Another trip with Felix! However, this time we were going to go to Wollemi national park - the largest national park in Australia! Michael and Owen also joined us for this trip, since this trip was mainly for Felix and the team to cache their food for their upcoming possibly 12 days walk in Wollemi. Sadly, I couldn't join the trip since uni started again on the 24th of August while the trip is on 29th of August. So it was very nice of Felix to allow me to join him for this trip. He also decided to explore an interesting canyon in the area, seeing how I can help him carrying the canyoning rope and gears.
The boys and their food cache preparation
Day 1:
As we had to started a bit early on Saturday. Michael, Owen and I stayed at Felix's house the day before. It was very nice of him to let us saw his pigs and horses.
The next day, the guys packed all of the food for their upcoming trip and we headed into Nullo mountain using Michael's four wheeled.
The scenery in the morning was very impressive The part of the mountain that we wanted to enter were secluded by gates since it was a private owned farm land. While everyone was struggling to find a way in without making the owner mad, a friendly hunter drove past us and decided to show us the way in! It was very impressive to see his gun and we also saw a bunch of dead foxes hanging on a log on the way. We hoped on the back of his ute and he showed us a particular part of two fences where we can climb on a tree to jump over it. I had a lot of fun sitting on the back of an ute for the first time.
The part that was private
It was awesome sitting on the back of an uteWe started walking into the Wollemi wilderness, to the possible canyon everyone discussed the day before. There were a lot of stingy plants which Felix and Owen, the only two who wear shorts, had quite a bit of fun time scrambling through (their legs hurt after that). Felix also showed us a plant where you can extract milk from the body by squeezing it.
Felix trying the plant's milk
We came across a possible water spot where water were dropping from a rock, Owen tried to drink from it and claimed that the water was delicious (much better than tap water). We also passed a tree where it had already fallen down but new trees branched from it trunk!
After some more descending we finally arrived at the canyon. We abseiled down the first part using double rope but single rope the second part of the abseil (before changing rope, we clipped in a carabiner for safety). Abseiling with a big 60L back pack was no easy task, I struggled a bit to stay upright while abseiling down, but luckily Felix helped me through it.
Canyon spotted! Felix was the first one to go down
The canyon was amazing, especially since we believed that we were the first people who discovered this particular canyon as there were no anchors in the next few ones. There were water running down it, making it to be even more exciting. Though we had to hide under our packs while waiting for the others to abseil down as rocks kept falling down our head. There was a particular piece that hit a spot between me and Felix which surprised us quite a bit.
Me and Felix hiding from falling rocks, by Michael. One rock nearly hit Felix's shoulder
Owen abseiling down the canyon
The second one we had to do a cairn anchor using rocks - where you tie your tape onto a big flat rock and buried it with more rocks on top of it and supported it by using our bodies' weight as meat anchors.
But the canyon was amazing!
Scrambling through the canyons were also very fun, some parts were tiny but other parts opened up. Interestingly, we finished the canyons in 3 abseils instead of 1 that Felix initially thought. The canyon took us quite a bit of time.
Unexpected third abseil!
Felix threw his bag down first before abseiling since his bag would stuck in the slit
As the sun was setting over the horizon, we had to find a place to stay for the day as everyone decided that they would cache their food tomorrow instead of today. As for me, carrying the wet ropes and all my camping stuff had me struggled a lot making my way to our by-the-cliff camping spot (though to me it was good practice for stamina).
The camping spot was very nice, since there were large rocks that can block bit of the wind for us. It was really cool staying by golden cliff edges with majestic views of the valley. We set up our sleeping bag (plus a tent for me) and gathered firewood for our campfire, one of the part that I loved the most in overnight walking trips.
Nothing beats hot dinner by the fire where you can clearly smell the scent of burning woods, with the bright moon and starry sky over your head, while having nice conversation with your walking friends. 
Day 2:
Day 2 was a big day since the guys had to cache the food and we needed to get back to Michael's car for the next caching location at the other end of the park. However, we also felt like we didn't have to rush so the day started a little bit later than we were expected.
The sunrise was mesmerising
Felix suggested traversing straight down the ridge to the junction at Wallaby creek since it would be quicker. It did not. As we traversed down, the track led down to a steep cliffs so we had to climb up and find another way down. It was very exciting for me to see food caching for the first time.
Made it down!
The guys chose a beautiful spot in the middle of a flower meadow.
We dig a pretty deep hole, broke Michael's pick on his shovel during it, and bury the food. We finished it up by putting a lot of rocks over it to prevent animals from digging to the food. Owen decided to make a dice and put on top of it to see whether it can last to their trip at the end of the month. Felix followed by leaving his orange peel.
The marking looked pretty epic!
