OUTDOORS

Claustral Canyon

(2004-12-11)

It was simply awesome!

I have to admit that there is an element of childishness in the whole thing - you know, all those things you wanted to do as a kid but your mum wouldn't let you (and now that we're grown up we finally can i:). My description to summarise the day for various family members was "exhilarating, scary in places, exhausting and great fun!" The shafts of light coming through were simply magic and I'd like to thank the canyon gods for turning on such a perfect day for us! And in the spirit of thanking people, I'd also like to thank Dave for taking us and for catching me in the scary bit and Michael for the dinosaurs on the walk (!!!) out.

Tracy,
The ELTHAM Mob

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Canyoning in Claustral

Canyon in the Blue Mountains. We abandoned the kids for the weekend (they spent it at Darren's mum's house) and headed north to the Blue Mountains. We drove up Friday, stayed in Lithgow Friday night and met the group we were going with at 7:30 Saturday morning. So in thermals, wetsuits and helmets, and with backpacks containing food, harnesses, ropes and drybags to keep things such as a change of clothes and camera dry while we were in the water we set off on our adventure.

Initially it was easy, walking and scrambling over rocks as we walked down the creek (and it wasn't too deep, most of the time my pack was out of the water). The occasional 2m jump into a pool, the occasional short swim and then ... the abseiling. Three 10-15m abseils down into the bowels of the earth (also known as the "Black Hole of Calcutta") as we abseiled down the Calcutta Falls. At the bottom, when we were down in the canyon and the sun shone through the gaps in the rocks it was absolutely magic. It had that feeling of overwhelming awe that cathedrals try to give. Despite the fact that I was freezing and couldn't stop shaking I managed to get some reasonable photos (they show what it looked like, not what it felt like!).

Then a bit more swimming before back out into the sunshine (the drybags in our packs caused them to be buoyant so you could almost just float down on your back and enjoy the scenery). By this time it was lunchtime and the break in the sun was quite welcome. After lunch was the scary bit - a fixed handline that you used to climb down a 5m drop. It took me a while to get the courage up as it was tricky to get over the edge and started off slippery as you were in a small waterfall. Then more rock scrambling, little bits of swim and the tunnel swim - 50m in almost darkness. Floating on our backs and enjoying the view, it was spectacular (no photos as I wouldn't have been able to keep the camera dry but it rivalled some of those that I have from other spots). The walls of the cavern went up and in so that at the top they almost met and only a sliver of brilliant sunshine edged with tree fern fronds could be seen.

At around 4 o'clock we were at the end and stripping off our wetsuits and helmets and getting a bit dryer for the climb out. The start of it was almost rockclimbing but with wet packs and no rope. After that it was just pure slog upward for 2 hours. That was when I really felt how unfit I've become as my legs were almost jelly. One of the guys in the group had a bag of dinosaur lollies which he was handing out at opportune moments. I swear the only thing that kept me going was those dinosaurs.

That night, back in Lithgow, we had a shower, got changed and went next door to the Thai restaurant for tea. Halfway through our meals we gave up and decided that sleep was MUCH more important. Asleep by 9:30 and didn't hear the trains or the drag racing on the street out the front on that night :) The drive home Sunday gave the muscles in our legs PLENTY of time to stiffen up and it was a very funny sight to see us getting out of the car and attempting to walk around for the first few minutes. But I have to say that yes I'd do it again but I'd like to improve my fitness a bit so that the walk out doesn't hurt as much.

The place:	Claustral Canyon
The location:	near Katoomba, Blue Mountains
The time:	8am to 6pm - 8 hours to go down, 2 hours to climb back out
The pain:	in my legs from the 2 hour walk/climb back out at the end :)
The feeling:	FANTASTIC!!!! Exhilarating, Scary, So much fun!   

PS. If you ever have need to stay in Lithgow, don't stay at the Commercial Hotel ... not if you wantr to sleep! -It's saving grace was that it was right next door to the Thai restaurant and we could stagger there and back on our exhausted legs :)

Tracy,
The ELTHAM Mob

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