Bungonia Creek Canyon

Stop me if this sounds familiar....

I was planning another weekend of camping down in Bungonia national park, but the weather forecast put an end to that. Heavy rains and thunderstorms don't make for the best camping, but rather than write off the entire weekend a friend and I decided to do an alpine start for a day trip.

We left Sydney at 4 AM and were at the trail head by 6:30 AM. The full moon gave way to slightly cloudy skies, but with no ominous thunderclouds in view we liked our chances of getting through the canyon without suffering too much from the weather.

As we hiked along the yellow track we kept an eye out for cannibal snakes, alas, none were to be seen. Perhaps the cold and rainy weather kept them subdued. The track was still wet from the recent rain, as we crossed the upper section of Bungonia Creek the water was flowing considerably stronger than three weeks ago, when it was barely a trickle.

At this point we left the track and followed the water downstream, weaving between boulders, trying to stay dry as long as possible. There was a constant breeze that kept the temperature down, as we came to a point where it was no longer possible to keep walking, we suited up and plunged into the water.

A few swims / wades later we arrived at the first abseil point. We shivered while we sorted the ropes, still in the shade of the rock walls, then rappelled 30m down a steep to a small ledge just above a large pool of water.

In we went, then swam across to dry land to temporarily stow our ropes and continue on. A few more sections of scrambling and wading through deep water found us round a bend into welcome sunshine.

Further on we came to another abseil point, the confluence of Bungonia Creek and Jerrara Falls, the canyon we complete three weeks prior. Due to the heavy rain, Jerrara Falls was pumping, it would have made the abseil down very adventurous. Luckily the creek we were on had a smaller catchment and our abseil was easily straight forward. Sixty metres to another small ledge above another large pool, we swam across soon came to the final descent.

Here the water was running strong, we safely navigated the water sightly upstream of the water, then set up our ropes. I was the first one over, bearing the full force of the water as I descended. The heavy current took one end of the rope and it managed to get stuck on a rock out of reach, but I was too low to dislodge it. I unclipped from the rope, and slung my rope around a nearby tree to safely rappel to the bottom.

I couldn't communicate the problem to Justin over the roar of the water, my hand signals were illegible, but luckily he figured out what had happened and manage to get his rope unstuck before it was too late. We safely made it across the lake, amazed at how the area had been transformed by the downpour.

The easy part was done, we now had to navigate the swollen gorge floor, where only weeks before it was a dry sandy riverbed. It was slow going but it wasn't long before we arrived to the Red Track entry, de-suited, and began the steep and laborious hike back to the top of the gorge. Forty minutes later we were in dry clothes and heading back to Sydney, seven hours after we started that morning.

It had turned out to be a gorgeous day, and I loved the pre-dawn start. Worth every moment.

More photos here

 

Jerrara Falls Canyoning

Back to Bungonia Gorge, this time to explore the upper reaches of national park and do some canyoning!

We drove down on Friday night, traffic accidents and night works adding another hour onto the trip time. We didn't arrive too late, after dodging a lumbering wombat near the entrance we joined up with a friend, set up the tents and tried to get some sleep. The next day was due to be a big one.

The sounds of birds and wildlife awoke me at dawn, wasting no time I brewed a cup of coffee and packed the canyoning gear for the day. Two hundred metres of rope, carabiners and prussic cord in case of emergency, some thermals if it got cold and plenty of snacks to keep me going.

It was shaping up to be a gorgeous day, the rest of the party arrived not long after and soon we were ready to go. We started off down the 'yellow track' on our way to Jerrara Falls lookout, marking the start of our canyoning trip.

A few minutes later I spotted something up ahead, we got a little closer before it finally registered what we were seeing. By the side of the trail, a huge red belly black snake was devouring another snake! (Most likely an Eastern Brown snake). What an unbelievable sight! The black snake stopped as soon as it noticed us, I kept my distance to get a few photos, before giving it a wide berth and continuing along the track.

In all of my time hiking, climbing and camping down in NSW, I hadn't come across any snakes, to come across two in such exceptional circumstances was thrilling! It wouldn't be the last snakes we saw that day...

It took about 45 minutes until we reached the upper section of the route, we paused before the first scramble down to get everything ready. We heard a splash in a nearby pool, turned and saw another snake swimming through the water away from the noise we were making.

Considering that we were about to spend the rest of the day hiking, abseiling, and swimming through many similar pools, seeing snakes in the water didn't do much to ease our nerves. Especially since I would be leading the way. All I could do was hope that they were more scared of use than we were of them, and we would make enough noise to scare them off.

It began with a short scramble down a rocky section, then across a shallow pool until we saw a chock stone with some tape wrapped around it. Our first abseil point. I rigged the ropes and rappelled down a wet narrow slot to a small rocky platform. The others came down while I assisted, I then pulled the rope down leaving us no option but to continue onward.

We hiked and scrambled along, wading through pools of water at times, until we came to a point where the canyon widened and a large pool of water blocked our way.

I swam to the other side while the others checked the depth of the water out from the highest ledge. The others jumped while I shot photos, then we continued downstream to the next abseil point.

This involved a slightly longer rappel down a rocky corner into another large pool, once navigated we waded through the pool and continued downstream after a short break.

The next abseil was off a huge boulder wedge between the narrow canyon walls. The abseil was directly into a deep lake, and another swim through the canyon awaited.

Further down steam we went,until we arrived a large ledge overlooking the confluence between Jerrara Falls Creek and the Bungonia River. This was the longest abseil by far, I threw 2x70m ropes down to make sure we'd get to solid ground, and another 60m rope down to reach the water. It was only just long enough, but we all made it down without too much difficulty, pulled the ropes and continued on to the other side.

We followed the nascent stream down further, until we came to the final abseil of the day. I crossed the water to the abseil point, threw the ropes over the edge for the final time, and was on my way. I followed the waterfalls down, and stopped on another ledge on the edge of a large pool of water. Once the rest of the group was down, I packed the ropes away and swam across to join them.

One final scramble down took us to the base of the canyon. All that was left was to hike a few kilometers downstream, navigating the boulder fields strewn along the mostly dry river bed.

Eventually we arrived at the base of the red track, what lay ahead was a severely steep hike back to the top of the gorge. A strenuous task at the best of times, a painful endeavour after a day of canyoning and carrying 140m of waterlogged ropes on my back. Knowing the some cold beers and dry clothes were awaiting my return to camp I soldiered on. It took about 45 minutes to reach the top, my calves screaming with every step. We were back on the green track which eventually wound its way back to camp, almost 10 hours after setting off.

Exhausted, we dumped our gear, dried off and sat down for a well earned dinner. It wasn't long before tiredness took over and we retired for the night.

I was awoken again at the crack of dawn, I struck camp in-between coffees and packed everything back into my car. The others left back to Sydney while I explored some climbing areas near the top of the gorge, there was no way I was venturing back down into the gorge!

It was already getting warm by the time I found the routes I was looking for, so made my way back to my car for the long drive back to Sydney.

It was an amazing weekend full of memorable moments, one that I hope to repeat soon!

Lots more photos here