[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 18 June 2017]
Day 2: 9 March 2017, Thursday
This morning, we woke up early because we had a fun-filled, action-packed day ahead of us. After taking our breakfast in the hostel, we left at about 7:30am and walked over to the Blue Mountains YHA at 270 Katoomba Street, about 20 minutes away. The temperature hovered at 11 degrees Celsius and it was considerably chilly. There was still some fog hanging around and Katoomba looked like a spooky town at this hour, with very few people and vehicles on the streets.
The reason why we went to Blue Mountains YHA was because that was where the office for High N Wild Adventures was located at. While researching on this trip for fun activities to do at Blue Mountains, KH found out about High N Wild and the Canyoning expeditions it offered. I have never done Canyoning before so I was keen to try it out. I was actually close to doing it in Nepal in 2012 – on that occasion, we were already on our way to the Canyoning site but our path was blocked by road maintenance works and there was a risk of boulders falling, so our guide deemed it unsafe to continue and gave us a refund.
High N Wild offers a few different Canyoning expeditions at different locations around Blue Mountains. For the summer months from September to April, there are six expeditions to choose from. During the winter months from May to September, only four expeditions are available. We had decided on Serendipity Canyon, a Moderate grade course from 8:00am to 5:00pm, costing A$230 (S$248) per person. However, when we arrived in Sydney yesterday, High N Wild informed us that Serendipity was not available because it was still very muddy from the recent heavy rainfall, and recommended that we go for Fortress Creek instead. It was the same price, difficulty level and duration so we said ok.
Besides the three of us, there were two other guys joining the expedition – John from Ottawa and Elijah from London. We also had two guides leading us today – Tim and Jen. After filling up the indemnity form and making payment, we proceeded to the kitchen of the YHA to make our own sandwiches for lunch. Walking through the YHA compound, I saw that the hostel was very big and well furnished, certainly one of the nicest YHAs I have visited. The ingredients for the sandwiches were all laid out on the kitchen table top so we could pick the ones we liked. It was like making our own Subway sandwiches. We each made two sandwiches to last us for the day.
Next, it was time to try out the suits and equip ourselves with the gear. We went to the store room to collect our thermals, wet suits, harnesses, helmet, waterproof bag for keeping valuables and a large backpack for storing our gear. At 8:36am, we departed YHA for the start point at Mt. Wilson. The drive to Mt. Wilson was scenic and we had a nice view of the lush trees covering the Blue Mountains area. We arrived at 9:17am and went for one last toilet break before the adventure began at around 9:30am. High N Wild provided a compact, waterproof action camera so we mostly used their camera to take photos. If you have your own GoPro or action camera, you can bring it and use it too.
The first part of the expedition was easy. We trekked downslope for about one hour before reaching the starting point of the canyon proper. There, we suited up and put on all the gear, then it was time for our first abseil down the canyon walls. I had some abseiling experience last year, where I abseiled down a building nine storeys high. However, the difference was that this was a canyon and it was wet and slippery as there was a waterfall running through it. Also, the canyon walls were curved and angled so I couldn’t really see the bottom of it from where I was standing. Even though it wasn’t as high (maybe only around 8-10m), the experience felt very different and I approached the first abseil with some trepidation.
As it turned out, it wasn’t as scary as I imagined and it was over before I knew it. In fact, I felt like I was being lowered more than I was abseiling, because it was difficult to get a proper foothold so I just bounced around and slid down. But it was still a thrill nonetheless. From then on, we got wet and remained wet for the next few hours.
After the first abseil, we continued our journey following the creek. We had to wade in the water and the water came up to our waist level at certain portions. The water was cold and there wasn’t much sun so it started to get cold. As we walked, we had an amazing view of the canyon walls up close with all the green moss, overhanging ferns and fallen tree trunks. It felt very raw and beautiful, like we were in some real life Jurassic Park.
