Whungee Wheengee Canyon

We went with our usual group of 5, reaching Mt Wilson half an hour later than our planned meetup time. Vincent and I drove up to Wentworth Falls to pick up Adam, and as we parked in front of his house, we got a text that he's just woken up, still on his bed. 15 minutes later, we see Adam frantically running out of his front porch, ready for a long canyon. We drove up the road to Wentworth Falls shops and Adam, seeing his beloved German bakery packed with customers, settled with a bit of bread for his lunch. 

From Cathedral Reserve we walked down the exit track of Wollangambe 1 (& entry of Wollangambe 2) towards the river. There are a few scrambles towards the end of the track near the river, and it felt a bit harder coming down than going up. We went in for a dip in the river before heading up the ridge on the other side towards the canyon. Weather was warming up with forecasts of more than 40 degrees in the city in the midst of a heatwave. 

Heading up a ridge in the midst of a heatwave isn't a great idea, but nonetheless, the descent into the canyon soon started. First abseil was a dry abseil over a ledge. Kristen forgot bring her gloves and I opened my pack to find my spare pair of gloves, kept in a Nalgene bottle to keep them dry. As I opened the Nalgene bottle, a strong rotten smell escaped from the gloves, something Vincent described as the worst smell he encountered in his life. Guess water has made its way through the bottle in a previous canyon, and I forgot to dry its contents at home after that trip. I've got the cap back on immediately, keeping the smell contained until the end of the canyon, where I can dispose of the biohazard in a bin. 

Whungee has somewhere between 4 and 7 abseils, most being very short. Many of the optional abseils can be downclimbed, but we decided to take all 7 abseils, trying not to mess with our existing injuries. 2nd abseil was a scramble that could be downclimbed. From above, it didn't look easy and we thought it would be much quicker to just abseil it. 

Shortly after, we ran into a handline. Adam went down first and soon discovered that the handline didn't quite reach the bottom, and the final moves at the bottom were quite dodgy. Knowing that it's probably best for us to rig an abseil parallel to the handline, using the same bolts. I assume the handline would normally reach the bottom of the canyon, but the water levels on that day were really low and conditions were slightly different.

This is where we had our wetsuits on, ready for our first swim in the dark. We then had our 4th abseil, which was an uneventful, easy abseil down a few metres. We then reemerged into an open pool, where we had a mini water slide. Adam showed us his brand new purchase- a 360-degree camera from DJI. With these cameras, shots can be framed at virtually any angle, great for 3rd person views and also filming without having to worry about the camera's angle. 

Some really nice sandstone constriction followed, with sun shining in from above. This canyon truly lives up to its online reviews. Only exception was that with the low water levels, the duck unders weren't really duck unders and felt more like a normal swim. 

From here it was a bit more creek walking, scrambles, and duck unders. Some sections get pretty dark and subsequently water in here gets pretty cold, even on a day with heatwaves. 

The 5th abseil is a rope wrapped around a chokestone, getting down a small drop in the canyon constriction. 

The tight constrictions from this canyon were really scenic. 

And some sections where a torch was kind of necessary. People usually recommend bringing a torch for this canyon to navigate through the duck unders. It's not essential where it's possible to get away without one, but in this case, life would be a lot easier with one. 

Another thing we realised was that Adam's vlogging camera is really chatty, announcing its presence through the entire canyon. It announces its Panoramic mode, in a voice that sounds very much like the "the bluetooth device is connected successfully" in cheap Chinese headphones. Doesn't sound very nice in a camera that costs nearly $800. 

We had lunch at an open spot of the canyon before continuing down the 2nd half. The 2nd half was mostly creek walking with 2 more abseils to go. The 6th abseil had bolts that are a bit hard to reach, and there's an access bolt with a fixed line to clip in safety slings. The access bolt was reported to be a bit loose by other canyoners on Facebook at the end of the day. 

The canyon leads into Wollangambe right after a really nice slot with sandstone walls towering on both sides. From here it's just a swim back to the exit track on our backpack boats, leaning on our backs and using the buoyancy of our dry bags. The water felt really warm, having steamed up with an entire day of heat, giving that comfortable feeling of an indoor swimming pool.

A bit of scrambling and swimming we reached the exit track of Wollangambe 2, ready for a walk out. We filtered some water from the river, essential for walking up a hill in scorching heat. The water comes from a mining runoff, and some say there's a bit of heavy metal in it. Next time we should probably get some Singaporeans to taste that water, as "whoever governs Singapore must have that iron in him". 

The walk out has drained all our energy, carrying heavy, wet ropes. In a bit over an hour, we've reached the carpark where Daniel and I camped for the night and the others headed home. Not a lot happened in Mt Wilson other than some interesting posts on Facebook- perhaps just like the high school kids I've taught, we all need to learn some anger management strategies. Oh and I've also witnessed the largest Wollangambe 1 group I've ever seen with about 20 people, heading down for their 21st party from what I've heard. From the back it looked more like a mini protest marching down city streets.