25th
August 1997.
Expedition
Report:
Some time ago, after missing a drain exploring meet because we turned up on time we nicked off to do a bit of drain exploring on our own.
Well no need to spoil a good day, we could always take a look at some other tunnels in preparation for more detailed exploration in summer. So we headed back to the city, Gunny driving and Silk navigating. We rang Ed and by the time we hit Heidelberg he was there to meet us at the park. Having not brought our drain guide sheets with us we knew there was a drain to explore around the area but didn't remember exactly where.
We decided to follow Salt Creek upstream for a while and found a small side drain. This was quite a picturesque little spot, all that bluestone and that strange little bluestone bridge across the small drain, like a little ampitheatre. The drain it's self was not impressive, just a 1.2 meter RCP with a bit of a climb (about 1.2 meters boost) to it's entrance but we decided it would be a good day to do Tenth and Glass Creek. We hadn't realise d it but had we followed the main creek past where the concrete ended we would have come to Holey Foot.
We headed off to pay a visit to Tenth. This had been a drain that we wanted to visit for some time as it was rumored to be one of the biggest in UA City. We arrived at the site and parked the car in a side street near the primary school some distance away. Hiking in we walked down to the entrance and donned our gumboots. Tenth had a very distinct resemblance to Mini-Tenth, in fact they are both about the same size in terms of tunnel width and height and look the same once you're in them. We spotted some nice green necked ducks near the entrance, glad to see that despite all the concrete the animals were surviving.
The tunnel curves along under a Freeway. We chugged along and wandered up to the first of the bigger side pipes. Because we had already used up half the day and had explored Mini-Tenth we decided to hot foot it to Glass Creek. (okay, so we're just checking out the drains until summer when we can really take a look down them!)
Glass Creek drain is located about 2 km from Tenth. The creek is not all that apparent as there is little sign of it until you walk through the gap between the low rise flats. The area was very nice and pleasant, lots of trees and grass. Even with the warnings about snakes we sat down in the grass to enjoy lunch before entering the tunnel. The tunnel is about 2.8 meters wide and is in the form of an inverted horse shoe with plenty of foot space either side of the water to walk along.
One thing though, Glass Creek Darkie stinks! It was blowing quite a wind out-side yet inside the tunnel you could smell the rot of sulphur. Still we wandered in and read the graffiti at the entrance. There's quite a bit of it but a few locals appeared to have written over many of the messages. There was also a message about an old meet some time in '95 inviting people to turn up and explore.
The tunnel did not change shape or size as we delved further in, exploring it's depths. We came across some water pouring in from the left about ten minutes in and a bit further on we came across a virtual waterfall pouring out a side drain. Our eyes were watering from the gas by now and we didn't want to get wet so we returned to the entrance to read more graffiti. When we found some messages referring to a split and some room down the tunnel we decided to take another look. Unfortunately the waterfall was still in action so we returned to the car and headed for Sloth's.
For
more info on Sloth's Click Here
The last time we had visited Sloth's it had been a dry day, with no wind.
This time with the wind howling around the tunnel was well ventilated so we
chucked on the gumboots and strode up to Grand
Stairway to check it out for a short tick. We walked into the new chamber
and looked around. There was nothing new since our expedition the previous week-end
so we walked back downstream to Sloth's
We waded in to the entrance which rapidly became shallow at a step. The tunnel was another inverted horse shoe shape but not for long. A short way in, less than a minute we came across a set of stairs, each about a quarter of a meter high. There was about 4 or 5 of these. at the top of the stairs was a scrawled note: "Ash (some date in '96) no flashlight." We wondered how he had seen to write. Further in this message was repeated, beside it was a more recent message: "Dougo 17/3/97, with flashlight."
Further on we came across another set of stairs. Above that the tunnel changed shape to an upright rectangular cross section which rather reminded us of a long corridor. We strode along, noticing a few good pieces of graffiti, such as:
"Sending him around the bend" and something like: "Opening the floodgates of reality. Dreams become reality and reality becomes dreams." (We really have to take a note pad!)
About 300 meters in, or about 5-6 minutes walk we came across a most curious chamber. The rectangular tunnel gave way to an arched red brick chamber with sort of benches along either side. Quite a cosy place to meet I would think. It reminded us a lot of some of those places along Banana Alley in the city. When we came out the other way we noticed that someone has scrawled "Flagstaff Station" on the wall and had to agree that the description was rather apt. The chamber was about 15 - 20 meters long and about 3.7 wide and a bit over 2.5 meters high. It was also almost remarkably free of graffiti.
We wandered on, the tunnel changing back into an inverted horseshoe before coming to a set of steps and changing to a 2 meter RCP. On and on we trudged. After some time we decided to turn back and finally emerged into the fading evening light.
Having made a good exploration of this interesting tunnel and a fair exploration of Glass Creek and Tenth we all parted our ways and headed home for the night.
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