James Barnes

We had a rare opportunity to run the epic Wayatinah to Catagunya section of the Derwent!

I spent a lot of time reading trip reports, most of the attempts seemed to end in failure, which is always motivating…

Having become the unexpected leader of an off track scrub bash with people I didn’t know, I did my best to wrap my head around where we might be…

Soon I settled in to a routine; rig the ropes, belay everyone, abseil the rope, pack the rope, repeat!

0130 is now my record for latest I’ve ever gotten out of a cave… Definitely good preparation for a rescue!

“There are no exits from the canyon between the first abseil and the final swim” – Challenge accepted!!!

I saw the point where the footsteps of those who had come before petered out, an intimidating section revealing a steep and exposed climb.

Stalactites spear down from the cavernous ceiling casting perfect reflections in the water.

We paddled two nice fun class 3 rapids before arriving at Farquhars Bridge, the finishing point to the trip.

A great low stress trip with a great crew. Definitely a highly recommended river for a pleasant multi day trip!

With relief we saw daylight ahead. We were however getting blasted by the snow melt swollen creek.

With no light left we scrambled off the river in to a scrubby area that should have a track nearby. Clearly things had been too good to be true.

I wanted to summit for sunrise. Getting everyone up while it is still dark is always a hard sell. A promise of a hot breakfast always helps...

What little information I had found made it sound rather straightforward and simple. Oh how wrong I was!

There seems to be a fine line between a trip being not challenging and it being far too extreme.

I decided to head down the Gordon Gorge section of river with pack rafts in order to scout it out before taking proper whitewater rafts down.

I’ve just returned from a three-day bush walk up Frenchmans Cap – a pretty fantastic experience, although quite tough in places.