Date: 27/1/2025
Trip leader: Aidan Irrang
Party: Dean Smith, Paul Griffiths, Wing Chun Sze, Elata Cameron
One of the best-loved bush adventures near Sydney is a lilo drift down the Wollangambe River. On hot summer weekends the gorge is full of groups paddling pool toys down the river between the sandstone cliffs, jumping from rock ledges, or giggling as they drag unicorns and flamingos between boulders into the next long pool. But all along the “tourist sections” there are narrow slots in the cliffs where fine, technical canyons join the main watercourse. The bikini-clad funsters mingle with harnessed and helmeted canyoners exiting from from places like Water Dragon Canyon.
In was half past eight when our group of five left the Mt Wilson fire station for the 200 metre descent to the Wollangambe. National parks have done a lot of work in recent years to help these tracks cope with the heavy traffic and with the exception of the final climb down the cliffs, where the usual fixed ropes were in place, they are now as well engineered as the Spit to Manly walk. So we made good time down to the river, but it was already getting hot when we reached the cliff and got our first glimpse of the river and the sandy beach that marks the end of the first tourist section. We scrambled down the ropes, crossed the river and headed up the gully on the far side.
By the time we had regained our 200 metres of altitude on the other side of the river it had reached 27C, making it hot work up the hill with packs full of wetsuits, ropes and harnesses. After a stop for water and snacks we made our way down into the gully leading to the canyon. As we walked along the stony creek bed through head-high ferns, scrambling over rocks and fallen timber, we were grateful to have at least our feet and ankles in cold water.
At the top of the first abseil it was wetsuits and harnesses, followed by a climb down to a set of bolts in the canyon wall, Dean leading the way with his long legs. Paul was deputed to set the length of the rope, as we were all using modified figure-8 descenders and wanted the rope-end to rotate freely. However, he foolishly tossed the pull strand down rather than keeping it coiled at the top. As he attempted to set the length the pull strand jammed in a crack, leaving the abseil strand a bit short. This being his snafu, he abseiled, freed the jammed rope, and found that the abseil strand was actually just long enough with rope stretch, so everyone followed him down into the canyon proper.
In the canyon the water was cold and crystal clear – quite exceptionally so – there must have been a recent big storm flush. This added to the aesthetics of an already very pretty canyon. Aidan set the second abseil with no more snafus, and was the last to abseil, looking professional with the rope paying out from a bag hanging beneath him. Now the real beauty of this canyon began, as we made our way through a long, deep and dark constriction. We waded and walked slowly, admiring the undulating, water-smoothed walls rising above us. The constriction is so high and narrow that only a few, small patches of sky are visible. However slowly we walked it was too soon when the canyon walls started to widen out and we were back at the river. The water in the canyon was so lovely that we all filled our bottles before walking out into the sunlight and sitting down for lunch on a sandy beach opposite the canyon mouth.
After lunch it was time to swim down the Wollangambe back to the morning’s track. Swimming with backpacks and boots is a slow business and the accepted method is the “backpack boat”. That means lying on your back, relying on the dry bags in your back pack for flotation, and sculling along with a gentle backstroke. It’s not fast, but has the advantage that you can admire the canyon walls above you as you float past. We were soon passed by some funsters on pool toys, and after three long swims and the boulder chokes between them we were glad to arrive at the exit beach.
The funsters deflated their pool toys while we stripped off wetsuits and packed our bags for the ascent. We walked out in wet clothes, and Dean and Aidan tried a long soak in the river to bring their body temperature down, but by the time we were half way up we were both dry and hot. Paul decided to take a long break at this point, hanging his gear over a tree branch to dry so as to lighten his pack for the rest of the walk, and the funsters panted past us with their deflated pool toys. We finally reached the fire station at half past three, just too late for the excellent pizza at Hillbilly Cider, and contented ourselves with beer and burgers at the pub on Bellbird Hill before saying goodbye and heading home.
