A Few Australian Drains [Archive] - Urban Exploration Forums

DougCC

20-12-2010, 12:51 AM

This one would sneak into my top 50... probably higher is I was half the height that I am.

Cheers,

Doug.

Milsons Park Drain.
One of Sydney's older drains, having originally replaced a nice leafy gully in the centre of North Sydney as early as the 1870's, Milsons Park Drain was only explored by we of the Cave Clan post 1996. Popular with SUSS (Sydney University Speleology Society) for training excercises and for when they simply couldnt be bothered trailing out to Colong or Bungonia to real caves, this old marvel of just-barely post-colonial construction had seen a lot of exploration in its days prior to becoming a favorite target for New Explorers Expos and Interstate Visits.

Built originally as a mixture of sandstone hallway/parapet and brick pipe/archway its original design was already throbbing with beautiful old atmosphere. Later additions transformed it into a showcase of over 10 unique styles of tunnel construction, intermixing dozens of times, no section longer than a few hundred metres, as it weaved its way up from Sydney Harbour to the centre of North Sydney, covering a distance of 1700m.

Beginning originally as a twin 5ft high concrete rectangle, sitting barely 20m from the maximum high tide line that forced harbour water up the concrete channel leading up through the park, the drain twisted its way up the rear of the valley, coming to a waterfall that had, according to the history books replaced a babbling natural fall that had delighted the well spoken local residents of the area prior to 1872.

This waterfall was only ever seen by SUSS and a few Cave Clan members, one of whom was Mr India. He explored the system with his dad when he was 10 years old and has photos of the old original brick waterfall.
In 1992 this whole brick section was torn out and replaced by RCP and a steep curving slide was seduced into replace the old fall. These replacements were neccessitated by the construction of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, a project that altered the Milsons park Drain in more than just this one obvious way.

Otherwise unrelated, in 2000, a large CDS Unit was installed inside a large chamber built over the original 5ft high outlet. This chamber was grilled, turning Milsons Park into one of the only drains in Sydney to have an active barrier over its outfall. After a year or so, the lack of an overflow pipe in the weir built to divert flow into the centrifugal-garbage-guzzling-washing-machine that is a CDS Unit, blocked the tunnel off, as it filled up with water to the weirs height: 5ft, completely submerging the old outfalls and forcing those wishing to explore the system to use the large gutter grille entrance up in central North Sydney.

In an effort to find a more reliable entrance, given the commonality of a car being parked over the North Sydney Grille, a manhole entrance was found about 50m up a 2ft diameter RCP that sat near the top of the slide. Lifting the huge bathplug out of the ground from beneath, the skin of ones shoulders wilting under the pressure of 80kgs of reinforced concrete, it was found that this cover was in a quiet park behind a block of flats.
A few months later we returned intending on entering via this new manhole, only to pop the wrong cover. Curious as to why the room below the manhole shaft was so large, we climbed down and found ourselves in a 10ft high rock blasted tunnel. WTF? This large monstrosity of weeping sandstone and dripping calcium lead onwards for a good 300m to a gutter grille that looked up *into* the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, cars flying past above, doing 140kph, in the process of speeding up, having slowed down to 80kph for the fixed speed camera.

Turns out that because noone had ever thought to crawl 400m up a half flooded 2ft rcp, noone had ever known about this extra addition that had been installed to make up for the removal of the cool old 1870's waterfall.

But ignoring all these post 1998 additions/realisations, Milsons Park ran as follows... approximately (despite what Dougo reckons, i dont carry a tape measure down drains).

* 10m of 5ft high twin rectangle
* 5m of 5ft high concrete covered canal.
* 50m of 6ft RCP, sloping uphill.
* 100m of 5ft RCP, sloping ever further and good fun on a skateboard due to nicely met sections of pipe and little waterflow.
* 200m of 6ft RCP.
* Then the slide room, complete with a little vestibule room full of explorers tags and the remnants of a blocked off side tunnel. The Slide itself sat in a nice big room, its curvature such that it was felt a rope might make acension/decension easier, especially given the injury-inducingly placed churn blocks mounted to the base of the steep ramp.
(THE SLIDE ROOM featuring Hatchet and Green)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cc_intimates_096.jpg

Once at the top of the slide, this, so far 'little drain', got even littler.
* 300m of very old three and a half foot high sandstone ... loaf shaped tunnel. Complete with an 8 inch deep watercarved trench down the centre and the sounds of pain eminating from those game enough to waddle or crawl thru such a small wet tunnel.
* 400m of 6ft high, by 4ft wide concrete hallway, that twisted and turned under and past the Warringah Freeway taking cars from the Sydney Harbour Bridge, stopping only to offer a treacherous exit that if utilised would place you at head level and straining against 40kgs of steel grille with cars and trucks hurtling past at 80kph.
The rectangle then got wider and headed uphill somewhat, offering more twists and turns and the odd hanging chunk of concrete begging for soft thin scalp skin to massage into a bloody mess, before reaching the first section of continuous tunnel over 6ft high.
* A 7ft high sandstone slab Archway with the natural creekbed floor. Slippery as lubed arsehole, minus the terd thanks to a very complete sanitary separation project in the 1960's.
(THE ARCHWAY (Image by Dsankt of http://www.dsankt.com)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0194.jpg

* This archway in turn morphed into what seems to have gained the name 'Parapet Tunnel' because of the odd little sandstone semi circles wedged into the edges of the ceiling.
* The two swop and change, the tunnel height rising and falling, while side pipe gush water from office tower drain sumps, and seepage leaks out of cracks in the soft, fractured, sedimentary ceiling.
* Suddenly, out of nowhere, around a bend pops another 5ft RCP. This swoops upwards, a short but steep, and slippery as hell, slide leading up to another 7ft high Brick Archway bathing under the light of a small roofgrille.
* The Archway headed on up for another 300m, its buckling brick floor leading on from puddle to puddle until you come across...
* A Brick pipe! Big deal you say. Neigh! comes the reply, cos while brick pipes are the big thing in Manchester, London, Melbourne and Brisbane, they are few and far between in Sydney. This little gem runs under the busy streets of the North Sydney Business District, and here the original exit grille sits, snuggled into the gutter of a back lane often populated by badly parked BMW's. Because of the ineptitude of those relying upon sonar parking sensors and other fancy vorsprung durk technique parking implementations, the grille is often entirely parked over and those wishing not to trudge back to the downstream end can either do a nasty back contorting limbo to get into the next upstream gutter box, or continue onwards upstream to the end.
* Here the badness that is Lazy Sydney Water Crappy 4ft RCP Syndrome kicks in for 300 painful metres,
* Only to become a 'U' Shaped brick tub, with a concrete roof that transforms suddenly into the oldest section of the system.
* The last 200m is an 8ft high sandstone slab hallway, complete with dangling roof chunks, 100 year old terracotta side pipes infested with roots and old grimy stuff, ending abruptly at a brick wall partially clad in rusty corro iron sheeting.
(THE PARAPET TUNNEL Image by Dsankt of http://www.dsankt.com)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0317.jpg

An odd but fitting end to such a disjointed, ill organised little drain, a drain full of the fun that is entailed in multiple shape changes featuring example of different construction spanning a century; the duck and dive thats involved in exploring a drain whos charms revolve heavily around walking upright for 100m then abruptly having to crawl for 200m only to be rewarded afterwards with yet another standy-uppy bit beyond.

Milsons Park & Waked Drain (as the rock blasted tunnel was named... simply cos, 'mufucker, its just wak!') have always proven popular, especially in a city so full of straight, boring, walk thru drains.

In late 2000 it was chosen to host a New Explorers Expo, a replacement to the normal location of choice, Fortress. 35 ppl staggered thru it, the groans of displeasure at all the stoopy sections very soon overridden by the delight of seeing such and old and mismatched jumble of architecture and style. Upon reaching the main grille exit, it was realised that a good few of the newbies couldnt get up out of the pipe, given that there were no step irons and street level was 8 ft up, but a concierted effort known as the Milsons Park Grille Exit Powerlift was set into play and before long new explorers, both lightweight and heavy where being hauled bodily out of the hole in the gutter by a myriad of grabbing hands.
It was goodah!
(THE BRICK ARCH, featuring a headless Ogre, one of my VERY old and crappy photos, that for some reason Orchy scanned onto http://www.orchy.com/underworld.. badly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/milsons_park.jpg

DougCC

20-12-2010, 01:26 AM

Siologen is the man when it comes to drains :D

Ain't that the truth. They are his life!

Good work with the cricket too (not that you were playing I don't think)

I was on the phone to Cricket Australia with a few tips ("play better" being the obvious one).

Eternity is a pretty cool Sydney drain as well (I can stand up in it without bending)

Cheers,

Doug

_______________________________

Eternity.

Predator got a job with Sydney Water back in the mid 90's. One of his tasks was to follow a shitty little 5ft oval drain its entire length pushing in front of him, a dolly with a video camera mounted on it.

The drain was named Deep Throat and it was recognised universally as being crap. Long, low and boring.

There wasnt a lot wrong wity Deep Throat, it was just bloody small.
Turns out that was indeed all that was wrong with it.
The area around Meadowbank, on the northern side of the Parramatta River in Sydney was prone to flooding, and with only two smallish drains, Deep Throat and Charity Creek, it wasnt coping.

In 1998, it was Ryde Municipal Council, rather than Sydney Water that set about fixing the problem.

They proposed, then set about, building a replacement for Deep Throat.

A really bloody BIG replacement.

They started digging a tunnel into an embankment in Meadowbank Park.
We got wind of this thru a local explorer and headed down to find a large shed encasing the portal. A bit of hijinxing and we were in, staring a 12ft high smooth bored TBM tunnel in the mouth. We cautiously walked thru it, sloshing in the mud and water on the floor, until it dead ended after about 200m with the TBM's face jammed against the rock, ceased mid-grind. A little alcove had been bored off to one side of the huge contraption and in it sat a small fridge, and a table with chairs.

THE PORTAL, MID 1998
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/big_drain_at_meadowbank.jpg

Over the next year, various trips were made to the tunnel as its creation progressed. Predator eventually visited it along with Diode and the two of them named it Eternity in honour of this chap: http://www.greenplanet.com.au/eternity/eternity.htm His name was arthur Stace and for 40 years he secretly wrote, in a sophisticated kaufman script, the word 'Eternity' in chalk, on the sidewalks and pavements of downtown Sydney.

While the tunnel was completed fairly quickly, all the fittings, spraycreting, concreting, grillework and the floor werent completed until early 2000. In mid 1999 a public tour of the tunnel was run and a bunch of us went along. The drain was still in a bare state, the walls were still bedrock, the floor uneven and muddy, the huge ventilation fans still blasting air thru it.

It was strange for Drain Explorers like ourselves to traverse a drain while surrounded by hundreds of normal civilians. At one point a minivan full of old folks drove past; there were kids running around, getting screamed at by their parents; middle aged couples with walking sticks; the whole shebang, all walking thru this rough, wet, fluro lit tunnel.
As it turns out, spoilsports abounded and Ryde Council was unsuccessfully sued when a few people who'd ignored the sensible footwear notes issued by the council recieved mild burns from the high concentration of Lime still in the tunnel water.

By March 2000 the drain was complete. A padlock, (which we later gained a key for thru helping the company CDSTech, who looked after the anti pollution unit) was placed on the grille leading into the Pillars Chamber, so our big inagural Cave Clan expo had to start at the tidal outfall.

EMERGING FROM THE 5FT HIGH OUTFALL (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/etrnycanal1.jpg

Stooping up one of the three 5ft high, knee deep tunnels, we soon arrived at the Pillars of Eternity Chamber, nice and big, with large pillars and a big ramped overflow that diverted the water coming out of the main tunnel into the CDS Unit.

HALF OF THE PILLARS OF ETERNITY (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/etrnypilla2.jpg

The main tunnel was the prize tho. A 12ft high smoothbored, spraycreted horseshoe arch, running gunbarrel straight. Not many drains in Sydney are this consistantly big.
Unfortunately the little alcoves bored during comnstruction had gone.

THE NEW EXPLORERS EXPO IN THE MAIN TUNNEL
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics078.jpg

A good way up we came to the first pit. This would later gain a big STOP sign near it, preventing those careless enough not to see it from falling in, and directing them along the narrow ledge that allowed passage. The pit aquired an old VCR over the next few years, an old top loading Sanyo, that sat jammed in sediment, a good chunk of it above the water line. Off this pit ran a 5ft high fibreglass rcp. This lead to a tall shaft then onto smaller pipes, graduating to an exit grille outside a service station.

Not far beyond the pit was the Main Room.

THE MAIN ROOM ON A NEW EXPLORERS EXPO (Photo By Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0197.jpg

This was a 17m high chamber, with a 14m high waterfall, that in full swing facilitated the water toppling from above to curtain the tunnel beyond. A long ladder headed up to a balcony, across the way from the top of the Fall. This Room at the top of the fall was sadly only accessable from outside the main drain, via a grille in a carpark. Off this room ran two drains, one a remaining section of the original Deep Throat Drain, the other a larger tunnel full of large ceiling grilles that drained a minature railway park.

Running quickly under the curtain that coated the continuing tunnel, we realised that a shape change had occured. No more 12/14ft high arch, rather a 10ft high uncreted, rock bored mummy/loaf arched tunnel. Niiice!
Following on, past the numerous odd drillmarks, we reached the Pit of Eternity. This one was a bit more obvious, being lit by a huge grille set in a large room 12m up a vertical shaft. Getting to the ladder in the middle of the pit, or indeed getting across it, either required wading straight thru its thigh deep wetness, doing the splits, using the ladder as an island, or as Hatchet did once: Swinging across it from a a grappling hooked rope.

HARDCORE HATCHET DOING THE BIG SWING
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics526.jpg

ME UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/14.jpg

Much japes were had everytime a New Explorers group reached this point, numerous efforts, most unsuccessful have been made to try and get the masses across it without getting wet. Only one succeeded and it involved carting a three hinged ladder all the way up the drain and using it as a bridge
Going up the ladder lead you to a small balcony, across from which was another room, leading onto more incorporated Deep Throat.

Barrelling up the main tunnel from this pit, Eternity would often dry out, rendering the last 300m completely void of moisture, before you reached The End of Etenity.

Another deep pit, with a 1m high shaft, at the top of which was another balcony with another unreachable room and tunnel across the void from it.

MELB CC AT THE END OF ETERNITY (pic by Bullwagon)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/DSCN0704.jpg

This tunnel at the top of The End lead out to a small creek and was originally a small old drain known as Kinder Surprise.

Eternity still thrives today, albeit a bit more stalagtited, and muddied somewhat by the CDS Unit. It was included in a really bad SciFi film shot in 1999, called 'Subterano' ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0255623/ ) but lived to tell the tale.

