Category Archives: Bushwalking

Bonnum Pic (overnight) 27-28 July 2019

We’d only visited Bonnum Pic once previously, back in 2013, and we hadn’t taken a tape. That meant unfinished business as we hadn’t gone right to end. I was nursing a calf injury so needed something flat-ish and short-ish; Tom was keen on high camps for sunset/sunrise photography; and with the unfinished business of getting to the end… I thought it was a genius idea to do this walk again but this time as an overnight trip. We had one of the most leisurely starts I can remember for a walk – leaving the cars at 11:40am. There were quite a few cars at the start so we figured we’d see the various day trippers at some point in the afternoon.

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I’d seen some comments on bushwalk.com about an ‘obvious’ camp so I wasn’t really looking out for campsites as we made our way along the cliff edge. But by the time we hit some of the more scrambly section we hadn’t seen anything obvious and it looked unlikely that there was going to be anything in front of us. Ditching packs we continued walking out along the narrowing ridge – glad to have the extra agility now being packless!

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Tom doing the ‘slide of death’

At the slide of death we had a bit of discussion of which tree to anchor off and whether the tape was actually doing anything other than being a mental aid! Lewis elected to stay there and enjoy the views while Tom & I made our way to the end – new territory. We found the log book – for a few years it seemed to be dominated by SBW’s John K who seemed to have an entry every other page.

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Low dam levels in the distance

The dam levels are noticeably low – not a surprise but sometimes having a visual makes things feel more real.

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The end of the pic

Having had our full of views and happy-snapping (is it happy-snapping when your camera weighs 1.5kg?) we returned to the slide.

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Lewis waiting above the slide

Getting back up the slide was the harder bit. I managed to get my left leg stuck in the crack which took a while to wriggle out of. Tom did the same thing before deciding that facing forward rather than out was a better option.

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Now the hard bit getting back up

Going facing into the rock meant the tape was definitely more than just a mental aid!

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See that effort!

 

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The crux done

So now we had to find a camp – one that clearly wasn’t that obvious since we hadn’t seen it on our way out. We back tracked up onto the last flatish plateau and split up to look for options. There wasn’t anything great, but with only 3 of us we didn’t need much flat space. The good thing about being up on the ridge was there was definitely no need to collect firewood.

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Our (2 star?) campsite

After happy hour on the cliffs for sunset we made it back to the campsite before dark. We had pleasant night around the fire and retired to bed at bushwalker’s midnight.

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Sunset, with Mt Colong dominating the horizon

With no time pressure the next day Tom of course got up before dawn for some sunrise photography. It was a glorious walk back along the pagodas with the morning light. We managed to stay on the cliff edge a lot more compared to our ‘inland’ route the previous day, which gave lots more views and fun on the pagodas.

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On the way back

 

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Lovely rocky walking

 

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More views

We had morning tea out on another rocky outcrop before winding our way back through the bush. At the fence line we met another walker who sounded like he had spent a couple of hours just getting to that point – trying 3 different routes before finally ending up there. We wished him luck in getting out to the cliffs, but it was a reminder that the walk isn’t completely straightforward if you’re not used to following rough footpads.

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Cliffs above Burnt Flat Creek

We were back in Mittagong at lunch time – a great, if short, walk in the bush.

Rejuvenating, while being scratched to pieces, in nature (8-10 June 2019)

With the combination of an injury and work deadlines it had been 6 weeks since I’d been out in the bush and boy did I need to get out. All 3 of us were nursing foot injuries so this was meant to be a chance to get out and enjoy being in the bush without being too strenuous. So of course we started our long weekend loaded up with several litres of water, ropes, harnesses and at the last minute my down jacket also made it’s way into the pack (another 800g I really didn’t need to be carrying).

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Tom and Jonathan above the cloud (and in it at times)

Tom’s SLR soon got some action, to justify the weight, with lots of low lying cloud about.

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Tom and Jonathan with the river of cloud

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Where is everything??