Taking a sip before going back to our camp
Although the way going up was pretty straightforward, we climbed up while the sun was very bright, Owen faced a lot of difficulties since he claimed that he wasn't build for the sun! While we took a short break, a particular bird sound caught our attention, an eagle was flying on top of us! It seemed to be harassed by a smaller bird so it was quite funny to watch.
There were a lot of interesting rock formations in the climb up so we used a bit of time to look around these different formations. To me, it sort of seemed like a bouldering spot! 
There was a spider net in there
Outdoor bouldering place?
There was this particular section where the rocks could be seen that it had shifted away from each other and lava flowed in to fill the gap - Felix told me it was called a dyke. The colour of the formations were gorgeous with bits of yellow, red and orange.
The dyke
Looked like a painting to me
Felix sandwiched between two rocks
After having lunch at our campsite, we packed our pack and started to climbing up to the top of the ridge. Although the bag was heavy, I enjoyed the rainforest section that we walked through. We even came across a camp cave by a creek which potentially could be a great camping spot! We arrivede at a junction where Owen and Felix bet Michael hot chips and lamington if he coulf cross a particular steep log across the creek. Michael lived up to his name and crossed the log with ease! Now the other guys owed him some nice food along the way to the other caching spot!
A possible future camping spot
I started to struggle more as there were more vines and the climb started to get very steep. There were some serious rock climbing involved, it got harder and harder as my bag kept getting stuck in the vines. It was also getting tough climbing up because of my heavy bag. My legs were starting to give up as well. We climbed and climbed and the climbing just seemed to be neverending to me.
Nearly there!
However, all the tiring feeling got swept away as we reached the fence to the farm at the top.
While we walked across the farm and I was watching herds of cows eating grass and running around. Felix suggested to look at the scenery opened behind us. The Wollemi wilderness made all the climbing up worthwhile. As I was watching the highest peak of Wollemi national park, mount Coriaday, and the wilderness at sunset, giving hinted of purple and yellowish sky under the giant moon that was clearly visible at the time. I thought to myself that I was glad that I decided to join the trip although all the climbing was hard. Felix and the guys teased the cow as we walked back to the car, what a fun way to end the day!
Because we arrived back at the car later than expected, Felix suggested to camp in a fire trail, though driving out with the sun setting beside was amazingly scenic for me. We settled down at a flat spot and getting our tents and sleeping bags ready. Felix taught me to start a campfire and I got very excited. We chatted and had dinner by the fire, Owen decided to show us the beautiful pictures he took during the climb up and we came across a video that was supposed to be a picture that Felix took when Owen crawled under the fence, the noise that he made had us crackled. I realised how much I love having dinner by a campfire while looking at the starry sky.
Day 3 - last day:
We started our last day quite early since there were a fair bit of driving. There wasn't any difficulties getting to the highway, we stopped by a gas station to fill the fuel as well as getting some hot breakfast.
The guys decided to stop at Bylong valley to drop off their canned food for their upcoming trips in case they have to sleep on the highway.
While we were preparing, Felix hit himself on the lips with the shovel, it was a pretty bad wound. The worse way to start the day! We passed some beautiful wineries and horse farms along the way and the scenery calmed everyone down a bit.
The weather that day was lovely
We arrived at the fire trail that would lead us to the confluence between Doyle creek and Raspberry creek, where the guys will cache their food. Even though we hesitated a bit going to private owned land, the fire trail section that Felix initially thought that would be blocked by a gate was wide opened so driving through it saved us a lot of time. Descending down to the creek was quite short and easy, but Felix rolled his ankle while stepping on one of the stones.
Old man beard, the green fluffy moss on the tree branch, is a very good fire starter
This turnt out to be not a great day for him in which Owen suggested that he had been cursed by the cows yesterday. However, we were lucky that the soil at the end was quite lovely and easy to dig. We dig a big hole that could even hid me when I crouched down!
I was the first one to start digging
I could be buried alive!
Another weird marking
While the guys cache their food in the hole, I had a look around this pretty creek called the Doyle creek. Although there wasn't much water, the creek itself was quite lovely
Walking back up was much slower since Owen had a big blister on one of his foot and Felix had a rolled ankle. However, the walk was really nice with a lot of chatting, Owen spotted lots of Old man's beard growing on tree trunks, which according to Felix, are great as a fire starter. The driving back was my favourite part of the day. We drove along the Wollemi ridges while the sun was setting down the horizon. The scenery was beautiful and saturated with colour. At some point it was orange tinting with yellow while pinkish mixing with blue at another time.
Every trip is special and this trip is no different. I camped two nights for the first time, one on the cliff and one by the car. I love every bit of this trip, especially more since we explored an unknown canyon! I'm very grateful that Felix decided to do side trips instead of just going straight to the food caching spot.
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