Quick geography lesson! The definition of a canyon is: a deep valley with steep sides, often with a stream flowing through it. But what is the distinctive feature of a canyon? Tim told us that a canyon is where the height exceeds the width of the valley, i.e. it is taller than it is wide. I found that to be a very useful and accurate way of describing canyons. They are most commonly formed by water erosion but they can also be formed by wind erosion. As you can imagine, the process takes thousands, or even millions of years. So we were literally walking through history’s footsteps.
Back to our canyon, some of the parts were very narrow and we had to get on our fours to squeeze through the rocks or get over the obstacles. There was also a part where we had to climb onto a log and jump off at the end of it into a small pool below. It was a little scary because the guide told us to avoid jumping into the left side of the pool because there were rocks there. But after our guide demonstrated the proper way to do it, we all did it successfully, except for Elijah. He stood at the log for a long time but eventually decided that he couldn’t do it. I don’t blame him, because the pool was quite dark and you couldn’t see through the water below to spot where the rocks were. So Elijah found a way to climb down to the pool instead of jumping in. Once in the pool, we had to swim a short distance to reach the shore. Needless to say, we were all shivering after we emerged from the water.
Towards the end of the expedition, we reached a spot where we had to slip into a tiny gap in the rocks. After squeezing through the gap, we found ourselves in a small cave where there were glow worms attached to the ceiling. When our guide mentioned “glow worms”, I was picturing “fireflies” in my head, so when I saw the glow worms, I was a bit underwhelmed because they were stationary, stuck to the ceiling and not as bright as fireflies. They looked like glow-in-the-dark stickers that you can paste on your walls.
Shortly after, we emerged into the open and walked upstream of the Wollangambe River. For the finale, we climbed onto a small cliff where we could jump off the cliff into the river below. For this final jump, it was much higher but not as scary because it was it was at an open area and you could see that the water below was deep enough. So we all did the cliff jump and it was helluva fun. With that, it was the end of the canyoning experience, so we stripped out of our wetsuits and changed back into our dry clothes.
The climb to the top of the hill was very steep and quite strenuous because it was around 1:30pm by then and we hadn’t had our lunch yet. We were cold, hungry and low on energy. So we huffed and puffed our way to the top of the hill. But when we reached the top, we were rewarded with a panoramic view of the sheer rock cliffs. Here, we took out our sandwiches and had lunch with the most amazing view.
After refuelling, it was time for the long hike back. It took around 1.5 hours and it was tiring because it was all upslope. But we couldn’t complain because Tim and Jen were carrying much heavier loads – they were heaving our ropes and other equipment so it was easily two times heavier than what we were carrying.
At about 3:20pm, we finally reached our vehicle at the start point. In all, we trekked for about 6 hours. It was so fun and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I’m glad IJ and KH suggested Canyoning because I wouldn’t have thought of it if I were to visit Blue Mountains on my own. I would highly recommend it!
One tip: proper footwear is very important. Be sure to wear proper trekking shoes with thick soles because you’ll be walking a lot and stepping on rocks. So you’ll need protection and support from the uneven ground and bumpy rocks.
Once back at the YHA, we bade farewell to John, Elijah, Tim and Jen, and made our way back to Flying Fox to wash up. For dinner, we craved for fish & chips so we went to the town area to search for a nice restaurant. We ended up at an eatery called Greco’s, but unfortunately, it wasn’t fantastic. I’ve had better fish & chips in Perth and New Zealand before, so this was nothing to shout about.
We spent the night in our hostel room playing card games. IJ and KH brought along a few different card games, including Cards Against Humanity. I’ve heard so much about it but this was my first time playing it, and it was so fun! You gotta have a sense of humour to play it. We played the card games for almost two hours before we got tired and decided to call it a night.
Earlier, IJ and KH bought a brownie cake from a bakery to celebrate my birthday, even though I told them repeatedly not to. However, they kept insisting on it so I gave in. They wanted to wait till the clock struck midnight before celebrating but I told them that we were all tired from the long day and physical exertions today, so we should celebrate in advance and have an early night. As the cake didn’t come with any candles, IJ used a tea light candle as substitute and they sang me a birthday song. It was so sweet. Thanks for the simple but meaningful celebration, IJ and KH!