Eventually we made it to the spot we planned to base camp and had lunch. The cloud continued to envelop us from time to time and it wasn’t conducive to sitting around. That said, it was still after 1:30pm when we set off to do our canyon. “How long will it take?” asks Jonathan. “A few hours”. Ok, well we have 3.5 hours till sunset….

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Getting scrambly

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This is meant to be dry canyoning! (As Jonathan bravely abseils into a pool of unknown depth)

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Climbing pagodas

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The cloud still about as the sunsets

We stumbled into camp well after dark, fortunately no one going over a cliff edge in the dark. Despite our 5am wake-up and a solid day of activity we didn’t go to bed till after 10pm. I slept like a log. Tom was up early to photograph sunrise but I enjoyed a sleep in. We knew we had the luxury of more time today, but also a longer canyon. I suggested we should get going and save any relaxing for when we got back to camp (hopefully in the light) later in the day. Even so we weren’t away much before 10am.

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Next morning still plenty of low cloud

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Tom and Jonathan checking out another river of cloud

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Getting slotty

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The man in nature

Despite both Tom & I having done this canyon previously there were many abseils, some awkward, some requiring particular care with rope placement, others needing to be doubled-up, so we didn’t make any speed records getting through the canyon.

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Slightly awkward abseil

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Another awkward abseil

The others started on lunch at 2pm in the feeble sun in the creak bed while I went to look for some water. We’d picked some up the day before but not in a spot we could get to today, I went a long way downstream and didn’t find any. Oh well, we’d have to make the 7L we had back at camp do. I scoffed my lunch on my return and then we were off. Detouring off from the exit I found a couple of pools – not the most attractive looking but definitely good for putting out the fire, and probably fine for drinking if you didn’t mind heavily tannined water.

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Camp

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Bliss. Happy hour, quiz and sunset.

We made it back to camp in the light – but only with half an hour to spare. The sun was already lighting up the cliffs opposite camp with magnificent colours so we settled in for cheese & biccies and Good Weekend Quiz. (For the record a respectable 18/25).

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Sunrise from the comfort of my sleeping bag – some advantages to sleeping under a fly!

Our final day I decided to stay at camp with the Good Weekend while the others went to explore another small creek. Then it was just a matter of retracing our steps back to the car – easier said than done when we were all feeling the impact of a much harder weekend than planned! Relieved to be back at the cars we then had a slow drive home in the long weekend traffic – broken up by apple pie at our usual stop on Bells Line. A great weekend in the bush – though maybe next time we need something a little easier after a 6 week lay off!

 

FNQ: Paluma (19-22 Apr 2019)

With Nationals in Townsville over the ANZAC weekend and Easter falling the weekend before there seemed no excuse for spending a bit more time in Far North Queensland. Originally we had hoped to do some canyoning but with our collective fitness and the effort of lugging all our gear we ended up settling on just bushwalking. We based ourselves in the very small village of Paluma which has a great trail network right on its doorstep.

Day 1: Wallaman Falls

Wallaman Falls is Australia’s tallest single-drop waterfall, with the main drop being 268m. After two flood events during this year’s wet season all of the waterfalls we visited were pumping!

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All 268m of Wallaman Falls

 

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You know it’s big when you struggle to fit someone into the photo at the bottom

 

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Warning!

 

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Grass trees

 

Day 2: Jourama Falls

Originally we were going to do our walk to Crystal Creek today but as we were driving to trailhead not that long before 10am we decided it might be a bit late in the day to start. Instead we headed down the hill and around to Jourama Falls. There are some lovely rock pools to swim in below the main falls but our destination was the top of the falls. Beyond the tourist lookout is a bushwalker’s pad which takes you around to the top of the falls. It was hot and sweaty work but we were well rewarded with a swim, views and the place to ourselves.

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The multi-cascaded Jourama Falls from the tourist viewpoint

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Almost level but a fair way to go to before a swim

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Dry feet crossing

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Finally swim time!

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Wet feet crossing

Abseiling Jourama Falls was one of our intended canyoning trips – but I wasn’t too disappointed we weren’t. The amount of water was intimidating and the bolt placements were such that you would be rapping directly through the main falls.

