More Fly Wilderness In The Blue Mountains

[taloyoak]

"Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to face many a danger, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle."

It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves - in finding themselves.

Hello fellow raider's and raiderette's,

Just got back from another trip- 6 days this time ( was going to be 7 but was being a hungry hungry hippo and ate day 7's meal on day 4!), so had to suffer the last day's walk with almost no food...why do I do this to myself?.

Headed out on Tue morning courtesy of CityRail, and got to Katoomba at around 830am. Made my way down to Aldi- as I wanted to get some breaky as I didn't bother to eat before leaving, but it wasn't open until 9 so went to Coles. Got some Hawaiian Pizza fresh bread- man they were good!, and a bottle of Coke ( to go with my Whisky) and also a V powershot ( which a tip for all- they make the best mini Bic lighter waterproof container!). In the line at the checkout the woman in front of me looked at me and I said "hey Carol!"- it was my Mum's Goddaughter who lives in Leura ,so the best news was that she gave me a ride to the locked gate on the Narrow Neck road- saved me about an extra 45 mins walking!.

Uneventful walk in, got down to my tent at around 330pm. The wind had started howling again, but I wasn't too concerned, however on the walk in between Mobbs Soak and Cox's, there were some huge trees that had fallen in the past week or two ( since I had been there), and they were big!. Got my gear sorted out, was going to fish the first pool, but decided to get a few Whisky's into me, and so by 5pm was "happily" sedated. Then at my front of tent there was this scorpion

Made a fire ( because Bear Grylls always says that they are very comforting when alone in the wilderness)- but really it was because I wanted to heat up some water as I had purchased a solar shower and wanted to wash the sweaty grime from my body. Let me tell you a very speedy cleansing operation ensued as it was kind of cool and windy!. No singing or chortling with glee.

Lately I have been experimenting with food for my trips, basically using these trips as a platform to test and try ideas for my (hopefully) next March Australian Alps Walking Track solo trip which is about 700km's and takes about 50 days depending on motivation and side trips. I have got into this whole "freezer bag" cooking (using Ziploc bags). So I made 7 days worth of these meals- all I needed to do was heat water and pour, seal and wait 10 mins, then voila! – meal in a bag- no mess (but I also emptied them into my "ultralite skunkworks" bowl – LOL!, it is a plastic container of Coles pasta Salad- but works a treat and weighs almost nothing!. Now don't be fooled by the photo- it isn't gourmet by any means and this isn't related to any socio-economic reasons just maybe a non-creative decision to just grab and go shopping the day before. Safcol Tuna pouch ( 99% fat free)- as if I cared!, 2 min noodles, parmesan, peas, TVP ( fake meat-gross really but just used as a source of protein, light weight and as a filler), small packet of tomato paste, and extra 5 min pasta shells. It is amazing what tastes good when you are half tanked, tired and in the outdoors!.

Let me tell you friends, I have some great meals, but this isn't one of them, but fills the empty void. I am seriously thinking of buying a food dehydrator as they are great, although take ages, however when you can buy the complete meals at around $15 a pop- they make spending $400 on a dehydrator a much more viable option.

Anyway...back to the trip!. Weather: well let me just say that the wind picked up- and I mean absolutely like being camped behind an A-380 on take-off!. Now I am not really usually alarmed by wind, having been subjected to some mind blowing winds up in the barren Arctic, but it was strangely eerie. You could hear it barrelling down the valley, and almost know when it would hit the tent. My tent was secured well, and the tarp over it also, but a few times I was waiting for the tarp to come loose, but it held strong. The trees were almost bending in half, and you could hear the cracks of some trees breaking and branches- I would guess there were gusts up to maybe 100km's/hr- strange right in the valley, and seemed very unusual but true. A bit of light drizzle too, which made it all the more nicer to be tucked in to my tent and sleeping bag. Of course I watched some "TV"- had downloaded the full 21 episodes of the BBC World at War series (about WW2). It took me almost a week to download it, but worth it if you are a military history buff like I am!. Didn't bother setting the darn alarm.zzzzzzzzzzzz!

