New Years Canyoning at Coorongooba

New Years Canyoning at Coorongooba

Party: Days 1-5, Exploratory: Me, T2 & Bron, Kshitij, Josh and Kosta Day 6 (Jan 1st): Me, Kshitij, Christian, Rick & Robyn, Al, Nicole, Katy, Martin and Mum. Day 7: Me, David, Al, Katy, Martin, Mum and Denis Thanks to both David’s for letting me include their photos! New Years is the time of the year were SUBW visits Coorongooba. Boxing day…

Remoteish Newnes Canyoning

Remoteish Newnes Canyoning

The two SUBW Newnes canyoning trips got merged into one so it ended up being four days of canyoning fun! Can anyone tell me what the spider is? Also are both the frogs Blue Mountains tree frogs? Monday David was on night shift until 6am so we opted for a late start to allow for a quick nap, shopping, etc. I was…

Mistake Ravine and Ranon Brook / Canyon

Mistake Ravine and Ranon Brook / Canyon

Ranon Canyon is a part of an amazing system of deep, dark and spectacular canyons that I’ve heard called the ‘Carmethen Labrinth’. It is truely an adventure to explore with Mistake Ravine, Ranon Canyon, Thunder Gorge, Claustral Brook, King George Canyon and Explorers Canyon all accessible in close proximity and all tributaries of the same pristine creek – Carmethan Brook. The system…

Arethusa & Alpheus canyons

Arethusa & Alpheus canyons

We all meet at 8.15am in Leura. Jack and Tony joined Marty for the drive on Mt Hay fire trail. We left the cars at 8.40am and followed an old fire trail for a while before to go down the ridge. We started the first abseil at 9.15am. Kosta went down first to ridge the second abseil on the right of the tributary that gave us access to Govetts creek. The first…

Grand Canyon followed by Christmas Dinner Walk

Some came for the canyon. Some came for the camping. Some did a different canyon. Some walked in independently. All were part of the SUBW Christmas Dinner Walk 2015. You couldn’t have hoped for better weather for it. For a midsummers’ day, this is as good as it gets, clear blue skies and not too hot, not even down in Megalong Valley where it was just plain hot instead of the usual oven like furnace that you’d expect in Megalong in December. For those…

Stanwell Park Exploratory

Stanwell Park Exploratory

As I expected the walk to not take too long, I decided that we could all sleep in a bit and get the 9.25am South Coast train from Central to our destination, Stanwell Park. BUT, there was a problem: the 9.29am train does not stop at Stanwell park – I had completely overlooked that the South Coast Line has only a measly 2 hourly service to the “smaller” stations on that line! Therefore, I decided that we should go to Thirroul and then catch a north-bound train from there back to Stanwell Park – it would mean being 45 minutes late for the walk start and not an hour late. But then…

Devil’s Pinch & Nightmare Canyons at Newnes

Devil’s Pinch & Nightmare Canyons at Newnes

We arrived at the Newnes campground on Friday late in the evening after seeing too many Wombats and Kangaroos. On Saturday morning John joined us after sleeping a few hours on the way to Newnes. We left the camp early to enjoy the climb while the air was still fresh. Everyone was happy to be at the top of the pipeline track before 8.15am and we enjoyed the lookout for almost a hour. The sky…

Bonnum Pic

Bonnum Pic

Bonnum Pic is an unusual mountain with an unusual name. Noted on an expedition across the Blue Mountains by Francis Barrallier in 1802, he described it as “a mountain very remarkable on account of its pyramidal form”. And indeed it is. It’s a strange promontory of craggy rock pointing for several kilometres toward the Warrangamba Dam near the Wollondilly River, in the Nattai National Park. At it’s…