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Checking out the first major drop

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Looking downstream

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First drop

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The joys of not camping 🙂

Day 3: Crystal Creek Falls, Birthday Creek Falls

This was by far our biggest day. Started walking around 8am and not back until 5:30pm. Following the most recent flood event the road to Birthday Creek Falls (and Paluma Dam) was closed so the only way to visit was to walk. I had came up with a loop which took in Ethel Creek Falls, Crystal Creek Falls, Torsten’s Rockgarden and Birthday Creek Falls and completely exhausted us!

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Rainforest walking

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Ethel Creek Falls

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Well marked track junctions

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I’m not sure I’d want to be crossing this creek if you needed to use that rope!

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The top cascade of Crystal Creek Falls

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Crystal Creek Falls

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Fungi

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Trail marker

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Vegetation

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Torsten’s Rock Garden

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Swimming below Birthday Creek Falls

Day 4: Cloudy Creek Falls

After our big day yesterday we just did the local tourist walks that most visitors do.

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Crossing Cloudy Creek Falls

This finished up at the Rainforest Inn, the only cafe in Paluma (opening hours vary generally open Fri – Mon). I’d read about the scones on the web and they did not disappoint!

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Rainforest Inn, Paluma

Kanangra: Pages Pinnacle & more (13-14 Apr 2019)

10 years later, another party in a cave, this one a bit more work to get to! Tom & I decided to avoid the out and back walk by pioneering a new route (for us) in. We started the day with breakfast at the Kanangra Walls lookout which was lovely and were walking by 8am.

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Early morning views

I’d been meaning to get to Pages Pinnacle for many years but I was a bit disappointed on approach. It was slightly more interesting once we got on top and scrambled up on one of the large rocky outcrops. I made things a bit tricky for myself by stuffing apples in both pockets and then trying a beached whale manoeuvre to get up on top.

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Morning tea at Pages Pinnacle

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Descending Pages Pinnacle

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Descending Pages Pinnacle

After morning tea we descended 600m via Crafts Ridge down to Gingra Creek which was very weedy.

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Hmm. How do we get out of this weed infestation?

After a few minutes we managed to pick up the Old Cedar Road which was reasonable going above the creek until we lost it.

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The Old Cedar Road

Sick of sidling we descended into the creek and stayed in it until it was time to ascend. The rocks were quite slippery but at least we were away from the thorn bushes and weeds.

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But then we reverted to the creek

From the creek we had a 600m climb up to Ti Willa Plateau. I was feeling great and raced up the first 250m but was then a bit disheartened when I realised that was all we’d climbed. The vegetation got worse as we got higher, and we were tiring so the last half hour was a slog. Tom was joking about whether Caoimhin & others would be at the cave when we got there. My response was ‘of course!’, given we were going to arrive after 5pm and their plan had been to get there about 3:30pm.

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Near the top of the ridge

It was very quiet as we approached the cave. We were the first. We seem to be making a habit of this. Hopefully they weren’t in the wrong cave somewhere else! We set about gathering firewood and a few minutes later heard voices. As is often the case with large, disparate groups there had been a late start and things had taken longer than expected. Nevertheless everyone was happy to be there and it wasn’t long before we were settled in around the fire.

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At the cave. But where is everyone else?

Everyone fulfilled their duties to the birthday boy by performing a poem or song and then it was time for bed after a big day. Sorry, before bed it was time for cake, peaches and custard!

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They turned up!

The wake-up call was the Happy Birthday song on the recorder (sadly no snooze button). Breakfast also involved peaches and custard, sadly standards had slipped in 10 years and there were no pancakes this time. Most people a little scarred from the previous day decided an early start was in order to avoid a late finish. We were the last ones away at around 8:30am.

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Check out that view!

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Caoimhin pointing… maybe not at a feature this time!?

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Log book entry

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Views back towards Ti Willa Plateau

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Tom grumpy about something (being asked to smile?)