DougCC

20-12-2010, 01:52 AM

ANZAC Part A

To Dougo and other oldschoolers. I think i got most of the history correct...

This week we look at Australias most famous drain and the Academy Awards of Urban Exploration: The Clannies.

Anzac:
Australia & New Zealand Army Corps.
Those who fought valiantly and died for their countries during WWI.

Anzac Day:
25th of April, a public holiday and a Memorial for the Glorious War Dead.

Anzac Drain
The 'spiritual' home of the Cave Clan, and host to The Clannies. A drain first explored on Anzac Day 1987.

When Dougo Sloth and Woody first went up the drain they named Anzac, it was undergoing a few structural changes. After the initial 400m or so, tunnel they were in arrived in a long open section thru which the stream ran via a canal sandwiched between two buildings. Beyond this stretch the creek ran underground again. This open section was undergoing some kind of construction work. Something was being built over it. Covered Canals are common in Australia given all the canalised creeks. When somkeone needs the land thru which a canal runs they'll most often place a big slab over the top of the canal and be done with it. At least, thats usually what happens in Sydney, leaving behind lots of shitty low covered canal drains. But not in Melbourne. When they cover a canal in Melbourne they make it something special.
Thus a few months later, The Chamber was created. And the rest is history.

BEANZ AND GREEN UP TO IT IN THE YARRA RIVER OUTSIDE ANZAC DRAIN (pic by Ash)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/beanz3.jpg

Anzac Drain:
Sitting aside the River Yarra, its maw gaping out from the bank like a sign post to drain heaven, the 12ft high by 25ft wide brick arch tunnel really is a site to behold. Protected by nothing other than a 'keep out' sign and the occasional wash of a high tide, you are sucked into the breathtaking size of its internal demensions. Wandering in you immediatly come to the huge Walk/Hall of Fame. Written on the wall on the right hand side in white letters 4ft high is: 'CAVE CLAN inc. 1.1.86'. This is followed by a good hundred or so names, starting with Dougo, Sloth and Woody, the founders of Cave Clan, then progressing on with the names of others who where in CC during the early years.

THE WALK OF FAME (pic by and featuring Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/anzac1.jpg

The Walk goes a good 300m, after which the names swop to the opposite side and head back downstream. Beyond this the tunnel takes a curve or two and you eventually come to a large underpass section, beneath Chapel Street. The roaring rumble of trams passing overhead reverberates the big bluestone chamber, which it seems is only still standing thanks to formworking pressed to the ceiling by a forest of steel jacks that tower up a good 20ft, lining the edge of the canal which at this early stage is only a foot or so deep.

THE FOREST LOOKING DOWNSTREAM (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/vic-ug-anz1.jpg

Ahead the canal banks rise in height to about mid chest level, with the ceiling dropping and rising periodically allowing only stooping clearance in some sections and plenty of head room in others. By this time youve seen more graffiti on the walls than you would in any other 10 drains you could think of combined. The Cave Clan Lightning Bolt symbol features prominantly, along with names of the 5000 odd Cave Clan members over the last 19.9 years. You aint seen nuffin yet!

DougCC

20-12-2010, 01:53 AM

ANZAC - Part B

The Chamber:
The Chamber starts off slowly, the canal sides widening to a good two metres, the walls on either side covered with a huge artworks done by gifted Clan Members and graff artists alike.
Theres paintings of Prowleywise; Waves crashing over explorers at the outfall of Fortress; The Head; numerous monsters; Gothic landscapes and weird Picassoesque mish mashes. The ceiling height suddenly balloons upwards, peaking a good 40ft above. A thick rope dangles across the centre of the channel, suspended from a pipe above.

The graff has gone into overdrive now, tags and marker pen messages everywhere. The Chamber spans forwards a good 200m, its size a guaranteed jaw dropper for those who havent beheld its wonder before. On the right wall, beyond the art gallery is the Corporate Sponsor Sign for The Clannies, displaying the logos for Melbourne Water, Vic Roads, Victoria Bitter, Melbourne Police and others in honour of they stalwart support over the years.

This sits next to the centrepeice: The CLANIES piece, done in a flaming swirl of reds, golds and blacks, most recently rerendered to its current glory by Dunit. In its original form it was a simple black on white peice, the word 'Clannies' supposedly having been originally misspelt as 'Clanies', with not enough time to correct the mistake, and the mistake then living on in reincarnations of the sign.

Above the Clanies peice, off to one side is the 'Big Drain Posse' a memorial for Cave Clanners who have passed on to the Big Drain in The Sky. It includes amongst others, Favero, Mullet, Cougar, Sydney CC founder Predator and long time Cave Clan Collabarator and Infiltration creator Ninjalicious. The opposite wall features The Yellow Submarine, a massive rendition of The Beatles magical mystery device, done by a mass group of Clanners in 2002.

THE CHAMBER DURING THE 2005 CLANNIES FEATIURING THE CLANIES PIECE (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cln253.jpg

THE CHAMBER DURING THE 2005 CLANNIES FEATURING THE YELLOW SUBMARINE (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cln251.jpg

The rear of The Chamber tapers down slowly, the ceiling getting lower in big steps, with odd grilles in the vertical sections. Peering out the lowest of these grilles you realise the grille sits behind a slab-slat staircase leading up to the front lobby of a hotel... the hotel The Chamber sits beneath.

The roof drops down to 9ft high and the canal banks cease, the narrow channel down the centre of the canal widening out and the tunnel beyond becoming twin 6ft rectangles.

Beyond The Chamber:
This is where most people stop. So aghast at the site of The Chamber and what precedes it, they dont realise that beyond a short section of stoopy rectangle and covered canal lies some prime oldschool redbrick goodness.

The low tunnel continues a way then splits to a low tunnel that leads to a redbrick pipe with a small waterfall and staircase, then becomes a nice blue capped bluestone canal; and a set of double barreled 7ft diameter redbrick pipes that go a ways before merging into a single 8ft pipe, then eventually splitting up into a mix of brick oviform and pipe, the largest of which dead ends at a brick wall that at one point was a direct connection to another of Melbournes famous big drains Como Falls (formerly Yarra).

The Clannies.
The Cave Clan has been around for nearly 20 years. Its 20th year will arrive on the 26th of January 2006 (which is also Australia Day). The Clannies are being held that weekend rather than the usual date around late March/early April.

While its the Cave Clans 20th year, its only (hah!) the 18th Clannies coming up. But it will be special!
Celebrations look to be lasting nearly three weeks with numerous expos organised and road trips to other cities galore!

But the Clannies started with much more humble beginnings in 1988, when a joke was made about hosting an awards night in Anzac. The joke became a reality and the first Clannies went off without a hitch and a good hundred or so Clanners in attendance, all sitting on one side of the chamber on a collection of aquired carpet, seats and milkrcrates, with the awards being handed out from the other side of the canal.

The Gold Clannie (a genuine AMF Bowling Pin spraypainted Gold) was won by Dougo and other since long standing awards such as Dodgiest Crashout(from consumption of alchohol), Best Drain, Biggest Goboff(shit talker), Goes Further(which later on became Most Hardcore), Best Individual Effort, Best Group Effort, Biggest Japes/Funniest Situation, Biggest Coward and Most Wasted were handed out for the first time, amoungst short lived awards like 'Tallest Clanmember', 'Best Graffittist' and 'Most Problems in Life'

SOMEONE GETTING AN AWARD FOR BIGGEST GOBOFF AT THE FIRST CLANNIES (pic by Cave Clan)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/aaa1stclannies.jpg

As the years progressed, awards came and went, eventually formulating to what we have today; however the winners and crowds just kept coming. The biggest Clannies attendance was in the realm of 300 ppl; in 1995 the awards went ahead despite the floodwaters surging between the two sides of the canal, and the cops showing up and arresting a bunch of folks.

The biggest gold winners so far are Dougo (4 years), Cro(3 years) and Bob (2 years). The awards were for Melbourne until Cave Clan branches started popping up in Adelaide and Sydney in 1991, after this they became national awards but were still dominated by Melbourne winners until around 1999 when other state branches grew enough to compete. The first non Melburnian to win the Gold was, erm, me and the second non Melburnian (from Adelaide) and first girl to win, was Elfen in 2005. However the other awards have been handed out, based upon votes from all Cave Clan members to an amazing variety of men and women from every state over the years.

The awards night was always a grand affair, the atmosphere in The Chamber electrified at points and full of the rowdy laughter and carry on of 200 odd pissed drain explorers having an excellent time socialising, while cheering along as each award was announced and collected, Academy Awards style. Over the years it slowly got more high tech fromm portable stereos and candles to generators powering p.a systems, fairy lights and electric grillers.

The announcement of the Gold would be done as a tally, with the names of those voted for and the number of votes they recieved tagged on the canal wall beneath Dougo, allowing the tension to build until two contenders where neck and neck. Finally the last vote would be announced and the house would erupt in cheers as the deserved recipient of the Cave Clan's highest order went up to collect their Gold Clannie

DOUGO ABOUT TO ANNOUNCE THE GOLD WINNER AT THE 2003 CLANNIES
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics184.jpg

Then the fireworks would start.
And being in a confined space they were guaranteed to be impressive!

BOB GOING DEAF AT THE 2001 CLANNIES.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics087.jpg

PPL DUCKING FOR COVER IN 2005 (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cln255.jpg

TRIOXIDE AND TYR FIRING ROMAN CANDLES AT EACH OTHER, FEATURING NUMEROUS ARTWORKS AND THE SPONSORS BOARD.(pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0007.jpg

Afterwards the crowd would usually mingle, getting more and more wasted, doing tag ups on the numerous guest book walls, talking shit, larking around, letting off more crackers, dancing to the dodgy 80's music and generally making merry. Between 2 and 4am, ppl would head off home, set off on expos to explore the City Loop subway tunnels, or crashout on the carpets adorning the banks of the canal (often setting themselves up to win awards at the next years awards if their passing out was spectacular).

THE CHAMBER AFTER THE CRACKERS, BUT NOT BEFORE THE SMOKE HAD DISSAPATED, 2000.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics175.jpg

A few days later, a small group would return to clean the chamber up, removing bagloads of litter, stacking chairs and generally trying to avoid Melbourne Waters Wrath(which usually resulted in chairs being removed, thus meaning they had to be reaquired the following year) by keeping the place from looking like the Biggest Drain Party In The World (TM) had been held there yet again.

Anzac has only missed one Clannies; the 2004 awards were held in a bridgeroom chamber after bad weather saw the flooding drain unfit for its usual calling. Despite this, Anzac remains the heart of The Clannies and indeed the Cave Clan.

DougCC

20-12-2010, 02:48 AM

Always worth a visit when you're up north!

Cheers,

Doug.

_____________________________

This week its off to Tropical Sunny Banana Bending Queensland, beautiful one day, perfect the next!

BURFORDS BATCAAYYYVE!
In 1990, Dougo, Rusco and Knightstalker of the Melb CC heded up to Banana Bender territory, aka Qweenslend!

They were on a crusade to try and find Biiig Drayynes, having been thoroughly let down by what they'd found in Sydney the previous year. Over a weekend of cruising around the Brisbane River on numerous ferries searching for outfalls, they found two excellent drains, Brisbane Darkie (darkie being another name for a drain... cos a drain is dark inside, dur...), an old brick oviform drain and 100th, a long, muddy, tidal and really fuckin cool drain built in the 1890s, named 100th cos it was the 100th drain the Cave Clan had found.

Despite these wicked finds, it was still thought that Brisbane, while not sucking as almightily as Sydney for Biiiig Draaayyynes, was still not on par with the gargantuan monsters than inhabit Melbourne. Like Sydney, Brisbane needed its own mega darkie, a crowning glory to top the city, and Dougo n co hadnt found it on their first trip.

It wasnt until 1994 that Brisbane revealed its mega darkie.
It was found my some dude named Burford.
It had bats in it.
And it was like a cave.

OUTFALL OF BURFORDS BATCAVE (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0041.jpg

Burfords Batcave is utterly unique in Australia. There is no other drain like it. Dozens of rock blasted drains exist all over the country, most notably Fortress in Sydney, Domain in Hobart, Eli's Tomb in Adelaide and Luminosity just outside Melbourne. But all of these are similar. They all have jagged, uneven rock walls and ceilings, but smooth finished concrete adorns the floor, so you never completely feel like your inside something natural. With Burfords Batcave, everything is natural bare rock, the floor, ceiling and walls and given that the drain is essentially a rough cut tube thru the earth, you can't even really figure out what is wall, ceiling or floor.

The drain begins under a cliff on the western side of Kangaroo Point, not far from the Storey Bridge. It sits at river level and is full of water for a good 12 hours of a 24 hour day. Even at low tide, unless its a really low, low tide, you'll still be wading thru knee river water to get into it. But on the odd occaision where there is no water in the outlet you can climb down into the short channel that eases the waterflow out of the jagged portal into the river.

INTO THE LIGHT (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0047.jpg

At night time, or at dawn the outfall offers a breathaking view over to Brisbane city centre. Heading in, the first thing you have to do is make sure you dont fall into any of the big fuckin potholes in the floor, some deep enough to get you really wet or worse, break your ankle.
See, this drain is blasted out of Tuff, which in essence is compressed volcanic ash. Unlike the numerous other rock blasted drain which are mostly sandstone, this is one of the few blasted thru igneous rock. Tuff, as you would imagine from its connection to ash, is dark in colour and subsequently this drain is really gloomy without a good torch.
When this thing was built, it was originally a drain for a rail yard. It follows no natural creek or watercourse and as it was built a good 120- years ago, there was no concrete to line it. Thus you get the impression of walking thru a large uneven, rock throat, with no indication anywhere of any sort of structural order.

The tunnel varies in height, between 17ft at the highest and around 10ft at the lowest. Its quite the site, and gives you a feeling of unease, all the blackness and jagged material.

THE TUFF TUNNEL (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0027.jpg

As you stumble thru it, stopping every few seconds to gingerly negotiate yet another knee deep pool you become aware of another presence. A flurrying, flying, flapping presence...

This drain is home to what seems to be in the realm of ten thousand bats. Yes... a fuckload of them! And they take great delight in unleashing their revenge upon you for waking them up by flying past you once ever three or four minutes as they aimlessly make their ways back and forth from one end of the drain to the other.

I remember the first time i explored this drain in 2002, Fishie was with me, and he don't dig the bats. As i ducked for cover, he just stood there and screamed. This occured a good 20 times during our trip, as blasts of wheeling, whirling, winged rats flew past us, stirring up guano and dust, while making us feel like we wre caught in the midst of some black bellied hurricane.

