The canyon log is my chronological account of the various canyon trips that I have been fortunate enough to partake, and in some cases, lead.

Sydney is blessed with an abundance of rugged bush land less than two hours drive away, and in this bush land lie some of the most pristine and delicate environments that can be found.
Visiting these places may require no more than a simple walk along a creek, or demand bush craft and navigation skills just to get there.

These trips are 'canyon' trips which involves starting high in the range and following a creek or stream as it carves it's way down to the river valley. The Kanangra canyons are generally fairly open and following these is an excersise in abseiling and scrambling. The beauty of this area are the panoramic views along the Kanangra Walls and valleys. The incredible ruggedness of the area.

Blue Mountains canyons like Claustral, cut deep into the sandstone below them and over time have worn channels and gutters, deep enough that direct sunlight never reaches the bottom. Walking and swimming through these is a magical tour through a ferny green wonderland. A visit to the lost planet.

I have kept these notes as a reminder to myself of the individual trips, as well as to provide 'some' useful information for following excursions, or to supply to others planning similar outings.
As I have been hap-hazardly adding pictures lately, these pages are best viewed at 1024 x 768 !

Seven and a half hours !!!
Seven and a half hours !!!
Am I so average I simply can't get through this canyon any faster ? And Why am I doing this again in the space of a week ?!?!?
[ [ [ Rewind ] ] ] ]

New Years Eve was a very pleasant affair at home with the flatmates and new 'parents to be', Simon and Cath ! With the weather lifting, the outlook for the fireworks show was good. Careel Bay was uncommonly quiet with the occasional flare or firework to be seen above the water or arcing out from one of the many headlands ringing our area. (We could even see flares up at Gosford!). Drinks and music, food and company continued well into the wee-small hours, with the expectation of seeing the sunrise. Unfortunatly the weather had other ideas and at about 5:30 I decided the overcast drizzle was now a poor second to my comfy pillow, and sleep won me over.
The first day of the new Millenium started fairly quietly for Number 2 , with most bodies stirring around midday. Again the weather was not the best, with overcast drizzle and a very messy sea. Video's and slothing seemed the order of the day and somewhere along the line, someone suggested that we all get out and do something ! Since canyons have high on my agenda recently, I suggested Claustral on Monday (a public holiday with me 'not-on-call'), and every one else said OK ! That done, the wheels were in motion, the hard part had been done, and we returned to enjoying the relaxed feel of the day ! (OH .. I caught up with Tove and Geoff and tuned Geoff in for Monday too!).

Sunday was earmarked for my girls, so up early(er than I would normaly have liked) and off to pick them up and take them shopping! Later that afternoon Sean and I rigged up a couple of ropes down the driveway (have I told you we have an extremly steep driveway ?), and gave Anthea and Nicky a quick intro into abseiling. Thhis worked well and after 15 minutes it was time to graduate to a real cliff, so we grabbed our gear and headed off to Terry Hills. Sensational ! Ed and Anth demostrated no problems at all, and even Nicky managed two drops as well ! (She's growing up so fast !). Anth got her first taste of real scrambling, up the groove from the base of Orgasmotronic, and we packed up and left just before the drizzle started again.
I dropped the girls back home to Sue and bid them adeu and finally headed home to pack for tomorrow and get some food into me. (Have I not eaten all day again ? Bugger!) ...

Monday!

I always drive up to the mountains via Blackheath these days, and as such, I arranged a 6:30 start from home, and asked Geoff to meet us at the carpark for Claustral at 9:30. Sean suggested that we take the Bells Line Rd and this saved us an hour in travel ! (make mental note!). The 3rd day of the new year was the 1st day of sunshine. It seemed we were blessed today. As we settled in to wait for Geoff, with coffee and a frisbee, another vehicle pulled in. A tour group of 8 tumbled out and we chatted with their guide for a couple of minutes and compared group size and weather. As they were the bigger group, but leaving first, their guide offered us use of their ropes if we caught up with them. We thanked them but I wasn't sure if we would catch them. Geoff arrived not too much later and after a bit more frisbee, we too locked up and headed off right on 9:30.

