The Big Bush Basher

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Serendipity Canyon

WOW! A Jurassic Park and Water World combined experience, not for the faint hearted with lots of abseiling, water jumps and narrow passes.

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I’ve been looking to get into canyoning for a while so what time better than the Xmas break to do it! We booked amazing two private guides (Mika & Brian) from the amazing people at Australian School of Mountaineering (HIGHLY recommended). Day 1: involved a night of camping at the nearby Megalong Valley Farm Camp which was not really part of the main adventure, but we just wanted to camp nearby to avoid driving in from Sydney at the crack of dawn. It’s a beautiful campsite run by Gary who was welcoming and friendly. The site is expansive and well maintained. Day 2: we woke up early, packed up and headed into Katoomba to meet our guides. After a short introduction and briefing, we packed up our gear and drove to Mount Wilson, where the trail begins. The trail starts off easy enough, on a fire trail. After about an hour we reach the first abseil point into the canyon, where we get into our wet suits and commence our first abseil. The first abseil is not too hard but definitely a great introduction to what lays ahead. And what lays ahead is simply magnificent. Long abseils through waterfalls and into crystal clear pools of water, wades and scrambles. It takes about 4 hours to reach the glow worm tunnel, which is right by the exit point from the canyon and a 1 to 2 hour steep hike back to the cars. Exhausted but spectacular day out.

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Mount Wilson

Canoe Creek Track – Wollemi National Park

A relatively short but gruelling decent into the magnificent Canoe Creek and Colo River

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It’s hard to believe sometimes that just 2 hours away from the hustle and bustle of the city lays utter tranquility and bliss, but alas there is! Canoe Creek Track is not long, but it is HARD (note, a 4wd is highly recommended to get here). Take a look at the elevation below. Basically, the track down goes bush bash, lots of overgrowth, bush bash a bit more, reach the decent, hammer your knees for an hour, and boom! The amazing campsite emerges after around 3 hours of hiking.

The campsite is sublime. Take a look at the photos. There just one other group there when we arrived, but there is enough space for all and we managed to have a beautiful night under the stars. The hike back up was, as expected, hard. But the burger we rewarded ourselves with made it all worth it. Highly recommended, be prepared for bush bashing and knee smashing!

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Wollemi

Butterbox Canyon – Upper Blue Mountains

A gruelling and highly rewarding venture into the mighty Butterbox Canyon

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O.M.G!!!! This one was special!

Warning – Butterbox Canyon is suitable for experienced canyoners only.

This overnighter was a birthday present from me to my bestie Yoav. We camped at Murpheys Glen Campground, which is a beautiful serene spot, just 30 minutes from Butterbox Canyon (note: bookings required and there is a locked gate with code).

We woke up at 5.30am to meet our guides at Katoomba at 7am. They geared us up and drove us to the start of the trail. The abseiling commences pretty quickly, just 30 minutes into the hike. And from that point WOW. This is a canyon that just keeps on giving. At least 6 abseils of which one was too long for a single rope, meaning you have to land on a boulder, wedged between the narrow canyon walls, to rope up to a second rope. Many of them are through waterfalls. Just amazing.

The climb out of canyons can sometimes be a bit boring … not so here! The 2 hour hike out, along a narrow wedge of a path on the cliff edge, involves full on rock climbing up a section – not for the faint hearted.

Enjoy the photos, this one is truely magnificent.

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Mount Hay Road

Deep Pass Canyon – Wollemi National Park

Deep Pass Canyon from Glowworm Tunnel Road

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Deep Pass Canyon, in Wollemi National Park was a perfect destination for our large group, the campground is just a fantastic spot for the night – a large expanse of well maintained space with fire pits, nestled below a beautiful cliffs, canyons and pools, which can be explored. There are two ways of doing this hike. Option 1 (the much longer route!) is park at the Glowworm Tunnel Road. This involves approx. 10km of flat and easy fire trail walking (5km in and 5km out). Option 2 is to drive the fire trail (perfectly fine for an AWD/4WD) and park at the entrance to the official trail. We chose option 1 because we wanted to walk a bit more.

There are two carparks at the end of the fire trail. The south one involves a steep decent down, takes around an hour to the campground. The north one is a bit shorter and less steep, takes around 30 minutes. Once at the campground, you have two trips to explore. One is the canyon circuit, which is brilliant, lots of swimming, ropes and fun (not overly challenging and no need for specialist gear). It takes about 2 to 4 hours to complete. Only tip is do it clockwise, otherwise you’ll be scrambling down the ropes which will be much harder. The other trip is to slot canyon. It’s a 20 minute walk, and can be hard to find, but once there is magnificent. A great trip!

