A small group of us headed out to a heavily fogged Mt Tomah in the Blue Mountains early last weekend to do Gaping Gill, a canyon listed in Jamieson’s “Canyons Near Sydney” guidebook. We parked at the Claustral Canyon parking area and checked all of our gear was in order before heading out along the beautiful grass covered ridge that takes most people down to Claustral Canyon. Instead of following the track all the way though, we were to continue along the top of the ridge, eventually heading straight south-west into the bush once we reached the end of the ridge.

This sounded easy, but the regularity of patches of lawyer vines in the area made this simple task really painful… After scrambling over a small moss covered boulder field, trying to avoid getting ripped apart by the lawyer vines while also trying to avoid slipping and twisting an ankle on the large boulders, we navigated our way across the top of the cliffline and found our way into Gaping Gill Gully.

Once in the rainforest section of the gully, the going was so very much easier and we quickly walked down the steep hill into the increasingly narrow ravine. The plants around us were beautiful, and the everything was so fresh and clean. We climbed over rocks, down tree roots and all of the usual canyoning sort of stuff, but it was true what we heard about Gaping Gill - “It’s not a really a canyon”.

The two abseils are both beautiful - I mean really beautiful - and not too difficult either, although both are quite high (about 20m and almost 30m on the second one). And the gully can get quite narrow at sections , stuck between two vertical cliffs either side - but these narrow sections are brief, and the ‘canyon’ feel is really not there. Gaping Gill is really just bushwalking down a narrow gully with a couple of good abseils thrown in for entertainment.

Of course once we were at the bottom of Gaping Gill we needed to walk up Thunder Gorge to the exit track. Thunder Gorge is far more canyon-like than Gaping Gill, and involved getting wet in waist/chest deep wades a few times.  Just as Gaping Gill was a truly beautiful gully to walk through, Thunder Gorge is equally beautiful. So just because something may or may not be ‘technically’ a canyon (whatever that even means), don’t doubt for a second that the walk is worth it. (probably only the one time though ;))

See Also:

• Gaping Gill Photo Gallery
• Gaping Gill Guide Article

We didn’t get to Newnes on the Friday before Australia day until about 11:30am, so it was a pretty late start. We decided to pick Firefly canyon because it had a few easy abseils (good because this was going to be Josh’s first time abseiling) and wasn’t described as a ‘long’ day or anything like that - hopefully we would be able to get back before nightfall!

We walked from the camp site along the road to the gate, then through the industrial ruins to the large gully we were meant to walk up. I was hoping to find a track, but alas, none existed - it was a gully bash the whole way up. The first bit was just bashing through thin shrubs, the occasional stinging nettle etc. I stumbled across a Bower Bird nest (first wild one I had ever seen) scattered with the usual assorted blue decorations. As the gully increased in steepness we found ourselves climbing up boulders more and more and bashing through shrubbery less and less. We got to the first cliff line pretty quickly, but our excitement at that achievement died just as quickly as we realised that the first cliff line was nowhere near the last one - this hill seemed to just keep on going up!

After a while we eventually reached the final cliff line - it was a rather frightening cliff line to reach after an hour of climbing; one that didn’t have any apparent way up it! It was a sheer cliff (with over hang) and it seemed to carry on like that in both directions. Not detered (we trusted Jamieson!) I sent Jake out to the right up a little ascending ridge of boulders that might possibly show a way up. He climbed up a little and reported that it was a no go. I told him to keep going. I was right :p

The way was up a very narrow crack between a large slab and the cliff line. You could cold chimney it, or shimmy through it and step up some conveniently stacked chock stones and climb to the top of the slab. Once atop the slab, you then had to jump over the crack and climb up a short cliff to get on to the very top of the cliff, but it was easy enough (if not incredibly dangerous simply because of the exposure). We scrambled up the next pagoda rock section and finally reached the top of the ridge where we saw a prominent little cairn.

We started down the other side, and found most of it was down steep difficult drops, but we zig-zagged regularly and managed to find a way down without needing to abseil anything. We did use a hand line at one point, and had to make some hairy jumps, but made it without incident. Once we reached the main creek, it was reasonably easy going. Bashing our way through the creek, picking our way through the millions of spider webs (which we had been doing the whole way up and down either side of the ridge now that I mention it), we pressed on until it started to get wet before putting our wetsuits on. A short while later we reached the first abseil and dropped down that into a nice chilly pool.

