With the holiday period quickly coming to an abrupt end, it was time to squeeze in one last canyon. La nina was even on holidays, so we could all pretend that it had been sunny the whole summer break. I often thought of just Mt Hay Canyon (Butterbox), when it came to ‘H’ canyons, so have obliviously plodded along in life with the GEM that is Hat Hill Canyon right under my nose! So I posted the trip, and had some last minute takers join us, making us a group of 7. Props to…
Walk started at Woodford Station after a relaxing train ride from Central. Group met Jessie at the station with Anh. Walked up the Great Western Freeway and into Woodbury Street and then into Waroona Avenue to get to the Transit of Venus track. Group explored three waterfalls on a walk that is known as one of the oldest walks in the Blue Mountains. Group tried…
Katoomba to Wentworth Falls Traverse We caught the train up to Katoomba early Sunday morning, expecting very cold and wet conditions, we were pleasantly surprised as the ground was in dry and visibility was very good. Starting from Katoomba station, we hiked to scenic world then down to ruined Castle where we had lunch – really nice view, but a bit crowded and also no hot tea as metho had spilled into my teapot. After taking…
Centennial Glen & Porters Pass Loop, Blackheath, Saturday 29th May 2021. I chose Saturday to avoid a clash with Mitchell Isaac’s Navigation Walk, and also because the weather forecast looked a bit better (if colder). And it turned out to be a brilliant almost cloudless day in the Blue Mountains. Our walk…
In sunny but cold weather we met for breakfast in Blackheath before heading up onto Newnes Plateau. Sunnyside Ridge Road has lots of excellent places to visit, but usually requires 4WD. The sidetrails definitely need 4WD. Firetrail #8 brought us to Acoustic canyon, which was an easy walk-through with a few shallow pools to get around. If you…
It had been a couple of weeks since SUBW’s incredible Intermediate Canyoning weekend adventure, and I was keen for more canyon action! Except- with the forecast for overnight temperatures set to -3degrees on the Newnes Plateau, I felt it was time to transition to a drier winter canyon-type of adventure. With this…
21 people arrived on Friday at the Old Newnes Hotel campsite in the beautiful Wolgan Valley for a series of canyoning trip designed to consolidate skills learnt at the Beginners Canyoning trip and Abseil Training Day. Some attendees had actually done the Beginners trip in 2019, and others were returning to the club after a few years of busy study, like ex-President Stella. On Saturday…
This was my first time co-leading with Aidan in a refresher trip. This year, we were going to the Jenolan river through Breakfast creek. Some of us camped at Dunphy’s campground the day before. Although it was a lively night with earsplitting laughter from one of the other groups, we were able to enjoy the beautiful sky and saw some shooting stars before heading off to bed. The morning…
From the start we had a couple of different options for a Monday adventure. Both were somewhat exploratory, but I was fairly certain one would be wet. With the forecast looking a bit cold and wet, I decided to revert to Plan B. I met Olivia in Lithgow so she wouldn’t have to brave the dirt roads and met James up at the Bungleboori Campground which looked quite a bit tidier after the Clean Up Australia Day efforts – there were even some ppl camping there! Pooling into my car we headed down the Glowworm Tunnel Rd. To flesh…
Trip Report by Isla Mowbray Please disregard the disruptions Disconnect from the obstructions The of this canopy pleads Unweave the wired that bind Recharge yourself and Re find Another way to be – Excerpt from Dreaming Track by Lorna Munro From the 5-7th of March SUBW ventured out on the Beginners canyoning trip. This was…
I drove up to Mountain Lagoon with Laura and Wentao, where we met Michael. We then piled into my car and drove to the start of T3 track, with the hike beginning at 9AM. We headed off down T3 track surrounded by mist, which blocked most of the views. T3 track was overgrown in parts and Michael was so keen to get immersed in scrub that he immediately walked off the main track to bathe himself in it. Once he’d…
This was a fantastic four days of intensive canyoning. Six members of NRBC drove down to join us and twelve SUBW members showed up, making 18 participants, but no more than 16 on any one day. The first SUBW people arrived at Cathedral of Ferns on Thursday night, where NRBC had captured the wet-weather shelter! It was good to see Shane again, who had guided us through the Border Ranges canyons in December, and to meet some more Northern Rivers people. Friday morning…
The forecast seemed to be reasonably warm in the blue mountains on the sunday so a wet canyon was in order for the day. I had 4 sign ups for the day meeting at Blackheath. Kosta and myself did a car shuffle to avoid walking back in the afternoon heat. The track down into the canyon is still disinct mainly because of the known location and easy access to get into the canyon. There was…
On a clear and sunny morning, five enthusiastic bushwalkers met at Springwood Staion. Springwood is an interesting little town with some hipster atmosphere. We follow the main road of the town down to a car park, which is the start of a hidden trail down to the Magdala Gully. The trail,…
With an uncharacteristic forecast of low temperatures in November, it seemed a good opportunity to do a walk in the Wild Dogs which would normally be less than ideal at this time of year. With a couple of weeks notice everyone signed up quite early and that was it. Only one pulled out due to an injury. The plan…
Originally I had planned to do Hat Hill Canyon but the forecast looked to be foreboding with storms predicted and the temperature wasn’t meant to get above 20 degrees so I changed it to Deep Pass Canyon on the Newnes Plateau. Richmond being the closest train station, we met there at the usual spot to get Maccas coffee. Nam walked…
We got on the train at various places (or in Barbara’s case drove up) and met up at Blackheath Station. All the way until Katoomba we were in sunny weather, but once past Katoomba it became cloudy, and near Medlow Bath the view showed that there was snow falling near Hampton on the Jenolan Caves Road, and around Kanangra-Boyd and The Oldies Ranges (where the 3 Peaks are). At Blackheath…
Although I had limited the walk number to 10, in accordance with COVID19 rules, and the walk filled up, Celina Li had to drop out, opening a space for Reece. Then on Friday and Saturday, three more had to drop out, leaving us with seven. One other person who signed up, Vasu, was nowhere to be seen on Saturday, so must be regarded as a “no show”. The weather…
Unfortunately one outright “no show”, from whom I have still heard nothing. Note that this trip occured in pre-COVID19 conditions hence the numbers. There were a few changes made in the itinerary, some made as we went along to suit the conditions, and a couple forced by unexpected track closures. The day…
A planned mid morning departure from Strathfield got delayed due to my being delayed by a car breakdown right in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge on the M1 (F3), causing an initial half hour delay. Of course the delay meant I ran into heavier traffic on the Pacific Highway and Ryde Road which meant I was 45 minutes late getting to Strathfield. Eventually I…