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Wollemi

Kangaroo Creek – Royal National Park (II)

Waterfall to Uloola via Kangaroo Creek and exit via Olympic Pool

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For the second of of frog 🐸 Yomp’s we decided to do an easy one … NOT 😝 The plan walk to Uloola via Kangaroo Creek track and then back on Day 2 to Karloo and on to Olympic Pool. Day 1 we started from Waterfall train station but not before having a coffee at the local chippy on the M1 … classy 😂 Instead of taking the Uloola Track, we walked on the far less trodden Kangaroo Creek Track. It starts easily enough and after an hour you get to the magnificent Kangaroo Pool – a beautiful swim spot with a waterfall and jump spot. Sublime. But, we seriously underestimated the next part given how overgrown the bush was, contending with thick tall weeds, snakes, debris, fallen trees and the hottest day since 2021!!! We bush bashed through to Karloo pools for a quick swim and then the last 2km (much easier) to Uloola Falls (bookings required). Day 2 we backtracked to Uloola (just 2km, easy track) and then on to the massive (and empty) Olympic Pool, which is magnificent. From there we took the Bottle Forest Track up to Heathcote, which involved an hour or so of steep gradient ascent. All in all, an amazing hike and would definitely suggest all day is needed to fully enjoy and explore Kangaroo Creek allowing for enough time to work through the overgrown bush.

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Karloo Track

Glenbrook to Euroka circuit

Taking in some of the most amazing sights along the Glenbrook Creek, camping at Euroka campground

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There’s a first time for everything and camping / hiking with my work mates definitely counts! This hike is not as easy as it seems, with some gruelling hiking from the offset on day 1 along the Glenbrook Creek. In fact this whole hike travels alongside the creek and there are so many amazing swim spots along the way. Day 1: we started at Glenbrook Station and started to walk down Station Creek Firetrail. The trail starts easy enough and then becomes pretty steep as you approach the creek (took us about 1.5 hours and some bush bashing). But once you get there wow, what an amazing swim spot. Continuing the walk along the creek uncovers a number of other amazing swim spots especially the Blue Pool. We then joined onto Campfire Creek and the Red Hand Cave Trail, to reach the amazing Red Hand Cave. After taking in the amazing artwork, we continued onto the Link Track and a shortcut which required a lot of bush bashing to reach The Oaks Track, eventually arriving at Euroka Campground by 5pm. The campground is amazing though sadly we had some noisy neighbour’s blaring musing through the night. Day 2: we were joined by more colleagues and we set off back to Glenbrook, passing many beautiful sights along the way like Tunnel View Lookout and Mount Portal Lookout, end having a quick dip in Jellybean Pool too. It’s great to know I work with people who share this passion and can’t wait to go on more adventures with them.

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Jellybean Pool

Kingfisher Pool

Camping at Kingfisher campground via Bullawarring track and loop out via Goanna track

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This hike was a special one as it was done with my brother, his first overnight hike. He lives in the UK and was here for a surprise visit to celebrate my 50th (where he gave me a good roasting too!), and boy what a surprise it was. Being his first I searched for a moderate hike in / out route (plus it seems most of the Blue Mountains are still closed after all the rains). So this one seemed perfect as it’s a 5km loop with a beautiful campsite near Kingfisher Pool. It can be started from Waterfall train station. Day 1: we arrived as the sun was setting (!) not my finest planning moment as it didn’t allow for any time for unforeseen issues, but after a lot of muddy trekking on a pretty well defined path we made it Kingfisher Pool and campsite nearby. The campsite (fits around 10 tents) is very well maintained, with a picnic table and drop toilet nearby too. We thought we had it to ourselves until 4 teenage scouts (youngest being 12!) on a 3 day hike, who got lost arrived late at night. It’s a nice campsite beside the beautiful pool, which during summer would make an awesome daytime destination for a cooling off swim. Day 2: we set off on the Goanna track to loop back to the car. The track is mostly easy to follow (we did lose it when crossing the creek so ended up with a bit of bush bashing) with just enough incline to teach my bother a lesson for the birthday roasting he gave me 😂

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Heathcote

Wollangambe Canyon (Upper)

Camping at Cathedral Reserve campground to make an early start at Wollangambe Canyon

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Essentials;

Lilo (single mattress like this one is best)
Hiking shoes for descent / accent
Wet suit highly advisable
Rope (just in case)

