A Canyon By Any Other Name: Bungonia Creek

Many Australian canyons are narrow dark slots, Bungonia is not one of those. More a deep creek than a canyon, it is a popular day out with a series of abseils, a jump or two, and some creek scrambling before the inevitable hot dusty walk out.

We met Tony and Anthony, definitely not Tony and Tony, at the Bungonia Visitor Centre where we registered out and then headed down to the campground and the tourist tracks. For some reason, which may have involved Tony being sold the wrong rope, we had many, many ropes. Four people, four ropes, all big, fat, heavy static lines. Had it been Doug and I, we would have taken one, but, I have always maintained that we are old, weak, and not given to carrying more stuff about than we need.

Yellow Track heads west then north to Jerrara Canyon lookout dropping into Bungonia Creek along the way. At this time of year, the creek started out dry, but as we walked down slabs and boulders following the creek, some muddy pools began to appear. Shortly, we were at the first abseil where we met another party of two just finishing up the first long abseil. This long abseil ends in a pool which we swum across buoyed by our packs.

Some more scrambling, and then a jump into a pool, followed by another swim and some more scrambling down rock slabs and shelves. At Bungonia Falls, we caught up to the two guys ahead of us again, not because they were unduly slow but because they had lost a rope in the pool below the jump. Arrantly, rope and pack separated when tossed into the pool following a jumper. Pack floated, rope did not. No amount of diving led to recovery of the rope, so they waited to join up with our group.

We did the next abseil on two ropes but a single rope abseil would work equally as well if you were confident scrambling down easy ledges to a last short drop into the pool below. Another swim, which now the day was heating up felt wonderfully cooling. I did not really want to get out.

More scrambling, this time down a big drop below the Jerrara Creek junction, and then over and around many big boulders in the creek bed. We stopped for lunch on a lovely big shady slab and hung the ropes out to dry.

The river makes a big northward bend and the further down stream you go, the easier the scrambling until, just before Red Track (what imaginative names!) leads out of the canyon, we were strolling along grassy river banks under the towering cliffs of Frome Hill.

Red Track is probably named for the colour of one's face after you have huffed up 300 metres in under a kilometre. Once again up on the plateau, the rest of the trip involves walking up and down gullies as Green Track contours back to the campground. Lucky there are a few nice lookouts along the way.

View a short video here, and, some of these photos are courtesy DB.  

Thwarted By The Wind: Boydtown to Bermagui By Boat

When the email came proposing a 4 to 5 day trip from Mosquito Bay on the south coast of NSW to Boydtown, near the Victorian border, Doug and I were in right away. Although we have paddled this section of coast before, on a series of different  trips, sea conditions make every trip different and we would be sharing the adventure with a great group of other paddlers.

In the days leading up to the trip, the interwebs buzzed with the usual emails sorting out trip details but mostly focused on the weather which predicted a switch from the more frequent northerly summer flows to a period of moderate southerlies. Accordingly, instead of starting at Mosquito Bay and paddling south, we decided to start at Boydtown and paddle north.

Day 1: Boydtown to Pambula River:

Due to some complicated calculations involving tidal flows, wind speeds, wave periods, and slow kayakers, we left Boydtown Beach early and paddled out as a rising sun cast low light across Twofold Bay. We neared the coast at Worang Point and paddled north along this lovely bit of coastline which is part of Ben Boyd National Park. At Haycock Point, the tide was too low to paddle inside of Haystack Rock so we paddled around the outside and into the Pambula River where, despite reports of long wave periods, we found the Pambula Bar easy to cross.

Day 2: Pambula River to Nelson Lagoon:

Another early morning departure as we were meeting another two kayakers at Kianinny Bay at noon. Perhaps it was the tide but Pambula Bar was more lively to cross and some took a wave or two across the chest, but Doug, Rae and I, with impeccable, but completely unscripted timing, paddled out totally dry during a long break between sets.

From the Pambula River to the north end of Wallagoot Beach the coast is a mix of sandy beaches separated by small headlands. Last time we paddled this section we landed near Bournda Island which does not provide much shelter from the swells. This time the swell and the group was bigger and we decided to push on to a more sheltered landing.

Between Wallagoot Lake and Tathra is the wonderful stretch of coast traversed by the Kangarutha Track. This 8 km section of coast is riddled with caves, clefts, grottos, gauntlets and small rocky islets, but, you need calm seas to explore them fully and the 1.5 metre easterly swell was not conducive to playing about in narrow rocky defiles. Even the entrance to Kianinny Bay looked a bit confronting with big waves smashing on the reef. Had I not paddled in before, I might have been more nervous as entering the sheltered bay requires making a dog leg turn around a breaking reef.

