Trips are put up as a Facebook event and distributed to our email list a week or two in advance. They will provide all the information you need before you go including what to bring, when and where to meet etc. You can register your attendance for a trip via the facebook event or send an email to caving.nucc.anu@gmail.com.
Visitors from other ASF clubs are welcome (or other outdoors clubs with insurance cover comparable to the ASF cover). Visitors come on trips under their own club’s insurance, but have the same rights (and standards expected) on trips as any NUCC member.
This page gives a good overview of our long term trip plans, with reports on past trips, and a list of planned events. All of our trips are beginner friendly unless otherwise stated.
Here’s the trip list for the next couple of months! As normal, we’ll try and keep stuff as fixed as possible, but stuff might get shuffled around a touch as necessary. Also, remember, there’ll almost certainly be a few impromptu trips sprinkled in, so keep an eye on your email and the facebook page!
· 5-6th July: Bungonia bat survey (Lachie)
· 8th or 9th July: Bungonia vertical trip; likely Drum, requires previous vertical experience (Guyver)
· 22-23 July: Snowshoeing/skiing trip, no previous snow experience required (Britt)
· 26th July: Market Day
· 1st August: SRT at White Rocks, unless we can sort out the Old Climbing Wall problems (Lachie)
· 5th August: Horizontal beginner trip to B4-5 Bungonia (Martyna)
· (18)19-20th August: Wombeyan trip with SUSS (hopefully) (Lachie)
· 2nd September: Beginner vertical trip to Punchbowl, Wee J (Ben)
· 16th or 17th September: Long Gully dry canyon (Martyna and Britt)
· (29)30th September-2nd October: Buchan caving (Britt)
· 14-15th October: Big Hole abseil (Lachie)
· 4-5th November: Yagby caving (Guyver)
· (10)11-12th November: Blue Mountains canyoning (Britt)
· (24)25-26th November: Tuglow caving (Britt)
· 9-10th December: SUSS Jenolan week long gatecrash (weeklong is 2-10th Dec) (whoever wants to go)
· 6-19th January 2024 (approx.): NZ South Island caving trip, probably Mt Owen or Takaka Hill (Britt)
· 26-28th January: Yagby or Cooleman caving (Lachie, probably)
Date tbd:
· Sometime in August or September: 2x Bungonia vertical caving trips (experienced cavers only) (Lachie)
· Sometime in September or October: 1x Mount Fairy project caving trip (Lachie)
· Sometime in spring: Narrangullen caving trip (Lachie)
Rising early, the contingent arrived at ANU Sport around 8am, then set off to Bungendore. In Bungendore, we found a nice cafe where we were able to get caffeinated and well-fed, then continued our journey on to the caves. read more
This trip was one of the first trips back out of Canberra after the COVID-19 pandemic cooled down in NSW and things started opening back up again, and as such there was quite some excitement to get back out into the outdoors! read more
Michael’s version: “We went. You guys are soft so we went home.” Lachlan’s version: “We went. Corey, Oxana and I are soft. Michael had fun with his Hydrobot. We went home. read more
It’s 6:30am and here I was standing outside ANU Sport in what felt like -5 degree weather. In comes decision one of the day; take Lachie’s car with the check engine light on, or take Oxana’s little (and low to the ground) hatchback. read more
Day 1. Bungonia National Park The trip started at 0800 in front of ANU Sport. We divided the luggage between the cars and started heading to Bungonia National Park. Once in place we unpacked, set up the tents and headed to the starting point of the walk. read more
On our second trip after COVID restrictions eased we headed up to Bungonia National Park to explore Drum Cave. One of the more spectacular caves in the area (or so I’ve been told) it can normally only be visited for a brief window during winter due to high concentrations of foul air over summer. read more
This was our first club trip in almost 4 months. We decided to do some dry canyons in the Blue Mountains since it was far too cold to be swimming and most all caving locations in NSW were shut from either the fires or COVID. read more
The road to Wee Jasper passes through beautiful rugged country – I was impressed. Maybe it’s because I was used to driving to and from caving areas late at night with SUSS when the surrounding countryside is invisible. read more
On Sunday 1st March ANUMC and the National University Caving Club (NUCC) joined forces and held our first Clean Up Australia Day event. 18 members across both clubs headed to the Wee Jasper Reserves in the Goodradigbee River valley, NSW, where they removed rubbish from the trails leading to the popular Dip Cave system. read more
This was one of the first trips of the year after Market Day, so it was a big four-car convoy that left the regroup point at Robertson. We were relieved that the smoke had now definitely cleared and the fires had stopped – even on Market Day, it hadn’t been entirely certain whether the trip would go ahead. read more
I joined ANU’s caving club quite by accident in the haze of o-week. I was with a friend, fully intending on going to the mountaineering stand when I suddenly found myself not only holding a caving flyer, but also committing to attend the first caving trip of the year – the beginners Mount Fairy one. read more
With seemingly every other caving area in the state on fire or already burnt, I headed up to Abercrombie Caves for a weekend caving. This was an MSS trip to work on their book, but they kindly let me come along, as they needed a keen, thin and flexible caver to survey Rabbit Trap cave. read more
There was a thick haze of smoke as we departed ANU at 7AM which seemed to worsen as we approached Bungonia. Fortunately as we descended into the canyon the smoke seemed to clear (or we just got used to it). read more
Glenlyon and Viator Caves (collectively Texas Caves) are south-eastern Queensland’s most significant cave systems. Unfortunately, they were flooded by the construction of Glenlyon Dam in the mid 1970s. This was an act of blatant environmental vandalism that the local caving club, the University of Queensland Speleological Society (UQSS, since defunct), fought in vain against. read more
Once again the annual SUSS cave surveying course was back through popular demand. I went along because I’ve picked up a taste for cave surveying- that’s what happens when you gatecrash too many SUSS trips. read more
31-8-19 (Saturday): In Transit Lachie: Woke up at the awful, awful time of 5:30am to finish packing, tidying and cleaning… Spent all morning running around like a headless chicken, but even despite delivering my spare raincoat to Whitley in Gunners for her to (hopefully) take next Saturday I was ready by the time Chris Snr, Chris Jnr and Andy came past at 11:45am to pick me up. read more
This trip nearly didn’t happen, as we were really worried about all the snow. Instead it turned the Snowy Mountains into a snowscape, all the way from Adaminaby. Lots of brumbies on the way up, and snow around Cotterills Cottage in Yagby Village. read more
It was time for our Semester 2 Bungonia Beginner’s trip. We had a fantastic day’s caving planned- B4-5, Grill and Hollands Hole, all a great introduction to sport caving. As normal, we piled into cars, this time fitting all 11 cavers into two cars (six in one, and five in the other) for the short drive out to Bungonia. read more
The trip began with everyone arriving promptly before 8am, except the trip leader who arrived five minutes late (supposedly a tradition). We collected gear from the store room, split into three cars and left for Wee Jasper. read more
A last-minute-organisation trip out to Mount Fairy to do some of the stuff on the massive hit- list. We literally got access permission the night before, so there had been some talk of SRT at Bungonia instead. read more