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

Newnes Canyoning

After a prolonged Sydney winter the warmer weather finally arrived and with that the start of canyoning season!

I drove out west to the abandoned oil shale mining town of Newnes, roughly three hours west of Sydney. It was a stunning day, the only road to our destination hemmed in by the towering cliffs of the Wolgan Valley.

After arriving to the Wollemi Nation Park we packed to the our gear bags and started off down the Wolgan River towards the Starlight Canyon. Not long after we veered off from the river and hiked up a steep track via a gully that would take us to the top of the cliff line.

The tracked thinned at times, and route finding was a little bit tricky in the sparse undergrowth. We lost and rejoined the track several times, but passing through an area black with the after effects of a bush fire caused us to lose the trail completely.

We weren't 100% sure the initial abseil point into the canyon, so we decided to hike to the top of the watershed and find the creek at its inception.

The dry sandy riverbed gradually became a small steam, which gave way to a short pools of water as the cliff walls steadily rose around us and a river formed. Not long after we reached the start of the canyon proper, we could hike no further. Ahead lay a 25m vertical descent into a deep, dark and wet cavern.

As I was leading the group it was up to me to abseil down first, then make sure that the following tunnel section was completely accessible! The rappel down was fun, I donned my head torch and squeezed through the constricting walls, over and under debris, and headed into the darkness. A few minutes in I stopped, turned off my torch, held by breath, and was deafened by the absolute silence. Amazing!

I continued further along until I say daylight, then retraced my steps while the group was still waiting above. They joined me at the bottom of the cavern, and we filed back into the tunnel.

Every so often we shut off our lights and peered above, hundreds of glow worms became visible as our eyes grew accustomed to the darkness.

We pushed onwards until the tunnel ended, the canyon walls were still high above us but we could see the sky.

It was a simple matter of following the river downstream, one more abseil down a small waterfall and a few drops and scrambles down among the smooth rocks and boulders.

Late in the day we emerged at the confluence of the Wolgan River, we struggled out of out wetsuits, crossed the river and started the hike back towards camp. The trail passed through the remants of the oil shale mining, coke ovens and mines falling into disrepair.

It was close to dark by the time we found a nice secluded camp site, we started a fire and cracked a few well earned beers, while we waited for the camp-made pizzas to cook. A memorable day out!

More photos here