This was a very pleasant day spent with Bob Sault in the Wollangambe Wilderness visiting Hole in the Wall Canyon and the North Branch of Bungleboori Creek.
We set off from the carpark on the track that goes along the Waratah Ridge and after abut 80 minutes arrived at the start of the canyon. The upper constriction was soon entered.
It was still fairly sandy, which makes going easy and certainly a lot easier for photography. I could simply walk through with my camera on the tripod, until almost the end. This constriction is dark and narrow – a great place for photography.
It is followed by a pleasant twenty minute walk down the creek to the lower constriction. This starts with a short climb down and then an abseil. Here, we met another party.
We took our time with the abseil, and enjoyed taking photos in the chamber below.
Not far downstream of this is the tunnel. Its a good place to see glow worms. In the tunnel, I set up my camera and tripod and took a few photos. Typical settings were 30 seconds, f4, ISO 3200.
We then went back up to the start of the tunnel and climbed over the top. Not afr belt the tunnel is another short drop. Many years ago, we used to scramble down this, but a fallen log has made this dangerous and it is now better to abseil.
Then more canyon leads to the next abseil. This is the main abseil in the canyon. This takes you into the best section of the lower constriction. It starts with a dark chamber with beautifully sculptured walls above.
Then you need to wade or swim across the exquisite Turquoise Pool. This is followed by a short waterfall that has cut through orange sandstone strata. Then some serpentinious canyon that leads to another short drop. A rope is usually deployed here for a hand over hand.
Bob, was a member of the first descent party for this canyon in the early 1980’s. Earlier, he and another canyoner, Tony Norman, had been making their way down Bungleboori Creek North Branch and seen the canyon entering on their right – as a “Hole in the Wall”. They then left their packs and started exploring up it. This lower drop had been a tricky obstacle for them to climb up, and higher up, they were stopped by the main abseil. They later returned on another trip and explored all the creek from high up, thus finding the excellent upper constriction. It is probable that other parties also visited the creek from the Bungleboori junction. Rick Higgins has told me that UNSW Bushwalking parties used to visit Bungleboori and Dumbano Creeks on exploratory trips back in the mid 1960’s. And he can remember wandering up some canyon side tributaries. I had also visited Hole in the Wall on a NPA walk I led around 1980. We had attempted to go down the creek in order to reach Bungleboori Creek, but had been stopped by the canyon near the tunnel. We ended up crossing Bungleboori Creek a little upstream, camped overnight in a camp cave and then climbed out to the north next morning via a small walk up canyon.
Enough history. On this trip, we were now at the Bungleboori Creek – North Branch junction. A few short swims and wades took us through the canyon section and then a few minutes walk upstream and we reached the exit track. Here, we met the other party again.
A thunderstorm seemed to be brewing, so we decided to climb out straightaway and find a spot for lunch. At the tip of the hill is a nice flat rock with views, and we stopped there briefly, but then the rain started, so we continued along the track to shelter in a small overhang near where the track down to the start of the canyon starts. From there, it was about another hour of walking back to Bob’s car.