Easter Kanangra Canyoning (18-20 Apr 2025)
We had decisively blocked out Easter as “4-day canyoning trip” on the calendar some months in advance. But we had failed to make any plans beyond that, and so less than a week out we were without a plan or companions for the trip. Eventually we made a plan – visiting Wheengee Whungee Creek, that we’d originally planned to do back in 2013… but had never got around to rescheduling.
Things had changed a bit since 2013. The 2019 bushfires have meant walking in Kanangra should currently be approached with a certain amount of trepidation. Water levels are relatively healthy compared to a decade earlier, no longer coming off the back of the millennium drought. It was going to be a warm weekend for mid-April and so we decided to leave the wetsuits at home.
Tom kept telling me we had plenty of time on day 1 – we were having an easy day. I contested this – being both scared of the scrub on the way in, plus we were entering via a creek we had some pretty rudimentary information on. We started walking at 10am and I was pleasantly surprised to find while there was not much evidence of the Uni Rover Track (we weren’t expecting to find any), the walking was relatively easy.
We had lunch at the top of our first abseil and then spent a fair bit of time trying to sort out the anchor. This included using the spare bits of rope we’d brought for making anchors as a makeshift handline to get down to the anchor… so preventing us using them for anchor material. I was quite concerned about the rope lengths as the drop looked a fair bit longer than the 36m we were expecting. Fortunately estimating drop heights is a difficult thing and our ropes made it with no problems.
We soon found ourselves with 2 more (unexpected) abseils in quick succession. Fortunately we were able to improvise anchors fairly easily. In drier conditions one of these could probably be scrambled.
I was impressed with how much of a slot it felt like we were in – way more canyon-esque compared to many of the Kanangra canyons.
The creek continued to drop and we eventually found ourselves with another abseil. This time there was a convenient tree. Tom abseiled down and then I joined him – where he informed me we needed to add a rope on and continue down using the same anchor. Hopefully the pull will be alright!
I was able to learn from Tom’s descent and avoided swimming the pool by sticking to the right for a waist-deep wade.
As it turned out we still had another 3 abseils to negotiate. And we were running out of daylight. It was a real shame as the creek was very attractive but we weren’t able to enjoy it as we needed to get somewhere that we could camp for the night. My camera had also started playing up – which maybe wasn’t a bad thing given our need for speed – so no photos for the later part of day 1.
Right on dark we got to the creek junction we were aiming for. Sadly, but not unexpectedly, there weren’t any good camping options. Wet, cold and hungry we decided we’d just get some food going and worry about where we’d sleep later. Fortunately with a clear forecast we weren’t worried about sleeping in the open, and we found separate spots alongside the creek. I’ve definitely had worse nights in the bush!
Knowing we were going to be in the water almost immediately on day 2, we didn’t want to get moving too early. However, it was still a shock to the system as we got pounded under the first waterfall we abseiled. I dislodged a fairly sizeable rock on the way down which made me a bit nervous about speeding down the rope – so got fairly wet.
Running a bit on adrenaline – from the cold water, the dunking and the dislodged rock – I wondered what else the day was going to throw at us! Fortunately the rest of the abseils were more benign. My camera continued to work sporadically so my photos are also sporadic. The third abseil (second drop) was a very straightforward drop and a good one for settling the nerves. We scrambled around the third drop, before eventually getting to the top of the other big drop for the day.
Again, I was nervous about the height. Tom thought our longer (63m) rope would be fine. OK, as long as you’re going first!
Fortunately at the bottom of that drop there was sunshine. We wandered a short way down the creek to get out of the breeze coming off the waterfall and had morning tea and warmed up. We then had quite a long section of creek walking before hitting the final 3 drops. I’d packed my malfunctioning camera into my big drybag at this point, as I’d expected them to be quite wet.
Despite this, Tom hadn’t bothered to do his drybag up (apparently he rarely does!). So in our sunny lunch spot after the final abseil, everything exploded out of his pack to try and dry it.
The walking was flatter and straightforward after lunch, which was good as the previous day’s walking had been extremely slippery.
The challenges weren’t completely over though – a gorge section of basement rock had us scrambling around the sides to avoid several swims. Fortunately the rock was relatively grippy allowing us to walk the angled sides and not fall in!
There had been a few possible camp sites along the way. To be clear, our standards were pretty low after the night before. We had hopes for a good campsite at a the junction with Christys Creek, but as we approached it and I saw the extent of the toasted canopy I revised my expectations. We did find a passable grassy patch and we had a pleasant night.
Our original plan had been to continue downstream and make it a solid 4 day trip. But given how slippery the creeks had been, and the forecast rain for day 4, we decided we’d take the early exit option. There was much trepidation about the exit – our packs were really heavy (as weighed when we got home 18kg+ each), and the amount of heinous regrowth was unknown. Fortunately the spur we ascended only had one overgrown bit and the rest was just standard loose, steep, typical Kanangra ascending.
We had notes from 2012 which suggested the next section of ridge was “flat and open, beautiful bushwalking”. I had visions of 4m high eucalypt regrowth to push through, so I was pleasantly surprised when it was mainly open. There was a preponderance of Podolobium (aka Mountain Holly). The holly was a bit annoying but overall the walking was quite pleasant! Amazing, not all of Kanangra is heinous post-fires.
Tom spent a bit of time trying to climb Barralliers Crown – my legs didn’t have any grunt left in them so I was content to watch him (fail to climb it). We had lunch in a nearby cave we’d previously stayed in. We briefly contemplated whether to camp there since we had another night’s food with us – but opted to get out and avoid the Easter Monday traffic.
Back at the cars at 4pm we found ourselves stuck in Easter Sunday traffic (!!) coming back over the mountains. An extra hour of driving time home, after a dinner stop in Springwood. A solid three days out in wild country, and great to tick off something that had been on the to-do list for so long.