So, a while back my mate and I visited a drain called DTRT (Do The Right Thing). If you didn't know, DTRT is in Sydney. It's not a big drain, and it's quite short, but it has some interesting features.

I had heard elsewhere that the drain was inaccessible from the outfall due to there being a pollutant trap. Nevertheless we headed down to the outfall with the hope of finding a way in.

1. LOOKING INTO THE DRAIN FROM THE OUTFALL

DTRT 1 by sydnavigator, on Flickr

At first look it seemed that the outfall was in fact blocked, but upon closer inspection we discovered that the drain opened up into a taller room at the pollutant trap, complete with step irons to help us climb up and over it!

2. THE POLLUTANT TRAP ROOM FACING TOWARDS THE OUTFALL

DTRT 2 by sydnavigator, on Flickr

Leading off the room was a 5ft RCP which went on for about 60m before taking a slight bend to the right. All of a sudden we came to an extremely steep 3m high rock slide. The slide was very slippery and there was no rope, so we had to wedge ourselves against the walls with all four limbs to make it up.

3. MAKING THE CLIMB UP THE SLIDE

DTRT 3 by sydnavigator, on Flickr

At the top of the slide was a strange 4ft loaf-shaped tunnel with sandstone walls and a concrete roof, with some sections of wall covered in concrete as well. There was a heap of slugs here and also a couple of lizards.

4. THE STRANGE 4FT LOAF

DTRT 4 by sydnavigator, on Flickr

The loaf only lasted about 30m, taking a bend to the left and transforming into another 5ft RCP. This RCP then in turn changed into a 5ft brick pipe after just 20m.

5. THE 5FT BRICK PIPE

Do The Right Thing by sydnavigator, on Flickr

The brick pipe was great because of its interesting architecture and also its lack of fauna compared with the loaf part. After 50m a tree root has pierced through the roof of the pipe and just beyond it lies a tiny 2ft brick pipe.

6. THE TREE ROOT AND THE 2FT BRICK PIPE BEHIND

DTRT 6 by sydnavigator, on Flickr

Crawling through this pipe brought us to a very interesting waterfall-stairway-thingy carved out of the sandstone. A manhole shaft lay above but we didn't try opening the cover.

7. LOOKING DOWN FROM THE TOP OF THE WATERFALL-STAIRWAY-THINGY

Sandstone Stairway by sydnavigator, on Flickr
I did manage to get a pic facing upstream as well but when I looked at it later it was very out of focus

At the top of the waterfall-stairway-thingy is a really tiny RCP that didn't look very explorable, so we headed all the way back, trying our best not to fall down the slide and succeeding in getting ourselves out in one piece.

I thought DTRT was quite fun, but because it's quite low and short I give this drain an overall rating of 7/10. If you decide to make a visit make sure you go at low tide because the outfall is at the edge of the harbour. Also be REALLY, REALLY CAREFUL on that slide!

Cheers,
sydnavigator

Cool explore and pictures. Thanks for sharing!

that slide is a tough cookie, after the first or second visit I decided that was enough, that any further attempts was probably testing my luck

cool drain though, and the far upstream part is quite cool where those steps are...I think a couple of adventurous souls have crawled on from the top of the stairs but I can't recall what was further up

Great Pictures! i need to make my way down to Sydney again...

I can see a big hand in #3.