Ken’s back:
After tea and muesli and a couple of cold snags (we were asked later as an intro to the group), we drove the short distance to the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre, expecting to be too knackered to walk back.
We checked in around 9am with the Cradle Mountains Canyon guides and each of us were fitted out with: helmet; abseiling harness; long wetsuit pants; wetsuit sleeveless top; wetsuit jacket; flotation vest; wetsuit socks and waterproof shoes and a waterproof backpack. This was clearly going to involve some cold water immersion. A short safety briefing ensued - in general: do what the guides tell you - was followed by an intro to the group: 2 guides (Zack and Pete); Tony and Ken; 2 Swiss girls; a couple from Adelaide and 5 blokes from Victoria on a bucks party trip. The guys on the bucks trip had come up on a 2 hour bus trip after a heavy night. That said, we had at least 20 years more life experience than anyone else in the group.
After a 5 minute bus trip, we had a 3km hike with the packs into the bush, ending up at a changing point on a rock above the canyon. There, we changed into our wetsuits, actually Tony was more squeezed in and zipped-up like a suitcase at the end of a big shopping trip: “they loosen up when you’re in the water…”. We then climbed down the banks for about 10 or so minutes getting hotter by the minute in the sun. By the time we got to the canyon, we all just wanted to get in the water. Tony rushed to be first on the short abseil down and I was second. The water was cold and refreshing and we very much enjoyed the jumps and abseils over the 6 waterfalls and the slides including the massive “laundry chute” which is very fast and spits you out into the very dark and deep “pit”. Nothing too scary, just fun, although, with a couple of the jumps, you can’t see the water when you leave the ledge. By far the hardest part was the ~20 minute walk/scramble/climb out of the canyon with all the kit on followed by the 3km hike back to the bus with the wet gear in a pack. Tony got there mainly through sheer willpower with his fitness being depleted by a cold.
Back at the cabin, we had a bit of an afternoon nap followed by a burger and beer at the Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge and finally seeing a couple of live wombats on the short return trip. We retired early and both slept like the dead that night.
2025-02-10