Wednesday dawned, windy, cloudy and dreary. Climbed out of the rack at about 830am, wasn't cold which was a nice treat, then washed the haggard old face, cooked up some espresso and ate my "rationed" 2 muesli bars and tied up 3 tapered leaders. By the time I hit the stream it was about 10am, and I couldn't care less about the "early rise" tactics. I know where the fish are normally, so headed to my usual haunts. First pool- the one I dub the "spawning pool", there were a few trout at the usual run, but they never take anything, and spook easily. This pool has been one of the most productive in the past but today I couldn't get my act together. Missed 2 takes, felt and saw the strike indicator go, but had too much slack line and the big capital L was on my forehead was hanging over me. Then I changed up and used a hot glue egg, no luck. A big seal's fur olive, nope. Even the Chartreuse Woolly worm which is by far my most deadly assassin fly in my arsenal, nada!. So moved on. Just past there, there is this bloody overhanging willow tree that houses a veritable bevy of big 'Bows.

They are always there, just hanging out, unworried, but it is hurts me to not be able to get a fly in there- and believe me I have tried- tried in vain and at the cost of many "Xmas" ornaments of expensive flies in those Willow branches. Bastards!. I can see them sitting there with not a care in the world- and they are good sized fish too.

The next pool is the big cross rapids I showed in my last report. It has a fast flowing pool, with the only viable option to cast is across it so you can't really get any good drifts, as it is too fast and too easy to get snagged in the tailing end of the rapid. But there was a huge tree that was across it- in the past it has been both friend and foe- I used the tree to cast my line across it to slow down the drift of fly line- if you get it right it adds maybe 10 seconds of drift, which can make a difference to getting the fly in the target zone. But it also can make you get your flyline stuck, and so you have to go and retrieve it- which means you spook any fish there. So I went in and pulled it out, at almost the cost of going into the drink...LOL!. Bear Grylls has nothing on me!. The next stretch has a light run down to the rapid- you need to do an offhand cast almost a big roll cast to get to the right spot- I nailed it 3^rd go, and had a HUGE fish on, but oh my lordy!, ( now you will all have a good laugh here)- last week I was practicing down at the local oval and decided to switch the retrieve on my reel from lefty to righty- seeing as I am a righty, and it makes sense to be able to reel in quicker right!?;- well it also means I have to swap hands from right hand to left, and in doing so, that split second means loose line and that big lunker was gone. Believe me I didn't just laugh and shrug it off, because it was a decent fish. Skunked again!.

Fished my way up for a way, went past the Macquarie Black Perch pool- and yep they were still in the exact same spot. There are about a dozen of them, happy in their little aquarium pool there. It makes me really happy to see them, healthy, active and safe. I guess when I see them it gives me hope for the stream continuing to be a pristine un-polluted waterway unlike most of the places surrounding Sydney. A few yards up, came across this big guy

hanging out in the sun by the water's edge. Snapped the pic, then poked it with my rod and it took off like Usain Bolt- boy they can move quickly when they want to. Then got to this great little pool.

Almost perfect. The lead up is a shallow pebble strewn run about 1/2ft deep for maybe 30 yards, then the pool. Lately a few good fish have been at the shallow end- always too spooky. I cast a few times to the places I know usually hold a few fish, and after maybe 4 casts got a perfect drift alongside this submerged log and nailed this nice brown.

My 2^nd brown for K ck. Back to fight another day, then 3 casts later got this nice Rainbow, and also this little number.

It was about 4pm, so I beat a hasty retreat back to camp. A good if somewhat short interlude for the day.

Nutin' Fancy for Supper- another freezer bag magic show. No shower, but some light rain again. More fine Whisky and some TV- but here is the killer!. I also downloaded the movies Inception and Salt. Watched Salt, and please, please do not go and watch this movie or even rent the DVD. I want my 1:26.43 minutes of my life back that were ROBBED from watching what is most likely the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. Luckily I could fall asleep watching the World at War episode of Operation Citadel. Got to hand it to Adolf- he had some grandiose ideas, and thank god he never listened to his Generalfeldmarschall's.

