As a "canyoning virgin", I had of course packed excitedly for beginners trip to Bell Canyon the night before, gone to bed early, and was outside at 6.35 am waiting for David and Jenny to pick me up at the arranged time of 6.45. As 7 am came and went, I did some bird-watching and thought about the half-eaten breakfast that I could have finished. As another half-an-hour passed and my bird list grew, I wondered when to go and telephone them. Just then a car hooned up the street, and a sleepy and embarrassed-looking David emerged, mumbling something about alarm clocks and not usually running late. After doubling back to collect an even sleepier-looking Jenny clutching a pillow, we set off for the mountains at breakneck speed (this is apparently not very fast by SUSS standards).
Pulling in to Mt Wilson, we found Steve, Annalisa, Silvia & Marina among the throng of cars parked at the fire brigade building, and then joined the queue for the overloaded non-functional toilets (phew!). Glad to escape "civilisation" if that was what it meant, we set off down the fire-trail at about 9.30 am, and soon turned left onto an unnamed fire-trail. After a few kilometres walking south-west along a ridge we turned off to the right onto a small path. This revealed wonderful views over the ridges and gullies to the west as it dropped steeply into Du Faur Creek. We climbed down the cliff with the help of a fixed rope, into the cool and shady gully, full of lush man ferns and tall white-barked Sydney blue gums. Walking along the creek, we then crossed and followed the western side along a steep rock ledge, until we could climb up onto the ridge. Here the track became very indistinct and to our momentary dismay it looked as if we would have to cross another deep gully with sheer rock on the other side AND another high ridge before we would get to Bell Canyon. Us newbies sat and looked at yet another beautiful view while David, Annalisa and Steve consulted the map and their mental compasses, and decided on the way. We set off again, and soon picked up a small but distinct trail which after another ¾ hour of walking uphill, finally dropped down into a small side gully, from where we would tackle Bell Canyon.
With morning tea out of the way, we changed into our wetsuits and clutching our lilo’s jumped down into a waist-deep pool of water and set off along the gully. We scrambled over low rocks, walked and waded through small pools until we reached Bell Canyon some 500m later. From then on everything grew in size and dropped in temperature; the boulders, the climbs, the smooth rock walls, and when we got to a 6+ metre jump into a nice deep cold pool, it began to feel like a real canyon. As we continued along Bell’s Creek the scenery became more dramatic too, as the smooth sinuous canyon walls grew closer and taller (mostly around 30 metres high), dripping with ferns and mosses, and in some places the narrow pinches were less than a metre wide. We finally reached a good long pool, and paddled quietly through on our lilos. Light spilled down over cascading ferny walls of green, and we drifted silently beneath hundreds of delicate spider webs stretched across the canyon above us. Underneath in the dark water orange crayfish raised their claws at us as we passed.
After a brief lunch there was more climbing up and down over mossy boulders, wading through sandy or rocky pools, and sometimes using fixed ropes to get down large drops and wedged vertical logs. This was followed by a second very long lilo-ing stretch, deeper and darker and narrower than the first, its’ smooth walls rising to 40 metres and only 1-5 metres apart. We paddled for a hundred metres or so, on cold black water and between rock walls so dark in places that you knew they were only because of the echo bouncing back from the sound of our paddling.
After travelling more than 2 kilometres along Bell Canyon, we reached the junction with Du Faur’s where we collapsed on the sandy bank to catch our breath. Turning up Du Faur Canyon we walked and waded for another kilometre or so, and swam one more long cold pool before reaching the point where we were to leave the canyon.
With only minor injuries - Mr & Mrs Contos with a slightly-flooded video camera and two strained knees - tired but happy, we clambered out a short side gully up onto the ridge. We sat on a rock outcrop to change out of our wetsuits, sort out our gear, and eat some much-needed chocolate. After recuperating for a while, we bush-bashed up the ridge onto the main Wollangambe Canyon track. This smooth path was a luxury to our weary feet, and as we climbed up the hill the views over the Wollangambe wilderness were breath-taking. After a further ½ hour of climbing up to Mt Wilson, we reached the fire brigade shed to find only one other car still there. I thought to myself how lucky we were, that despite the throngs of people that had gone canyoning at Mt Wilson that day, we had managed to see none of them since leaving that morning, and had had the awesomely beautiful Bell Canyon all to ourselves!