Trip report
| 2006-01-07 | Canyoning at Newnes Plateau |
| Trip report: | |
River Caves, Wolgan View, Twister and Rocky Creek CanyonsWe all arrived at the Zig Zag railway with the rain coming down lightly at first then bucketing. By the time John arrived we had decided that we would do the ‘Dry’ canyons that were going to be reserved for Sunday, on Saturday and we would see how the weather panned out for Sunday. Susan had come up just to do Rocky Creek, went home. She left the thermals in case they were required by other participants. We headed for the River Caves canyon via the Glow Worm Tunnel Rd, finally leaving the sedans and smaller 4WD where the pine forest finishes, continuing on to the beginning of the canyon. We all set out with raincoats and volleys up the track beside the creek, carefully keeping our feet dry, jumping over it when necessary (don’t know why we bothered….). The creek got wider and deeper, soon all feet were wet, except John who was sporting the latest water proof socks. The canyon had many photo opportunities, but tripods and extra lighting were essential, so many ‘snap shots’ didn’t come out. The rain had eased by the time we came out. After lunch we decided another dry canyon was required, so it was decided to do Wolgan View Canyon. This would give us plenty of time to set up camp at the Galah Mountain Road campsite. We arrived at the Glow Worm Tunnel car park to see Rick, Kim and the boys. They were off to see the Glow Worm Tunnel and would be camping with us later. We packed our lunches and followed the track from the Glow Worm Tunnel car park, past amazing looking Pagodas, some looking like excellent rock climbing and abseiling opportunities. The lichen and moss growth was prolific. Eventually we were funneled into the canyon, the water course easy to follow despite it being so dry. Eventually we came out to see the Wolgan Valley partially obscured by a huge rock. Mark climbed to a vantage point to see the whole valley. This was a scenic afternoon tea spot. We had an uneventful trip back to the cars, except for the rather heavy downpour, so headed off to set up camp. The rain stayed away long enough to set up camp and get a fire going. A dry Sunday and Dave arrived, so Twister and Rocky Creeks were a goer. Rick was going to look at Deep Pass canyon. We gathered all our gear together and headed off to the Rocky Creek car park. We had decided to do Twister as well as Rocky Creek as it had lots of slide and jump ins!!! Everyone jumped in with encouragement from Dave (who was particularly helpful with the last climb down in Twister) Rod and Mark. We got to the beginning of Rock Creek to find a traffic jam. Commercial Parties going down and coming back up Rocky Creek as well as Venturers from the Australian Venture coming back up meant it was going to be a long wait unless we all jumped in. The pools were longer and deeper than Twister, so having the wet suits was nice. A small brown snake was taking advantage of the cool environment to catch slow backswimmers. This caused a log jam of ladies on the rock before a bit of a swim going past the snake. Poor thing was trying to climb the wall to get away from us. A submerged log on the opposite wall saved everyone as we were able to walk past the snake. It was nice to finally get into the sun again. We found a sunny spot near the exit for lunch. A climb, including a rock climb, and a walk along the Mt Galah Fire trail took us back to the cars and back to camp. Most of the party headed home with very dirty cars after a good weekend (some camping a bit longer) Report by: Jo | |