Fortunately, the Rabies virus doesnt exist in Australia, and these bats were small in size. Despite this and the myth that bats sonar prevents them from running into things, we did get wacked a good few times, more a factor of so many bats in such a small space than anything to do with sonar failure on the bat's part.

Heading onwards, the ceiling launches upward, then drops again, repeatedly; the tunnel widens, then narrows; like a convusing osophegous transporting some chunky beer and curry mixture that its owner needs to throw up onto the pavement outside their local pub.

CURLY AND DSANKT IN THE UNEVEN SECTION (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/qld-ug-batc11.jpg

Then after a good kilometre or so you get spat out into a 10ft rbp, that quickly becomes an rcp, the only 'new' section of the drain, built under a freeway; you leave the bats to their own devices, as they seemingly have no intent of following you out of their naturally rendered home stretch. The Rcp runs a fair way before morphing back into a nice old brick tunnel, still 10ft in diameter and blessed with Brisbanes unique alcoved manhole shafts.

FISHIE IN THE TRANSITION
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/normal_siologenics579.jpg

Finally you come to a junction with a small staircase leading to a small pipe named 'Hell', but head right into the 6ft redbrick pipe and wander out towards the light.

THE JUNCTION (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/batc4.jpg

The end comes all too soon and you find yourself standing in front of this wall featuring odd two tiered windows in it. These widows once had concrete flaps attached to them that swung against the waterflow, but the hinges have since rusted away.

You emerge to a short canal leading almost directly underground again, passing beneath a railway embankment, and from here you battle to climb the 12ft high barbwired fence out into suburbia

THE END OF THE NIGHT FOR AN ALLNIGHT EXPLORER (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0042.jpg

For a long time, Burfords remained Brisbanes premier drain. It wasnt until a branch of the Cave Clan popped up around 1996 that other great tunnels like Toadie, Aquacave, Waa, Dsanktuary, Ekwelecksotica and Brain started being found thanks to the efforts of Azza, Possum, Dsankt, Ekwelecks and Quantum X. These days Brisbane is an amazing draining and UE city, full of mad hardcore shit, not just drains, but bridges, power stations, reservoirs and cranes.

DougCC

20-12-2010, 02:58 AM

Proud to say I found this one on one of our early visits to Sydney, but the SydClan did the whole thing after we only got a chance to check out a small part of it.

Cheers,

Doug

______________

Darling Harbour Drain. Part A

Sydneys drains are never particularly long or indeed large.
The longest is the Darling Harbour System. With its main trunk and side tunnels its a 4.4km walk and a 1.1km boat trip. It's also the oldest.

THE YOUNG GIRL WHO HAUNTS THE STREETS BELOW CENTRAL
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cc_darlingharb_022.jpg
DODGY PAINTSHOP MAP
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/dhmap.jpg

Servicing, via a main tunnel, two overflow tunnels and 9 side tunnels the area between Redfern and Darling Harbour, it was originally known as the Lackey/Hay Street Sewer and comprised of a 2km long 7ft high sandstone slab arch tunnel that ran from Cockle Bay to Elizabeth Steet, before splitting to two 7ft high brick and sandstone oviforms. Its initial construction was finished in 1854, a year before the famous Tank Stream was first covered, making it the oldest tunnel in Australia with exception of Busby's Bore, which was completed 6 years earlier. It was a full blown sewer until 1899 when the Bondo Sewer was completed. It nevertheless remained a strong CSO for many years.

The history from the 1850's until the mid 1960's is a bit murky...
It seems that a concrete tunnel was attached to the outfall arch tunnel when 400m of Cockle Bay was reclaimed for the Darling Harbour Freightyards. This was around the the 1930's and it seems, looking at old maps, that a water cooling tunnel for Ultimo Power Station (The Power House Museum) was connected to the newer concrete tunnel. This cooling tunnel was found, albeit behind a concrete wall, on one of the Cave Clans expos down this older tunnel.

Around 1964, flooding necesitated the construction of three extra tunnels to take the burden off the old brick oviforms upstream of the intersection of Elizabeth Street and Eddy Avenue. Three 6ft high concrete arch tunnels were added heading off up Foveax St and southern Elizbeth Steet. One of these actually cut off the southbound 7ft oviform, leaving it to deadend after 200m but then carry on from the end of the newer archway.

In 1979, the system was separated from the sewer, this time almost completely, leaving behind only small CSO's and the light fittings left behind by lazy workers.

And in 1983 the axe fell, obliterating almost half of the old original sandstone archway and removing the existance of Lackey Street from the cities maps.

The two main elements for this historical decimation were the creation of the Darling Harbour we know today - no longer a messy freight yard surrounded by silos, power plants and warehouses - but rather a harbourside entertainment area full of malls, Imax's, nightclubs and waterski displays; and the construction of the Sydney Entertainment Centre, the Exhibition Centre and all their associated Carparks, all of this saw the inclusion of a pair of 12ft high prefab concrete tunnels that combined into a large 9ft high rectangle, before cutting into the old tunnel which was replaced with 7ft high concrete rectangle tunnel heading upstream and left, thankfully, in original condition heading downstream albeit shunted aside as a tidal overflow tunnel for the larger replacements.

(A recent PDF document relating to the tunnels history, and written in a very 'pro drain' fashion(aka, no boring crap about the history of the streets above or old rivers) can be found here: http://www.sydneywater.com.au/Publications/_download.cfm?DownloadFile=../WhoWeAre/OurHeritageAssets/pdf/public4574216.pdf Copywrite Sydney Water)

It was during these works in 1984 that Diode found a way down into the remains of the old archway. He named it the Chinatown Drain given that Hay Street runs thru the middle of that part of town. It was lost after everything was sealed up and only rediscovered when Dougo and Co from Melbourne visited Sydney in 1990. They searched under the wharves at Darling Harbour and found six outfalls (four that turned out to be for Darling Harbour Drain, the other two for what was named Sydney Drain). They headed up the smaller tunnel first and found the Sydney Tunnel, a smaller, newer system that drained Ultimo and around the Cleveland Street area.
So it was left to Predator and Mullet to explore the remaining tunnels, which they did in 1992, the account stating that the paddled up one of the two main tunnels at low tide, explored the system and found an exit manhole near Central Station.

Since then little has changed, a few manhole shafts have been filled in after the light rail was put in down Hay Street and most recently plans have been made to try and save the heritage listed Convict arch, as sections have started to collapse.

THEgCOLLAPSED SECTION
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cc_darlingharb_010.jpg

Exploratory trips down the system always render something new, as it is connected to so many old and oddball areas that every side pipe, no matter its size, goes somewhere. At the least youll prolly find money(Australian dollar bills are made from plastic) floating in the ebb tide area of the main tunnel (my biggest haul was $117).

The usual Trip involves lifting a pair of Trimar covers out the back of Central Station

THE MANHOLE ENTRANCE, 1998.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/normal_cc_darlingharb_024.jpg

This lead down into one of the 1960's tunnels, at this point only 5ft high, its walls plastered with expo graffiti. Heading upstream, the tunnel rises to 6ft high, becomes a concrete arch then splits to two narrow arches. These each lead to drop pipes, passing numerous stalagtites on the way.

DougCC

20-12-2010, 02:59 AM

Darling Harbour - Part B

THE 1960's ARCHES (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/dh5.jpg

Heading downstream, stooping thru the 5ft section, you reach a slide, leading 6ft down into a 7ft rectangle, with a narrow arch side tunnel that cuts off, then connects with the old southbound Oviform. Following this leads to a Flattener. Those game to head through the flattener will reach more 7ft oviform, but only to finally reach a CSO.

THE JUNCTION AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SLIDE (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/dh1.jpg

IN THE FLATTENER
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cc_darlingharb_029.jpg

The tunnel leading downstream of the slide becomes an archway then sidles its way up to the geriatric old convict tunnel, a wide squat arch with a sloped floor and a decent amount of water flow, its stone walls scarred by the graffiti of its convict builders, its floor pockmarked by the dents left behind by the crude stone conveyor system used in its construction. This area is popular for being the choice area for taking a breather to blow up rubber dinghies for Floatout Expos. Many a visit has see this area filled with up to 30 people all madly huffing and puffing or pumping air into Intex inflatables for the journey thru the tidal waters downstream.

THE CONVICT ARCH
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics278.jpg

Leading off the old arch, just upstream of its connection to the 1960's tunnels are the old Oviforms.
The right hand tunnel leads only a short way before ending at a wall, its only contribution to the system these days is a small abount of overflow sewage that is oblitered by the chlorinated deluge of drinking water that spews from its left hand neighbour.

THE TWO OVIFORMS, 1997
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cc_darlingharb_016.jpg

THE TWO OVIFORMS (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/dh2.jpg

Heading up the left ovi, the water is cold and very clean, rushing thru the narrow bottom at a fair rate, the smell of chlorine blowing past with the water. Dozens of blocked off sewer attachments litter the tunnel walls as you traipse a good 900m up, before reaching an odd section where the stone walled/brick ceilinged ovi gives way to a thick rusty steel replica of itself. This only lasts 20 or so metres before the brickwork returns, but by this time your in the midst of a mash of wiring and forgotten lightbulbs.

THE LIGHTBULBS
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/68375.jpg

Heading on, there is a small weir to navigate, then the tunnel heads up a long steep slope, water speeding down it, fuelled by numerous burst drinking water pipes that fountain out of the floor and walls. At the top the tunnel reaches a junction and splits into smaller 3ft high ovi's.

LOOKING OUT INTO THE CONVICT ARCH
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cc_darlingharb_001.jpg

Back in the Convict Arch, we head downstream to where the 1980's rectangle takes over, the floor starts to get slippery and the stalagtites start appearing.

THE TRANSITION
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cc_darlingharb_014.jpg

The newer tunnel is just over 7ft, with stalagtites dangling from cracks in its ceiling for most of its length. It has various small 5ft side tunnels joining onto it and two pits, one about waist deep, the other only akle deep and shaped like a diamond cut into the floor.

This leads onto the Overflow Junction, where the Old Convict Arch reappears, relegated as a tidal overflow tunnel to the top of an extremly slippery embankment off to the right of the newer 9ft high main tunnel.
Above the embankment is a street grille and great source of amusement for those who wish to scare people walking down Hay Street with their shopping. The emankment has seen numerous peolpe eat shit from its coating of tidal scum the worst case resulting in a bloke dislocating his shoulder.

THE OVERFLOW JUNCTION (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/dh3.jpg

Different trips down the old overflow have presented different features. Its a bit lower than its upstream cousin and blocks of sandstone hang precariously from the ceiling. The floor is orange with silt at low tide and at times water has gushed out between the bricks in the walls like there was a well behind them. Most recently, the tunnel has been decked out in reflective laser markers, as it seems Sydney Water has been trying to sort away of securing the frail archway while restoring it.
The tunnel rounds a bend and heads north towards the harbour, changing to an oval shape and growing larger before transforming into the 1930's built concrete tunnel, a much larger covered canal around 10ft in height. Here, even at low tide, the water, mud and silt start to build up, making it a slow trip down towards the harbour. Much to our surprise it was found that you can walk the tunnel all the way to its twin outfalls at low tide and the water never gets much above knee height.
Its not a greatly interesting trip, becoming smelly as the harbour is neared and you pass only a single 6ft rcp that leads up towards Goulburn St. Soon enough tho, the tunnel splits into two rectangles one of them blocked by a 3ft high weir and subsequently full of silt and from there its a short trip to the outfalls under the wharf, passing on the way a thundering inlet from the Darling Harbour Fountains.

It was on my last trip down the overflow before i left for the UK that i found the old Cooling Tunnel.
At the split i noticed the wall was badly built, not even joining to the ceiling in fact. The location matched the supposed placement of the connection with the Cooling tunnel and i got a 50c coin and flipped it thru the gap near the ceiling listening as it made a squishy splash into the tunnel behind the wall.

THE MAIN TUNNEL AT THE O/F JUNCTION, WITH FLOATOUT CREW
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cc_darlingharb_027.jpg

The main tunnel downstream of the o/f junction is a 9ft high, 15ft wide concrete duct. The low tide is reached after a good 200m of passing silt filled manhole shaft alcoves. As you pass the litter filled ebbtide area, you often find money floating in amougst McDonalds litter and styrofoam particles.

You pass what was once the other entrance into the system, a street grille that has since been welded shut and depending on the tide you either turn back or everyone on a floatout expo jumps into their boats. Here the tunnels split, the two becoming narrower but taller and from there to the harbour, unless the tide is below 0.5m, its all paddling,

500m on you reach the Peir Street Grilles, one in each tunnel. These are 25m long grilles sitting beath a large bank of argon lights that hang from the underside of the Peir St expressway flyover. This is amazing feature, both to float under in a boat or indeed to walk thru.

THE PEIR ST GRILLE, 2000
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics251.jpg

THE PEIR ST GRILLE MORE RECENTLY AFTER GREEN MESH WAS PLACED OVER IT TO CATCH LEAVES.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics023.jpg

From here its a near straight paddle to the harbour, thru water that is full of flying mullet and bioluminescant algae. With expos of up to 30 people paddling down this tunnel, lots of good times have been seen, with people dodging flying fish; trying to avoid the sharp barnacles on the tunnel walls; failing and having their boats sink; and just gently floating thru, watching as the algea illuminates the tunnel with its green glow.

As you reach the end, the tunnel becomes huge, with 9ft of water below and 10ft of air above and finally you emerge to beneath the Wharf, a large pollution boom floating over the mouth of the tunnel and the lights of the harbour 50m away.

APPROACHING THE OUTLET
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/68367.jpg

Here, depending on which of the 20 odd expos over the last 10 years you choose as an example, people have either paddled up the adjacent Sydney Drain to emerge from a manhole or slopped themselves over the boom and daringly paddled out to the wharf ladders. The latter is so much more fun as theres nothing better than 20-30 soaking wet drain explorers deflating rubber dinghies only 10m away from queues lining up outside the cinemas and clubs.

Overall Darling Harbour is one of my faves to explore in Sydney, whether its for taking photos, finding new hidden places or taking an easy but interesting stroll beneath the city centre.

UNDER REDFERN
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/normal_siologenics432.jpg

DougCC

20-12-2010, 03:05 AM

Everyone loves Fortress, but it's a lot harder to get into since a couple of graffers died in a flood :(

Doug.

_____________________

Sydney's Best Drain.

