| 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.
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 exercise in abseiling and scrambling. The beauty of this area is 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. Earlier trips are documented on my original canyons page, and other trips are indexed on my main canyoning page |
As I have been hap-hazardly adding pictures lately, these pages are best viewed at a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels !
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Hole in the Wall, Newnes Saturday 13th January 2007 Vert. Elev: ___ (approx.) Distance : ___ (approx.) Time : 5 hrs (aprox.) Comments: A great canyon and bike ride. Good weather. Crew: Wit Cieslik Denise 'Sparky' Black Steve Thomson Terry the 'Terrier' Eggington Linda 'Leg's' Eggington Belinda Mark Min Ropes: 1 x 50m All photos courtesy of Wit Cieslik. |
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The Description
Hole is the Wall is always a favorite !
You get good value for effort, with a nice walk or bike ride from
the barrier on Warratah Ridge Rd, two distinctly different canyon sections and lastly, a swim up the 'Mighty Bungleboori', which in itself is
worth the visit.
If you do choose to ride, you can easily ride almost all the way to the rocky outcrop. (You will have to push your bake back up though).
Once at the rocky outcrop, head down to the right, (away from the rock) and drop steeply down into the gully that is the start of the canyon.
Some nice walking through some bushy and ferny under-crap ensues and soon the walls begin to gain height on both sides of you. Eventually you will need to resolve to simply getting wet feet as your path now takes you along the creek and through some shallow puddles that are mush easier walked through rather than monkied around. After clambering around a small boulder and drpping yet again into the creek, you find a nice spot to stop for lunch-#1 and donning of rubber suits.
Immediatley following, is a couple of short shallow wades followed by the 1st drop. This is easily jumped or abseiled.
The second drop is somewhat higher, shallower, and has a couple of big logs jammed at awkward angles. Best abseiled !! After this there is a short dark section which is just cool to be in ...
The top part of the canyon kind of opens up after a little while and again you find yourself following the creek and admiring the views.
Without too much warning, the canyon closes in again and we find the creek flowing into a dark cave. Slipping into the waist deep water you can move to the back of the cave and work your way forward by either wrigling up on the right hand side, or wrigleing along on the left hand side.
Having tried both, I currently recomend the LHS. But this is only because as you do so, you end up looking upwards at the myriad of glow-worms up above. (If you try the RHS, there aren't the numbers of glow-worms to keep me interested!).
(A hint if you do go right!! Go up, facing the rock on your left. This allows you to reach up with your right hand for the "hidden jug" that allows you to easily pull yourself through. Most people try facing the other way and spend ages thrashing about for something to push-off with their feet or claw ith their fingers...)
Once through the tight bit, take some time before you emerge into the daylight, to admire the little glow-worms silently going about their buisness above you.
Once outside again, the creek becomes a creek walk again and you move on to the next drop.
This drop used to be anchored from a big bunch of logs directly over the hole. Nowdays, (probably a commercial group) have arranged a new anchor in the crevice on the right hand side. This anchor has been in use for some time now (it was there when we visited with Richard, Whanny and Ben, over two years ago!!), and the rope was worn through at one point. One of the two tapes looked a little worse for wear too.
We decided to replace the worn tape and shorten the rope to remove the dodgy bit. Hat's off to whoever put the rope in place !!! What a difficult spot to get to ! I think next time we may just use the logs as per the old days !
A quick rap down the hole brings us into another cool dark section. The canyon walls curving steeply above. A short climb down (or hand over hand) brings us to the last 'chamber' and one by one, we all squeeze out through the 'Hole' and flop out into the Bungleboori.
Some swimming and clambering upstream brings us to the exit point (on the left), and time to dry out a bit, enjoy lunch-#2 and chat with others. This point is a popular exit for a number of canyons in the area.
Navigation
See the guide(s) ...
Gear
See the guide(s) ...
A 50m is more than adequate.
Images :
Other useful resources, for more information on this canyon :
