As you can see, a cast of thousands, including a strong contingent (8) from Danmark. France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany, China, and New Jersey were also represented (have I left anyone out??). And not a single “no show”, either! Most of met up at Sydney Central for the 2 hour train trip to Blackheath. We were…
For those who have not had the pleasure of camping in Pindar Cave, I hope this report whets your appetite. Our journey began in the last carriage of the train to Gosford, a carriage designated as a quiet carriage. The loud voices of some of the slightly inebriated passengers almost began a physical altercation that was narrowly avoided. At Wondabyne…
In the end, mine was the only car available for this trip so the numbers were limited by car space and more would have attended otherwise. It was late on a cold and starry night that the party of four arrived at Newnes, setup tents and got into warm sleeping bags. When we woke in the morning our tents had frost on them. The frosty…
This turned out to be a very good walk in good weather, despite a rather chaotic start. And yet again, like for my other walks this year so far, more extraordinary luck with the weather. For a start, when my radio alarm went off it gave – nothing! Apparently the ABC station was offline for maintenance. Thus I…
This was one of the best wilderness trips I have done. The plan was to meet in the Southern Highlands and either packraft the Shoalhaven or go scrambling in the Budawangs if there was no water. As the long weekend approached, and we endured one of the biggest rain events for years it became clear that it would be packrafting. The minimum…
Sometimes persistence pays! And some mountains demand that you “get it right” in order to climb them. And this was very much the case with The Castle, in the wild and rugged Budawang mountains on the mid South Coast. It might be only 820m in height but has 700m of that to climb up, and is regarded as one of the harder mountains in NSW to tackle. On two…
Part 1: Baal Bone Gap to Newnes – ReduxThis trip was completed from Cape Horn to Newnes over three days. A group size of just two made us very efficient allowing success to make it all the way via Red Rocks. Photo highlights include rainbows, sunset and sunrise panoramas and the ‘Pagoda of Death’. Recent rains…
Most of met up at Central Station, and proceeded to Loftus, picking up Hiswaty along the way, and Cathie waiting at Loftus. Normally there is a gap of almost 20 minutes between the arrival of the train at Loftus, and the departure of the tram to National Park. This time the train was a few minutes late which whittled away at the time gap but we still thought that there was time to get a coffee at the cafe at Loftus and still get the tram. The cafe…
We had a leisurely Sunday start, leaving from the locked gate on Glenraphael Drive at 11.00. NPWS have erected a big sign to Castle Head about 700m further down the road, and we turned off, reaching Castle Head trig at 3km. The track continues less than 100m to the first anchor, a solid set of chains on four bolts. The first…
Everyone in the group were quick learners and abseiled correctly using a variety of descenders myself, Tony, April, Ted were using hydrobots while Savannah & Peter were using rappel racks. Just as we about to finish our last set of abseils on the 3 metre slab a small commercial group from the Australian School of Mountaineering came down so we negotiated with the guide which abseiling walls we would use to allow them to train their clients who were on a half day abseiling trip. We moved…
I took a punt on this Sunday being OK weather-wise even though there was a forecast if showers at some time. I was worried that maybe no one would join this walk, but 5 eventually did and got rewarded for it. And indeed I woke up to leaden skies and continual rain that morning. It didn’t…
Denali (Mt McKinley), Alaska 2016 aka “6 toes and 3 fingers later”Putting a team together was a long time in the making. At one point, it looked like we need to split into 2 groups, couple months later – just me and Jack. For training and preparation, I thought – more the merrier. We spread…
This year’s navigation weekend now being run for the 11th time in this format, started eventfully, with an evacuation to Lithgow hospital. Mine was the first car to arrive at Bell station on a mild and slightly overcast Saturday morning and as is almost universally routine practise after a 2 hour drive from Sydney, the first thing you do is wander off into the bushes to answer the call of nature. One of…
Walls Lookout accessed from the Pierces Pass Picnic Area is one of the most exciting vantage points into the Grose Valley. The sheer size and beauty of the cliffs make it an incredible location, and an even more exciting abseil! https://goo.gl/maps/p5V3LEB1dH62 We were lucky enough to have on our trip Peter Baxter who is an IRATA level 3 (Industrial rope access supervisor) so it was a great opportunity for skill development. We stepped…
Given the objective of trip was ‘look for Frank Walfords Cave’, I think we can call it a success. On the other hand, if the objective had been ‘find Frank Walfords Cave’…. As advertised, we did a fair amount of stomping around in thick scrub, close to various clifflines. We found…
Another lucky break with the weather, with the previous day being a bit too hot for this walk, and the day after with heavy rain. The weather forecast for this Sunday was for “a shower or two”, which was accurate; one shower at Woy Woy at 8am, and much heavier rain at 11pm. But in…
Tim and I met Ankit at Westmead Station and headed out towards Windsor. We had dinner and met Geoffrey at the historic Macquarie Arms before setting out again towards Culoul Range Fire Trail. The road was passable for our 2WD sedan with only a couple of minor bottom scrapes. We found…
Photos here : https://goo.gl/photos/dA766LTDVoxTtuh7A I love Namadgi National Park! An easy drive from Sydney down the freeway to Canberra, reveals a mountain filled wilderness that keeps me going back again and again. And in the case of Mt Gudgenby, this was my second attempt. Previously I…
Contrary to the title of this trip, we never even glimpsed or set foot within any of the Bungleboori catchment! Day 1 Noone had signed up for Thursday of the trip so I headed off on my own to check out a cool cave that I’d seen whilst exiting Arethusa Canyon earlier in the week. I started…
Again, a full turnout for a nice walk on a nice day (with one unfortunate late withdrawal due to a sports injury). We met up together (mostly) at Central Station for the 1 hour train trip to Helensburgh, with Zeyu getting on at Redfern, Cathie at Sutherland, and Hiswaty caught up with us at Helensburgh. We then…