From January 9 to 15, 2010 Matt Brain and I descended to the Salisbury River from Mt. Victoria Cross and negotiated the Salisbury and New Rivers to the ocean. En-route we enjoyed a rare visit to one of the most spectacular waterfalls in Australia; Vanishing Falls, where the river disappears underground in karst country for several kilometres. Sea Eagles, Azure Kingfishers and endemic astocopsis crayfish were fauna highlights. Good stands of King Billy were botanical highlights. In the upper Salisbury we found that the scrub is about as bad as it can get. On day 4 we covered 3km (2mi) with a very solid day’s effort. River levels were disappointing and once we did reach open river country we did a lot of carrying. The rapid that nearly killed me on the New in 2002 was just a tame gutter at low water. To compensate for the difficulty on the uper Salisbury, we walked out to Cockle Ck. from upper New River Lagoon in one day, a journey that takes most parties 2 to 3 days without boats!
Matt will add pictures to his website (http://www.irenabyss.com.au) in due course.
jmac
Was there a “spot” map for this trip?
What’s the next plan South Cape rivulet from the top?
We did use a SPOT, but the spots expire on the SPOT website after 7 days. If you want more info on the route we used let me know. Next time we would probably drop off Mt. Bisdee instead.
J.
Pictures from our 2010 Salisbury and New Rivers trip, including Vanishing Falls now posted on Matt Brain’s website http://www.irenabyss.com.au
Click on Latest Trips.
J.
sounds like a nice trip john. I have been thinking about doing that trip for a few years and still intend to get around to it at some stage. We did a trip this summer from scotts peak dam to cape sorell via the crossing, davey and wanderer rivers, was a gret trip
That sounds like a fantastic achievement Duke! Awesome! Please post some more details mate, or send them via email? What route did you use from the Davey to the Wanderer? Several years ago Matt and I crossed from the coast north of Wreck Bay to the Crossing River via the De Witt Range, Naff (needs a 'ing fire) Ridge, the upper Giblin, Propstings, then Greystone Bluff. Your trip sounds very committing and interesting. I’d love to hear more!
When you drop into the Salisbury, wait for decent water levels. Far too dry this year for the effort involved.
Cheers,
John
We crossed from settlement point to wreck bay, scrub was not to bad, then up the coast to cowrie beach (? think that is the name) then up the old prospecting tacks to the wanderer. Not sure I have your email but if you would like to know more feel free to email me on elliam@live.com
Cheers