Fortress - part A
Built in 1968 as an overflow for the Bunnerong Storm Water channel, the Lurline Bay Outfall (or Bunnerong SWC Amplification as its officially called) was unique in Australian Engineering history at the time it was created.
Dug using 'widowmakers'(aka: large handheld rock drills), out of the bare sandstone, it was tunnelled out of the bare rock and didnt follow any natural watercourse. Sections of the tunnel were reinforced with concrete either entirely or just in the walls. At its deepest the tunnel sat 31m below the surface, the largest of the 4 access shafts being 23m high. The tunnel began down at the rock strewn Lurline Bay, sitting within the waves of the high tide then made its way thru the base of the much elevated suburb of Maroubra before its own elevation brought it to within 4 metres of the surface up near Anzac Parade.

Predator discovered it in 1992 after noticing that a substantial amount of the Sydney Water Corps 1965 budget had been blown building it. He made his way down to Lurline Bay and found the Outfall.
The rest as they say, is history.

A VERY EARLY PHOTO TAKEN IN FORTRESS WITH PREDATOR ON THE RIGHT
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/IMG_5422.jpg

Fortress was Sydney's first real 'mega drain'. It set the benchmark for all the others still waiting to be found, and unfortunatly it took a long time for any of the cities other tunnels to even come close to it in terms of size, length and goodness.

In its early days it saw fairly regular visits from Cave Clan explorers from Sydney and Melbourne; expos were run for visiting Melbourne Explorers and other out of towners; in 1995 a wake was held for Mullet, an avid Cave Clan explorer who died that year in a mountaineering accident.
In 1998 it started to become more popular as regular large expos were organised; it featured in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald; and in 2000 it started getting very heavy regular use as a popular location for Cave Clan New Explorer Expos.
In 2001 it was host to Sydney Branch of The Cave Clan's 10th Anniversary;

10 YEARS BABY!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/66165.jpg

and in 2003 it featured in a Good Weekend Article that got us into more trouble than we would have guessed, lol;

GOOD WEEKEND FEATURING PREDATOR AND RODENT ABSEILING DOWN THE CATHEDRAL
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/media_18042003_01.jpg

In 2004, a sad irony struck, as Fortress became the home for the memorail of the person who found it. Predator died at the age of 33 from Lymphatic cancer and his wake was held down Fortress, a huge dedication wall and shrine erected in his memory.

THE MEMORIAL
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/pred_smemorial1yearon.jpg

Most recently Fortress has seen explorers on a moderately regular basis. The New Explorers expos arent happening as much; Sydney Water have tried to stop people accessing the drain by successfully bolting down one manhole cover, yet not so successfully locking up another.

THE LOCKS MAKE THE COVER EASIER TO LIFT, YAY!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/P2110706.jpg

In October 2005 a brass plaque in final dedication to Predator was bolted to the wall on the far side of the Cathedral near the top. Rodent, a professional rigger and an old friend of Pred's, dynabolted it in such a way that it will be hard to remove or indeed vandalise.

THE PLAQUE IN POSITION AT THE TOP OF THE 23M HIGH CATHEDRAL
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cathplaque.jpg

IN CLOSE UP
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/plaque.jpg

All in all the Fortress bears the marks of nearly all of Sydneys Urban Exploration History; and it does so proudly.

With a tidal outfall that spends 6 hours a day getting hammered by waves direct from the Pacific Ocean, the drain obviously had to have other entrances. Initially a grille in a gutter got you into the most upstream reaches, tho it was via a knee deep sump. Later on, manholes were found, the most notable being in the top of the cathedral itself; yet the most popular one being in a back street in Maroubra.

This lid was a 40kg six seg pizza, nice n easy to lift despite its steel and concrete construction. It sits next to a telephone pole in a quiet back street. Popping it see's you heading down a 4m deep shaft and into a heavily graffed junction room. Heading downstream is a 6ft rcp; upstream are two 6ft rcps, which go on forever, passing numerous side tunnels, rooms and sumps before shrinking away to nothing.

Taking the downstream bound tunnel, the rcp only lasts about 250m before it becomes a 7ft concrete rectangle.

At the changeover is the Mini Cathedral. This is a 7m high access shaft with two balconies built into it. Theres a manhole at the top but its been tarmaced shut so its no use as a way in or out.

SOME DUDE, HATCHET and DIRGE ON ONE OF THE MINI CATHEDERAL BALCONIES.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics519.jpg

From here the tunnel is steeped in graff and formations. The lack of waterflow having allowed the dripping of the stalagtites to form stalagmites.

CONCRETE TUNNEL
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics569.jpg

Around a bend, the concrete gives way to the bowels of the earth; the tunnel becoming a rough arch with concrete benches and floor.

SANDSTONE (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/lg_about003.jpg

Further in the sandstone becomes spraycreted in parts, mostly due to shale being present in the rock.

SPRAYCRETE (pic by Wizard)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/img_1272.jpg

All of this is liberally mixed with concrete sections before you hit the 'Y Junction'.
This is where the 10 Year Anniversary Wall and Pred's Memorial are located. The wall has the names of everyone involved in the Sydney Branch of Cave Clan between 1991 and 2001 and covers around 60m of the tunnel.

THE Y JUNCTION. (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0409.jpg

Turning left at the junction you enter a taller narrower tunnel that leads to an odd slide with a narrow staircase next to it. At the top is a drop shaft, a dead end rcp and a big sump pit full of water. This slide and staircase have always been a slight mystery as they seem overkill for the small amount of water that uses them. Only the gazillions of cockroaches that live on the walls are likely to know the answer.

THE SLIDE (pic by Durgin)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/6hjj.jpg

AND AGAIN (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0408.jpg

Heading back downstream, the tunnel flicks between rock and concrete a few times and you pass the remnants of mouldy carpet left behind from parties. By this time, the slight pinging sensation you may have been experiencing in your ears has grown uncomforatably stronger. Every few seconds, 'POP'! This is caused by ocean waves hitting the outfall at high tide, sending pressure waves 2kms up the tunnel.
Ahead there is the clatter of falling water, and as you approch, there is a sump installed in the wall of the tunnel, water tumbling out of a steel pipe. As you look up to follow the pipe, you see The Cathedral.

THE CATHEDRAL (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0010.jpg

DougCC

20-12-2010, 03:06 AM

The Fortress - Part B

THE CATHEDRAL WITH CUSTOMERY WATER DROPLETS ON THE LENSE
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cc-siolog-fort-020427-001.jpg

THE LADDERS (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cathedral1.jpg

There are 5 concrete balconies, anchored into the rough rock shaft, interspersed by ladders that are eternally coated in sand. Toy plastic glow worms hide in nooks and crannies in the rock on the way up, the remains of a power supply dangle from the balcony railings.
Its been climbed more than any other shaft in Sydney, at least 20 ppl have abseiled down it; twice that many have launched fireworks up it; and its manhole entrance, sitting in a small suburban park has pissed off more residents than any other manhole we use to enter locations.

After Sydney Water decided to bolt the upstream manhole shut, we had to use the Cathedral manhole to enter. Around the same time, the New Explorers Expos were getting big and very popular. In mid 2003, one hundred and eleven people entered Fortress thru the Cathedral manhole and shaft. It took around 45 minutes! Another effect is caused at high tide when pressure is blown out the manhole by the sea. Shrieks could be heard coming from people as a sudden hurricane blast erupts around them as they climbed the rungs.

Following onwards, the tunnel turns a bend and the remaining 1600m to the end is dead straight, to the point where you can just make out the light at the end of the tunnel during the day if the tide is low.

Not too far on is The Tongue. This was a 3ft long stalagtite made of rust, until SOMEONE(wont name any names)decided to slam dunk it and took off the lower half of it. It hangs from the tallest section of tunnel in the system.

THE TONGUE
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/66171.jpg

After this the tunnel changes slightly. The rock sections become ever more invaded by concrete, the benches rising up the walls until only the tops of the walls and ceiling are rock. This also enlarges the tunnel, it having been previously only 8ft high, the new shape averages between 9-10ft high.

Onwards you go, and go and go, and you find the one problem with Fortress: It does have a few boring sections. But before long you reach the Bong Room!

THE BONG ROOM (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/melbactsyd1.jpg

This is an odd room, blasted entirely out of rock. It has a single balcony, thru which dangles a drop pipe with a big stem popping out. The pipe hangs above a pit that has an overflow pipe as well as a steep overflow slide. The whole think looks like some weird cannabis smoking device, thus its name. This pipe is an overflow for the Maroubra drinking Water Reservoir, and therefore is responsible for the mild chlorine smell that fills the atmosphere in this section of the drain.

Heading on, its the home stretch, the concrete meets the rock ceiling and the drain gets up to 12ft in height. By now, if the tide is up, you can hear the waves a-crashing. The graff gets heavier, guestbooks start to pop up and everything if it wasnt already, things starts to get real moist!

The near end is reached at the big slide. This thing is huge, around 4m high and shaped like a shallow 'S'. Theres been a rope dangling down it from a nearby manhole rung since forever, even when Predator found the drain in '92 it had a rope on the slide. Without the rope, youd be VERY hard pressed to get up the slide, tho getting down would be possible via a little dermal loss. During the day the slide is illuminated by the Blow Off Valve, a rusty grille set high in the ceiling. Without this valve, the pressure waves from the ocean tides would be detrimentally stronger than they are, and standing outside above this grille at high tide is sure to ruin your groovy hairstyle.

MR INDIA ON THE SLIDE
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics429.jpg

Once down, and having hopefully done so without slipping, your at the last 150m. Walking down this 6ft high rectangle, sea water streaming thru holes in the ceiling as waves wash back off into the sea it will depend on the tide as to what you come up against. If its high tide, look out, as the waves FILL the tunnel from floor to ceiling, which is fun as long as your holding onto something! At mid tide its all goodah, waves are waist deep and will still knock you off your feet if your not careful but if you're down at the outfall holding onto the bars its great fun!

A DODGY PIC OF MID TIDE
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/tide.jpg

GETTING BLASTED AT THE OUTFALL
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cc-siolog-fort-020427-004.jpg

At low tide, the water doesnt reach the outfall, instead crashing as foam just outside it. You can exit at low tide, tho be careful not to get too close to the waves as the whole bay is made up of rocks and boulders. Crabs scurry along the mouth of the tunnel eating the dumped seaweed and algea.

THE OUTFALL AT NIGHT
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/cc-siolog-fort-020427-017.jpg

THE OUTFALL AT NEAR HIGH TIDE
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/66166.jpg

THE OUTFALL AT LOW TIDE
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/IMG_6898c.jpg

In recent years a sign has gone up down at the bay, explaining the prescence of the drain, amd its purpose... dunno why. Its purpose seems obvious.

Fortress is now listed as a Heritage Item: http://www.sydneywater.com.au/Publications/_download.cfm?DownloadFile=../WhoWeAre/OurHeritageAssets/pdf/public4570011.pdf

EXITING
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics347.jpg

MJS

20-12-2010, 03:22 AM

When we booking a flight ojay?

DougCC

20-12-2010, 03:29 AM

What can I say about The Maze???

I want to marry her!

Cheers,

Doug

__________

It's the most famous, most heavily explored drain IN THE WORLD.
Yes, the world...
Its...

THE MAZE - Part A

Now, fuck me drunk, i gotta admit right now, that ive never explored the whole thing. Why? Cos every time i did explore it, id be with a large group of interstaters in Melbourne for the Clannies weekend. We'd do the 5 odd km of big fuck off tunnels, turning back as soon as we reached the first stoop section. The few times i was in Melbourne exploring alone, id be off trying to break my own records (38 drains in 5 days, August 2000, schiznizzle!) on tunnels i hadnt already seen, so i never got round to going back and finishing off all the sections of Maze i hadnt done.

Im not exactly sure how old The Maze is. As far as i know the oldest section date from the 1880's-1890's.
Like a lot of Melbourne drains, a lot of the system is bluestone and brick construction, with gazillions of additions. Not including the sections i havent explored yet i can recall the system having around 18 tunnels (including main trunks). Admittedly, i don't think you could get lost in there, unless you were a total pleb. The drain runs a reduntant overflow system. Most people who explore it enter in the middle. You walk into the 9ft canal outfall from the park and to your left is a 10ft dia rcp heading past you going downstream, the covered canal going upstream. If you were to turn around and walk back out of the drain and follow the canal 3kms downstream youd eventually rejoin the tunnel to the left of the canal outlet, albeit in a different form than the 10ft rcp that it started out as.

Until the mid 1990's Maze wasnt fully explorable as one system. A huge waterfall, a good 4m high rents an obstacle mid way down the big rcp. For years the waterfall had no ladder and being impassable, effectivly split the drain into two parts: Maze (or Upper Maze) and Room (Lower Maze). In the tradition of starting downstream and heading upstream we'll begin in Lower Maze.

It dumps into the Yarra River in such a way that you need a boat to get in. The big 14ft high horseshoe tunnel dives down into the river, the depth reliant upon the tides, but nevertheless remaining permanately too deep to stand in. The light streaming in is always spectacular, and as the tunnel s-bends its way out away from the river its an impressive bit of engineering.

THE OUTFALL
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics165.jpg

JUST IN FROM THE OUTFALL (pic by Slyv)
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/drains/mazedrain27.jpg

You round the bend and enter The Room. Listed as a separate drain until the ladder problem at the waterfall was rectified, The Room really lives up to its name, being the junction for the 14ft high horseshoe, a 12ft diameter redbrick pipe and the 10ft rcp that comes down from the canal outfall 3kms upstream.

At high tide, water back up to the steps in the room tho it doesnt really get deep, and even without the tides the water lazily pools as it makes its way from the pipes, thru The Room and out to the Yarra.

The Light bending its way up from the outfall is complemented by a manhole shaft on the right hand side; beams streaming thru one of Melbourne Waters Steel covers, illuminating the impressive sight of the two huge pipes.

THE TWO PIPES IN THE ROOM (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/maze6.jpg

STRIKING A POSE IN THE 12FT REDBRICK (pic by Infectoid)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/DSCF2407.jpg

Approaching the redbrick, i always remember being awestruck at the size of this orange-red bohemoth, its patchwork of bricks like a mishmash of water worn scales in the gullet of some odd reptile. As its an Aussie drain, theres not enough waterflow to get your feet wet and an easy left right alternation gets you up the 300m to the connection with the most downstream reach of the overflow canal, passing under sections illuminated by small grilles and an odd, old keyhole shaped sewer overflow that long ago was rammed full of concrete in an effort to clean up the drains input into the river.

You emerge to the daylight in a deep trenchlike canal that goes onto snake its way up thru Hawthorne. Following it leads directly, if painfully to the outlet in the park. The painful part comes from the fact the canal is essentially a very steep sided V shape, made of bluestone slabs that have since been coated in concrete. The central channel is too awkward to walk thru (plus youve managed to keep your feet dry so far havent you...) but walking 3kms along a steep channel edge sucks nearly as badly. Midway up the canals distance is the side drain known as The Slide. Its presence is usually enough reason to encourage those not wanting to endure the painfully steep edges to... endure them.

