Alas, Canyoning!

Canyoning has long been on my to do list due to its uniqueness incorporating various techniques to traverse natural & beautiful environments accessible only by foot.

Chang & I had the wonderful opportunity to go canyoning in the Blue Mountains on Saturday thanks to Neil who kindly organised a trip through Twister Canyon & Rocky Creek Canyon!

Due to an awesome Friday night of food, drinks & jamming at Leon's Boxing Day barbeque, Chang & I only managed to scavenge 5 hours sleep with near no preparation for our first canyoning experience! Chang dragged his car around to my place on time at 6.30am surprisingly, unsurprisingly I was running a little slow having not eaten breakfast. We opted to eat breaky at home over trusty McDonald's as I thought it would be unfair to implicate Ronald McDonald of contaminating crisp mountain water, strewn with half-digested McMuffins & hash browns when poor Ronnie does not even canyoneer!

Chang & I were so ill prepared we did not have supplies for the day, undeterred we dropped by a petrol station to buy water & the secret energy source of true champions - Mars Bars! Disaster averted.

After we drove 50 minutes to Richmond's McDonald's, we met Neil & Co (11 others) all devouring what they thought was the energy source of true champions, McDonald's breakfast! This could not be good for the crisp, clear canyon water we were soon to be purified in...I'm almost certain McDonald's meals were not intended to be digested as they already are so processed, there's no further need to process on our part therefore the human body treats it as it would a foreign object & expels it! Thankfully today, the McDonald's meals found it in their heart to be digested.

As we were about to leave McDonald's we found out the canyons were still a good 2 hours drive away - 2 hours more than we had hoped for in our weary state.

[2 hours later...]

Having conquered the beaten dirt road we arrived at Rocky Creek car park in one piece, Chang convinced me his Mazda Astina hatchback really was, in fact a hummer. Who was I to doubt him? In the space of 2 hours he had transformed the colour of his car from blue to brown (double coated also) without moving from the driver's seat - I was seriously impressed.

A short bushwalk down towards Twister Canyon & I felt the buzz of being outdoors again. For the rest of the day my body had forgotten it lacked rest, surging through on adrenaline in the superb company of friends & canyons.

As we entered the gorge the environment changed quickly from one I was relatively comfortable bushwalking in, to an unfamiliar wet environment. That first experience of having little choice but to sink my shoes followed by my hesitant body into chilled water was literally breathtaking as I awoke to this unique moment.

What follows I think is either a love or hate affair with canyons, as adventurers often quote, you can usually tell after the first trip whether a first timer will return!

Canyoning with spectacles on was rather interesting. No real dramas if you hold onto them while jumping, if you aren't a strong swimmer it does begin to erode your doggy-paddle though. Climbing out of potholes can be a little challenging, and if that wasn't already hard enough picture a blind man running blindly down a canyon after his specs as they made a bid for freedom. If you do have contact lenses a friend at work Max suggested wearing swimming goggles for the jumps.

Twister Canyon & Rocky Creek Canyon are well documented so I won't go into detail.

In short:
- Twister Canyon was filled with plenty of jumps into potholes & fun slides with little swimming involved. There were mandatory jumps, most being only a couple of metres in height.
- Rocky Creek Canyon was more technical with the fun climbs, we were in water most of the time wading & swimming but only for a few metres at a time (10m being the longest). No jumps in this canyon from memory.

Both canyons were introductory yet amazingly beautiful. Even if you don't see yourself canyoning or taking it up as a regular activity, at least check out these 2 canyons with an experienced group which can be easily done consecutively in a day.

As our memorable day came to an end in the early afternoon, we drove out of the mountains just as the rain hit. Chang & I knew we had to get to a Thai restaurant for some serious eating, I was so hungry I ate as though the success of the business depended on me - I like to think I did them proud!