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Looking a bit happier now

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Climbing up from Gabes Gap

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Gordon Smith Pass

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Never get sick of this view

The walk out was fairly uneventful other than the somewhat common issue of someone ending up on the coal seam cave track instead of at the Walls, fortunately self-corrected and we didn’t have to send out a search party. A great weekend in the bush – looking forward to seeing which cave we’re going to in 10 years time.

Wineglass Tor (30-31 March 2019)

Another Saturday morning driving South out of Sydney with the rain pouring down. At least this week I was fairly confident we would drive out of it into a clearing weather pattern. Things were looking good when we met the rest of the group at Sutton Forest as 1) we hadn’t run out of petrol on the way and 2) it wasn’t raining. We had a pretty efficient rearrangement and headed off in two cars to the start of the walk. Less promising when the rain started again, and perhaps a little nervous when we started discussing which road we were taking in and Alex says “oh not that one! I’m sure when we were driving it a couple of months ago Paul & I definitely agreed it would be dreadful in the rain”. Anyway we made it through the various puddles and pools, only slid around on a couple of clay sections and both cars were still intact when we got to the end of the road. Unfortunately it was still raining. Tom had been forecasting a slippery track down to the Shoalhaven but it wasn’t too bad, and the rain stopped part way down and the fog cleared for some views. We had morning tea at the river and hunted around for a crossing point.

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A damp and foggy descent to the Shoalhaven River

We crossed without any issues near the start of the Back Bender Walking Track (as marked on the topo map).

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Crossing the Shoalhaven River

Then it was time to find our way on to the rather steep looking ridge and the track. From this point on the trip was exploratory for me. We climbed steeply on to the ridge. I wasn’t surprised we didn’t pick up a track at the bottom but I had expected once we were on the ridge proper it would become apparent. What became apparent was the track was theoretical. The ridge was steep and somewhat vegetated so it was a bit of a slog up the 600m climb. We weren’t progressing at quite the speed I planned for so we had lunch most of the way up the ridge. The wind picked up around now and I comfortably walked in my walking shirt, fleece and rain coat for rest of the day!

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Tom half-way (??) up Backender (Backbender?) Buttress

Interestingly the topo has the Buttress labelled as Backender Buttress, but the (theoretical) walking track is called Backbender Walking Track. Presumably a typo?

The wind was brutal but we were happy to be walking along the ridge and starting to get some good views.

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All smiles now that we’re at the top with some views!

Roger located Touga West Trig which is a bit back from the cliffline and a bit of ridge navigating took us around and on to the Wineglass Tor ridge.

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Roger on Touga West Trig

If the logbook at the Touga Trig is anything to go by it doesn’t get many visits. We were the second visit in 2019, but there were none in 2018!

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Roger with the logbook at Touga Trig

We had a break and enjoyed the views from Wineglass Tor. The wind was a menace which meant it wasn’t the most relaxing break.

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Roger with Wineglass Tor

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Alex with his goon bag (get it?)

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Jo’s the Queen of the World! (and check out Great Horseshoe Bend)

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Alex hiding from the wind

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Tom trying to exert his (presidential) authority

From Wineglass Tor we had to follow a series of intricate ridges around the tops of Battery Spur, Potty Dodger Spur, over Specimen Hill and then down, down, down. The final ridge we descended was pretty steep in places but gave up great views into Tims Gully.

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Patsy and Jo almost at the bottom of the ridge

We made it to our excellent campsite just on 6pm and had a rather late happy hour commencing after 7pm!

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Back at the Shoalhaven trying to decide where to camp

The consequence of the late arrival was everyone was up until Bushwalker’s Midnight (9pm) and many until Alex’s version of Bushwalker’s Midnight (10pm).

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Action round the campfire

The next morning we did an optional trip up Tims Gully to Sparkes Falls. The majority opted for a later wake-up and relaxing morning but Roger, Jo and I headed up the creek.

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Lack of action around the campfire!

Tims Gully wasn’t particularly exciting and it was very dry which made walking up it fairly straightforward. It was only when we got in the immediate vicinity of Sparkes Falls we found some decent pools. The Falls themselves only had a trickle going over but they were still pretty impressive given how slowly the creek had been rising to that point.