Thursday started with a chill. Decided to set the alarm this time- how I hate that "shriek" noise that the watch makes, that noise that sends of feelings of dread....LOL!, oh yeah I am not at work!. I made some "sweet black Jesus"- almost like Texas crude coffee- so by the time I was ready to hit the stream I was basically feeling like I had Parkinson's. So I avoided my lazy attitude this morning, and got the Edmund Hillary in me to make haste and bypass the usual pools, and instead meandered my way about 60 minutes hike upstream using the great little pig trails that festoon the banks of the stream. So anyway it was a good decision. I had only once ventured this far upstream, the time I was going to try and get into Willhania Ck, which branches off Kanangra, and Hooky mentioned that it is better for Brown's. So it was a new treat to explore up there further. The stream gets narrower in many places and is interspersed with stretches of shallow uninteresting water, but plenty of bends and rapids with nice riffles. There are also lots of fairly deep jade coloured pools. Now I may be covered say 10 big pools this day- and all of them had plenty of large fish in them, most seemed to be Rainbows, and they were mainly plump females. But to my dismay, they just didn't want to play fair. Although I inevitably spooked many, as really there is no way to not do this unless you are invisible or Peter Morse or Micah Adams I guess, but I had fun watching some interests but mainly just spooking or the big frenzy of a school of fish moving upstream from me to get to the next holding spot or pool. It really is amazing if you take the time to watch the behaviour of the fish and how there are so many places within the stream that are good holding spots for them- i.e: low calorie expenditure spots that they can hold and not worry about winning the Biggest Loser. It really "pays off" to spend this time learning the behaviour and it really isn't me being nuts about it all. From observation and not just blind casting, you really learn how the fish operate in their area of operations so to speak. ( Hodgy yeah an AJ term there for you!).

So I get to this one pool, and how else can I explain it except it was akin to a huge Amway Convention for Trout!. This one pool must have housed at least a dozen massive +5 pound fish. And yep- good old Nanook scored a big Zero Deniro!. However I was not at all deterred, because there is always the next time and or trip and it is moments like that, that give me the motivation to slog out the F'ing mind numbing boring trip in and out of this area. Yeah it gets old after the 10^th time. So I ended up catching a few good fish, and here is one of them- a solid male.

Made my way further upstream but to no avail- I just couldn't get those big numbers. But I was extremely satisfied that there were good sized fish in these numbers this far upstream. On one of the shallow stretches I could smell the stench of a rotting corpse of some type, and thinking it must be a roo was amazed that it was a big feral pigbut let me tell you it was repulsive. Maybe Kanangra burley?. It was about 430pm when I called it a day so by the time I got "home" it was well dark. Got a fire going and then had a nice hot shower- I am glad I brought in the shower, it is strung up there, for anyone to use if they want...LOL. Quiet night, somewhat cold.

Friday, lazy day, a few nice fish but nothing to "write home about"- I will leave it at that. I went through a bit of a decision making process on whether or not to do the hike out in one or two days. After mulling over it for the evening, decided to hike to Mobbs Soak Sat afternoon, it takes about 2.5-3 hr's depending on your motivation, so I reckoned I'd leave camp by 1pm. Slept in till about 9am, then packed my gear, and also took my sleeping bag, thermarest, a tarp and pots as my niece has a Duke of Edinburgh camp this weekend and needed to borrow some gear. I spent the morning sawing logs and stacking them up for future trips. I spent maybe 2 hours collecting branches and cutting them. I also fixed up camp by ensuring my tent and tarp were solid etc, so they were not subject to any wind whilst I am not there. Hit the trail by about 120pm, headed in to Konangaroo Crossing (horse clearing camp there) and a tent was pitched and 2 guys were there. They were 2 dudes from Holland, doing a lightening 3 day trip from Katoomba to here, then the next day to Breakfast creek and back to Katoomba. Was amazing I didn't hear them as they arrived the night before. But it was funny as they were fishing in the Cox's there but caught nothing- using spinning rods and those "pesky" Tassie Devils!..LOL!. They actually were low on food as they said they needed to catch something as they were low on food. Unfortunately I didn't have any extra food, but told them to head up Kanangra and they should get a few trout. Nice guys, they were somewhat experienced hikers, but they were cutting the trip fine. Said good bye and headed up to Mobbs.

