South Wolgan Canyoning

Neither Rachel nor I were really in the mood to set off again on Boxing Day. But the only reasonable day of weather in the next week was the 27th, so it seemed like we needed to get out and "just do it".

Smiffy and Toni were heading in to a camp cave in an area we were happy to revisit, so we headed off early afternoon for the drive to the Wolgan. I was driving along Bells Line near Bell as Rachel was checking the weather radar. "There's a storm just passing south of Lithgow". Good news, I thought! It should just miss us.

But not to be. As we got near Clarence, the heavens opened and the worst storm I have ever driven through in a car hit us. The hail was pounding the car so hard that we were worrying that the windscreen might break. The sound was deafening. There was some discussion about stopping, but given that we'd pass through it quicker if we kept going, we drove on slowly. It felt a bit like driving on marbles in places. There were flows of water across the road in places, though none that deep, but some heavy drifts of hail had piled up on the side of the road. A couple of cars in front of us pulled off the road, even though the storm appeared to be easing off. We caught up to a motorcyclist - no idea what he'd done when the storm hit! The storm had passed through by the time we headed down the Scenic Hill into Lithgow.

Off we headed to Newnes. Leaving the car just after 5pm, we waded through fire regrowth and some weeds, and headed up a steep gully. As we climbed the gully, the sky darkened again, and we could hear the ongoing rumbles of thunder. I hoped that it would hold off until we got to the top.

But not to be ... again! We had accidentally headed off up a side gully, and as the rain started to pour, Rachel pointed out a large overhang and we headed for shelter. I checked out our location - and concluded that if we'd headed up the right branch, we'd have made it to the camp cave before the storm hit! Oh well ...

In any case, once the weather eased, it should only take us five minutes or so to get to the cave. The storm passed through, though not before waterfalls were pouring off every little pagoda chute, and we shouldered packs for a few minutes. Smiffy and Toni were surprised to see us looking dry, since we'd apparently just been through a major storm!

We settled in for a pleasant evening in the cave, listening to the sounds of the boobooks calling.

The next morning we were awakened by the black cockatoos, probably upset by being kept awake all night by the boobooks! We set off up a steep pass on to the tops, heading for a canyon that none of us had done before. It was a reasonable walk along ridges which had a mix of burnt and unburnt patches. We dropped into the creek and bypassed a couple of small drops through pagodas. There was a healthy flow from the rains of the night before, and the previous week.

I had low expectations for the canyon, so it was good to find two pretty abseils in the upper section, made more interesting by the extra water.

A short walk led us to the lower section.

Wow! This was unexpectedly good! Four abseils, most of them two stage ones, down a deep slot. The highlight was the third abseil, down a curving chute into a dark chamber filled with water, and then climbing out a narrow hole for a final section down a slab. Amazing the little gems that are hidden in the wilderness.

We emerged into a larger creek, and had lunch in the sun at the junction. The larger creek was also a canyon, which we checked out, though the lack of sun in the canyon was a deterrent. Further downstream, we were able to climb up many of the drops of another pretty canyon.

Then it was down to another creek and the start of a long creek walk. We did try to investigate using a pass to take us over the tops instead, but it was many years since I had used the pass, and after trying a few things, we returned reluctantly to the creek.

At least the going in the creek was better than Annie Rowan Creek the week before!

I was feeling pretty pooped when we made it back to the cave, any thoughts of walking out that evening abandoned by the late hour at which we'd gotten back.

The next morning we were all awakened by the crash of thunder, as a couple of early morning storms rolled overhead. As soon as the storms passed, we headed off our separate ways, though it turned out there was no real rush as the rest of the day's storms didn't kick in until mid-afternoon. Rachel and I found a better route back to the car, sticking higher on the slopes to avoid the weeds, and we were back in Lithgow for brunch at Home Town.

The drive back was not without incident - the air con stopped working, and then Rachel noticed the engine overheating. Luckily we stopped at our friends Bel and Dan in Lapstone, and they had a spare bottle of coolant, which seemed to be the problem.

All in all a good day of canyoning and couple of nights in the bush.