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Jo contemplating… but what?

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Jo and Sparkes Falls

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Walking in Tims Gully

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Typical Tims Gully terrain

Back at camp we all packed and had lunch. Tom had located a reasonable crossing point just before Little Horseshoe Bend while we had been off in Tims Gully.

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Shoe changeover time after crossing the Shoalhaven again

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That hill is what we’re climbing in a minute

The ridge was much more pleasant than Backender Buttress. Climbing steeply before flattening into a lovely narrow ridge with great views over the Shoalhaven. I was somewhat surprised to find the remains of fencing going along the ridge!

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Tom part way up

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Looking down near our camp

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Stunning narrow ridge walking

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You find fences in the strangest places

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One side of Little Horseshoe Bend

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The other side of Little Horseshoe Bend

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Our narrow ascent ridge

I enjoyed the climb up the efficient (in other words steep) and fairly clear ridge.

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Jo taking in the views, most of the climbing done

Once at the top we picked up an old fire trail then went cross-country back to the cars. A great weekend out in lesser visited region (at least for SBW!).

Barren Grounds (16 March 2019)

The forecast was horrid and I was close to cancelling the walk. It was pouring with rain as we drove down. Fortunately the rain cleared and we barely got a sprinkle all day! It was a great walk given the conditions as we were mainly on fire trail all day so didn’t get saturated by the wet bush.

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A corridor of ferns

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A curious viewing platform

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A somewhat hidden trig

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Drawing Room Rocks

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Drawing Room Rocks

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Drawing Room Rocks

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Drawing Room Rocks

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Tom and The Stone Bridge (flow was very healthily going over it as well as under)

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Always the season for a water jump

O’Hares Creek exploration (9 Feb 2019)

I’d been searching for a new walk to put on the SBW Program back in November when the Summer Program was being compiled. Flicking through the Wild Swimming Australia book I’d seen Jingga Pool and Minerva Pool but with both being short walks from the car park they didn’t quite fit the brief for an SBW trip. Instead I made up a route which followed fire trails that paralleled O’Hares Creek before we’d bashing to the creek and following it downstream.

The day started fairly uneventfully, the most difficult obstacles of the day being large golden orb spider webs which covered the track.

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Difficult obstacles early on

We arrived at O’Hares Creek in time for morning tea, at a lovely pool. Of course it didn’t take Alex and Tom long to get in.

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Morning tea swimming time

After morning tea we were straight into the swimming with a large pool to cross to continue downstream. And so the pattern was set – swim, walk on some rocky slabs, squeeze through some river gums, and on we went. It felt like there was more swimming than walking! The banks were not looking great for walking so we generally stuck to the creek.

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Beautiful cascades

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One of many swims

At one point despite there being a perfectly good jump rock Alex decided he was going to jump out of a tree. It provided us with a lot of entertainment…

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What’s that in the tree?

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Is it a leopard?

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Maybe a panther?

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More likely a drop bear!

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Oh, it’s superman

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Exiting after another swim

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Alex forgot to bring tea bags so tried out casuarina needle tea… not sure it will become a thing

We had a relatively early lunch since there were potential storms forecast and some clouds had started gathering. Looking at the map I concluded we’d only covered 1.5km in the 2 hours since morning tea. With over 3km to go we were unlikely to be having an early finish!

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It’s only lunch time and they already look exhausted!

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Vivien on a nice slabby section

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Intricate weathering

Fortunately the brooding clouds blew away and we didn’t get any rain or storms that had been forecast. Just a warm day (early 30s) which was good given how much swimming we were doing.

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Melanie swimming again

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River gauge near Cobbong Creek junction

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Sundews

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Nearing the junction with Stokes Creek

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Crossing Stokes Creek

Eventually we made it to Jingga Pool, where unsurprisingly there were some other people. Alex was warned not to jump as the water wasn’t deep enough, but after depth testing, Alex was jumping (no surprises there).