THE INLET FROM THE CANAL (pic by Infectoid)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/DSCF2411.jpg

Stepping back in and heading back down to The Room, we will take the 10ft rcp. This snakes its way up to the waterfall, being a mostly dry-shoe affair until you reach the last 100m and have to pull off a killer performance of either the splits or the mad left-right dash. If yer short legged yer fuckt and just have to wade thru the water which has banked up in this section where the drains slope gradiant falls entirely.

Ahead is the sound of the falls. The room containing them is big, the falls themselves tumbling 4m out of a 10ft rcp at the top to land on the floors curved bluestone floor. This blue stone seems to be common on the floors of Melbourne drain waterfall rooms, mostly im guessing, cos it survives the erosion of water landing on it better then concrete.

A letter was sent to Melbourne Water in the '90s pointing out the lack of a ladder on this fall and indeed on another in a drain known as Camo's Tomb. To i think the Cave Clans surprise, Melbourne Water conceded and installed ladders on both waterfalls, and from that day hence the two halves of Maze became one.

THE WATERFALL (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/maze7.jpg

At the top of the falls, the tunnel is completely plastered with graffiti. The whole drain is in fact plastered with it as you will see, but for some reason, Upper Maze has more of it than Lower Maze.

FROM THE TOP (pic by Vampyr)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/TBSHRUNKIMG_0133_resize.jpg

Its a long walk onwards, past tall manhole shafts and random bursts of aerosol colour, The rumble of the falls diminishes as you Back n Forth your way ever upstream.

THE 10FT RCP
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/maze11.jpg

Once when we were down in this tunnel we heard a noise. Investigation showed it to be a Possum stuck at the top of one of the manhole shafts. We tried to rescue it, but were deterred when it released a deluge of urine and runny crap on anyone who attenpted to climb the shaft to retreive it.

After a long walk you finally reach the Canal Outlet.

THE CANAL OUTLET WITH THE BYPASS RCP (pic by Slyv)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/mazent.jpg

SYDNEY, ADELAIDE and BRISBANE CAVE CLAN FOLKS ABOUT TO DO MAZE FROM THE CANAL OUTLET, 2003. (pic by Infectoid)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/DSCF2367.jpg

Heading up the covered canal tunnel the graff goes into overdrive, Mr India once got lost up a 3ft rcp on the left hand side; peices play fistycuffs with crap homeboy tags and legible Cave Clan graff and finally you reach the Triple Split junction.

CHAOS (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0002.jpg

DougCC

20-12-2010, 03:30 AM

The Maze - Part B

THE TRIPLE SPLIT IN CALMER TIMES (pic by Curly)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/maze4.jpg

Here you have two 8ft dia redbricks, the right one a nearly reduntant overflow, the left in full swing. The 9ft high stone arch on the right is the main tunnel leading up to Camberwell.

The walls in this junction are *obliterated* with Cave Clan graff. Year after year, it gets ever harder to squeeze your name into an inch square section of blank wall(or indeed wall that marker pen will take to). PPl have been consistantly exploring Maze since the 21st of May 1987. Over 7000 people have passed thru the Cave Clan in the last 19 odd years and i can near as guarantee that most of em have done mAze at least once.
You could stand for hours reading the snide comments, insults, names, illustrations, directions and bold statements plastered on the walls.

A SECTION OF WALL AND THE BATTLE OF THE BLACK MARKER PEN
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/DSCF2376.jpg

Heading up the left most redbrick, the nice dry one, its a 100m walk to Dodgy Deals, an offset, stretched X, four way junction made up of four 8ft dia redbrick pipes.

DODGY DEALS LOOKING UPSTREAM(pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0003.jpg

Stepping out of the pipe you were in, theres the main rcp to the right, another pipe coming in diagonally from the far right, and to the left is the tunnel leading to Swipes Room. Taking this last one, its a walk to the second odd junction, a brick hallway, the left wall punctured by around 5 or 6 oddly placed rcps and oviforms, thats twist and rise, heading off to God knows where. Ahead the 8ft pipe continues, accompanied for a while by a 5ft brick oviform that runs parallel for a while before dead ending.

ODD OVIFORM (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/mazejhk2.jpg

The 8ft Rcp leads onto Swipes room. Swipe was a graff artist(amoungst other things) who did really good artwork in this one room, featuring Mister Men characters and other stuff. A 6ft rcp runs off Swipes to the left and the redbrick continues on.

REDBRICK (pic by Infectoid)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/DSCF2381.jpg

A second graff plastered room sees the end of the 8fter. From here there are two tunnels, Ive only ever taken one. It was a long stooper that lead eventually to this grille, which as you can see is in a kids playground.

KIDS (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0040.jpg

Eventually another tunnel comes in on the right, leading back downstream. Its a 5ft redbrick and taking it eventually leads to another odd junction room, emerging into an oddly shaped oval tunnel before dropping down into a stone n brick arch. Heading beyond this about turn leads on to more good stuff as the stoop gets bigger and there is another slide with nice 6ft oviforms somewhere up there.

ODD TUNNEL (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/mazegjk1.jpg

SYDNEY (BRANCH OF THE) CAVE CLAN... ERR, REPREZENT, IN THE OLD ARCH.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics437.jpg

There are a few dead tunnels entering this area, including a nice dry Oviform that runs off a way, eventually becoming completely cobweb strewn before hitting a brick wall.

OVIFORM TUNNEL (pic by Infectoid)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/DSCF2389.jpg

Heading downstream thru a vaguely familiar 8ft RCP you emerge back at Dodgy Deals, this time from the diagonally entering pipe that was on the far right last time.

DODGY DEALS AGAIN, BUT LOOKING DOWNSTREAM (pic by Bongarse)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/frame10.jpg

Baaack at the Triple Split, we head up the tunnel to the far left.

TRIPLE SPLIT WITH THE PATH AHEAD ILLUMINATED (pic by Bongarse)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/frame07.jpg

This tunnel is prolly the most interesting, and sadly i havent got many pics of it. It starts out as a 9ft high stone archway, with chunks of brick n concrete added in for good measure. There are numerous odd rooms on the way, one of which seems to essentially be the underside of a building. You find youself beneath timber floor boards and foundations, and if you wanted to be a real cunt you could turn off the buildings gas and water supply. More rooms appear, the tunnel alternates back n forth between concrete box, covered canal and archway; there are various small side tunnels, before the tunnel settles into a steady covered canal

THE COVERED CANAL (pic by Infectoid)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/DSCF2393.jpg

PASSAGE (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0004.jpg

A skylight grille harks the approaching end. A pair of 5ft rectangles do lead on to bigger and better things, including more redbrick pipeage, oviforms, and the infamous Camberwell Junction, but as ive not been up there i sadly cannot relate it any further.

CAMBERWELL JUNCTION FROM OUTSIDE GREAT FOR SCARING PEDESTRIANS. (pic by Bongarse)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/P1130221.jpg

So, Maze, yeah, big bloody drain, 4 hour round trip, lots of walking, a gazillion side tunnels, more graf in one drain than a lot of cities can lay claim to in their entirety. More expos have been run down here than any other tunnel, id imagine. The Cave Clan used(and possibly still do) run End to End Without a Torch Expos, amoungst all the other normal trips. These particular Expos involve the group exploroing the drain in pitch darkness, with only a few emergency torches that remain off unless deemed completely neccessary. Wouldnt want to fall down that bloody waterfall tho!

DougCC

20-12-2010, 04:36 AM

Not much to this drain - concrete and just a few shapes, but just like The Maze, it has great character!

Cheers,

Doug

______________________________________

Cars in Drains...
= Mini Tenth - Part A

Now while i really wish i had scanned one of the pics of my fully sick Torana down this almighty whopper of a drain, alas i didnt and wont till i get back to Aust later in 2006.

Ive nevertheless assembled a good bunch of pics, even if the quality is a bit... 'how ya goin'.

Mini Tenth is named 'Mini Tenth' cos its a marginally smaller version of the 10th drain found by the Cave Clan in their early years in Melbourne. This 10th drain was named 'Tenth' (funny that eh...?) and it was, a 2km long arched tunnel running beneath a major freeway. Mini Tenth was found on the 29th of March 1987 by Dougo, Sloth n Woody, only four months after Tenth was located, and like Tenth, Mini Tenth also ran under a fairly new freeway.

INLET OF MINI TENTH, WITH HUGE CANTERLEVERED THRESHER GRILLES -GOOD FOR SWINGING ON (pic by Stinger)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/minitenthENT.jpg

A lot has changed since then. Originally the inlet, like the outlet, was an archway, but sometime since the 80's, the twin rect tunnels were added and a nearby drain once known as Knightstalkers Tomb was physically joined to Mini Tenth via this extended section.

GILLIGAN IN THE OUTLET TO THE ORIGINAL KNIGHTSALKERS TOMB. (pic Cave Clan Archive)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/bbbOldEntrance3.jpg

These days entering Mini Tenth involves wandering down a long driveway and into the creek channel, past the gates and down the 12ft high rectangles. The right hand one is better as it leads 150m down to the Knightstalkers addition. Knightstalkers is 9ft rect with a pointed roof, commonly known as an 'envelope' tunnel. 50m up it on the left is a 7ft rcp that leads to The Harmonious Harpie Hunters grille room.
The HHH were a bogus group of drain explorers made up by Cave Clan to counteract the semi fictitious group called The Red Berry's whom were said to be renegade, vigilante-esque, anti Cave Clan water board workers. The grille room is sloped, the ceiling height getting lower as you get further in.

KNIGHTSTALKERS CONNECTION (pic by Bongarse)
[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums

DougCC

20-12-2010, 05:17 AM

MINI TENTH - Part B

KNIGHTSTALKERS CONNECTION (pic by Bongarse)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/frame18.jpg
The main tunnel leads on to the first of three waterfalls, the three getting progressively higher as they go, all illuminated by roof grilles. In between the falls, the tunnel is channeled, creating what Melbourne drainers call a 'station'. Due to the dryness of this area, what with the water encased in a 2ft deep trench, the walls are typically plastered in graff, messages, tags, abuse and art.

DSANKT SITTING ON ONE OF THE FALLS (pic by Dsankt)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/ds-0452.jpg

Beyond the third waterfall, the tunnel reverts to an 9ft rcp... the exact rcp in the old picture above, just minus the skungy water n bolted directly onto this umbilical to Mini Tenth.

THE WATERFALLS (pic by Bongarse)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/P1120230.jpg

Back in the main tunnel, the twin rectangles merge into a large chamber, its size reinforced by long concrete beams, that sit above the original inlet, a 14ft high archway.

BEWARE, HIS MOST HEADLINESS IS WATCHING FROM ON HIGH! (pic by Cave Clan Archive)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/gillmini.jpg

THE ROOM. (pic by Bongarse)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/frame23.jpg

THE ROOM AFTER THE DELOREAN TOOK OFF FOR 1955... (pic by Bongarse)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/P1120227.jpg

Heading on down this tunnel, you basically have 1.8kms of walking till the end. Theres loads of interesting stuff written on the walls and side tunnels galore, with waterfalls, grille rooms and pipes that lead on forever.

FISHIE N DRAC IN A MINI TENTH GRILLE ROOM
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics092.jpg

Eventually you reach the end, which is wet, rocks and debris having caused water to pool.

THE OUTFALL (pic by Voighty)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/F1000025.jpg

So yeah thats it. You went for a walk thru a big drain. End of story to most people...

The Cave Clan aint most people.

Beyond all the exploring, Mini Tenth has been used for a myriad of things over the years. Obviously theres all the exploring and artwork. But what about parties? Numerous Cave Clan parties have been held down Mini Tenth, but the biggest event was a Doof held there in (i think..) 2002. I heard that the attendace was somewhere in the order of 2000 people. Thats a shitload of folks squeezed into the upstream chamber dancing, firetwirling and get wasted to the rythmic beats of hard psytrance.

A pic, albeit unspecific, from the Doof, ended up in an article on the Cave Clan in Australian Readers Digest (the one where the reporter reckons Dougo looks like Hagrid from Harry Potter, lol).

DRAIN DOOF DOWN MINI TENTH (see the concrete beams overhead?) (pic from Readers Digest)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/minitenthrave.jpg

The doof went well, ppl got wasted and noone passed out facedown in the water, so it was all goodah.

Beyond all this the main *great* thing about Mini Tenth is you can be like Charlie Croker and his Self Preservation Society and go for a *drive* thru it. And you aint limited to driving Mini Coopers thru it either. Its big enough to fit pretty much any vehicle, excluding a semi rig or a London Double Decker bus.

And the beauty of it is... there no speed limit underground...

As internet history goes, Panic was the first person to drive a vehicle thru Mini Tenth.

PANIC'S LADA NIVA IN MINI TENTH (pic by Panic!)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/0mtdrive6.jpg

He got the idea of the Cave Clan, who im told got the idea from this 1996 photogragh:

CAR WASHED INTO MINI TENTH (im told its NOT a Ford...) (pic by Ash)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/crashed.jpg

And im sure this inspired them as well:

GM HOLDEN WB PANEL VAN LEFT AFTER BEING PARTIALLY STRIPPED (pic by Cave Clan Archive)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/dumped.jpg

My earliest experience with driving thru this Godsend to those who dig drains, cars and fast driving was in Mr Indias 1970 Holden HG Kingswood.

With Mr India, Burgatron and myself in the front and Fishie, Starla and Trioxide in the back, we snuck the car to the driveway, then down into the drain the night after one of the Clannies. Mr India carefully navigated past the steel bolts sticking out of the ground and into the right hand tunnel.

Reaching the room, a revolving yellow beacon was placed on the roof, a Rammstein cd was queued up, and upon the first stains of german industrial metal, Mr India tromped the throttle to the floor, and the Woody sped thru its three gears (manually shifted on the column) to a top speed of 170kph, water spraying out all over the place, the car weaving back and forth as its wheels caught in the water.

A DODGY-HANDHELD-STICKING-HEAD-OUT-WINDOW ACTION SHOT OF THE WOODY (pic by Wizard)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/img_a08850.jpg

We roared to the far end barely stopping short of the rocks and boulders, before doing a 10 point turn and careening back the other way.

