Leader: Paul Griffith
Date: 11/03/2017
Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/130167675@N03/albums/72157679058418892
This is the second year we have held this trip. This is the ideal spot to learn basic canyoning skills, as two of the old hands who had not been here before immediately agreed. We had five old hands, six absolute beginners and five in-between on this trip, which proved a good ratio. We met at the lower carpark at Tongarro at 10.00 and started by handing out gear and learning how to check ropes for damage. By 11.00 we had everyone changed into wetsuits and dropped off at the top carpark at Clover Hill Rd. A twenty minute walk down the old road brought us to the old farm clearing, where we out our harnesses on and walked down into the creek. It was hot and sunny and we were glad to get wet. The three 10m abseils went almost without incident, with just one person getting jammed using an old Pitt-stop on double rope and needing some assistance from Marty to get moving. Then we all did the 3m water jump and walked down the beautiful rainforest creek to some sunny flat rocks for lunch. Shortly afterwards we reached the big tourist pool where we joined the locals on the natural water slide, which was really good after all the recent rain, and did the 6m water jump – some of us repeatedly. Another half hour brought us back to the bottom car park, at about 4.00, and by 6.00 we had the gear washed, people on a train back to Sydney, and the old hands were relaxing over pizza and beer on Marty’s deck. A great day out and we hope some more enthusiastic canyoners created.
