A Few Australian Drains

[DougCC]

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 that’s a human turd!' waste you'll see) even the terdiest English drain, such are the state off its failed wet weather overflows. It’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.


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


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


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


REJOIN JUNCTION


EXPO IN THE REJOIN JUNCTION ROOM… MAN, IT WAS HUMID DOWN THERE THAT DAY.


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 PUDDLE…


EXPO FOLKS HAVING A BREATHER IN THE TREASURE ROOM


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


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


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

[DougCC]

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!


In regards to a 'covered canal', to explain for those who haven’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 ON…


EMERGING FROM THE STREET GRILLE.


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


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


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


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


THE ARCH


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 bowl… or should that be bowel.

THE SEWER OVERFLOW IN SITU, WITH FRESH WASTE ALONG THE EDGES OF THE FLOW. (pic by Dsankt)


THE OVERFLOW DURING THE PERIOD IT HAS BEEN REPAIRED AND WASN'T DUMPING INTO THE DRAIN. EWWW! THAT UEA FREAK IS TOUCHING IT!


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)


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.

[DougCC]

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.


LOOKING OUT (pic by Curly)


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.


LOOKING DOWNSTREAM.


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.


WATERFALL FROM ABOVE.


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]

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.


LAQUE CHILLING. (pic by Curly)


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)


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.


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.


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)


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)


DOWNSTREAM WITH THE POSSE.


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]

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

[DougCC]

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

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.


First shape change.


Considering where it's located, this drain is amazing!
































Once you head up the double barrel tunnels for five minutes you come to a light metal hinged grille.






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

Next - Part 2 - The Orphanage

[Krypton]

thats an amazing collection!

They need splitting off into different threads!

[ERNIE99_UK]

Theyre great reports!, i like the clannies one especially- parties underground sound brilliant!

[Nicola]

By jove that's a great collection - love them!

[Moofers]

That's an impressive explore, but a warning do not put access details it causes problems with accessing later.

But a nice amount of some great photos =D Loved the THE PEIR ST GRILLE shot.