THE HG WOODY IN MINI TENTH
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics090.jpg

US LOT AND THE HG WOODY IN MINI TENTH
<http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/siologenics091.jpg

The next year, the night before Clannies, 9 cars, containing over 40 people converged on the carpark up above the drain. We all carvelcaded thru the drain, Mr India setting the pace at roughly 130kph, in his new 1969 HT Kingswood. While everyone was converging id gone down into the drain in the Torana and had unbolted the muffler. The lumpy cam, rough idle and ported exhaust warbling out of the 2-1/2inch exhaust without being muffled sounded amazing. As i roared off, the whole drain SHOOOOOK and in between gear changes the back pressure would sound like a clap of caged thunder, IT RAWKED! I aimed to get the car up to its top speed, but typically was let down by my own lack of planning. The Torana had no splash plate beneath the engine and water kept spraying onto the leads and stalling the motor. Try stalling at 150kph! In the end i had a great enough head start that i didnt hamper or slow anyone else down. However ppl got shitty at the racket the car made while it was around so in the end i waited for them all to turn around and head back before i unleashed the roaring(and coughing and spluttering) deamon again.

It was so much fun!

GRIDLOCK AT THE END (pic by Feccie)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/DSCF2425.jpg

CARBON MONIXIDE ASPHIXIATION (pic by Wizard)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/img_a08843.jpg

TURNING AROUND (pic by Wizard)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/img_a08837.jpg

So if you ever get to Melbourne or indeed if you are already in Melbourne and havent fanged thru Mini Tenth; go down to Malvern n let loose of the most exhilarating peice of road under Australia.

Hah, i found a pic of my Torana down Mini Tenth!

TORRIE (pic by Wizard)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211/siologen/img_a08845.jpg

DougCC

20-12-2010, 05:36 AM

I have some video footage of the original Swoo that I need to convert from VHS.

It's a really nice drain.

Just a reminder that these posts were made by Siolo and not me.

Cheers,

Doug

______________________

Swoo - Part A

Found in 1992 when Diode was scouting an abandoned Gasworks, Swoo was at the time one of the oldest drains in Sydney that had so far been found outside of the city centre. Built roughly sometime between 1882 and 1888, it was still mostly intact and original when the Cave Clan explorers found it.

The story goes that Diode n Pred(or was it Mullet...?) found the 6ft high horseshoe shaped inlet tunnel beneath the railway viaduct and headed into it. The tunnel ended on the other side, replaced by a shallow brick channel that was blocked by overhanging Lantana and weeds. Diode pushed thru the foilage and was in mid way thru saying something to Pred when he fell down a steep slide. The last words uttered before he fell began with 'SW' and this was followed by a loud 'OOOOOOOOO' as he he toppled 3 metres down the slope. At the bottom of the slide was another 6ft horseshoe arch tunnel bottom. They squeezed thru the bars and found a second slide, leading into a very old 9ft high arched stone and brick tunnel, passing thru sections that were covered canal, with corro iron roofing; 9ft concrete rectangle sections with numerous small side tunnels, eventually leading out to the harbour.

In addition to this there was another 6ft brick arch tunnel up a canal from one of the terminating side tunnels that lead to ann odd corro iron shaft with a huge pyramid shaped grille over it.

The whole system would have been only about 600m in length, but it was full of old titbits, stalactites, crystal formations on the walls, side passages and shape changes.

They named it Swoo, after the noise Diode had made when he took the first slide.

In 1995, Predator took Prowler (from Melbourne) to explore it and the two of them arrived to find the gas works under demolition. Not only that, but a section of the drain had collapsed under the weight of a bulldozer and the huge machine hadnt yet been salvaged from its partial burial site.

Noone explored Swoo between 1996 until mid 1997 as it was caught up in the demolition of the gasworks and the construction of very posh new apartments.

In mid 1997 Ogre and Mr India decided to explore it, having never seen the original tunnel. They arrived to find the entire system completely transformed from what theyd been told about. All the old tunnels had been virtually wiped out, there were now five huge slides instead of the original tunnel slide and the canal slide; and the prevaling tunnel type was 6-8ft rcp. On this first trip the encountered an odd 2ft diameter pipe that lead, it turned out, into the old original 9ft arched tunnel. This was named 'Old Swoo'. They also realised the 'Pyramid' tunnel had been connected to this new system. While down the new drain they ran into Predator and Fil, (an explorer from Canberra) and the group collectively christened the new system 'Swoo II'.

THE SWOO INLET AT NIGHT
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siolocc016.jpg

Swoo is a fun drain. In fact its one of the most fun drains in Sydney. It's barely 1200m in length and its not very big, but its feature packed, the slides offering all sorts of physical challenges, coupled with the scaleable pyramid shaft and the muddy squeeze thru to Old Swoo.

It starts as a 5'5"ft brick arch at the base of a railway viaduct. Its hidden in a dense grove of spider infested weeds and trees and is fed by the most pitiful creek in Sydney. So pitiful is this creek that the first 300m of the drain is often bone dry and the drain is fully explorable even amidst a major rainstorm.

100m in the arch gets bigger as huge chunks of floor have been eroded away and bricks have fallen out of the ceiling, taking with them entire colonies of miniscule spiders. Rounding a bend, the tunnel becomes a 5ft concrete rectangle before you reach the first slide. This is the hardest one to negotiate, as its fairly steep and oddly contoured. Its also the original Swooooooo! Slide that Diode fell down, but its been buried since Swoo II was created, the only evidence of its original status as a canal slide being the brick walls. At times over the years ropes have been set up making it easier to use. Without the ropes one can descend it, but its hard to then re ascend, prompting most ppl to exit via the main junction grille further downstream. An added bonus is this slide is usually fairly dry, but it oddly goes round a bend as it reaches its lowest point.

DRAC ABOUT TO DESCEND (pic by Guru)
<img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/CRW_2107-01Largecopy.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

THE 1ST SLIDE.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siolocc017.jpg

At the bottom is a manhole room and the second slide. This slide is brand new. The second original Swoo Slide appears to have been wiped from existance, but this new replacement easily makes up for its demise. This second slide is probably steeper than the first but its curved surface makes it easier to use. Most ppl just do a back peddling runner down this one trying to avoid colliding with the 5ft rcp at the bottom.

THE SECOND SLIDE UP (pic by Curly)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/swoo_secondslide.jpg

THE SECOND SLIDE DOWN (pic by Wizard)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/IMG_6614.jpg

Most ppl at this point have a whinge that the rcp is only 5ft (speshally those spoilt melbourne carnts...) however this section only lasts a few minutes and is split up by rooms with exceedingly high manhole shafts( high because they pass thru the centre of huge piles of rubble since landscaped into the grounds of the posh apartments).

The stoop section ends at a small slide that leads down into a three way juntion. Commonly known as the 'Main Junction' or 'Pyramid Junction', the main 8ft pipe is off to the right and the pipe leading to the Pyramid dead ahead. The grille illuminating this room is often used as the main exit as it is a lightweight alloy grille in a backyard.

DougCC

20-12-2010, 05:38 AM

Swoo - Part B

BEANZ, BOLT, ORIFACE, FISHIE AND DIRGE ON THE BENCH IN THE MAIN JUNCTION
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics062.jpg

STANDING: OGRE, STOLLI, SWITCH, TRIOXIDE, MADDOG, BJ, DRAC, ??, HATCHET, MR INDIA, ORCHY, MARAUDER, BEANZ, DTROG.
SITTING: DIRGE, BOSTE, ??, ??, ??, MANGA, GEORGIE. ALL SQUISHED ONTO THE MAIN JUNCTION ON A SWOO EXPO.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics466.jpg

Ignoring the Pyramid for now, the rest of the tunnel is all 8ft rcp, which is nice. Over the last 5 years numerous Paintshop Expos have been held in an effort to make this goodah little drain even more fun. Thus the next 800m of tunnels, rooms and slides are decked out in all sorts of odd designs, paintjobs, peices, tags, poems and song lyrics.

The 8ft rcp goes barely 100m before reaching the next slide. This one is the longest, and is made of a diagonally placed 8ft pipe rather than being ...'sculpted'. Its easy to traverse, although a small side pipe often blasts a spout of water near its top, making it sometimes slippery.
The room at the bottom is home to the Old Swoo connection pipe.

SETTING UP FOR A PAINTSHOP EXPO (pic by Curly)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/swoo_mainslide3.jpg

THE ROOM A FEW YEARS AGO, WITH THE OLD SWOO ALCOVE TO THE BOTTOM LEFT (pic by Wizard)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/img_ab0975.jpg

EVERYONE ENJOYS SWOO!
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics460.jpg

Here we'll go into Old Swoo.
Its a tight squeeze, as the little pipe is quarter full of dry mud. Once into the old arch the ceiling gets higher and you come across a huge mound of sprayed concrete. Its from a burst vertical pipe that was punched thru the tunnel roof to lay building foundation pillars. The huge mound has blocked the tunnel up, ceating a large pond of muddy knee deep water. Other pillars sit amidst the carnage, and beyond them is the old original Swoo Junction, with a 5ft rcp to the left and a 5'5ft Sandstone hallway to the right.
It was only a short period after Swoo II was first explored that these pillars were sunk thru the roof, effectivly turning Old Swoo from a nice old tunnel into a swamp. During this time, the last remnants of the crystalline formations from the old system clung tentitivly to the walls and ceiling, like some kind of candy floss. With the insertion of the pillars the crystals dissolved.

SLOSHING THRU OLD SWOO
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siolocc014.jpg

THE LAST PILLAR AND JUNCTION (pic by Curly)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/oldswoo_chamber.jpg

THE CRYSTALLINE EFFECT
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/swoo.jpg

EXITING OLD SWOO
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/oldswooexit.jpg

The main tunnel goes round a bend from The Old Swoo Junction and past loads more 'art', before reaching the final slide in the main system.

This ones kinda awkward, and most ppl either do a runner or just go for gold down it. Its nicely illuminated by a grille during the day and the banks along the edges have been painted red.

GOING FOR IT ON LAST SLIDE (pic by Curly)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/swoo_lastslide.jpg
The final stretch takes you thru a bend or two and a manhole room before you reach the last room.
This last room has easily the largest collection of explorers tags in Sydney (well beyond Fortress), and was for many yeahs home to an 18th Hole Golf Course Flag (from numerous 'Putt Putt in Swoo' Tournaments) and an inexplicably placed racing bicycle.

THE FINAL ROOM
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/swoo_s18holever2.jpg

THE INEXPLICABLE RACING BIKE
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/bike.jpg

Here, at this room most ppl turn back, as ahead is what used to be Mr India's Poo Pit. In reality this was a grotty exit pipe Mr Inia climbed out of, but it was bastardised to represent the tunnels ahead; twin 5ft rects with loads of mud and skungy tidal water. Then, somehow, all the mud vanished and those willing to go the stoop could reach the rather odd outfall of this drain. A set of 4 stainless steel trash racks leading to a flooded grille room then out into the harbour via 3/4 submerged 6ft rcps. As you can imagine, most ppl just went back the way they came.

MIDWAY DOWN THE FORMER 'POO PIT'
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics428.jpg

THE END (pic by Curly)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/swoo_poopit.jpg

So yeah, you about turn an go allll the way back up the slides, doing your best not to go arse over tit on the way.

Back at the Main Junction...

Heading up the Pyramid tunnel, theres another slide, this one real long but not as steep and passing thru two rooms.

The rcp continues passing beneath numerous grille rooms before reverting back to a 6ft horseshoe arch. This was the original start of the Pyramid Drain, which was at the time of its discovery recognised as a separate drain, despite being barely 200m long. The spiderwebs reappear and the floor becomes eroded.
Suddenly the tunnel becomes corro iron. This is unusual in Sydney. Into this section of pipe is molded the pyramid shaft. Its roughly 8-10m high and theres a blocked off side pipe half way up.

WIRE LADDERING THE SHAFT.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics214.jpg

The Pyramid itself is a 10ft high steel affair sitting aside the Northern Suburbs railway line. Its locked but years ago Predator made an impression of the key, so those wishing to climb in or out of it can do so.

THE PYRAMID AT NIGHT
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siolocc015.jpg

The Pyramid tunnel dead ends simply, at a very steep drop pipe that eventually goes vertical.

THE DEAD END.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/CRW_2116-03Large.jpg

Swoo is one of Sydneys more popular drains, as unless you venture into Old Swoo or down the tidal tunnels, its virtually bone dry. Its also long enough to be fun but not so long its boring. You never walk more than 100m without seeing or doing something interesting.

Swoo, along with The Glebe Island Silos and Tarban Creek Bridgeroom shared the screen with the Toronto Canada Malting Plant, the Lower Bay Subway platform and the man of the times, Ninjalicious, during a tv show filmed by City Tv in 1998. We ended up taking the film crew down Swoo despite there being a rainstorm outside, lol.

Swoo was also featured in a Current Affair report on the Cave Clan in 2001, and it has seen at least 6 New Explorers Expos run thru it.

Its a fun little drain thats perfect proof that quite often huge long drains can be thouroughly outshined by short small ones.

A DODGY PIC OF YOURS TRULY DOING SOME SWOO DECORATING... GO THE PURPLE!
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/img_b02992.jpg

DougCC

20-12-2010, 05:53 AM

One of the best things about this drain is that it's so hard to get to... it's awesome!

Cheers,

Doug

_______________________

Grilles big enough to barbecue elephants on...

This is what is called

Your Taxes At Work.

Diode must have been real excited when he found the construction site for the
Your Taxes drain, with its big game hunting inspired metalware all piled up waiting to be installed.

The drain was built not by the water board or one of the local councils as is most often the case, but rather by the State Rail Authority. Why? Well the coast of NSW that runs down between the most southerly suburbs of Sydney and the most northern suburbs of Wollongong is all escarpment and cliffs n shit, and while the railway is mostly protected, there are sections where it has come under fire from the elements of nature. The section of railline between Wombarra and Scarborough is one such section and by 1999 State Rail was getting sick of flooding from the escarpment washing the raillines away.

So, against much local opposition (http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/1994/158/158p6.htm)
they built a whopping great tunnel beneath the lines and down the hill to Scarborough Beach.
This tunnel was noted for costing $ 6 million... a fair wack for a tunnel that only runs a modest 800m, but as we all soon found out, while the tree huggers, hippies and spoilt locals looked on in disdain, us explorers ended up getting ourselves a mad fuckin drain.

I was in the UK for a 6 week holiday when Diodes first pics of this big arse new drain went online. Sitting in a net cafe in drain depraved Edinburgh, i slobbered all over the keyboard while reading Diodes titbits n d/ling his dodgy flash photos,.

Arriving back in Oz i met up with Mr India and we jumped in the Kingswood n went for a fang down the coastline.
Arriving at the site we were titalated at the site of numerous concrete drainage canals running along the top of a steep hill to some kind of big concrete enclosure. Hopping the fence we peered over the wall and found a huge sump pit, with two canals emptying into it, one from either side and a natural creek waterfall dumping in from the top. Opposite the creek fall was the tunnel, hidden behind 4 huge vertically mounted grilles.... big enough to barbacue elephants on!

