Date: 8/3/2021
Trip leader: Felix Ossig-Bonanno
Party: Cait, James
From the start we had a couple of different options for a Monday adventure. Both were somewhat exploratory, but I was fairly certain one would be wet. With the forecast looking a bit cold and wet, I decided to revert to Plan B. I met Olivia in Lithgow so she wouldn’t have to brave the dirt roads and met James up at the Bungleboori Campground which looked quite a bit tidier after the Clean Up Australia Day efforts – there were even some ppl camping there!
Pooling into my car we headed down the Glowworm Tunnel Rd. To flesh out the day and see how everyone would go, we decided to first visit The Dry Canyon. We found the spot by memory with little effort and were soon walking down from the old railway line and into the catchment of the canyon. A short pleasant walk along the drainage and the pagodas began to close in. We climbed down a small optional downclimb and began to enjoy the magic of the tree ferns. The canyon soon slotted up into some impressive canyon.
We took our time walking through the main constriction…
Pausing briefly to look down at the burnt Donkey Mtn and Emirates resort we soon turned around, retracing our steps back through the canyon. I’ve been wanting to find some aboriginal hand prints in the vicinity, but we decided to explore a couple more creeks instead.
Driving up an old firetrail not marked on the topo maps we left the car when logs blocked our path and talking lunch this time set off through the bush to drop into the next drainage we wanted to explore. We were surprised to stumble across a lone pink flannel plant in the creek bed.
The creek soon narrowed into a pretty but short constriction. There were a couple of downclimbs, but we never took out the couple of short ropes we’d brought along. Exploring another creek, we reversed it to a small waterfall and pool. Climbing around to the left (CR) we were surprised to find two ways on. You could either do an exposed traverse into a small creek that had another small waterfall or continue straight into a narrow slot. The slot quickly became wet but it looked bridgeable and Olivia and James entertained my desire to continue up the slot. I managed to climb out the other side staying dry. There wasn’t really much more to it than what the others could see, but I did get to see a leaf-tailed-gecko which always makes me happy.
Returning the way we came we went back to the first constriction for lunch, and then back to the car (after not being sure what way to walk when we hit the rd!).
With the day still early, we decided to visit the Glowworm Tunnel. I hadn’t been there in ages, and Olivia not at all. There seemed less glowworms than I recall… maybe due to increased visitation? We went through without lights, though a guy doing photography in the middle of the tunnel gave us a bit of illumination. Looping back via the Glowworm Tunnel Canyon – apparently this was used by passengers who wanted to avoid the smoke from the train!
It was still earlier than expected when we got back to the car. We though about other mini adventure options, but in the end decided to call it a day. Olivia and I stopped to look at the meadows of pink flannels at The Drift.
Thanks for coming guys! I hope you enjoyed your first SUBW trip Olivia. And nice to see you again James (its been a while since Wolgan Falls!).