Got to Mobbs around 4pm, and there were 4 people there setting up camp- bushwalkers from the Sydney SPAN bushwalking club. Talked to them for a few hours, and they even gave me some of their leftover food- was great as they were just doing an overnight trip, but had so much gear each and packed in all fresh veggies etc, so I got some tortellini with pesto- thanks!. I had one Magic Freezer bag meal, and some oats for breaky left. It was a cold evening so I decided not to open bivvy and sleep in the massive cave down by the soak. It is huge- you can sleep maybe 30 people in it and it is totally covered from rain. Setup my rack- tarp/groundsheet, thermarest and bag. Had a great sleep even though only got to sleep at around 1am as we all sat up chatting. Nice people. It is always great to see people up there as normally all I have is my own insane voice and thoughts!.

Sunday- easy hike out- was the best weather of the trip- felt like Summer!. Few people on the Narrow Neck fire trail, and got to Katoomba station at 4pm. A great trip, even though didn't get any of those big fish I saw.

Regards,

Nanook.

[outfisher]

Great read mate.. and nice pics

Got to get out and have a go

myself.

[Hodgey]

Your references to Bear are quite appropriate, Matt Interesting to see the big red n black fellas putting in appearance already. I imagine there is a lot of poking and prodding of your camp when you first arrive to rid yourself of unwanted visitors. Is the water potable, or are you carrying it in with you? Are there particular dietary considerations you take into account (ie carbs, salt, etc) when deciding what food goes with you?

Always a pleasure to read your reports mate, and yes, I did pick up on the AO reference If you can keep knocking out these reports .... I'll keep happily reading 'em!

Cheers

Hodgey

[taloyoak]

Your references to Bear are quite appropriate, Matt Interesting to see the big red n black fellas putting in appearance already. I imagine there is a lot of poking and prodding of your camp when you first arrive to rid yourself of unwanted visitors. Is the water potable, or are you carrying it in with you? Are there particular dietary considerations you take into account (ie carbs, salt, etc) when deciding what food goes with you?

Always a pleasure to read your reports mate, and yes, I did pick up on the AO reference If you can keep knocking out these reports .... I'll keep happily reading 'em!

Cheers

Hodgey

Hey Hodgey,

There is no potable water between Katoomba and kanagra. There is water during the colder month at Mobbs Soak- but during Summer it can sometimes really dry up. Right now it is a small creek, but full of bugs, however I only drink this if I boil or use a purifier, which I do not bother with on my way in. As Mobbs gets a huge amount of campers, the hygiene of many people I assume are poor in that they wash and pee right next to the stream, especially that the big cave ( see pic)

is right next to the creek and at night I am more than sure than not everyone would walk 100 meters into the scrub to pee, but pee next to creek, therefore the incidence of Giardia is most likely high there. So... I cache 2lt's of Gatorade at the firetower on Narrow Neck, then 2lt's at Mobbs in the bush. So that on the way back I don't need to carry so much. Kanangra is pure- I drink straight out of it with no worries- absolutely pure.

Food wise- depends on my mood. I try to eat around 60% carb, 20% Protein and 20% fat in my dinners. Breakfast is usually oatmeal as it is light and easy to make and carry. I am seriously considering buying a dehydrator and a vacuum sealer- they are worth it for my exploits. Dehy's or MRE's are too expensive, and making your own isn't too hard. I try and eat/carry about 400-700gm's of food daily, sometimes less/more. In Summer I just carry more Powerade/Gatorade Powder you can buy a tin for $10 that makes around 10 lt's, which is cheaper than buying the bottles.

Yeah when I unzip the tent etc, I make sure no little surprises are there and shake out my sleeping bag and waders. Scorpion's imagine that!, we're not in Cairo!.

[troutboy]

Yet another fantastic trip report matt, great to hear the fish are still there in numbers. Shame you didnt pin any of the larger specimens. when are you heading in next? cheers jamie

[arpie]

Another amazing trip report, Matt! So glad the snake & scorpion were not in 'angry' mode!

