Yarramun Canyoning (30-31 Jan 2021)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…. James was a regular canyoning buddy. But since 2012 we’ve averaged less than a trip a year with him (the last one being 2017!!!). So it was with some anticipation that the date which had been locked in months earlier approached. True to our previous attempt at this route the forecast was rubbish. Ok, so maybe not as bad as 2017 where we ended up just doing a tour of waterfalls in the Blue Mountains (I think there had been 100mm of rain). This time it had rained for the three days leading up to the trip, and the forecast for Sunday was for more rain, but nothing too serious – though I was less than impressed when I checked the forecast early on Saturday morning to find a possible severe thunderstorm had crept into late Saturday.

Much to my relief James had volunteered his 4WD as transport for the weekend. We negotiated the road without any issue and it wasn’t long before we’d made our way into our creek system. Given the bush was wet and it was drizzling I suggested we put the wetsuits on as soon as it looked like we were going to be pushing through ferns. It wasn’t long before we were chest-deep, and we were in and out of the water for the rest of the day.

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Early shallow canyon

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A low section in log & debris soup

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One of many log jams to be negotiated through the weekend

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Tom & James on a climb down

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James abseiling a short drop, as Tom waits around the corner

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Tom trying to work out what to anchor off

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Tom looking unimpressed. Probably because he choose the awkward abseil start.

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James with the somewhat less awkward abseil start

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Team work gets an stuck rope unstuck

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Tom & James in the canyon

The guys went off to look up a side canyon while I decided to continue downstream to an overhang. Unfortunately in my way was this tiger (?) snake who had no interest in moving. I climbed around him, though by the time the guys came through he had relocated to under the log.

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You shall not pass!

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James down-climbing

This yabbie appeared to have been caught in the flood debris (of which there was a lot). I feel like there’s a funny caption just waiting to be written – it just hasn’t come to mind yet.

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Victim of a flood sometime in the past

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Tom in his element (photographing canyon formation)

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Swim time

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More swimming

Despite the short distance we were intending to cover it took us all day. Admittedly there was a lot of photo-faffing, and James did spend a lot of time waiting for me and Tom… We didn’t emerge into a cave (was it our intended one??) until after 4:30pm. There had been some talk of doing another canyon that afternoon, but not with a 4:30pm arrival – there was port to drink and pistachios/biltong/cheese to eat!

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We emerge into a cave

Based on Tom’s underselling of the camp cave and the brief look at the photos from his previous trips I had a pretty low expectation of our intended overnight location.

Fortunately it ended up being very large and well protected (if not overly flat) as a severe thunderstorm came through around 8pm. There was at least one lightning strike where the thunder was almost instantaneous! We were very glad to be sheltered from the storm and well above the creek. After the rain had settled down we went down and checked out the creek level – it was definitely up since we’d cleaned out our shoes earlier in the evening.

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But there’s a bigger (if less flat) one round the corner). The last occupants went a bit crazy with stockpiling firewood.

The followers had mutinied and decided on a revised route for day 2. Tom our leader was helpless in the face of the overthrow. After an excellent nights sleep (with no mosquitoes – we didn’t end up using the net despite putting it up) we were off to find our next canyon at 8:20am the next morning. An hour later we dropped into the creek just as the canyon started. And an impressive start it was!

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Day 2 – this canyon looks like a cracker!

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Tom setting the rope from above

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Tom abseiling

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Lots of swimming through narrow sections follows

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Spider web and moss

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Probably the most difficult section. It seemed to take Tom (who had the biggest pack as he had the rope at that stage) about 10 minutes to squeeze his way through here. Though maybe he was just taking photos while grunting!?

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Finally he emerges from the narrows

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Another short drop. Tom’s sporting a debris beard from a the duck-under (sort of) route we took

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Canyon formation

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James disappearing through a small gap under (yet another) a log pile up

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Go that way!

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The water levels were somewhat elevated after the big storm the night before

We got back to the cave in time for an early lunch. Packing up we repeated our route from the morning before heading across the ridges and dropping into yesterday’s creek.

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an inconspicuous looking pass

From there we took a side-creek we hadn’t explored the day before which was pretty impressive.

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Do the limbo!

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Canyon formation

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A tunnel

Then it was time to head for the cars. The weather had packed it in by then and we walked in light mizzle for most of the exit.

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Great views on our walk out

Back at the cars at 4:30pm was a pretty respectable time to end the day. An excellent weekend, despite the weather, hopefully not another 3 years before we have the opportunity to go canyoning with James again!