We arrived just as John and Gillian arrived with their double sea kayak, and we had a good long lunch break while they prepared to leave. The wind and sea picked up while we were having lunch and when we emerged from Kianinny Bay we found ourselves in a rather lively sea with rebound and clapotis bouncing the boats around. A couple of paddlers were brave enough to put their sails up, but most of us waited until we passed Tathra Head. Wajura Point provided enough shelter to land the kayaks without anyone taking a beating although there was one casualty to the surf.

Day 3: Nelson Beach to Barraga Bay:

This is another nice quiet section of coast that is mostly national park with a few small tourist settlements spaced apart. Landing can be tricky, but we got enough shelter from rock reef near Barraga Bay to get onto shore. The forecast had changed and the extra days of southerly wind we had been expecting were gone and we would see a return to the more usual northerlies the next day. There was a lot of discussion about what to do but no resolution.

Day 4: Barraga Bay to Bermagui:

The swell was smaller next morning and a handy rip beside some rocks made launching easy. More little headlands and small beaches and then we rounded Point Dickinson and paddled into Main Beach at Bermagui. John and Gillian were pulling out here while the rest of us, too optimistically it turns out, opted to carry on to Mystery Bay 16 km to the north.

We dallied way too long over lunch and when we started paddling again we were heading into a 10 knot northerly that rapidly became 15 knots. It was hard work paddling directly into the wind and, to shorten our distance, we were paddling far off-shore which made it seem as if we were not moving at all. Various GPS's indicated we were progressing, but at a slow and tiring 4 km per hour. At this rate, it would take another 4 hours to reach Mystery Bay. It's hard getting a group together in a brutish head wind, and there really is not much opportunity to mull over decisions as you rapidly lose hard won ground, but, we did manage to group up, and the decision to turn and run south with the wind seemed unanimous.

One kayaker capsized when his sail caught the wind, but, to his credit he self-rescued by doing a re-entry and roll and most of us were not aware until later than anything had gone wrong. With the sails up, we got back to Bermagui quickly and easily. The only difficulty was retrieving the cars which were now at Boydtown, finally a use for my encyclopaedic knowledge of bus schedules.

The Training Goes On

It's the beginning of March and the end of my 8 week base training block which, for a variety of reasons, morphed into an 11 week training block. In addition to training for life, I started training for a sea kayak trip which added two more training days to the schedule and left me training 6 days a week. However you cut it, training 6 days a week eats up a lot of time and some weeks I felt like I did very little apart from move around a lot while shifting weight. Officially, I was supposed to peak at around 11 hours a week, but I blew well past that and topped out in week 6 at over 19 hours a week.

Bungonia Creek

The basic schedule was much like my transition phase with two endurance sessions per week (on my feet), and two strength training sessions per week. In addition, I climbed twice a week, and, from week 6 on I added two paddle days (typically 25 to 35 km each day).

My Tribe: Kayak pod

To my utmost surprise, I got faster and fitter on my endurance sessions. Not fast mind you, but faster. Somehow at week 6, I managed to run, actually run (Zone 3) for about 1.5 hours on a hilly course covering 13 kilometres! Shocker. On my longest Zone 1, I covered 20 km and 500 metres of elevation gain all before breakfast!

Forest wandering

No real injuries, but I did have one week where I had mild hip bursitis which resolved quickly with rest but I did miss almost a full week of training (hence the expansion from 8 weeks to 11 weeks). My feet and calves were getting pretty sore with all the volume on hard ground but a new pair of zero drop but padded (Altra) shoes have solved that problem.

Quality hill training terrain

I seem to be managing OK recovering from strength training sessions by spreading them as far apart in a one week period as I can although I am training essentially to failure as I'd like to put on some muscle. The gym I joined has a climbing wall as well as a great weight set up so I can now boulder twice a week if we don't manage to get away climbing.

Tianjara Falls

In the midst of all this training we got away on a couple of trips, paddling from Boydtown to Bermagui, and climbing and canyoning up on the southern tablelands. Hauling a heavy pack with a fat rope out of Bungonia Canyon, I was glad I had been training.

Roll up your sleeves and get to work

Week 8 is deload week, so we are away for three days climbing where I get to see whether all the training has made any difference at all.  Next week it all starts again as I ramp up the volume and load once again as I move into a power endurance phase.