Canyons Are Grand

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday April 13, 2001

GARRY MADDOX

With the help of your trusty li-lo, you can enjoy otherwise inaccessible parts of the bush.

The best part of canyoning in the Blue Mountains is not just the adventure, though there's a fair bit of that when you hike to Wollangambe Canyon, then bob downstream on an inflatable mattress, scramble over rocks and wade waist-deep through rushing water.

Other canyons promise even livelier activities - abseiling down waterfalls and leaping from rocks into the water.

But just as enjoyable is where the sport takes you and what you see when you're there. Canyoning is a great way to get into the wilderness, to see otherwise unreachable parts of the bush.

The Wollangambe Canyon, near Mount Victoria, is an ideal introduction. It's one of the

gentler locations for canyoning in the mountains, a rocky gorge reached by an hour's walk with backpack from the nearest car park.

Getting under way when you reach the river involves a certain amount of unintentional comedy. After donning a wetsuit and helmet, you slip on a pair of daggy old shorts to protect the rubber from damage on the rocks.

Then you blow up your mattress and try it out - harder than it looks when you're

balancing a backpack. It takes no skill at all to end up in the water.

Then, when you've sorted out the balance, it's just a matter of heading downstream, drifting and paddling ...

Before long there's a tremendous sense of tranquillity as you pass through giant canyons that resemble flooded cathedrals.

Wildlife abounds. On one bank is a metre-long lizard nonchalantly watching the paddling parade. Swooping overhead are dragonflies as big as birds. One is so luminously blue that it must have been created in a jeweller's shop. Flotillas of insects skim over the water.

Our party drifts downriver and scambles over rocks for more than four hours. But everyone loses track of time, so it's a surprise to reach the end of the run - a clear pool fronting a sandy beach. While we change into dry clothes, an orange yabbie scuttles around the pool like a late commuter. Our guide sets up lunch - salads, rolls and lolly snakes - on a rock table.

The toughest part of the day is the 90-minute walk back to the car park. But as you climb, there's a lot to learn from your guide about the bush, such as the stories behind the termite mounds and the pink trigger flowers that spray pollen onto inquisitive insects.

The final treat of the day is a late change in the weather. It has been one of those stifling hot days, which made the cool of the canyon all the more appreciated, until a storm

blows in.

Thunder barrels across the valley, followed by lightning. Rain transforms the landscape - the smells are sharper, the air is fresher and the bush drinks it in. No-one cares a jot about getting soaked again.

PROSPECTIVE canyoners need to know the sport can be dangerous. Two years ago, 21 people were killed while canyoning in Switzerland. A flash flood swept away their tour party, including 14 Australians, after a storm. And last month a canyoner drowned after a downpour sent water flooding over the escarpment in the Blue Mountains.

The lesson from these two tragedies is to take maximum care and learn from the experts. What starts as adventure can become a dangerous activity after rain.

For information on canyoning tours, contact Blue Mountains Visitor Information on 1300 653408 or www.bluemts .com.au. It can provide details of accredited companies running trips in the area. Full day tours usually include lunch, wetsuit, backpack and li-lo if

required. The Blue Mountains Adventure Company (phone 4782 1271, www.bmac.com.au) has a one-day Wollangambe Canyon trip for $135.