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Admiring Jingga pool

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Synchro jumping

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The aftermath

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More jumping

From Jingga Pool it’s only a short, but very steep, walk back to the car park.

A fun day out in a new part of NSW.

Wollangambeing Around (2-3 Feb 2019)

We didn’t have any plans for the weekend, and Emmanuelle had suggested an overnight camp. Tom came up with a different route in and out which worked well with the weather – a cool, drizzly Saturday followed by a sunny, warm Sunday. Saturday was spent on the ridges, paying attention to navigating.

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Tom enjoying the views at lunch

We met up with the others, who had all managed to take slightly different routes in, for a fun evening in a cave.

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A welcome fire on a drizzly evening

 

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What are you guys doing here? This is our cave!

After Tom’s previous trip covering this route got his party back to the car at 11pm I was keen for an early start! We had slightly modified the route, plus the 2 of us probably move a bit quicker than his previous party.

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Early start on a clear sunny day

 

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The bush, and everything in it, was saturated

The first half hour or so was a bit miserable pushing through saturated scrub at a very slow pace. But after that we had clearer route before hitting the Wollangambe River.

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Beautiful Wollangambe

Travelling down the Wollangambe was fairly slow initially and where Tom had been talking up a 9 hour day the night before, suddenly it turned into a 10 hour one (still nothing on the 14 hour earlier trip). But then we hit the sandy sections and our pace picked up considerably.

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Tom negotiating a small drop

 

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Tom on the go

 

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Still going

 

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And still going! (or is he?)

In the end we made it back to the cars in just over 8 hours, in time for apple pie at Pie in the Sky on the way home.

Ettrema Gorge (26-28 Jan 2019)

Another weekend, another SBW trip. Wow. I love them, but organising 2 overnight, relatively rugged trips, in the space of 3 weekends is hard work. I’d been to Ettrema two previous times, in 2007 – the first multi-day bushwalk I’d organised without Tom, and in 2010 – the first time I’d met our now good friend Rich. The two previous trips had followed the same route – down Myall Creek, along Ettrema Gorge and up Transportation Spur. This time I’d planned a different route. Despite advertising the trip as ‘largely exploratory for leader’ (apparently a definite turn-off for many in our club) and ‘Walkers must be proficient scramblers, with a head for heights’ I’d had quite a of interest. Numbers had settled at 7, which is probably as big as you’d want given the relative paucity of campsites.

Saturday started rather disastrously as my car ran out of petrol on the Hume somewhat short of our meeting point at Sutton Forrest. Oops. Eternal thanks to the other car who bought a jerry and drove it back to us, and to Tom for taking his life into his hands to fill up on the edge of the Hume with about 30cm separating him from the traffic hurtling past. With that little hiccup ironed out we were only running an hour later than scheduled. We started walking shortly after 11am. The leader demonstrated her inability to navigate and converse, by marching off down the road in full conversation, while her husband kindly pointed out we were meant to be in the bush…. Aaah. The joys of being leader.

We had a bit of scrub to deal with, and we overshot the side creek we were trying to get in by, but it didn’t take too long before we were in Bullfrog Creek. I was pleased that there were pools of water even in the upper reaches. I had been hoping for lunch by a swimming hole but settled for shade and a shallow pool.

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Lunch in Bullfrog Creek on day 1

There was a bit of scrambling and the handline came out for one drop before we made it to Ettrema Gorge. Nerriga topped out at 39.9°C about the time we hit Ettrema so it was no surprise that the first semi-decent pool we got to had everyone in it!

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As soon as we were in Ettrema Gorge it was spa time!

From there we made our way down the creek, scrambling, swimming or jumping as seemed fit.

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Must stay in single file…

We had seen another car near the entrance to Bullfrog but we were hoping the occupants weren’t going to be at our intended campsite. We got to Isoceles Pool on a bend which I recognised from one of Tom’s trips. I got the thumbs down from Alex which I was surprised at as he had been depth testing the water and it looked good for jumping… but then I realised it was because he had seen people.