We made our way along the top of the tunnel until we found the second shaft, which was all decked out in reo bars and rendering boards, a ladder leading down into it. Mr India had some fun driving the Bobcat about after we found the keys in the ignition, before we headed down the main bore of the tunnel.

What we eventually came across, cemented Your Taxes as a favorite amoungst Sydney's drains.

But to start afresh for a moment.

A group of us returned a few months later once the tunnel had been completed.
The shaft Mr India and i had entered was now also grilled over, a huge removable section held in place with bolts and at other times a hardened boron chain n padlock combo offering acsess to those wily enough to remove it.

Once down in the room there was a near bone dry 12ft rectanglular concrete tunnel leading upstream and a 10ft high rock bored arch tunnel heading down.

THE ACCESS ROOM WITH CAVE CLAN CREW
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/49804.jpg

Heading up the big rect lead only to a dead end, where all the grilles sat, the shallow sump pit beyond diverting all the upstream flow into the old original drain, proving once n for all that Your Taxes was built not as a creek water tunnel but rather as a floodwater tunnel.

THE UPSTREAM END AT NIGHT (WHOS A NAUGHTY BOY WITH THAT PADLOCK N CHAIN COMBO THEN...)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics582.jpg

Doing an about turn and heading back... The main tunnel downstream of the room was excellent. A very swanky 10ft arch, with lower walls made from concrete and smooth bored rock upper section that had been finished off in spraycrete. The tunnel headed a hundred or so metres before turning a slow bend and heading downhill rapidly. Downhill to the point that your legs started to get sore after a while.

TRIOXIDE IN THE MAIN TUNNEL.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics089.jpg

After a good 400m you reached a Y junction, with a second tunnel heading upstream to the right. When i say upstream, well you could, i guess, take that literally, as this side tunnel actually headed 16m *up* stream on a 45 degree angle. I always envisioned the fun you might have in pushing say, a Datsun 120Y down this shaft... dunno why, it just be fun i guess.

STANDING AT THE BASE OF THE KILLA SLIDE STYLEZ! (pic by Curly)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/ytawe.jpg

LOOKING UP THE SHAFT (pic by Infectoid)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/IMG_0732.jpg

Since this time, just after the drains completion, various ppl have abseiled down the shaft from where it emerges to the outside world. Its a fun abseil, albeit only possible thanks to a gas axe we found hidden in some nearby bushes...

TRIOXIDE PRUSSICKING UP AND MR INDIA FORWARD-ABSEILING DOWN
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics096.jpg

Heading onwards, the tunnel levels out somewhat and if its daytime you start to get a very faint glimpse of the end. I remember being completly unable to make out
what i was seeing until i pretty much reached it, so strange and unique was this tunnels final showpiece.

See, the engineers didnt want the turbulant contents of the tunnel, mid-flood, to dump directly onto Scarborough beach, cos well that'd only rile up those bloody hippies n spoilty locals now wouldnt it... So they proposed something even more controversial. They proposed to use an extra 2 odd million bucks of the tax payers money to hollow out a huge retention chamber in the side of the cliff. Typically locals n draft dodgers got all fussed up saying such a construction would destabalise the cliff, leading to landslides. Typically they got told to 'get stuffed' n state Rail built it anyways.

N what a chamber it was/is.
12 metres high, bored out of the cliff, then coated in spraycrete, lead into by the main tunnel which starts to get steeper as it approaches, the final height of the chamber achieved by essentially dropping the floor of the tunnel away by 8 metres, creating a high velocity ramp that dumped water over large churn bollards.

APPROACH RAMP AND BOLLARDS
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc-siolog-yourtaxes-990212-007.jpg

Once standing in the chamber the water is normally around knee depth, the pit is full of clay n debris and most explorers, being Australian, end up just wading in wearing normal shoes. The Chamber is around 100m long the far end capped off by a semi circular wall topped by a skylight grille and a vertical grille over the section of tunnel that rises above the wall.

SUBMARINES EYE VIEW
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc-siolog-yourtaxes-990212-009.jpg

LOOKING OUT AT THE WALL THAT HOLDS IT ALL IN.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/49803.jpg

Two small rcps (like 1 foot in diameter small) drain the pit out to the ocean which can usually be heard crashing onto the beach in the distance. See, one of the beauties of having so many ppl in Cave Clan is that theres bound to be someone who works for State Rail. Thus we have a key to the padlock on the outfall grille, which is nice cos it was getting to be a bit of a shit having to gas axe the chains off everytime we went to explore it.

THE OUTFALL, CLOSE UP, AT NIGHT
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics334.jpg

Id hate to see that chamber full... it would take one *hell* of a storm to do it tho. A vivid memory springs to mind of the day after the 2000 Golden Torch Awards. Everyone was hungover as hell but 25 of us ( a mixture of Sydney N Melboune CC ppl) piled into cars and exodused down to Your Taxes. Typically we spent a good hour trying to get in via the upstream shaft, but to no avail. With stragglers getting weary and those still pissed starting to doze off, we all made a last ditch attempt to find, then enter via the outfall. Typically it started to piss down rain, lol, as the 25 of us ran along the beach dodging the high tide. We found the outfall, found a way in, and climbed down into the pit, expecting to find a torrent of water... The tunnel was as dry as ever. Upon reaching the upstream end, we realised the inlet pit was still successfully diverting all three creeks worth into the small 6ft brick arch tunnel that Your Taxes was supposed to have replaced...

Its not a long tunnel, but it offers a lot between the big tunnels, huge chamber and juicy abseils... and skateboarding thru it is rad fun! Plus the drive out there is always eventful.

SMALL EXPO CREW IN THE UPSTREAM SHAFT
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics329.jpg

MR INDIA IN THE DOCKING CHAMBER
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc-siolog-yourtaxes-990212-008.jpg

DougCC

20-12-2010, 06:18 AM

Another fine Sydney drain found by the Posse... found being the opperative... we went up it in a boat at high tide and ran out of space. Once again the SydClan did all the work.

I have been back into the drain a couple of times and I've got to be honest - I hate it! I'm not a poo-man from the Cave Clan like Silo and the like - they call me soft nowadays, but yeah, whatever... it looks good in photos without the crap :)

Cheers,

Doug

_____________________

This week we take steps of fearful trepidation towards the unwanted child, the nearly aborted, the little Baa Baa Blacksheep of Sydney's Drains. A mutant little creature of concrete, brick, sandstone, tidal waters and terds.

Baa, Baa, Blackwattle Bay - Part A

Most drains in Sydney are fairly clean, Australia, despite being a convict penal colony for the Great British Empire, learned to keep its storm drains terd free long before the soap dodging English had even thought about it, so while England is the land of the great and almighty Drain Shite (to pinch a Scottish word), 95% of Australia's Drains are sewage free.
Even Canadian Drains are terdier than drains in Oz.
Saying that, of all the cities in Australia, the bulk of those problem children who still spout crap out into the Pacific Ocean are in Sydney. Why? Because its got the oldest drains and the most pigheaded bureaucrats.
With this in mind, its only fair to point out that of the 196(at last count) drains that have been found and explored in the Greater Sydney Metro area (yes we' have been scraping the barrel bottom and our heads of 5ft rcps for years now) only about 6 of them are, to quote Mr. India 'Poo Flavoured'.

Of these tunnels with direct connections to the human sphincter, the worst, the most smitten, the SKANKIEST is a drain in Ultimo, just west of Sydney CBD that empties into Blackwattle Bay.
This drain has its excuses. Like Transgrinder, Darling Harbour and Tank Stream, probably the newest of the five original 1850's drains built by Sydney Council to hide creeks polluted by human waste.

Its a nasty little bugger that spans a good 4.8kms, making it the second longest drain in Sydney, after the Darling Harbour System, but where that tunnel system shines like a celebrity in a popularity contest, Blackwattle sits in the corner shunned and reviled for its many shortcomings.

While there are a few terdy drains in Sydney, Blackwattle is by far the worst. Indeed, it out shits (In terms of how much 'oh my God thatâ€™s a human turd!' waste you'll see) even the terdiest English drain, such are the state off its failed wet weather overflows. Itâ€™s a nasty environment to be in, smelly and short on air. For a 2 year period after the Cave Clan sent a letter with maps and photos to the EPA it was clean, the EPA having seemingly forced Sydney water to get down there and clean the blocked CSO's. For those two years the difference was magnificent. The drain was fresh as a daisy even despite being tidally affected. But alas, the CSO got blocked again and the flow of sewage was once more, diverted out into the tunnel. The irony was that without the sewer feed, the system, which even with that feed was fairly short on waterflow, almost dried out completely.
As it is, the tunnel is explorable in normal footwear as the flow of water is minimal. This lack of flow however contributes to the nasty environment.

The other negative aspects that detract from this system include its entry status. You can only get in via a ridiculously heavy 8-seg-pizza manhole, a ridiculously heavy cast iron grille or via the knee-deep terd soup at the outfall.

Its also full of stoop sections, long tedious stretches of 5ft rectangle... blerk!

But see, its this that separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls, cos despite this drains unattractive qualities, it is also full of character, atmosphere and features that ner any other drain can provide.

Naysayers discredit it as unworthy of exploration and make up silly names for those who champion it (e.g., I got the name 'The Poo Man from Sydclan' because of this drain, lol), but in reality it is to their loss.

Of any drain ive ever seen this is the one I think would suit extraterrestrial life the best, I think I look at it this way because being as it is, its outfall crammed into a tiny cove between a collapsing decrepit shipping crane and the Sydney Fish Markets, I always thought its maudlin looking twin 5ft outlets would look amazing with a radioactive alien glow emanating from them.

THE OUTFALLS, UP CLOSE.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw001.jpg

These sad portals into a seemingly other dimension of space and time were cursed by builders without the inspiration to make them larger than 5ft high. Stunted as they are, they spend at least 4 hours a day swimming with the fishes, completely submerged by the tide. Fortunately for us drainers tho, they empty nearly completely at low tide, averaging at shin depth. Stepping into them sees you sinking unto ankle deep sludge and the release of suphurous bubbles most people head up the right hand tunnel, as it's easier to reach. As you carefully step forth you'd' swear there were terds stuck to the tide blackened ceiling. Sloshing onwards you'll notice how thoroughly crusty this drain is, crap stuck to the ceiling, mud on the floor and barnacles all over the tidal scummed walls.

LOOKING BACK
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw000.jpg

100m up you reach an odd junction. To your left is a 7ft high brick oviform. To the right are little window arches thru to the other tunnel. Heading down the oviform gets you back out to the harbour, where you emerge under the wharf supporting the wrecked shipping crane, there isn't much to see except more barnacles n more stinky mud.
Climbing thru the windows into the other tunnel you'll find another 7ft oviform, this heading upstream. These two brick tunnels are the old Council Sewers, built in 1856 and intercepted by the twin rectangles when they were installed in the 1930's. Unless your a complete idiot you'll follow the oviform's from her on in, as the rectangles stay 5ft and continuing thru them will see you encountering ankle deep islands of toilet paper.

THE JUNCTION
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw002.jpg

By comparison, the oviform is nice. Its cleaner, at least once you get out of the high tide range and has almost no waterflow given its basically a redundant CSO. It runs a good 600m before you reach another junction. An rcp leads off to the right rejoining the oviform to the rectangles.

STILL WITHIN TIDAL RANGE
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw004.jpg

REJOIN JUNCTION
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw008.jpg

EXPO IN THE REJOIN JUNCTION ROOMâ€¦ MAN, IT WAS HUMID DOWN THERE THAT DAY.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics066.jpg

Heading on upstream you'll soon reach the famous 'Treasure Room'. This is a unique little room with the remains of a flap that used to cover the oviform upstream of it, above this a balcony with some sort of overflow window and above that, a rotten timber ceiling. The flap is long gone, only its hinges and the rust bubbled metal ring that was put over the brickwork remains. In a small puddle beneath the steel rim is the treasure. It can only be seen when the water in the puddle isn't murky. Cemented to the floor of the drain in this puddle are:

A Signet Ring.
A Brass Tap Handle.
A Tea Leave Colander.
An Ornate Tumbler Lock Key.

God knows how these artifacts got concreted to the floor. Sadly the one time the puddle was clear I didn't have a camera with me so...

THE TREASURE ROOM, WITH A COKE BOTTLE FLOATING ON THE TREASURE PUDDLEâ€¦
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw006.jpg

EXPO FOLKS HAVING A BREATHER IN THE TREASURE ROOM
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics071.jpg

Following on, the oviform becomes wet again mostly from condensation from the hundreds of tree roots that have penetrated the aging brickwork. In amongst this jungle you may also find mushrooms growing out of the walls.

ROOTS
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw009.jpg

The next odd feature is a charcoal filter for a sewer vent in the ceiling. This is mostly there so you can bang your head off it, as it's not really all that interesting otherwise.

FILTER
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw011.jpg

The end comes all too soon and you reach a knee-high weir, behind which the oviform continues its heavy flow of sewage diverted to the right via a 1ft dia pipe. Since being in England and having learned the gentle wonders of wearing Hip Waders, I fully intend on having a look up this section, aptly named 'The Beyond', but up till now, having always explored Blackwattle in normal boots there was no way I was going to go any further.

THE BEYOND
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw013.jpg

DougCC

20-12-2010, 06:19 AM

Blackwattle Bay - Part B

Back at the Rejoin junction its time to reenter the Hellstoop tunnels. The next 700m aint fun. 5ft tunnel with a flat floor and you spend your time dunny dodging ('dunny' is Aussie slang for toilet) until the tunnels become one, the ceiling finally raises a foot and you step out into another junction; a 5ft covered canal heading upstream and to your right more 5ft covered canal heading downstream.
At this point you'll realize you actually just emerged from the systems overflow. The main tunnel is in fact the covered canal heading downstream to the right. This canal is the one tunnel noone, not even me has bothered to follow all the way to the harbour. I got to within 200m before thinking, 'fuck this, its still 5ft high, slippery as hell and knee deep in narsty water'. It's not worth exploring.

EXPO CREW IN THE CANAL: HEY LOOK, THAT CANADIAN IS TRYING TO SAIL HOME IN THAT STYROFOAM BOX!
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw014.jpg

In regards to a 'covered canal', to explain for those who havenâ€™t explored drains in Sydney. Unlike everywhere else ive seen drains and creeks, Sydney's creeks are mostly canalized. The city is full of hundreds of kilometres of straight 6-12ft deep concrete channels. Typically a lot of drains are created by entirely covering these channels... typically they always cover the 6ft deep channels but not the massive 12ft deep ones, lol.

