Freshers trip

Freshers trip

The Freshers Trip is a SUBW tradition. It is an overnight bushwalk catered to new members of the club. Older/established members are welcome to come along as well. This year, we visited the vicinity of Gooch’s Crater and Billabong Canyon. Our trip started and finished at Bell railway station in the upper Blue Mountains. We met…

(Unsuccesful attempt at) Knights Deck

(Unsuccesful attempt at) Knights Deck

I decided it would be a good idea to write my first ever trip report in order to give anyone who was thinking of heading to the Wild Dog Mountains or anywhere in the southern Blue Mountains an idea of the conditions. In the post bushfire landscape of the southern Blue Mountains one always expects it to be tougher going than usual. For this…

Leura-Katoomba walk Blue Mountains

Leura-Katoomba walk Blue Mountains

A nice fairly easy walk in the Blue Mountains in almost perfect weather. The day looked very promising with Venus and Jupiter shining brightly in the pre-dawn sky when I woke up. And the weather turned out to be excellent, albeit a bit cool. Six of us met up at Leura Station after riding up in various parts of the train from Central. Then it…

Ruined Castle in Blue Mountains National Park

Ruined Castle in Blue Mountains National Park

Ruined castle in The Blue Mountains Nationa Park, 20/2/2022.. We all met up at Central (except April who got on at Glenbrook) for the 2 hour train trip to Katoomba. The plan then was to catch the bus to the top of Furber’s Steps track which left 6 minutes after the train arrived. This was…

Hat Hill Canyon

Hat Hill Canyon

With the holiday period quickly coming to an abrupt end, it was time to squeeze in one last canyon. La nina was even on holidays, so we could all pretend that it had been sunny the whole summer break. I often thought of just Mt Hay Canyon (Butterbox), when it came to ‘H’ canyons, so have obliviously plodded along in life with the GEM that is Hat Hill Canyon right under my nose! So I posted the trip, and had some last minute takers join us, making us a group of 7. Props to…

Woodford Academy and the Transit of Venus Track – Blue Mountains

Woodford Academy and the Transit of Venus Track – Blue Mountains

Walk started at Woodford Station after a relaxing train ride from Central. Group met Jessie at the station with Anh. Walked up the Great Western Freeway and into Woodbury Street and then into Waroona Avenue to get to the Transit of Venus track. Group explored three waterfalls on a walk that is known as one of the oldest walks in the Blue Mountains. Group tried…

Katoomba to Wentworth Falls

Katoomba to Wentworth Falls

Katoomba to Wentworth Falls Traverse We caught the train up to Katoomba early Sunday morning, expecting very cold and wet conditions, we were pleasantly surprised as the ground was in dry and visibility was very good. Starting from Katoomba station, we hiked to scenic world then down to ruined Castle where we had lunch – really nice view, but a bit crowded and also no hot tea as metho had spilled into my teapot. After taking…

Centennial Glen & Porters Pass Loop, Blackheath

Centennial Glen & Porters Pass Loop, Blackheath

Centennial Glen & Porters Pass Loop, Blackheath, Saturday 29th May 2021. I chose Saturday to avoid a clash with Mitchell Isaac’s Navigation Walk, and also because the weather forecast looked a bit better (if colder). And it turned out to be a brilliant almost cloudless day in the Blue Mountains. Our walk…

Canyoning on Newnes Plateau

Canyoning on Newnes Plateau

In sunny but cold weather we met for breakfast in Blackheath before heading up onto Newnes Plateau. Sunnyside Ridge Road has lots of excellent places to visit, but usually requires 4WD. The sidetrails definitely need 4WD. Firetrail #8 brought us to Acoustic canyon, which was an easy walk-through with a few shallow pools to get around. If you…

Tiger Snake Canyon

Tiger Snake Canyon

It had been a couple of weeks since SUBW’s incredible Intermediate Canyoning weekend adventure, and I was keen for more canyon action! Except- with the forecast for overnight temperatures set to -3degrees on the Newnes Plateau, I felt it was time to transition to a drier winter canyon-type of adventure. With this…

