[SUBW-A] Trip Report, Arabanoo Creek, 25-26 Nov 2006

[Ashley Burke]

TRIP: Arabanoo Creek, 25-26 Nov 2006

PARTY: Ashley Burke

PHOTOS:

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~aburke/ArabanooCreek20061125-26/Photos.htm

TRIP REPORT:

There were no takers for this trip and by Friday I was wavering, not feeling
to keen on attempting this trip solo. In the end the lure of an area far
away from all the bushfires, the prospect of new Kanangra dots, deep pools
of water and a weekend of solid walking was too great. I decided to do the
trip anyway, by myself. I was glad I made this decision.

I had been told to take lots of rope so I packed all that I could reasonably
carry - two ropes with a combined length of no less than 110 metres! This
would weigh me down considerably so I ditched unnecessary items like the
jaffle iron and fly and jettisoned some food. The bottle of wine, being an
essential item, stayed in the pack.

I decided on an early Saturday departure rather than Friday evening, so I
left my place at 5:15 on Saturday morning and drove to Kanangra carpark
where I had breakfast at one of the picnic tables. The air was clear and
still, the murky bushfire haze lay to the north, here the sky was deep blue
and all was still.

I shouldered my pack and all that rope, headed down to the Dance Floor Cave
and continued down that gully which was the headwaters of Arabanoo Creek. I
descended easily until the creek bed flattened out where a side creek
entered on the right. Where were the supposed abseils that I was carrying
all this rope for? The answer came soon enough - just around the corner.

The first abseil required only 1 rope, and even here the creek had no water
but for a few clear still pools. This was followed by 4 more abseils, all
considerably longer than the first, and by now I was glad that I had carried
all this rope, I needed both ropes tied together to get down the longest
drops. I enjoyed the abseiling immensely, and most of them ended in large
deep pools of cool water, very inviting.

After the last abseil I packed away the rope and abseiling gear and began
the long walk down Arabanoo Creek to the Kowmung. This was the scariest part
of the whole trip because there were so many snakes. At almost every turn
there was a black snake, often they didn't even bother slithering away. It
was rare to walk for 2 minutes without seeing one or nearly treading on one.

Walking solo had its challenges too. There was one short downclimb where I
had to take my pack off. Normally this would have been a simple pack pass if
there was more than one person. But there was no one to pass my pack to. So
I left it teetering on a rock ledge while I negotiated the downclimb. Once
down I then had to prod it with a long stick until I finally dislodged it
and it fell on top of me.

The creek and the mountains generally were desperately dry. Arabanoo Creek
was not flowing and there were long stretches of no water at all. Other
times there were a series of clear pools. Much wildlife, especially snakes,
had gravitated towards what little water remained. At one point I disturbed
a huge hairy pig that had been wallowing in a tiny pool of water. As soon as
it heard me it thundered off downstream, snorting and stamping, leaving a
black pool of fetid water in its wake.

Each water hole was an abundance of wildlife that had come there for respite
from the drought. There were birds of every description flitting among the
bushes near the water holes and there were lots of reptiles (other than
snakes), including water dragons and skinks that scurried and rustled in and
around the water in great profusion.

With so little water it's hard to imagine that there could be anything like
trout around but trout there was. Note the use of past tense. The pools they
were in were so shallow it didn't take much effort to whip out a couple to
supplement my dinner.

Further downstream the creek became a narrow gorge and there was a mandatory
swim through a deep pool which was very welcome on this warm Saturday
afternoon.

I reached the Kowmung at about 5pm and found that it wasn't evening flowing,
which came as no great surprise. The Christies Kowmung junction normally
echoes the sound of running water but now it was silent. The sounds of frogs
and the occasional "plop" of something falling, jumping or diving into the
water were the only sounds gave away the fact that water was there at all. I
enjoyed a swim in the Kowmung and then prepared my camp while a large wombat
ambled by.

That evening I enjoyed the trout and sipped my wine while all around me
sounds of animals coming down to the water kept me wondering what was out
there.

Next morning after breakfast I contemplated the enormous pile of rope that
lay in front of me and was forced to concede that it was probably my turn to
carry the rope again today. So I packed it all up along with plenty of water
for the climb back to Kanangra. I chose the short route of Cambage Spire and
the Bullhead Range so it was only 3 hours or so until I was back at Kanangra
car park. I had an early lunch at the picnic table where I had breakfasted
the day before and then cruised back to Sydney.

Apart from the lack of company it was a great trip featuring some fantastic
abseiling, swimming, clear skies away from bushfires and abundant wildlife.
It is a pity that the ongoing drought is making life so desperate out here.

Ashley Burke
Phone: +61 2 9476 3531
Mobile: 0414 633 315
Email: aburke at ozemail.com.au