.

It’s a bit down stream of the chock stones but I manage to swing across to the upper stone to help the following party with a stuck rope (Notes say to throw the pull cord over the chockstone. This lead to the stuck rope. If the flow isn’t too high just bring the pull strand down with you. it pulls fine.)

then drop in.

Jas, Wisey and Dave follow me. It’s a surprisingly fun abseil and we opt to run repeat son it for funzies.

©Jason

Then we head on out and enjoy a relaxing afternoon at Camp

Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people: WC Fields

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