As I said above, this was Josh’s first time abseiling - he’s an incredibly capable guy and done his fair share of physical activity, so I was confident he wouldn’t have any problems - but of course you still put all safety into place. I talked him through it from the top while Jake was below on belay. The abseil wasn’t too difficult and so was a great start for him. He dropped over without any problems and we were on our way. The second abseil was only a short distance after the first one, and we got to practice again. The third one, not far again, then the fourth one…then the fifth one…When we came to our sixth abseil we decided that we must be at the end and there must be another way down. We were right, and a track headed off down the true left side of the canyon.

We descended the final drop down the gully at the end of the canyon pretty quickly and found the track heading back to the ruins. We didn’t get back to the camp until after 8pm (that’s what you get for starting a canyon at midday!) . Jamie seemed to really enjoy his first canyoning trip, and Josh did well for his first time abseiling ever.

See Also:

• Firefly Canyon Guide Article
• Firefly Canyon Photo Gallery

Rob, Jake and I were planning on doing Water Dragon canyon sometime during the week, so when Rowan posted on the OzCanyons Yahoo group asking if anyone was available to canyon on the Wednesday, I offered our trip through Water Dragon because I like to meet new people and a group of 4 is better than a group of 3.

We met at the Mount Wilson fire shed at 9am, chatted and got to know each other while we organised our gear, then headed off down the fire trail to the Wollangambe One exit track. We climbed down to the ‘gambe, walked across the reasonably low water level and up the incredibly steep hill on the other side. It was a stinking hot day, and the climb up the hill really hurt at that temperature. We got to the top and followed the single track path along the ridge which would eventually take you to the start of Whungee-Wheengee if you followed it the whole way. Instead we turned off to the left about half way along it down a pseudo-path which quickly faded into nothing. We basically scrub bashed our way down to the creek, then followed the small creek down into the main creek (which Jake and I managed to head up the wrong direction without even realising it).

Once in the main creek it wasn’t a long walk until we reached the first hand line into a wading pool. We stopped above this for lunch, then climbed down and waded through, not yet bothering to put on wetsuits because the day was so warm and we weren’t actually swimming yet. There was still a bit of walking to go before we reached the first abseil which was down a tricky climb down. We rigged up the rope over a huge dead log and negotiated the tricky start (made tricky by the dead branches sticking out over the edge which tended to wedge the rope).

Once down the bottom of the first abseil, we were really into the canyon. Rowan and I went pretty snap happy and took a whole bunch of photos between us as we approached the second abseil. The second abseil was at the other end of a deep pool, so we finally put our wetsuits on, climbed down the hand line into the pool and swam across to the anchor point - a collection of small sticks wedged into the water flow…not very confidence inspiring stuff as you put your entire body weight over the edge of this most hairy of abseil starts. It is actually one of the most tricky abseil starts I have done because the sticks are at ledge level, so you have to get your waist down below the ledge before your weight is caught by your descender, and the abseil is down a slippery waterfall with nothing to hold onto. You have to lower yourself down off the edge as you would lower yourself off the side of a brick wall, and then somehow transfer yourself to the rope… Well, its hard to look graceful while doing it anyway. And everyone knows that this sport is all about grace.

Once at the bottom there were a whole lot more photos taken in the very dark halls of the underbelly of Water Dragon canyon, some really nice photos coming out of it. Once at this point of the canyon though, there wasn’t much left. We walked for a few minutes through the narrow section until it opened up a bit, then a bit more into a rainforest environment shortly before meeting back up with the Wollangambe.

Just like Geronimo the week before, and Whungee-Wheengee before it, the water of the Wollangambe was a good deal warmer than the water in the narrow slot canyon and you just want to bask in its warmth for a while. We stopped and had a second lunch opposite the exit from Water Dragon before moving on.

Only 100m down the river though, I noticed that my camera wasn’t in my pocket. Very ungood. No one else seemed to have it, so it must have been back where we had lunch. I swam back up stream - it wasn’t there. I swam back and forth two or three times between where I noticed it missing and the lunch spot trying to look down to the bottom to see if I could see it. No luck. I climbed up out of the water onto the edge to see if I could get a better view from there - I couldn’t. It was then that the Canyon Gods decided to smile upon me in a way that they have never smiled down upon someone before. I heard voices upstream. I saw people upstream. I jumped back into the water and swam up to them (I think this confused them a great deal), and asked the most odd question I could think of asking someone in a canyon - “You don’t happen to have a snorkel and set of goggles on you do you?”.

