Trip 11 11-Apr-98
Calustral re-visited.

I've been planning on re-visiting this canyon for quite some time now.
Details were sketchy and the group size initially grew to 'large' and then, as the date approached, dwindled to 'small'.

My week before was spent in NZ for work, so I had little time to get myself ready and sorted.

My Easter weekend began with 'the flight from hell' back home from Wellington. A 6am flight with the one and only highlight being an episode of Red Dwarf!After a week of perfect weather in NZ I was surprised to land back in Sydney to torrential rain and a Sydney under apparent flood. A slow taxi trip back to the office to collect my car and eventually I'm home at about 1pm. Just enough time to throw some stuff into my pack and head off to meet Patty, Tove and Caroline at Jo's cottage in Medlow Bath. Patty and Tove had taken a few days off to get some climbing in and Tove's friend Caroline was looking forward to a little quiet bush walking in the mountains.

With the deluge of rain, I was becoming apprehensive about the volume of water in the canyon.

I arrived at Jo's in the mid afternoon and was not surprised to find the girls were out climbing. With nothing to do but unwind, I headed off into Blackheath, and had a much needed late 'breakfast' at the Wattle Caffe (where else). Jason the proprietor was his usual friendly gruff self, and the small trickle of locals and tourists kept me amused for an hour or so. Arriving back at Jo's I was met by Patty, coffee and timtams and good catch-up of the weeks events.

Tove and Caroline were out walking, and with the weather lifting, (weather pig already hard at work), we explored the track behind Jo's. Oddly enough, at the end of the track we found an old campsite complete with two onsight vans. Thoroughly disused and apparently abandoned many years ago. We mentioned this to Jo later and she told us of a failed attempt to build an amusement park in the valley below. Apparently some guy sunk a load of cash into purchasing the land, acquiring the council approvals and beginning the earthworks... then went broke !!

We surmised that the vans belonged in part to the site workers. (Folklore and history ?)

The arrival of Tove and Caroline meant it was time to start thinking of dinner (food food food!).. Chinese in Blackheath was ok, even the bit the waitress spilt on the table! Wine was great !

Back to Jo's again and time to start ringing the other canyon hopefuls to finalize meeting plans for tomorrow. One by one our group dwindles ... so now it's down to just Tove and me for the trip. Already I'm feeling this is going to be an adventure unlike previous trips.

7:30am see's the four of us at the start of the walk-in to the canyon. As Tove and I gear up, a couple of other groups arrive and the race is on. We chat briefly with a group of 6 and I realise that we really must reach the abseils before this group of novices. The other group of three (who made an auspicious entrance by sliding across the wet grass out-of-controll and stopping about a foot from Patty's car), gear-up quickly but talk to no-one. We ignore them and class them as yobbos ...

I sign the 'guest register' and we're off (about 10 minutes behind the novices). Tove and I to canyon, Patty and Caroline to bush walk. Tove's pace is fast and I'm not far off jogging to keep up. Patty and Caroline soon drop behind. Suddenly, heavy footsteps from behind ... the yobbos run past at pace. Tove looks at me with surprise, I laugh back and make circles around my ears with my fingers. Tove laughs too and we keep heading down.

Not far before the creek we catch up with the novices and can see the yobbos as well. They have crossed the creek and are suiting and harnessing up. They also advise the novices to do likewise as that's the last place to do it... We're already suited so we play through and power off down the creek. our pace is still fast and we keep ahead of the yobbos for a good while despite that were carrying full packs.

The first swim is bliss!!!

The deep dark water seeps into my wet suit, cooling my overheating body and with it, dissolving my tension regarding water levels. The level is fine! Tove jumps in behind me and just laughs and laughs.

The yobbos are not far behind, we hear their whoops at the first swim only 10 minutes after we've left it. It is inevitable that they will catch up, and I estimate that we'll all meet up again at the abseils. That's cool, these guys seem to know what they're doing. Sure enough they catch us at a climb down and we exchange 'g'days' and offer to let them play through.
They thank us and we follow, now keeping their pace. Eventually this proves to much for me and I drop back and start enjoying the scenery around me.

We reach the abseils just as they put their rope down, and without hesitation, they offer us use of their rope too .. Nice yobbos!

We do the abseils as a party of five. Tove and I being quick and efficient, and very grateful at not having to unpack our rope etc. ... We chat a bit more with the guys and find that they're climbers etc. etc. Cool!

The bottom of the last pitch causes some confusion. Yobbo #2 has assumed control and is now freaking out that he can't 'see any light'...
I say 'your not meant too... the creek goes around two corners here' ...

'bu but but ...' he says. I'm trying to edge past him to jump in and together we jump. As soon as we're in the water he calms down and says ' oh shit ... I forgot about this bit...'
Doh!
We swim through and land in the soft ferny green light that is the junction of Raynon canyon. Tove and I pack our harnesses away and we wait for the other two to arrive. Succumbing to peer pressure (and a little taste of excitement) we all climb the huge mossy boulder and jump into the next swim from about 5m high. At the end of the pool we bid adieu to our new friends, thanked them again for the use of their rope, and moved off at a good pace again.

