Anzac Day Climbing – at Nortons Basin

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Dave Noble

I have climbed at Nortons Basin before and found it a reasonable crag. Two of the cliffs are set high above the Nepean River with Nortons Basin – a large pool below. On Anzac Day – I joined Stu, Enmoore, Martin, Steffy and Albert for a day of climbing.

The weather was quite nice – but the crag was not so good. The area has become a rubbish dump. A huge number of stolen cars have been dumped off the cliffs, there is a lot of other rubbish around – paper and plastic bags, plastic bottles, broken glass bottles…. You get the picture. Its a shame! It is a really great location.

The climbs were mixed. There has not been much traffic and many of the climbs were dirty and dusty making them hard for their grades. Also – a lot of the bolts are now old and look a bit suspect.

On our visit, we could not cross the river, to what may be the best of the three cliffs. We started by bashing around to the base of the cliffs on the West Side Crag. Its easier to get to this cliff via a set of chains, but Martin and myself had forgotten the way. The climbs here start from a dodgy ledge. Continue reading →

Posted in Climbing, Sydney Rock Climbing | Tagged | 4 Comments

Blue Gum Swamp Creek – Walk

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Dave Noble

A nice walk with bushwalking friends and lots of children. Tara had organised a BBQ at her place at Springwood and after it, on the Sunday, a lot of us went for a walk heading out from White Cross Road at Winmalee  along Shaws Ridge and back along Blue Gum Swamp Creek.

There are lots of beautiful trees in Blue Gum Swamp Creek – and as the name says there are a lot of Blue Gums. In this case Eucalyptus Deanei – “Deanes Blue Gum” rather than the Sydney Blue Gum (E Saligna). Continue reading →

Posted in Blue Mountains, Bushwalking | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Red Rocks Walk

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Dave Noble

A bushwalker friend, Dave, was on a short visit from his work overseas and had organised a walk for SUBW to the Red Rocks near Newnes. This is one of my favourite bushwalking places. Easy to get to, great views, a high camp, interesting rock formations – it has a lot going for it! The only downside is that unless you go straight after rain then you need to carry some water.

The Red Rocks is the section of the tops between Mt Dawson and Point Nicholson and then on to Point Anderson. The first part follows the Wolgan/Capertee divide and the second part is a peninsula jutting out into the Capertee Valley.

Continue reading →

Posted in Blue Mountains, Bushwalking, Wilderness Photography, Wollemi National Parks | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Easter Blue Breaks Walk

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Dave Noble

During Easter I joined Rob and Martin and spent 6 very enjoyable days on a bushwalk in the Blue Breaks. Our goal was to traverse the Bimlow Tableland. I had been on two walks last year where that was a goal – but the weather then did not cooperate. Would it be any better this time? Also t0 to get to the Bimlow Tableland and back in 6 days would mean some long days of walking.

Continue reading →

Posted in Blue Mountains, Bushwalking, Wilderness Photography | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Coxs River – Packrafting trip

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Dave Noble

The Coxs River is an ideal river for a packrafting trip. Its too difficult to access via canoe or kayak as the easiest exit place involves a 15km bushwalk. It can be visited by lilo. I have done two lilo trips down the river – both in high water and both quite scary and probably dangerous. This was my first packraft trip down the river – and it didn’t take long to work out that its also the best way to see the river.

Continue reading →

Posted in Blue Mountains, Bushwalking, Packrafting | Tagged | 14 Comments

Some more canyoning – Northern Blue Mountains

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Dave Noble

Its good to do an overnight canyoning trip. Often more remote canyons can be linked together and a lot of canyoning can be done in the available time. On this trip we planned to visit four canyons. Two with our overnight packs and two as side trips with minimal gear. In the end, with cool weather, late starts and a bit of pfaffing we only visited two canyons. But it was still a very nice trip.

Continue reading →

Posted in Blue Mountains, Bushwalking, Canyoning, Wilderness Photography, Wollemi National Parks | Leave a comment

Canyoning Videos

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Dave Noble

I have recently uploaded some of my canyoning videos to YouTube.

One is from a nice trip through Claustral Canyon filmed in December 2007 when there was a fair amount of water flowing through the canyon. This was filmed about a week after the sad death of Ian Knapp in the Thunder Canyon part of the trip. Ian was a person, who like me, loved this canyon.

Another is from a trip through Twister and Rocky Creek Canyons in 2006. It starts with a roller coaster ride through Twister Canyon – with lots of water jumps and slides. Rocky Creek Canyon is a grand, spectacular place – but the jumps continue at first. Then a Broad Headed Snake poses for the camera. This was a classic trip!

The third in the canyoning theme is a trip through Mt Hay Canyon in 2003, in high water, and then the climb up the Tom Williams route up Butterbox Point to exit.

(Not currently available)

Posted in Blue Mountains, Canyoning | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

SUBW New Members Day at Lane Cove National Park

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Dave Noble

Peggy, helped by Helen and Terence, organised a Welcome Day for new members of SUBW. It was held at a nice spot in Lane Cove National Park. On the day, we had quite bad weather. The morning was quite wet and it was thought that a lot of people may not be willing to venture out in the rain.

However, we had a nice large shelter shed and from the site we could update people with emails and Facebook updates reassuring them that most of the event would be under shelter and that the forecast was for rain to ease around noon. Continue reading →

Posted in Bushwalking, Sydney | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Canyoning at Newnes

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Dave Noble

Sarah had organised a weekend of canyoning at Newnes and with a good weather forecast (at last!!!) it was easy to decide to join the party. As well as Sarah, there was James, Dan, Kate and Rob and Disco joined us on Sunday.

Sarah abseiling into the Wallaby Tunnel of Newnes Canyon

On the Saturday we visited Firefly Canyon. This was a very pleasant outing. The route to the canyon was not too difficult – a nice pass up the Wolgan cliffs and then some nice scrambling to get down to the creek. Then an easy walk down to the canyon. With plenty of recent rain, the water level was up – and this made for a much better than usual visit. The canyon was in top condition. Continue reading →

Posted in Blue Mountains, Canyoning, Wilderness Photography, Wollemi National Parks | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Maiden Voyage

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Dave Noble

My New Alpacka packraft had arrived and it was time to take it out for a run. The major rivers were too high I thought. Digi Dave suggested a paddle up the Woronora River. That sounded like a good plan.

Rain (yet again….) was forecast. But Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day. At least at first. There was a storm later on in the afternoon. If anything, the morning was too bright and sunny. I had not anticipated the forecast being wrong and had neglected to take sunscreen and a hat – so I did get a bit sunburnt.  Continue reading →

Posted in Packrafting, Sydney | Tagged , , | 1 Comment