Serendipity Canyon at Mt Wilson Blue Mountains, Saturday 4th March 2009.

Attendees: James Henderson (author), Dave Dearnley (trip leader), Kate Randall and Eugene Tam.

Originally the intended canyon was Lower Bowens Creek North, however a number of factors influenced leader Dave to change to Serendipity including; our leader not having done Bowens Creek before, the other three members not having done any canyoning before, Bowens Creek apparently involving more walk in/out and a week or so of rain preceding this trip.

Eug, Kate and myself had arranged to meet Dave (who would be driving) at Pennant Hills train station at 6:37am. At 6:37am Eug and myself alighted the train and peered up and down the dimly lit station looking for a shape resembling that of Kate. As the train pulled away it quickly became apparent that Kate would not be meeting at the prearranged point in space and time. A quick phone called awoke a sleeping Kate in Petersham. The phone call ended with the assumption on my behalf that Kate would not be joining us, but since she was not left with any necessary gear our early morning would not be in vain. Dave picked up Eug and I not long after. Katie Keen was soon in contact once again requesting a new meeting point at Richmond at a time to be decided by NSW public transport (CityRail). The driving trio knew this would be a significant delay, however we had time to spare so we agreed to wait for Kate in Richmond.

Dave, Eug and myself arrived in Richmond a bit after 7. Hungry, we visited the local bakery. The bacon and cheese crossiant I had was nice, however apparently Eug and Dave’s pies were a poor comparison to that which can be found in Blackheath. After discovering Kate’s best ETA after two trains and a bus was after 9am, an unguided tour of Richmond was on. Richmond is a very nice town and I felt at ease looking particularly bogan-esque in my black beanie, black singlet (with stylistic custom red Hilbert Space Filling Curve on the back), old stained board shorts and dirty, smelly volleys. Oddly enough however, the only stores we could find open were hairdressers and manicurists. The local Vinnies was also shut.

After making us wait for two hours we agreed that Kate better not arrive with a face full of makeup. At about 9:10 (or was is 9:20?) Kate arrived with her usual green eye paint and mascara. I was not convinced that this was from the previous night’s cocktail party. Either way, the canyon would soon have its way with her appearance.

The trip from Richmond to the car park was uneventful. A glimpse of Pierce’s Pass was sure to inspire some other adventures. We arrived at the carpark as a tour group of about 9 was about to walk in and judging by the number of other vehicles, there were more who had already left. We caught up to the tour group we had seen in the carpark not far before the head of the canyon. The tour group continued further down the path and entered the canyon a little further on. In an unwitnessed accident approximately 3 or 4m from the first abseil into the canyon, Eug managed to sprain his ankle negotiating a small drop. Seeing Eug lying on his backside in the creek Kate pronounced ‘Fail’.

We gave Eug 10mins to watch his ankle swell and donned wetsuits. Kate squirmed with the first leech of the day, promptly ripped off by Dave. With steady recent rain there was significantly more water in the canyon than Dave’s previous passes. I took the first abseil and chose the route through the waterfall. Good fun. Kate came next down a drier path. Eug attempted to take a drier path but couldn’t push off his right ankle so he felt the brunt of the water.
A few minutes later we were waiting for the tour group to complete a long abseil very close to the alternate entry point. We watched as one of the guides complained about some of the heavier elements of his group over tightening his poorly dressed knot.

The next section of the canyon involves wandering down the creek for a few hundred metres. Dave and Kate stayed ahead while Eug slid along his backside at every available opportunity and I watched on in mild amusement. I negotiated the deeper sections fairly quickly since my (and by that I mean Tim’s, thanks!) short shorts wetsuit wasn’t a lot of help for my lean pins. We eventually reached the next abseil only to find the tour group so we headed back up the canyon a small distance for lunch. Eug produced a bag full of sport bars to cheer himself up. After resting I noticed it was getting a little chilly, just the time to take the first swim. The canyon narrowed at this point and with a fair bit of water gushing down it, the second half was quite exciting. We trundled along and completed a couple more fun abseils through waterfalls and swims. With the extra water Dave was like a kid in a candy shop, taking a couple of opportunities to jump, however I decided against it, given the results of my previous high jump at Dam Cliffs (serious loss of balance). There was a moment of concern when injured and blind (no glasses) Eug disappeared out of sight under a large chockstone which we had abseiled off but he was fine and after finding myself with legs spread either side of the water fall I slipped and did the same. More good fun.

At the canyon exit it was enjoyable watching my shorter compatriots trying to swim upstream against a solid current while I merely strode along unhindered. The froth and bubble we passed though in the slower parts of the stream didn’t look pleasant, however I am yet to see any side effects. Dave entertained himself by pushing Kate into the fast moving water and sending her downstream, thankfully Kate has a firm grip and took him with her. A couple of jumps were taken from the rock at the base of the walk out path by the man with self-proclaimed unusual strength and one by Kate who looked like a distressed puppy who had slipped into a pool and who also lost her waterbottle into the whitewater.

The walkout was slow with Eug’s bad ankle but really not very bad. Hats off to Eug for making it though with a freshly sprained ankle. Thanks to Dave for organizing and taking us through.

All in all the abseils were pretty bomber, nothing really very sketchy, the scenery was nice, it wasn’t all that cold, the leeches were friendly and the extra water was fun. Recommended.