Wilderness

Dove Canyon

| flynny101

10/01/2024

Gadget and meeeee

After delaying for a day to allow water levels to drop a bit we were keen as mustard to get into this little gem.

Dove Canyon is the quintessential Cradle Mountain canyon and the awesome folk at Cradle Mountain Canyons have done a great job at opening the canyon up and maintaining the entry/exit track as well as the anchors so it’s well worth booking a tour with them if you are in the area but don’t have gear or white water experience.

The canyon has several aquatic hazards to be wary of so most people would be best to book a tour, especially if you aren’t up on how to recognise, navigate and rescue out of that stuff.

Anyhoo. We got going early to get in front of the guide groups and after one of the easiest and prettiest walk-ins ever we reach the get in point.

These bags aren’t going to wet themselves. 🎥©️Kylie

We gear up, go over our notes and abseil in.

A gorgeous little creek greet us. The water was cold but not Bowen creek middle of winter cold so the seland 5mm jacket and John’s were prefect.

We make our way down stream. Already the water is more pushy than anything in the Blue Mountains at normal to high levels so we take our time with the down climbs and assess the eddies at each little jump.

One of the first little pools

Then we come to the first the first of the major obstacles

A five meter jump into swirly white stuff 🎥©️Kylie
You need to pick your landing otherwise it pushes you to the back side of the falls.
Did I say frothy white stuff? The waters around here are steeped in tannins. it’s good for you but froths up ©️Kylie
The Laundry Chute at the exit of the dark tunnel like “Pit” section. Such an awesome feature. Legend has it this is the funnest canyon slide in Australia.
Tea Cup falls has a powerful recirculation in it. If you don’t get it right you’ll get caught in the swirl. At the level we had it’s reasonably easy to escape if you know how but we set up a drogue just to practice the skill in a relatively safe environment 🎥©️Kylie

Once I tested the drogue and worked out the current Kylie just went for it

Then a couple of scrambles and one more slide on Horsey falls

It’s just a bit of fun 🎥©️Kylie
Good old fashion fun

All in all Dove is a beautiful little micro adventure at Cradle Mountain. Heaps of fun but you have to know what you are doing in water.

Once again a massive thanks to the locals for sharing their knowledge and to the crew at Cradle Mountain Canyon for care taking this little gem.

She taught me to relight, relight and relight again: the Avalanches.

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Machinery Creek

| flynny101

9/1/2024

Gadget and meeeeee

The plan was to do Dove today but big dump of rain had spiked the water levels and our local contacts suggested we wait a day for the levels to drop a bit. We were pretty sure they were being cautious with a couple of randoms asking questions but we were happy to take the advice and opted to do Machinery creek instead.

After parking at the bottom it took me a bit to work out the big obvious bridge wasn’t our bridge. The amount water flowing at speed under the big bridge had me a bit 😳

But the correct creek was a lot more enticing. The water was about 15mm off what we were told was the high level (interesting by the time we got back here it had dropped at least 70mm)

Our advice was if we didn’t have a second car to hitch a ride up the hill but there didn’t seem to be too many cars heading our way so we hoofed it up. While there wasn’t much verge at times the we had plenty of warning to get out of the way of the few cars that did pass us.

40 or 50min (or forever ) later we reach the Round Hill Cafe at the top of the hill. Surprisingly there was a little camp area there. Talking to the care taker we discover it had shower, toilet and kitchen area and was only $25 for a powered site! I know where we are staying tonight. Winning!!!

Anyhoo we follow the trail down past some old mine Adits to the start of the canyon.

Enticing. Not.

And soon we were suiting up in a little gorge.

After the slipfest in Urumbilum it took us a bit to trust our footing but the rocks here offered heaps of grip. And soon we were making reasonable time

It threaten to but never really canyoned up.

Still there were some very cool abseils in flow. It reminded me of the better of the Bungonia canyons with good water in it, though the abseils tended to be shorter .