It was kinda nice knowing there was a competent group behind ... premonition ?
Climb downs, scrambles jump-ins and tunnel swims, what a great place. Tove and I are having a ball. Our friends catch us and play through, and once again we have the canyon to ourselves. I can't believe how quickly we've come so far. It's about 2 and a
half hours since we started, and we're almost at the end of the canyon. One more climb down, two swims and we'll be at the exit for an early lunch I'm thinking.

Tove gently steps across onto the large block that is the last climb down and I step across to join her and point out the way down. I'm not really sure about the next sequence of events. Even though my feet stopped walking, the rest of me just hurtled off the edge...

A 3 meter ropless abseil to a perfect 5 point landing amongst the rocks below. Hands feet and head. I should have bought a lottery ticket. As I came off the top of the boulder, my pack must have caught briefly. It tipped my body forward and then broke at the buckle.
Whilst still in the air, it flipped up over my head and cushioned my impact. Tove was calling out to me and telling me not to move. I could see her scoping out the proper way down and I preyed she wouldn't fall too. I was hurting a lot and really shaken.
Ignoring the good advise, I extricated myself from my pack and tried to stand and walk. Ouch! It seemed hopeful, but not good. Nothing broken at least, and I was mobile under my own power. Tove was great. I thought Id just given her the worst flash back of her life, but she was just glad I was OK !!
At his point I suddenly realized I'd made a great mistake in not packing map and compass. With just the two of us. Any injury was bad. But me being unable to move would probably trap Tove too ...

We had a quick bite to eat and drink (and some panadols) and redistributed much of my pack into Tove's and headed off again. The first obstacle was the little climb down and squeeze through (the only squeeze in the whole canyon). This I thought was, was the best test, getting though this proved I was OK and could do the rest. Albeit slowly. The remaining swims and wades I now looked forward to with both anticipation and dread. Anticipation, because I wouldn't have to put any weight on my leg, and dread because I couldn't kick to swim properly, meaning long slow swims in cold cold water. To help with the pace Tove actually dragged me though one of the shallower ones.

We pushed on from the exit with me wanting to get as far up and out, as quickly as I could go. Scrambling up proved to be OK. Using hands and my good leg, we managed to keep a reasonable pace all the way up to the Camels Hump. From here we had a most magnificent view across the valley, back to the car (transmission tower) and Mt Banks in the opposite direction. With the improvement in leg I surmised that we'd be back at the car by three, and we joked about coffee at the Wattle (Where else), marveled at the vista and had a short break before starting the last part of the walk out.

But the adventure was not over yet !

Following the trail down (down was giving me a lot of trouble) we came to a fork in the road. With hardly any hesitation at all (and without really looking around)... I took the wrong path.
Boy did I take the wrong path. I retrospect it is unbelievable that I took the wrong path... but I did.

We followed this for a while and it just got thinner and scrubbier. We doubled back for a bit thinking we'd come off track by mistake, but no.. we were on a track all right. So on we pushed. Very quickly after this we were so far from the real track, we'd had bucklys of finding it again. We'd also lost sight of the transmission tower and just about anything else that would help position us. From where we were, we could see the main road, but between us and it was a good days travel, due to the canyon slicing the valley below us. We stumbled around a little indecisively for a while with the sun-set clock ticking. Eventually we made the right choice, and headed up. Up would give us a proper view of where we were. Reaching the top we again sighted the transmission tower and Mt Banks. We could also sight the road in two spots, but couldn't for the life of us see the way across. We had long ago realized where I'd gone wrong, but the way things were going, I could tell Tove was thinking the same thing as me. We were going to be out here for the night. Patty was going to be worried sick and NPWS would have a field day ! Shit !

From our vantage point on the crag we surmised that we were much higher than where the track fist crosses the Camel Hump, so our best option now, was again ... down. Ouch!!!
5 minutes later we're on the track again and the world is a better place. Oddly we had rejoined the track BELOW the Camels Hump. With the error of our ways before, so fresh in our minds, we scanned the bush below and to the right. BINGO... there's the causeway ... How could we have missed that !! With nothing left to do now but walk and enjoy the surroundings, we headed out, enjoying the views back into where we'd been all day. We stopped briefly at our water cache to slake our thirsts, rest and soak up the last views before limping up to the car, warm dry clothes, a phone call to Patty to say we're OK, and the promise of beer and steak for dinner.

Dinner with Patty, Tove, Jo her brother and his wife at the Blackheath pub was (I think) the best meal I've had in ages ! A perfect end to a very full and satisfying day.

Many thanks to :
Tove for her enthusiasm to do the canyon, and encouragement when it looked bleak !
Patty for her care and concern !
Jo for the use of the Medlow Bath Tub
Weather Pig for stopping the rain
Yobbo's for the use of their rope in the 'Hole'

Claustral Canyon
Easter Saturday 11/4/98
Start 8:15 - End 16:30