They did. Apparently taking goggles into the Wollangambe is a normal thing to do (I hadn’t thought of it before - but it makes sense to me now). They had two sets and were happy to lend them to us (happy that I didn’t ask them for a first aid kit or Epirb to rescue a dying friend apparently) so I threw one over to Rob and took the other and started swimming. It only took a few minutes to find it with the goggles, and I had to duck dive down to at least 4m depth (causing great pain to my inner ear) in order to pick the camera up. Happily, it still worked! (only rated to 3m)

*very happy*

Anyway, with that little drama sorted out, we proceeded down the canyon to the end, did the usual de-wetsuiting, the usual uphill walking, and eventually got back to the car before it even started to rain (the thunderstorm which hit us on the drive home though, made it almost impossible to see the road!)

A good canyon, an eventful day, and good company.

Shane

See Also:

• Water Dragon Canyon guide notes
• Water Dragon Canyon photo gallery

Stewart from the UNSW Outdoors Club ran this trip, and he took Su Li and myself on this adventure through one of the most interesting, and sustained canyons I have ever done. From start to finish, you are having a good time. The canyon stays narrow, stays beautiful, and stays interesting the whole way down to the ‘gambe. And then when its over, you get to bask in the sun as you float down the ‘gambe, reflecting on all of the cool stuff you just did!

For example, the first thing we did in the canyon, was climb down into a pool, swim 5m, then swim UNDER a chockstone, pop up on the other side where things were getting darker, then swim a few more meters in a very very narrow section only to find another chockstone which we had to swim under. Because we couldn’t see any light on the other side of the chockstone, we weren’t certain that we were in the right spot, so Stewart pulled out his headlamp and went under first (luckily there was a bit of a gap between the water and the chockstone, so we could get light through.) It looked like there was room on the other side of the chockstone, so we swam under. Boy am I glad we did - you duck under this rock, swim a meter, then come back up for air only to find yourself in a pitch black cave with a roof covered in glow worms. It felt like I had just stumbled into a planetarium and I was meant to be looking up at the starry night sky… A hint of light up ahead then turned into dim beams of light pouring in through a tunne, creating another incredible light/dark effect which I only wish I could capture on film somehow to show everyone.

And that was the first thing we did in the canyon. I was immediately blown away by it. And while there were no more super cool duck under glow worm caves, the canyon still continued to impress simply because it stayed to perfect the whole time. There was no boring creek walking bits, and no ‘connecting’ bits as you find in most canyons, Whungee-Wheengee was canyon from top to bottom. No filler. Lots of great swims, often through ridiculously narrow slots, several duck unders, lots of great light beams filtering down through the narrow canyon walls, illuminating ferns that bright green.

Even the hard bits were good fun. Graded at a 5, I expect that simply comes from the difficulty and regularity of the climb downs, overs and arounds. Rock climbing experience definitely helps in this canyon, the ability to jump onto small slippery surfaces without falling off the edge, and a reasonable ability to not be too scared by heights are all highly recommended traits. Even with those, you won’t find the going through Whungee-Wheengee ‘easy’ - you have to pay attention the whole way through the canyon.

That said, the abseils aren’t very difficult. There was an initial one to get down into the creek, then shortly after the duck unders we did a second abseil which I think you can avoid by climbing down a difficult bit. The last two abseils are unavoidable and follow rapidly one after the other. Once at the bottom of the last abseil, it is only a short walk to Wollangambe Two, but even that short walk is incredible - it is walking through this 1m wide slot with 50m vertical walls straight up either side of you. It is quite a surreal place to be. And then suddenly it goes around a corner and we found ourselves stepping into the bathwater temperature of the Wollangambe. Well maybe it wasn’t bathwater temperature, but it sure was a *lot* warmer than the frigid waters of the Whungee-Wheengee.

We had a second lunch on the side of the Wollangambe as the group behind us through Whungee-Wheengee overtook us, then we caught up to them again around the corner where they had all started jumping in from a side cliff. Stewart and I had a jump each, then we meandered our way down to the end of the canyon, then up the long and slow climb out.