The second abseil is the crux. It lands in an enclosed pool that in high water forms a powerful hydraulic with strainers in the outflow
Even at this level there’s a small recirc and once out of that the water is a bit pushy into those gaps .🎥©️Kylie

It is pretty but
The next few are fairly straightforward
It tries ever so hard to canyon up
The final abseil is the largest at about 30m and is a good finish to the “canyon” section
🎥©️Kylie

We grab a bit to eat in the sun then we’ve got a bit of a walk down stream to finish.

Again, after Urumbilum we are a tad nervous of what this will entail but it’s easy going all the way back to the bridge

Every song has a you that the singer sings to and you’re it this time: Ani

Big thanks to the locals legends who gave us tips and advice.

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Crikey

| flynny101

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.

Camp.

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

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Bubblebath

| flynny101

17-11-2023

Gadget and me

We were planning a weekend out on the B̶o̶o̶r̶i̶… I mean *hackspit* Dingo creek.

The others were meeting us in the morning but we headed out Friday afternoon

We made good time along the fire trail but slowed a bit navigating the twisting ridge as the faint trail came and went.

We got to the camp around 5:30. Dumped gear, set up camp and headed up for a quick run through Bubblebath Canyon. AKA Froth and bubble canyon. (There was difference of opinion in the first descent party over the name.)

Not wanting to put wet gear on in the morning we went light. I knew it was short so we decided to brave the cold.

Dropping in
The water above the canyon was surprisingly warm.
Gadget at the start of the good bit
Bubblebath is a beautiful little canyon. It’s a bit underrated compared to some of the others. The late evning light didn’t do it justice but it’s one of the more beautiful ones out this way. “Mini Crikey”as Kylie called it.

The deeper we got the colder the water got and we lost the light just before the end.

Getting to camp we rug up and settle in for the night.

Morning in camp.

How many worlds are in your world? Andy Anderson.

Continued to Crikey

Or

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Surefire Saturday

| flynny101

14-10-2023

Jason, Kris, Hywaida, Kylie and me

It’s been a while since I’d done Surefire.

For the others it would be their first visit.

A quick reccie on the bike a couple of days before suggested that while the old road was ridable there were a lot of trees down and the regrowth was so crazy at times I couldn’t see my front wheel.

So rather than risk derailleurs and spokes we’d be hoofing it out and back.

This meant a 7km walk out. TBH pushing through the overgrowth seemed a lot less tedious than marching along a flat boring fire trail… but I’m weird like that.

Anyhoo

After the Navman took the others down the wrong fire trail and we waited in confusion, before finally going looking for each other. we all managed to somehow find phone reception at the same time…

This meant a late start and some talk about changing plans or cancelling altogether

There wasn’t much arm twisting and we press on.

It takes us about an hour to get to the turn off then another 30 or 40 minutes to get to out the ridge and down to start of the canyon

The creek drops dramatically into a nice canyon but then drops again and rounds the corner
Sunbeam or tractor-beam?
The drops come in quick succession and most have awkward starts or tricky pull downs
It’s deep and narrow
Kris getting his squeeze on
I’m sure we down climbed this last time but the walls were smooth and glassy and slippery as snot this time around
wonderfull canyon formations
Once down the drops there’s a long flat section that’s just beautiful

We follow the impressive canyon along the flatter bit and find a spot where it begins to open out for lunch.

This was going to be my first time out the “standard” exit. We’d have to retrace our steps about 300m back up through the lower canyon section and exit up a side canyon

This would involve

  • Climbing up some tree roots
  • Then up a steep, slippery ramp using some slings.
  • Up more tree roots. These ones feeling like they are coming loose
  • Up a tree and bridging across to a dodgy slope….
  • Then a long walk up a beautiful gully , under amazing overhangs and beautiful coachwood trees

And finally 7km back along the old firetrail to the car.