This canal ran open to the air until the mid 1920's, then the powers that be covered it because for one it was a health hazard and two the park it split in two was prime real estate for playing football and building a Dog Track. At this junction there is a small side pipe you can just squeeze up. This leads to a street gutter grille and with a bit of effort you can heave its cast iron bulk out and enjoy nearly getting wiped out by a passing car. Of note, looking north from the grille you can see the concrete slab roof of the canal, with bridges still crossing it, passing between warehouses.

EXPO CREW WHO TURNED BACK AT THIS JUNCTION WHILE EXPLORING BLACKWATTLE DURING RAIN, IN WHAT WAS ONE OF THE GROTTIEST EXPOS ID EVER BEEN ONâ€¦
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics067.jpg

EMERGING FROM THE STREET GRILLE.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/normal_siologenics511.jpg

Continuing up the canal tunnel, its hard going. The middle is 5ft, the edges 4ft with big knarled calcium nuggets on the ceiling. There are Steel plates in the floor under which runs a real sewer as opposed to the illegal flow running past you.

Ahead is Rat Paw Print Junction. From this junction runs a 6 1/2 ft rcp (Ratpaw Tunnel) and the narrowed canal. The junction was named as it was because when Predator and Diode first explored the drain in 1994 they discovered a Rat, and in the sand collected at this junction where his footprints. It was an apt name as the rats footprints were freshly re-laid in that sandbar pretty much every time I visited.

RATPAWPRINT JUNCTION LIT BY A STROBING FIREWORK
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw017.jpg

Likewise, the Rat himself, while obviously not being the same one over the last 10 years (or that's one hell of an old Rat!) has been spotted on almost every excursion up the tunnels and was given the name Stinky in 1998. Prior to 1998, only Diode, Predator, Mullet & Prowler had explored this system and at this junction noone had ever gone past the huuuuge sewage pit set into the floor of the covered canal. They had however explored the rcp, which had soon became a brick floored hybrid and has, ever since they first explored it, been the only part of the whole system that has never been affected by sewer overflow. It runs about 1400m before shrinking near Sydney University. Those willing to go further and game to pop an 8 seg pizza from below will find themselves outside Sydney Uni Engineering library.

THE HYBRID
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw019.jpg

It wasn't until 1998 that Ogre and I found ourselves at the huge shit pit and considering trying to get past it. We barely managed (and years later upon seeing it empty were horrified to find out it was 8ft deep!) and with little hope of finding much more than a shrinking covered canal battled on past the banks of crap the narrow flow could no carry.

As it turns out, the most interesting part of the system was up this way. Within 200m the tunnel got bigger becoming standing height and we passed so old school fittings; old clay pipes, 80-year-old manhole rungs, rusted steel plates in the floor.
Rounding a bend we wandered into a very old 9ft high tub shaped section of canal, its concrete walls rotting away and full of cracks from supporting a rectangular pipe buried inside it, the pipe only emerging to create ledges upon which the remains of other rats not as fortunate as Stinky lay.

THE OLD TUB
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw012.jpg

This tub ended in a old room about 12ft high. Ahead was an old stone arch, lined on one side by the odd rectangular pipe that had since emerged from the wall; above it was a large backfilled overflow flap, a large chain dangling from it down in front of the arch. This was all new to us at the time n it was so sweet, despite the banks of terd along the sides!

THE ROOM AND ARCH
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw021.jpg

THE ARCH
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw016.jpg

It was stepping gingerly into this old section that we noticed the sewer overflow. A small wedge shaped outlet further up ahead, im guessing under Parramatta Rd. It spat forth, only a small amount of sewage. It wasn't the quantity that was so revolting it was the erm quality. It was raw, fresh from the bowlâ€¦ or should that be bowel.

THE SEWER OVERFLOW IN SITU, WITH FRESH WASTE ALONG THE EDGES OF THE FLOW. (pic by Dsankt)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/ds-0135.jpg

THE OVERFLOW DURING THE PERIOD IT HAS BEEN REPAIRED AND WASN'T DUMPING INTO THE DRAIN. EWWW! THAT UEA FREAK IS TOUCHING IT!
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/cc_siol_blackw018.jpg

Opposite it was the oddly shaped pipe, a section missing showing it to be disused before it vanished back thru the wall. It has been suggested that this pipe contains Stinky's nest as he's been seen running into it on a few occasions.

THE ODD PIPE (DISTORTED SOMEWHAT BY FISHEYE LENSE) (pic by Dsankt)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/ds-0137.jpg

Heading onwards the drain becomes a 6ft rcp that goes a good 500m before ending at one final inoperative sewer overflow.

A little bit of digging around later on at the Sydney Water Archives showed this system to have been started in 1857 with the Old council Oviform Sewer. The Stone Arch under Parramatta Rd seemed to be older, if only by a few years. The Canal was built in 1916 and covered in 1932. The Ratpaw Tunnel was installed in 1936.

No new work has been done since then, which is yet another unique aspect of this system.
When you're down there you feel as tho you could emerge in another time if you manhandled one of those 8 seg pizzas out. It's like being in a time capsule, an all to rare feeling given all of Australia's old drains have at one time or another had new work done to them.

As for the Terds, well after England im not too fussed. There's always waders.
As for Stinky, I hope he makes like a Trekky and lives long while being prosperous: God knows, the walls of the whole system are crawling with cockroaches so its not like he'll ever go hungry

BULLWAGON WISHING HE'D BROUGHT WADERS INSTEAD OF WELLIES.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/siologenics073.jpg

DougCC

20-12-2010, 06:27 AM

If you ever get around to doing this drain then make sure it's in the middle of a dry spell in summer (10/10) rather than after rain (5/10).

A great drain!

Cheers,

Doug.

________________________

This week, all that need be said forms the words:

Glory Be To GOD

GOD. Great Oversized Darkie - part A

Now before you whine off about how its not really that big, or you try to compare it to systems like Mountain Juggernaut, 5100, the Westbourne or Bassets Creek, REMEMBER, this drain was found 'back in the day'. In fact, most current drain explorers were prolly still playing with themselves in mindless childlike bliss while sitting in a nappy full of doo-doo, atop a pile of the local hardware stores best brickies in a sandpit. (i personally was trying to do wheelies on my BMX in Port of Spain, Trinidad). Not Dougo, Sloth and Woody of the Cave Clan tho. In 1986, they were cycling along the rivers and creeks of Melbourne town in search of Big Drayyynes!

As far as i recall, GOD was the 8th drain found by the trio of 18 year olds and at the time it was the biggest drain theyd found.

Dougo pointed out however that they admittedly jumped the gun, as 2 drains later they found Tenth, which by size standards dwarfed GOD.

GOD isnt a vast, complex system. Neither is it huge by todays standards. Its a 3.7km long creek tunnel, formerly an open canal for the most part, that dumps into Merri Creek, a wide, heavy flowing tributary of the Yarra River. For the most part the ceiling and floor see a good 10-12ft between them, with a decent flow of stormwater, just narrow and shallow enough to avoid you getting your civilian shoes too damp.

Is the perfect example of a 'cruisy' drain. You dont get your feet wet, you dont smell poo, theres no low bits or sidepipes to lose your fellow explorers to. You grab a brewskie and away you go, no need to worry about slipping or getting wet. And as a tunnel its very homely, and quiet too, even the waerfall usually only whispers. Its nice.

Sitting at the base of the creek embankment, a freeway flyover provides shade for its 10ft diameter outfall, a graffiti ridden rcp, flanked by stubby, high walls and a small staircase beneath.

A SMALL EXPO CROWD AT THE OUTFALL, APRIL 2007.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/F1000007.jpg

LOOKING OUT (pic by Curly)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/vic-ug-mws4.jpg

The steps are always slippery, indeed on a few occaisions the outfall has been a midden of frothy water. The RCP is typically Melburnian, rendered rather than precast, layered in tags, smooth and dry to the touch, nice and roomy.

Straight off the bat the RCP heads uphill, and almost immediatly after, you encounter a nice built in staircase, made from shallow steps, sculpted into the pipes floor.

LOOKING UPSTREAM.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/F1000005.jpg

LOOKING DOWNSTREAM.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/F1000004.jpg

Barely 50m on there is a waterfall. Its a big yin, a good 14ft high, with a hard, bluestone splashpan beneath it. The ladder is... dodgy, to say the least. Over the years it has gotten progessively worse and now stands, twisted by floodwaters, draped in depris, barely anchored to the wall of the falls, its top half, which sticks up too high, chained to the wall of the rcp atop the fall.

Climbing it can be easy and dry, or difficult and wet. I remember getting soaked after climbing it in periods where Australia wasnt drought stricken as it is now. Currently the water quantity is such that it barely but trickles down the vertical wall, the ladder swaying and tugging on its chain as you carefully ascend.

WATERFALL FROM BELOW.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/F1000003-1.jpg

WATERFALL FROM ABOVE.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/F1000001.jpg

The 10ft rcp atop the fall has a similar little staircase to the outfall and slipperiness on its part adds to the fun and danger. Onward stretches a good 300m of 10ft RCP, before the magic opens up.

DougCC

20-12-2010, 06:28 AM

GOD - Part B

I did GOD, alone in 2000. It was my last drain of the day and being quite close to where i was staying i took my time with it. While id known the tunnel consisted of a huge RCP, i hadnt been aware of what came next.

Huge, bluestone covered canal. Shaped like a 'V', mated to a 'U', comprised of large igneous bricks and a sweeping arched ceiling, this tunnel really has a homeley, roomy feel. Its very dry, the walls and ceiling crisp and grippy, water flowing lightly and quietly down the concrete rendered floor.

BLUE STONE V-U.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/F1000033.jpg

LAQUE CHILLING. (pic by Curly)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/vic-ug-mws3.jpg

Every once in a while there are step irons bolted to the walls. These often lead nowhere other than solid ceiling, having been in use prior to the canal having been capped. Rather, there are rigid ladders built to the canal wall sides that lead to current manhole shafts, most only a metre or so deep, given you the idea, rightly so, that your arent particularly far below ground.

The bluestone canal continues, swopping with concrete rendered sections, the roofline becoming flat and broad.

GOD runs straight. Like, dead straight. Its low impact, cruisy. The total opposite of what many non Australian drain explorers would be used to. If you ge bored theres always a lid to pop out of.

LID (pic by Dsankt)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/image-1.jpg

The slow progression of change thru the system means your soon walking alongside a trench, with sloped sides, vertical walls and a flat ceiling. Most recently we came across this gap in the ceiling n sat down for a breather.

BWEATHER.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/F1000031.jpg

GOD has almost no side tunnels, save one or two wide but low bastards that only the keenest of folks have bothered to explore. At one point you reach a very large crossing pipe. Its so large it has its own built in bypass so you can get past it.

The floor becomes steeper and soon your hugging the walls. Ahead used to be 'The Lights of God' a section of covered canal where holes situated in the ceiling illuminated the wall in a fashion that inspired folks to vote the section 'Best Feature in a Drain' at the Cave Clan Clannies. Sadly, repair work to the tunnel saw the Lights removed.

BACK IN THE DAY, JUST BEFORE THE LIGHTS WENT OUT.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/GOD.jpg

GOD in its entirety was nearly wiped out a few years back. Plans for a car tunnel and freeway widening would have all but obliterated this old bluestone gem, but the people stood up for their GOD (even if unwittingly) and the old boy now lives on.

Something that a lot of Aussie drains have over other countries tunnels are grilles and more importantly the facility of grille access. Given how heavy and badly situated manhole covers can be, its always nice to use a street grille to emerge or enter a tunnel. The one in the picture below came out in a grass verge between two sides of a parade. There was a bottle shop nearby and some of out group jumped out for a few ales.

PISSHEADS. (pic by Curly)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/vic-ug-mws2.jpg

The tunnel gets larger ahead and we revert back to bluestone, except with more verical walls. This is easily the most impressive part. Im not too sure exactly how old this section is but im guessing it verges on 110 years.

UPSTREAM (pic by Curly)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/vic-ug-ta4.jpg

DOWNSTREAM WITH THE POSSE.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/siolo/F1000032.jpg

From here the tunnel goes ever onwards, the covered canal eventually narrowing substancially and becoming redbrick with a concrete ceiling, mixed with odd almost middle eastern, envelope/dome shaped sections of rectangle tunnel. Eventually it shrinks n having walked so far in such a leasurly way, yer fucked of yer bothered to crawl.

boxfrenzy

20-12-2010, 08:05 AM

DougCC

20-12-2010, 12:21 PM

Blimey Doug - I could read this all day. (I probably will) Some ace stuff here, and amazing pictures too - I love the Sleepcity stuff and the old school pictures are fabulous too. The thing that really stands out on all of them, is the sense of community that appears on the pictures. I don't know whether it is like that across the whole UE scene, but in the UK it is pretty fractured nowadays, groups here and there doing stuff and lots of bad rivalry and rubbish manners, particularly online. I think the things that really stood out from the stunning reports are the plaque, the memorial and the award ceremony party, funnily enough, all focused on the people who explore them. Really liked this stuff Doug :thumb

Thanks, but I'm just the messenger... Siolo did the work.

Dsankt's stuff (SleepyCity) is amazing. His photos have almost convinced me to have a mid-life crisis, leave the wife and kid(s... almost) and check out some of the cool overseas stuff he's done.

Yeah, I think it takes a lot of work to keep such a large (comparatively speaking) group happy. Most of the time most of the Clan is happy - it only takes one fly in the oitment to kick up a stink and the ones that kick up a stink tend to me way more vocal than those that just want to explore and catch up with fellow explorers.

I'll start to post my own stuff eventually, but I'm not much of a photographer really - just a point and clickster really.

Here is an example :)

Part 1 - Goulburn Darkie.

Flert and I drove up via the Monaro Hwy and met up with Leaky and Wes.

We got drunk!

The next day we hit the road to get some fireworks (to let off, as the law states, in Mira's backyard after 6pm... of course).

Hooked up with Dimmey's Jeff at Goulburn and did the magnificent Goulburn Darkie (can you believe this drain is in a country town!).

The Sydney posse were running late.

SPOLIERS! For the few that haven't done the drain yet.

Inside Goulburn Darkie's inlet.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn1.jpg

First shape change.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn2.jpg

Considering where it's located, this drain is amazing!
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn3.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn4.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn5.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn6.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn7.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn8.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn9.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn10.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn11.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn12.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn13.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn14.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn18.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn19.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn20.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn21.jpg

Once you head up the double barrel tunnels for five minutes you come to a light metal hinged grille.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn17.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn16.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a161/caveclan/goulburn15.jpg

Across the road from the grille is a pretty cool abandoned building (see part 2).

Next - Part 2 - The Orphanage