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The depth-testing rock plop

But I recognised the first person I saw, we’d met at the SBW Christmas party. I knew another SBW group had planned to be in Ettrema over the long weekend, but they weren’t meant to be here today. Given the weather it didn’t surprise me that they weren’t at their intended campsite on the tops.

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This is the life

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Hang on a minute, they didn’t walk in with us

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Tough life on a 37°C day in Sydney

Fortunately the campsite was large enough to accommodate both groups and we had a lively time around the non-existent camp fire (park fire ban and besides with the weather…). To the bemusement of the longer-term members in the other party Alex pulled out the SBW Song Book from many years ago and proceeded to provide some entertainment. Thunder and lightning rolled around for quite a while lighting up the night. Most of us had gone to bed when it started raining quite heavily. Much relief that the flies had all been put on tents!

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Fortunately it was a large campsite

My group was meant to set off at 9am but I knew we were unlikely to hit that when I only looked at my phone at 7:50am. I couldn’t believe we’d slept so late – probably in part due to the overcast sky. Eventually we got away about 9:20am. It wasn’t long before the first jumping opportunity…

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Early morning jumps

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Not all of the gorge was waterholes

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Morning tea jumping

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Beautiful cascades

It was a lovely relaxing day. Rock-hopping, interspersed with swims (and jumps), and with an unambitious schedule there was no particular hurry.

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Lunch time tea and float

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Gorge walking

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Afternoon jumping

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Synchro jumping

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Recently shed skin

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Stunning gorge

I had floated the idea of heading down to Jones Creek that afternoon, before walking out via Myall Creek the next day. However, there was vocal support for camping at Myall Creek, and none for Jones so we stayed at Myall. There was a bit of scratching around for enough sites for everyone but I think we were all accommodated reasonably in the end. We had an excursion up Myall Creek to the swimming hole to fill the afternoon. I soon regretted it as, of course, then the questions started about how we were exiting the next day. “no, we’re not climbing the face of the waterfall” “yes, we are going to traverse across to the top of it” “no, you’re not going to die”…. Hopefully the distractions of many jumps took the focus away…?

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Contemplative stillness before the jumping began

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OK, both of you jump on 3

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No, not you Alex… Sierra and Steve

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Yes, Sierra!

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And Patrick!

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Steve finds a higher jump spot

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And launches

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Tom decides to up the ante and get even higher… (though thinks better of it and comes down the same way)

Tom climbing up to the top of the waterfall to potentially jump didn’t make anyone less nervous as he made it look precarious. He had a photo from his 2000 trip of one of the guys jumping from the top. I did remind him that they were a lot younger and more foolish then, and I don’t think anyone was too unhappy (except Alex) when Tom decided to return the way he’d come.

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Alex very animatedly talking about hyperbolic parabaloids

Happy hour conversation was dominated by discussion of hyperbolic parabaloids (thanks to the ‘stacked flavoured chips’ aka pringles knock-offs that I’d brought). Then more song book entertainment. Eventually we banned the song book for the rest of the evening. I hope the other party enjoyed the half of the song book Alex had left for them at their intended campsite.

Day 3 dawned grey with a little rain. Not the ideal conditions for our traverse above the “pool of impending doom”. Fortunately the rain didn’t last and the rock was pretty dry by the time we got there. I quickly scooted over and dumped my pack and came back to offer assistance to those who wanted it. I was pretty happy when we were all across, except Alex who we’d left at camp still making tea. When he arrived and asked what we were doing about pack-hauling I could happily say we were already sorted.

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Tom traversing above the “Pool of Impending Doom”

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Steve looking very casual

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Patrick traversing above the “Pool of Impending Doom”

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And why didn’t you jump from here yesterday Tom!?

The ascent of Myall Creek was a pleasant combination of rock-hopping, slab climbing and the occasional trickier section.

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Alex and “The Pool of Death”

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Tom and “The Pool of Death”

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Scrambling up Myall Creek

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More scrambling up Myall Creek

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And more scrambling up Myall Creek

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Tom checking out the views

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Alex at probably the trickiest point in Myall Creek

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Sierra using a hand line to get up

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A final swim in Myall Creek

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Some decided to sleep instead

Despite having swims and several breaks we made good time. We had lunch in a side creek before the final ascent on to the tops, through the mandatory section of scrub, and then back to the car. A great way to spend a hot weekend.

