Newnes Plateau Canyoning

We all met at the Zig Zag turnoff and headed out on fire roads in light drizzle on to the plateau. After parking the cars, we piled in the back of Rik's ute down a 4wd track to the park boundary. We headed off down to the creek we were going to check out and into the bush and soon found a miniature canyon, although not the one we were looking for. Scrambling down a tree into the main creek, we headed downstream and soon found a short section of fairly low quality canyon, before coming out at a waterfall where the creek dropped into the valley below. We took photos, and Dave took some video, before we retraced our steps out. We found another miniature canyon on the way back up the hill.

Crossing over the 4wd track, we headed for a canyon that Rik and Dave had done before. This one was good, with large wind blown chambers, one of which we had lunch in. Continuing up the canyon, most of us got our feet wet trying to traverse a small poo, although Dave managed to keep dry.

We reached the top of the canyon and headed back up the hill to the ute, and from there back to Barcoo Swamp for the night. Rik headed back to town for a party

Sitting around the campfire, we gorged ourselves on snacks, dinner, alcohol... Clare correctly predicted that her limit was three glasses of wine, as after starting her fourth, she pretty much kept us entertained single handedly for the rest of the night. Dave evilly took video of this!

The next morning, after some confusion about meeting places, we bumped into Rik on the Glowworm Tunnel Rd, and headed out on fire roads to check out another canyon. After reasonable walk in, we headed over a ridge and down into the creek. We found a few short sections of canyon, including one quite nice one, but only about 50m long.

Scrambling down to the main creek, we headed upstream and up into the bottom of a canyon a few of us had done before. It was very deep and dark, and a good detour, before climbing out on the ridge for lunch. After a leisurely break we headed back to the cars for the trip back to Sydney. A great weekend.