Your dehydrator will pay for itself in no time! Aldi had them for less than $100 a couple of times - I got an EziDri one for $150 delivered from Qld mob 'natureswonderland.com.au'. You can precook casseroles etc & then dehydrate them down & lots of fruit - tho this is available pretty cheap these days anyhow! Makes great Biltong!

Keith & I enjoy Bear Grylls too! He is an amazing bloke - I wonder if he will make old bones tho?? aka Steve Irwin!

Well done on your fish - shame that biggie gave you the slip - I tried changing sides for the retrieve, but just can't master it!

Cheers

Roberta

[taloyoak]

The references to Bear Grylls are really a joke. Although I do watch his show now and then ( mainly for a laugh) as it is a mixture of real good education , but mixed in with TV world fakeness. I always laugh at when he eats some crazy things. But his Alaska episode and the Siberia ones were a bit over the top as I do know the cold and Alaska.

Anyway all, thanks for the replies, hope my post wasn't too boring and anyway even though Donna graciously gave me more bandwidth to upload pics, I have a few more from the trip that I couldn't fit on the last post, so here are a few more of some fish, around the area and great views and weather from the trail.

C'mon you lazy unmotivated people, please join me on a trip ( I'm going isane from talking to myself too much!), I have plenty of spare equipment to cover all camping items so just ask!.

Enjoy the pics, and for all the lazy non-posters, get those cameras out and snap some pics and write some reports- there are over 10,000 members on the forum so get cracking as we all enjoy a fresh read with some nice photos no matter how small/big/blurry the pics are!.

Nanook

Big Rainbow

Big tree that was poleaxed from the wind

another 'Bow i caught

the route to K ck looking from Taros Ladder at the end of Narrow Neck

a rotting feral pig carcass I came past- very offensive smell!

Looking down the Taros Ladder at Narrow Neck - about a 30ft climb, it is dead vertical but pretty easy even with a heavy pack

The Handsome Man at Narrow Neck on a very warm and beautiful Sunday afternoon

[mrsswordfisherman]

I love to read about your exploits

Yes, Matt you would not believe the amount of readers we get each day

By the way we have just clicked up our 12,000th member today

mrsswordie

[snipe]

Brilliant stuff nanook, love the dedication mate.

[Centrepin]

Matt,

Good to see you had a good trip.

I have a de-hydrator and they are great.

Send a PM when you get a chance.

Geoff

[Guest]

Well Matty,

I am trying to muster up the balls to do this trip with you I desperately want to do the trek,but I am really struggling with the fact of a 7 hour walk in and out and some of my mates have done a few Duke of Endinburoughs with thier kids and had horrible cramps and blisters for their efforts.

Talk me into it and I have already been looking at maybe getting a chopper to either come get us after the fishing is finished or both LMAO

I love reading your reports and would love to make just one trip into your pristine wilderness.

I will talk it over with Donna in all seriousness as this is not some kind of whim or power trip that I wish to undertake without due consideration of my age and that daunting 7 hr walk.

Cheers Stewy

[jordan.widz]

wow what an adventure, your reports are great, after reading this one I went and looked for all your others and spent a good hours reading them LOL.

keep up the great work and I'm looking forward to reading your next one.

Cheers, Prawn Star

[mrsswordfisherman]

Well Matty,

I am trying to muster up the balls to do this trip with you I desperately want to do the trek,but I am really struggling with the fact of a 7 hour walk in and out and some of my mates have done a few Duke of Endinburoughs with thier kids and had horrible cramps and blisters for their efforts.

Talk me into it and I have already been looking at maybe getting a chopper to either come get us after the fishing is finished or both LMAO

I love reading your reports and would love to make just one trip into your pristine wilderness.

I will talk it over with Donna in all seriousness as this is not some kind of whim or power trip that I wish to undertake without due consideration of my age and that daunting 7 hr walk.

Cheers Stewy

Matt, make sure you have done a recent recert in Adv CPR and you are carrying a bag and something to manage his airway with mate please

Seriously, a 7 hour trek is a big ask, good luck with it swordie

[cja12005]

Great read, love to be able to do that but alas other commitments come first. Cheers.