Awesome canyon, everything about it is perfect. Just make sure you are physically capable and with someone who has done it before if you want to try it. And never try to do it in high water or with a threat of a thunderstorm. Those duck unders could be quite dangerous if the water was any higher.

See Also:

• Whungee-Wheengee Photo Gallery
• Whungee-Wheengee Guide Article

We shot down to Bungonia late Friday night and set up camp for the weekend. There were 5 of us in total - Me, my fiance Catherine, flatemate Ryan, and two guys from the UNSW Outdoors Club - Stewart and Steven. We woke early Saturday and four of, after signing in at the Ranger station, headed off down the yellow track towards Jerrara Creek Canyon.

We took a few photos from the lookout at the end of the yellow track, then headed past the little sign which tells you that the track has already ended down into the gully which drops you down into the Creek. We got into our wetsuits, climbed down the first little rock face, and set up the first abseil. We all repelled down it without problems, swam around the corner, climbed over some rocks for a while, jumped in some more pools, and before we knew it, we were at the second abseil.

The second abseil is pretty easy really. Its fun because it is 40m so you have plenty of time to enjoy the sights as you slide down the ropes, plus as you near the bottom you really feel the stretch of the ropes, but the whole cliff has a positive slope so it isn’t scary or difficult at all. You land in a large shallow pool at the bottom, and it is easy to get some nice photos of the waterfall from a rock over the side of the pool.

Climbing over that rock onto another rock, down the side of that into a pool, which you swim through to the chock stone which makes the 3rd abseil. This part was my favourite part of the whole canyon because I really wanted to jump it. Steven abseiled down first to do a depth check. I know from the previous time that I had done it that the natural depth is deeper than you can reach, but of course you always check the depth each time in case new logs or boulders have fallen down into the water. We then sent Ryan down with the camera. I then got ready to jump… Now this is quite a scary jump. 7m is pretty high anywhere, but I have no problem with anything up to around 10m - the problem with this jump is that the canyon gets narrower and narrower as it goes down. The water surface is only about 2m wide, which means that if you are slightly off when you jump you could hit the wall instead of the water. In fact, when I jumped I managed to land pretty well, but I still found myself scraping down the wall surface underneath the water (after the water had slowed me down greatly - no harm done) as the wall continues to slope inwards. Anyway, you’ll see it all yourself on the video which I will hopefully upload tomorrow.

From there the end is really just around the corner. We took our wetsuits off, had some snacks, then started the perilous ascension. Damn slate-esque flaky rocks. You spend half your time climbing up rock faces which could come out if you pulled too hard in the wrong direction, and the other half of your time dodging the rocks pulled out by the people above you. Needless to say, we all wore out helmets as we climbed up, but Ryan still managed to cop a small rock in his cheek (small rocks still hurt after falling for a while). The climb out is really quite exhillarating though - every now and then you need to stop and look around. There is a huge drop to your right, down into Jerrara Creek Canyon, and there is an even bigger drop to your left, down into Bungonia Creek Canyon - but That’s OK, just don’t fall and everything will be fine…..

I’m sure it isn’t really that bad. It is all a trick of perception (I hope…). We were climbing a ridge, not a sheer cliff, so if anyone did fall, you could easily grab a tree or something well before you fell any great distance. There was always ground immediately below you - just steeply sloping away from you ground… The real danger was just the rock slides. If you do accidentally create a rock slide into the canyon below, make sure you call out as loud as you can. “Below” is what I was always told. I think some people call out “Rock” or something. Just make sure you do it in case you are create a very deadly rock fall onto a group of canyoners behind you!

Anyway, we eventually got up the top, caught our breath, took some more photos of the view, then wandered back to camp.

The next day Cat, Stewart and I went for a quick trip down into B44 Grill Cave. I have done Grill about 3 times already, and yet still couldn’t get past the Squeeze - Mud Slide section (it kept taking us back to where we had come from!) . Anyway, spent a few hours down in there, out of the heat and away from the flies (I hate flies), but eventually had to head back up to pack up our gear and head back to Sydney for an early exit.

See Also

• Bungonia State Conservation Area
  
• Jerrara Creek Canyon Guide
  
• B44 Grill Cave Guide
• Jerrara Creek Canyon Photo Gallery
• B44 Grill Cave Photo Gallery