Yep it’s a big round trip on flat, boring fire trail to get to and from the canyon.

but I reckon it’s well worth it and you could always combine it with Heart Attack (less worth the walk out to do on its own IMO) or camp on the ridge and explore some of other little canyons out that way.

Party Size.5

Time: 8.5-9hr car to car.

Work hard. Dream big. Don’t be an arsehole. Mike Shinoda.

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Nose Dive

| flynny101

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.

The climb out of North East canyon, which runs South West….

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.

The creek drops down a hole. And so do we.
The second of the cavern like sections. It’s ok I guess.

Ok it was more than ok.

Dark yet somehow filled with beautiful light
Really spectacular and somewhat unique slot canyon
Such a cool little section
The water was like glass
Gadget with H in the background
Throw and go because, well you know.
Was it cold. Yes it was
H
K
G

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

It’s a gorgeous section of T̶h̶e̶ ̶‘̶b̶o̶o̶r̶i̶… Dingo creek

You should sit in nature for 20min every day.

Unless you are really busy then you should do it for an hour.

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Central Queensland Adventure: day 4 and 5

| flynny101

Continued from Day 3

We had planned to head back up stream to check those promising lines on the map (which looked deep and dark from the Spur) but trudging up and down bloody Boowinda Gorge had left us battered and weary. The thought of bashing our way further up stream for more dry canyons had lost its appeal.

We decide to pack up camp and head back to the car to look for something wet.

Kylie had worked out Blackdown Tablelands were almost exactly between Carnarvon Gorge and Rockhampton so it seemed like a good idea to check it out.

A quick google show some beautiful waterfalls and plunge pools, though the latest posts said it was much drier than usual.

The park had also been evacuated the week before due to a fire in a neighbouring park but as luck would have it it was reopening today. Winning.

We jump online to try and book a camp site. Qld NPs do a great job at maintaining the parks up this way, walking tracks were family friendly with informative signs and toilets were plentiful and clean, but their online booking system is a PITA.

Anyhoo we eventually get it working and the whole camp ground is booked out!!!

Hmmm, surely if the park is just reopenning some of those people would have canceled or changed plans.

I eventually find a number to call and convince them to reluctantly take my money. We’ll take the chance says I.

If the camp ground is full we’ll find somewhere else and you can keep the $15 as a donation…

There’s 2 other groups in the entire camp ground as we roll in.

We check out a walk to another art site then set up camp for the night

Day 5

Apparently Gudda Gumoo is a seasonal waterfall and we’ve got it as it’s drying out Anyhoo we are keen for a look.

Heading down the tourist track we cross a couple of creek beds. They are as dry as uncle Geoff’s sense of humour.

But wait!

I hear running water.

A steady stream of water tumbles 20 or 30m into a large clear swimming hole.

A less formed trail heads down stream.

We follow it down and catch a glimpse of the usual instagram pot holes. They look dry.

I’ve discovered Blue mountain anchors have a distinct lack duck tape.
And whatever this thing is

an even vaguer track continues along the cliff edge.

A couple of tracks head down to the various levels but we forge on. The track is now more a vague sense someone, or something has walked here before.

Finally a weakness in the cliffline allows a tricky descent.

Another very tricky scramble breaks the next cliff.

More secluded waterfalls and swimming holes reward our efforts
And yummy native raspberries

The valley has stepped down 20 or 30 meters at a time and it seems like there’s a hidden pool on each level.

We’ve made it down to one of the bigger shelves. Below us the arse drops out of the world

The water tumbles 100-150m down to another large pool. Below that we can make out another drop and another pool….

If this was anywhere near the Blue Mountains or Southern Highlands it would be a must do abseil trip. But it’s Queensland and well, Abseiling, stepping off track, not paying for a guided tour or wild swimming!!!

After a swim we linger in the sun and have lazy brunch before smaking our way back up through the cliffs to check out some of the upper terraces.

The locals have put some work in to get down to this one a couple below the usual ‘Gram shots.

And so ends our excellent adventure to central Q. L. D.