Flatmates Sean, Eddie and Anthea and Geoff

1st Pitch - Claustral Canyon

A very pleasant though somewhat slippery walk down through the ferns and scrub saw us at the creek by 10:00 with no rubbery legs. Excellent! Walking along the creek is very easy these days. The track is very well defined and somehwat eroded, especially at the scrambles. Soft mud spots along the way, churned up by the many feet that have past also seem a sad reminder that these places seem to have a very limited time as 'wilderness'. I like travelling here, and it would be hypocritical of me to say that other's shouldn't. But is is sad to think of what we're doing to the local environment, just by passing through it. Wetsuits were the go at the first swim and Yup ! The faces said it all ... COLD WATER ... Scrambles, Jumps, walking, wades and by 11:30 we were a the top of the first abseil. We had just missed the other group, but could still hear them at the 3rd abseil. Excited now, we wasted no time in harnessing up and sending Geoff and Sean down the hole to set up below.

Anthea "hand-over-hand" -ing

Anth' went next, and from my photo perch above the entry point, I nearly had a heart-attack when she slipped getting past the first edge and nearly let go of the rope ! The short swim proved a major task and Eddie and myself watched from the top as Anth' Struggled to heavthe rope through her rack. Rope drag and water pressure was making the job very difficult, and from our vantage point, we had a bird's eye view of the struggle and exasperation in the cold water. Finally she made it and was safe from the pull of the rope. Ed and I breathed sighs of relief and settled in to wait for a few minutes for Seans call to follow on. Ed scooted off down the drop and reefed himself along the line to dissapear around to the next drop. My turn now and off I follow. The rope drag was phenominal! With a pack full of water I struggled up into the notch above the 2nd pitch and pulled the rope up from below and threaded it through the ring, then pulled the other side up and pulled the top half down. Oddly enough, it was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be. I quickly rapped down Sean and coiled while he pulled. Still coiling, Sean followed the others down the third pitch to meet up with Geoff and after a false start I also followed on. I helped Geoff stow his rope and jumped in to follow Sean around into the last chamber.

Anthea - 1st pitch Claustral Canyon

This chamber is amazing. With the sunlight filtering down, the room takes on the appearance of a green cathedral. Gothic sculptures dissapear into the darkness above. Green moss covers the walls giving the cold rock a warm soft feel, our breath hung as vales of mist behind us. Outside I could see Anth sitting in the sun warming up. This is the area I call The Green Room. (The junction of Ranon Canyon). With the biggest splashes we could muster, we all hurled ourselves into the next swim and enjoyed the classic verticle walls and pools that make this canyon one of the most popular in the Blue Mountains. We reached the Thunder Canyon junction and catch up the the commercial group as they are having lunch. Our lunch consisted of 'killer pythons', green (and red) frogs, space food sticks, and a few soggy breakfast bars.
As the commercial group started making moving on sounds we quickly grabbed our stuff and tailed on, then passed by. Scrambling down to the creek we round a corner and met ... the comercial group again... They took short-cut ... Again we play through, and again we lobbed straight into the middle of them, just around the next bend ! Jeeze... Don't these guys ever follow the creek !
As the walls get higher again, we headed into the the 'Wit's Mistake" area of the canyon and we made good time. Thankfully, the dry conditions meant we didn't have to re-name it Eddie's Mistake. (Everyone was suitably impressed with the drop on the other side!).

Water Dragon

Sure enough, just as we finnished the scramble down from the top of the block, the other party appeared above us, but from the other side !!! how the hell did they get there ?!? Not hanging around now we took off into the corkscrew and hightailed it down the creek. Pausing only to enjoy the jumpins, and the baby brown snake sunning itself on an exposed rock just before a shot drop. This made a nice change from all the water dragons that kept surprising us along the way.

Canyon Snakes ?!? (Brown snake)

Within minutes the sounds of the group behind had faded and we were now once again on our own, and the lead group for a change. Yabbies galore !
The final swim was sensational and also a little sad as it signaled the end of the canyon. We spent a little time packing wetties away and cleaning sand, during which time the other group caught up and gave us a sensational display of varied dive techniques into the final swim.
From memory we began the slog up at 2:30pm, some 5 hours after starting. It certainly didn't seem that long ago.
Two and a half hours later we emerged at the cars and signed ourselves out of the visitors book. Whoo Hoo !

It had been a sensational day and with plenty of daylight left to burn, we headed off to the Kurrajong pub for a very well earned beer.

End of a long day

Eddie emerging from the Black Hole