Backpack and waterproof stuff sack
River shoes
Know where the exit point it (GPS / map)

This is probably the most unique trip I’ve done in the Blue Mountains, but it’s absolutely not for beginners, as many blogs imply. The beauty, serenity and majesty of the Wollangambe Canyon is simply awe inspiring. From the towering canyon walls glimmering with water reflections to the feeling of complete solitude (once in there is no exiting the canyon until you reach the end point), it is something special. Day 1: we camped at the nearby Cathedral Reserve campground, to allow us to make an early start (we failed!). It’s a small and simple campsite. Day 2: being a large group, we only reached the car park (a short 5 minute drive) at 10.30am. Considering we only managed to get back for 7.30pm just short of night fall, it gave the whole adventure a sense of worry / excitement to make it back before dark (the prospect of spending an unplanned night in the canyon is not fun). We were a group of 9 (5 kids), so we were a bit slow, a smaller group of adults could manage it a bit quicker. The hike down is easy, but out is gruelling as it’s all ascent and requires precarious tree root climbs out of the canyon using pre-placed ropes. The floating parts in the canyon are incredible, as you float on (cold!) crystal clear water. What we were not prepared for were the multiple (around 5) bouldered sections which you need to carry your floaties over. Frankly some seemed impassable at first, it’s for these parts that it’s not for the faint hearted! But overall, an incredible day and highly recommended (with right planning and equipment!).

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Wollangambe

Kangaroo Creek – Royal National Park (I)

Waterfall to Karloo Pool via Kangaroo Creek and exit via Olympic Pool (Xmas & Boxing day)

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With 29 degree sunshine forecast for Day 1 and storms for Day 2, I decided we should shake it up and walk to Uloola via Kangaroo Creek track (I heard of many great swim spots along the way) and then back on Day 2 via the easier graded Uloola Track (the recommended route there). Not much went to plan from there! Day 1 (Xmas Day) started from Waterfall train station 2 hours later than planned (at 2pm!). Instead of Uloola Track, we walked on the far less trodden Kangaroo Creek Track. It starts easily enough and after an hour you get to the magnificent Kangaroo Pool – a beautiful swim spot with a waterfall and jump spot. The kids loved it. Between the hour spent here and 2pm start, we only had 3 hours of daylight left to walk 5km’s to Uloola camp site (via Karloo pools). But, we seriously underestimated how overgrown the bush was, often having to backtrack and course correct. By 7pm, it became clear we wouldn’t be reaching Uloola as we muddled and bush bashed through thick bush, finally to arrive to an empty Karloo pools at 7.30pm. We set up camp here instead. Day 2 (Boxing Day) we decided should be easier given the crazy rush in Day 1. So we hiked a kilometre or so to the massive (and empty) Olympic Pool, which is spectacular. From there we took the Bottle Forest Track up to Heathcote, which involved an hour or so of steep gradient ascent. All in all, an amazing hike and would definitely suggest all day is needed to fully enjoy and explore Kangaroo Creek allowing for enough time to work through the overgrown bush.

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Karloo Track

Russell’s Needle – Nattai National Park

Wattle Ridge Road, down Slotts Way to Nattai River then head to Russell’s Needle and climb to summit

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This was our forth attempt in the family to tackle “The Needle”. The first three attempts failed because of poor time planning. This time Merav and I perfected the timings, despite the shorter winter clock, albeit getting back to car on Day 2 with just 30 mins of light left. It’s an amazing hike. Day 1 involves a walk down Slotts Way. There are magnificent views on the way on what is a pretty steep 400m descent taking 3 hours or so (take note, as this makes Day 2 pretty hard going coming back up!). At the end of Slotts we arrived to Nattai River and headed south towards the Needle. An hour or two of bush bashing later, we arrived at the foot of the Needle and set up camp by the (freeeeezing river). Day 2 we woke up early and headed straight up the Needle with just light day packs with water and snacks. Our chosen route (there are multiple!) up via the east face is fairly steep, with some steep rock scrambling. But it takes less than an hour to reach (one of) the Needles summits (not the highest which I believe requires a west face ascent and more dangerous climbing too). But it’s high enough for amazing views and a wide perch to rest on. Descending is easy enough (needs care as steep!) and we quickly got back to camp site, packed up and headed back to and up Slotts. The hike up was pretty exhausting, (for me anyway, Merav smashed her way up!). We loved this hike and will do it again choosing a different route up Russell for some variety.