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And so endeth another great adventure

 

Shoalhaven scrambling (19-20 Jan 2019)

Another weekend, another SBW trip… NSW got a brief respite from a week-long heatwave so we only had a warm weekend (high 20s?) rather than a very hot one (mid 30s). Regardless we were in the right place for cooling down, a creek with water albeit not as much water as the previous time the leader visited. Initially the creek was fairly easy going with a few pools and easily negotiated drops.

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Paul taking the plunge

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Nic scrambling a dryfall

After a late morning tea (11:30am) we had to leave the creek to get around a larger drop. There was lots of traversing loose slopes, some scree slope descents and some hand-lining. By the time we all got back into the creek (1pm) it was time for lunch!

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Sketchy shale slopes

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Daniel mid way down a long scree slope (photo doesn’t really illustrate the ‘fun’!)

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The final descent back to the creek

After lunch we were able to stay in the creek, with various scrambling descents. I managed to keep my pack dry all day. Most of the others didn’t bother (in one case probably with regret!).

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Swarming down a drop, while Alex never misses a chance to throw rocks into water

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Paul: “Alex don’t you dare jump”…

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More scrambling

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Partner assists down a drop (there were multiple ways down)

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Damon lying down on the job

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Wading time

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Avoiding a swim

At some point a grass tree stem was acquired and it provided a focus for charades. Many uses were identified for it from broomstick to boom mic to butter churner. Amazing how many hours of entertainment one burnt stem can give.

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“The stick” in action as a bat

We got to camp around 4pm. Our leader was lagging behind a little. Turns out he’d not shut one of his dry bags properly and had been carrying an extra few litres of water in the dry bag. Oops. At least his food was in a different dry bag.

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Jump rock!

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Not the sleeping bag state you want… right Paul?

Most of us took to the very warm water and stayed in for a while. Alex decided he needed some flotation, so took his bag in and happily floated around on it for quite a long time… Funnily enough when your food is just in a grocery bag submerging it in water for hours is probably not the best way to keep it dry.

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Or the food state you want… right Alex?

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Shoalhaven reflections

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My very comfortable spot (really should return that borrowed bivvy)

The next morning we made good time along the Shoalhaven soon reaching the compulsory swim.

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Pack swim time

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Getting around the bluffs

Then it was into another creek, which was narrower than the previous day. Lots of scrambling ensued, including a couple of drops where we needed to use the hand line (thanks Alex for getting up without it).

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Nic climbing while everyone looks on

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Ross on his way up

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Damo’s so strong!

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Up, up, up we go

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Waiting for the traffic to clear

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Delightful slopey dirt bank to cross

It was some of my favourite sort of terrain; lots of choices and problem-solving to determine how you were going to get up the various drops.

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You take the high road, I’ll take the low road

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Now where?

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More route options

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Swim time!

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Not where I’d expect to find a wombat?!

We got to lunch at a waterfall which we apparently couldn’t get up. There was a scree slope on the true right, and a dirt bank on the true left. Neither looked great to me. Paul went off bashing up the left to investigate. After what seemed like hours later both him and Alex (who had gone right) were at the top of the waterfall. At which point Alex easily scrambled down it and we all then went up it…

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Climbing the impassable waterfall 🙂

Only to then encounter a much larger waterfall!

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This one looks a bit more impassable 🙁

This time we did scramble out. It was more delightful loose slopes and rocks. We got so high above the creek that Paul decided we’d just go up to the ridge and traverse rather than do any more scrambling.

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Long way back to the creek

A couple of hours of easy walking had us back at the cars at 4pm.

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Very open ridge walking

The drama for the day wasn’t over though! Paul couldn’t find his car key. His pack was emptied and searched, and searched again. Just as he was about to give up hope the key was located in his billy. Phew!

A great weekend in the bush.

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