Intermediate canyoning weekend

Intermediate canyoning weekend

21 people arrived on Friday at the Old Newnes Hotel campsite in the beautiful Wolgan Valley for a series of canyoning trip designed to consolidate skills learnt at the Beginners Canyoning trip and Abseil Training Day. Some attendees had actually done the Beginners trip in 2019, and others were returning to the club after a few years of busy study, like ex-President Stella. On Saturday…

Cox river from Dunphys campground

Cox river from Dunphys campground

This was my first time co-leading with Aidan in a refresher trip. This year, we were going to the Jenolan river through Breakfast creek. Some of us camped at Dunphy’s campground the day before. Although it was a lively night with earsplitting laughter from one of the other groups, we were able to enjoy the beautiful sky and saw some shooting stars before heading off to bed. The morning…

[Canyoning/Bushwalking] Canyon Exploration [Mon]

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…

Beginners canyoning weekend

Beginners canyoning weekend

Trip Report by Isla Mowbray Please disregard the disruptions Disconnect from the obstructions The of this canopy pleads Unweave the wired that bind Recharge yourself and Re find Another way to be – Excerpt from Dreaming Track by Lorna Munro From the 5-7th of March SUBW ventured out on the Beginners canyoning trip. This was…

Mt-Not-D’Arcy via T3 Track (Colo RiverWollemi NP)

Mt-Not-D’Arcy via T3 Track (Colo RiverWollemi NP)

I drove up to Mountain Lagoon with Laura and Wentao, where we met Michael. We then piled into my car and drove to the start of T3 track, with the hike beginning at 9AM. We headed off down T3 track surrounded by mist, which blocked most of the views. T3 track was overgrown in parts and Michael was so keen to get immersed in scrub that he immediately walked off the main track to bathe himself in it. Once he’d…

Joint canyoning camp with Northern Rivers Bushwalking Club at Mt Wilson

Joint canyoning camp with Northern Rivers Bushwalking Club at Mt Wilson

This was a fantastic four days of intensive canyoning. Six members of NRBC drove down to join us and twelve SUBW members showed up, making 18 participants, but no more than 16 on any one day. The first SUBW people arrived at Cathedral of Ferns on Thursday night, where NRBC had captured the wet-weather shelter! It was good to see Shane again, who had guided us through the Border Ranges canyons in December, and to meet some more Northern Rivers people. Friday morning…

Hat Hill Canyon

The forecast seemed to be reasonably warm in the blue mountains on the sunday so a wet canyon was in order for the day. I had 4 sign ups for the day meeting at Blackheath. Kosta and myself did a car shuffle to avoid walking back in the afternoon heat. The track down into the canyon is still disinct mainly because of the known location and easy access to get into the canyon. There was…

Martins Lookout Loop Via Lost World

Martins Lookout Loop Via Lost World

On a clear and sunny morning, five enthusiastic bushwalkers met at Springwood Staion. Springwood is an interesting little town with some hipster atmosphere. We follow the main road of the town down to a car park, which is the start of a hidden trail down to the Magdala Gully. The trail,…

Deep Pass Canyon & Caving

Deep Pass Canyon & Caving

Originally I had planned to do Hat Hill Canyon but the forecast looked to be foreboding with storms predicted and the temperature wasn’t meant to get above 20 degrees so I changed it to Deep Pass Canyon on the Newnes Plateau. Richmond being the closest train station, we met there at the usual spot to get Maccas coffee. Nam walked…

Wild Dog Mountains

Wild Dog Mountains

With an uncharacteristic forecast of low temperatures in November, it seemed a good opportunity to do a walk in the Wild Dogs which would normally be less than ideal at this time of year. With a couple of weeks notice everyone signed up quite early and that was it. Only one pulled out due to an injury. The plan…