This proved easier than we had anticipated from the sparse descriptions available online, but still a spectacular trip. The day before we had run a beginners canyoning trip through the lower, tourist section of Macquarie Rivulet, and this trip followed the rest of the Rivulet, from the top of the Illawarra Escarpment at 600m to where we had started the beginner trip at around 200m. We did…
Eighteen people on a beginners canyoning trip sounds pretty demanding, but in fact we only had 11 beginners, with four old lags who volunteered to show people the ropes plus three people who knew the ropes but came along for the ride. Many thanks to one of those, Peter Baxter, who brought some superb camera gear and volunteered to be trip photographer. Some of…
Another walk with a cast of thousands, demonstrating that there are eager people out there wanting to go on walks…. We met together at Circular Quay and set off on the half hour ferry ride to Manly, encountering a bit of a swell crossing the heads. Anne met up with us on the Manly Wharf. From there…
A great roll up for the new member walk, 16 brand new members with only two Existing members, myself and Cathie (who was back up person, pre-arranged before O Week). And not a single “no show”! Even though almost everyone had met up at Central Station 8 minutes before train departure, Almost all of us found it impossible to get a seat on this 4 car train. This meant…
With the weather forecast being partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and this trip being my first time leading a SUBW trip I decided we would do some of the easy to moderate graded canyons at Mt Wilson. We met at 8am at the Cathedral of Ferns campground; there were a total of 5 of us for the sat canyon. Tony caught…
The Tahmoor Gorge, (or Canyon as it’s otherwise named) and Mermaids Pool are located on the Bargo River, just north of Mittagong. It is one of Sydney’s little “secret” spots that has somehow remained off the radar for many bushwalkers. The area has recently been the subject of a conservation campaign, as there is proposed residential development nearby that will put the ecology of the area under threat. Even in…
Jennifer and myself arrived with our cars at Woy Woy Station and met up with Cathie Emma and Maricar. Marie was running late due to her infrequent bus service, and as the next train she was on was only 20 minutes behind, we decided in the meantime to take a walk around the Woy Woy waterfront. here we…
This trip was planned to combine the talents of an enthusiastic group of canyoners and those interested in aboriginal artwork and conservation. Over four big days we managed to achieve a good balance of these interests. Our trip started on Thursday afternoon with some catching the train and some driving up and over the mountains. Sadly Pete…
On Thursday night it rained. Solidly. On Friday it just kept raining. And as Friday evening, our time of imminent departure, approached, it just kept raining. “Irresponsible and dangerous,” some were told. “Have to call it off,” I heard it said. But was it? In the end the SUBW club motto prevailed and I made the call, “Press On Regardless”. The trip…
Our plan was to camp Friday night for an early start and do two full days in the river, covering about 50km. For reasons to be explained we ended up exiting after 28km at Bob Turner’s Track. We had standard problems with people being delayed, but in the end three of us ended up camping at the top of Canoe Creek Track, while Chris arrived next morning. About the…
Party: Days 1-5, Exploratory: Me, T2 & Bron, Kshitij, Josh and Kosta Day 6 (Jan 1st): Me, Kshitij, Christian, Rick & Robyn, Al, Nicole, Katy, Martin and Mum. Day 7: Me, David, Al, Katy, Martin, Mum and Denis Thanks to both David’s for letting me include their photos! New Years is the time of the year were SUBW visits Coorongooba. Boxing day…
The two SUBW Newnes canyoning trips got merged into one so it ended up being four days of canyoning fun! Can anyone tell me what the spider is? Also are both the frogs Blue Mountains tree frogs? Monday David was on night shift until 6am so we opted for a late start to allow for a quick nap, shopping, etc. I was…
Ranon Canyon is a part of an amazing system of deep, dark and spectacular canyons that I’ve heard called the ‘Carmethen Labrinth’. It is truely an adventure to explore with Mistake Ravine, Ranon Canyon, Thunder Gorge, Claustral Brook, King George Canyon and Explorers Canyon all accessible in close proximity and all tributaries of the same pristine creek – Carmethan Brook. The system…
We all meet at 8.15am in Leura. Jack and Tony joined Marty for the drive on Mt Hay fire trail. We left the cars at 8.40am and followed an old fire trail for a while before to go down the ridge. We started the first abseil at 9.15am. Kosta went down first to ridge the second abseil on the right of the tributary that gave us access to Govetts creek. The first…
Some came for the canyon. Some came for the camping. Some did a different canyon. Some walked in independently. All were part of the SUBW Christmas Dinner Walk 2015. You couldn’t have hoped for better weather for it. For a midsummers’ day, this is as good as it gets, clear blue skies and not too hot, not even down in Megalong Valley where it was just plain hot instead of the usual oven like furnace that you’d expect in Megalong in December. For those…
As I expected the walk to not take too long, I decided that we could all sleep in a bit and get the 9.25am South Coast train from Central to our destination, Stanwell Park. BUT, there was a problem: the 9.29am train does not stop at Stanwell park – I had completely overlooked that the South Coast Line has only a measly 2 hourly service to the “smaller” stations on that line! Therefore, I decided that we should go to Thirroul and then catch a north-bound train from there back to Stanwell Park – it would mean being 45 minutes late for the walk start and not an hour late. But then…
We arrived at the Newnes campground on Friday late in the evening after seeing too many Wombats and Kangaroos. On Saturday morning John joined us after sleeping a few hours on the way to Newnes. We left the camp early to enjoy the climb while the air was still fresh. Everyone was happy to be at the top of the pipeline track before 8.15am and we enjoyed the lookout for almost a hour. The sky…
Bonnum Pic is an unusual mountain with an unusual name. Noted on an expedition across the Blue Mountains by Francis Barrallier in 1802, he described it as “a mountain very remarkable on account of its pyramidal form”. And indeed it is. It’s a strange promontory of craggy rock pointing for several kilometres toward the Warrangamba Dam near the Wollondilly River, in the Nattai National Park. At it’s…
We met David at Claustral car park at 8.00am on Saturday morning. The parking was already full of people getting ready to do Claustral, I think 4 or 5 groups did it that day. We drove to Mt Banks picnic area and left the second car at 8.25am. From there it was a short walk via the firetrail and a ridge that leaded us upstream of the wet section of King George Brook Canyon. The upper…
Having been postponed from the previous weekend because of the wet weather, this Sunday was much kinder, with the forecast only being “a slight chance of showers”. The weather remained overcast and mild – and dry – the whole day. Meanwhile a communications problem caused a potential loss of contact with the walkers, as Telstra internet locally went down on friday night probably related to the extreme heat that day, and then the web-based email system also went off line for the whole weekend. Fortunately none…