Su Li wanted to take her cousin Michelle down a canyon, and she chose Empress Canyon at the head of the Valley of the Waters at Wentworth Falls.
I had travelled up the mountains with John, Chuin Nee and their young son Jasper. We had camped the Friday night on Narrow Neck, and I had got up early to photograph the sunrise. After breakfast, we drove to the Conservation Hut at Wentworth Falls and met up with Su Li, Michelle, Brent and Steffy.
John was going to miss out on the canyon to look after Jasper. So the rest of us set off down the track. Its a short walk to the start of the canyon, and there we changed into wetsuits and waterproofed our gear, and then plunged into the first pool.
Dawn – Mt Solitary from Narrow Neck
Jamison Valley
This part of the canyon has a few short climb downs and is quite pleasant. The water was cold but didn’t seem too cold.
It didn’t take long to arrive at the abseil. I went down first and this allowed me plenty of time to take photos of the the others on heir descent. As well John and Jasper had arrived via the tourist track.
Once we were all down the waterfall, we continued down the Valley of the Waters and then along the beautiful National Pass Track. Su Li’s party were much faster than the group with Jasper. He wanted to take his time. I was content to photograph the amazing wild flowers. It seem to be a very good spring for flowers in the mountains.
We stoppe for lunch at the base of the upper fall of Wentworth Falls. It was mostly sunny, which prevented me photographing the cascades below the waterfall. I was content to wait for a cloud to go over the sun, but when it did, a couple of nudists were frolicking in the pool below the falls. I had to be very patient!
A little later a thunderstorm hit us. Lightning and thunder and heavy rain. But it only lasted a few minutes and we were able to obtain refuge in a cave beneath some giant boulders.
We returned to the Conservation Hut via the Undercliff Walk. On some previous recent visits this track has been closed for trackwork. It was good to see it open again. And also, the side-track that goes down to Den Fenella. This is close to being a slot canyon.
Back at the car, it looked like a few more thunder storms were passing over. We drove to Blackheath were we picked up some food for dinner and then headed out to Anvil Rock to watch the storms pass over and to wait for the sunset. This was nice!
We camped at Perrys Lookdown. The next morning, we drove to Blackheath via the Rhododendron Gardens. The gardens far exceeded our expectations. Lots of beautiful flowers including a nice grove of Waratahs.
After a Cafe visit to Blackheath, we then headed back down the mountains toward home. The temperature was rising. A hot day was forecast and it seems to becoming true. We were looking for a swimming hole to cool off in. So on the way down the mountains we made our way to a nice swimming hole popular with locals. The water was cool and refreshing. We ended up spending a few hours at the pool. Some of the local visitors were entertaining themselves by doing water jumps, some quite high.
More photos of the weekend can be seen on my website – Empress Canyon Photos, National Pass Photos and Anvil Rock, Wildflowers and the Swimming Hole.
