On Sunday the 25 February a group of eight including Bryan and Dave as well as Dave's friend Alex and his four brothers meet at Cathedral Reserve to conquer the mighty Whungee Wheengee canyon, which descends into the Wollangambe River at Mount Wilson. Summer 2008 was an excellent year for rain so we were expecting a lot of water in the canyon and were not disappointed. Starting from the camp ground at quarter past nine we reached the Wollangambe crossing about one hour later and the beginning of the canyon proper one hour later after descending the steep slope of the river to the ridgeline. Route finding was reasonably straight forward and we easily found the large abseil tree with attached slings for the first abseil which was completely on dry ground. After shuffling across the shallow river for a few minutes we came to the first drop off which we all jumped. This was followed by a series of hollow chambers which terminated in the first duck under. Although water levels appeared high the under water swim in dark conditions was very short (less than one meter). This was one of the many highlights of the canyon which although easily avoided by climbing around the obstacle, would definitely spoil the fun and excitement of the natural flow of the river.

            This first section was followed by a little waterfall which you could down climb just before the second little abseil (tricky). One of the unique aspects of Whungee Wheengee canyon is that for every difficult spot there are several alternatives to choose from - some easier and some much harder. The second abseil was followed by a series of very narrow squeezes in deep water and culminated in a long narrow passage with light filtering through the steep cliff high above. Our party discovered the most exciting part of the canyon by sheer serendipity and also because we read another canyon description. It is difficult to describe the exact location but at some place after the first abseil a scree slope of boulders blocks the way forward and we almost started to climb over the wall of rocks when Bryan noticed on the far left hand side a very small and completely pitch dark hole in the ground. This proved to be one of the highlights of the canyon. After several tight squeezes in complete darkness we arrived a massive cathedral shaped hollow with hundreds of glow-warms hanging of the ceiling. It would have been very easy to miss this part if you do not take the time the explore the canyon in detail.

           After we reassembled our group at a sunny spot about half-way through the canyon we set of for the final two tricky abseils. Just before the abseils we discovered one more squeeze which involved a particularly tricky underwater dive through a narrow cleft. This one involved several sharp and narrow bends and reconnected with the main canyon after what seemed like a caving expedition. Once again you really had to look around to find this little gem. The following two abseils (number 3 and 4) were tricky for our less experienced people because they involved abseiling through a little roof on slippery rock. The ring bolts at both abseils seemed adequate but if in doubt back them up with some extra protection since single point rappels are always dangerous.

     After a little more wading through the shallow canyon we exited into the warm current of the Wollangambe river. The sun was hitting the river from directly overhead and we decided to bake in the sun for a while before starting the lilo adventure down the river for about one kilometer. Inconsiderate Dave only brought two lilos for three people so we had slug out who was going swim. Bryan had the only steamer so he had to play engine why Dave was lounging on his lilo - with a Beanie! We were left with the exit track back to the car which started with a nice and steep ascent up the slope of the Wollangambe towards the sun. We arrive back at the car park at quarter to six for a round-trip time of eight and a half hours. Not bad for a party of eight but we had a good system with two ropes and bunny hopped trough the canyon so that once the first rope was set up the first two down would go ahead and set up the next rope waiting for the rest of the party to catch up. Overall this is an amazing canyon with a few hidden gems if you look carefully in a remote part of the Blue Mountains.