It been a blast and remember as Alice Roosevelt Longworth said…

Fill what’s empty

Empty what’s full

And scratch where it itches.

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Central Queensland Adventure:Day 1 part 1

| flynny101

27-09-2023

Gadget and meeeeeeee

Gather around friends, adventure family, misfits and, vagabonds I’ve got a story to tell.

Or sumfink

30 odd years ago when Jameison published the first edition of Canyons Near Sydney he included a short section at the back for other canyon areas with a short paragraph on Carnarvon Gorge saying it had sandstone slot canyons similar to the Blue Mountains.

The only description was try starting at the homestead, make your way up the gorge and look for a routes up.

My curiosity was pipped and it got filed in the back of my brain.

Since that time it’s become a tourist mecca with a wilderness lodge going in around 1996 and National parks developing a good trail network. But I had a feeling there’d still be some hidden gems.

So when the stars aligned and Gadget and myself found ourselves with a week off I said fugg it, let’s go.

Of course abseiling is frowned upon in QLD national parks. There are permits but from all accounts these are about as hard to obtain as diamond impregnated rocking horse shit.

So our plan would be to just have a look. Scramble up from the bottoms or down from the tops as far as possible then retreat.

Day 1 though would be the touristy stuff. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We rock into the NP camp ground late Thursday night. Not realising the nondescript pop up gazebo was the visitor check in we cruise past and pull into a random camp site to get our bearings.

Hey Kylie, what number site is on our booking ? says I

9, says she

You’d never guess what number we had pulled into at random.

Ok, most of you guessed 9. But Shit yeah! good start to the trip.

Not a bad view out of the tent

Our first target was back up the road a bit, Micky Creek Canyon.

Micky Creek is on all the maps, tourist brochures and instagram posts but 1 person I spoke to said the side creek next to it was betterer.

Canyon 1

Weirdly Warrumbah creek is sign posted and has a tourist trail that leads to the mouth of the canyon but there was zero info on it.

A short way from the end of the “formed trail” we find ourselves in a proper slot canyon

The start was impressive but it was dry as a dead dingo’s donger.

The further we scrambled up the better it got. We met a guy who said he had visited in June and it had been flowing.

Note: to self September is a shit time to visit. Hot as hell and dry. you could see the moss drying on the walls, with a bit of water the colours would pop.

It got a little damp as we scrambled higher but the water was manky
The canyon just kept going

About a kilometre on we come to a long section of stinky pea soup looking water. We thought about trying to bridge over it but the walls were slimey and it’s our first canyon on our first day and it already exceeded expectations so we headed back down.

Canyon 2

Micky Creek right branch.

Once again the tourist trail takes us to the mouth of Micky Creek canyon. It ends while the creek is still a wide gorge but soon after there’s a junction and we head up the right branch.

It soon starts to canyon up
There were a few tricky scrambles to get up into the good bit

Eventually we got to a scramble that,while confident I could get up, I wasn’t overly keen on getting back down the slippery stone without a hand line. so once again we decided to turn back down.

Canyon 3

Micky creek left branch had a short section of canyon just upstream of the junction. This seemed to be the source of all the brochure and instagram photos. It was pretty but short. We continued up and it was narrowing but it wasn’t long before we were stopped by another scramble ropes would be handy for.

Continue to Day 1 Part 2

Bindook Chasm

| flynny101

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

The start of the chasm

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?

Bypassing the first 2 drops with a 40m traversing abseil from trees above.
Looking down the amazing “chasm” towards the chock stone. With a bit of effort we were able to use the ledge on the left to avoid the early swim.

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.

You don’t really notice the columns until you look back

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 anchor looks like it needed replacing 15years ago… it partly crumbles as Gadget inspects it. Other bits are so stiff we had to cut them out.
Gadget checking angles.

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.

Another cold swim greeted us at the bottom of this one.

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

Nice spot for a picnic

Part size: 2

Time: 4hr car to car.

Big places help you realise how small you and your problems are

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