Clan Tomb and Camo's
Updated 10th December 19971997

Clan tomb is one of the best in UA City. An action packed drain! This is another one that Interstate visitors put on their 'must see' list. Camos is a fairly average drain, it has some interesting features such as the waterfall and old redbrick mummy section.

Clan Tomb Rating:

1. Entrance to Clan Tomb.

From the entrance to this drain the tunnel curves off to the east, under a motorway. Even at the tunnel mouth you can hear the sound of the falls inside. The tunnel is round in form, an RCP about 3 meters in diameter and easy to walk along the sides. After two curves you come to the more spectacular part of the tunnel, the mummy section.

2. The first Stairs. Shortly after the tunnel turns mummy the tunnel curves around to the left and the sound of rushing water grows louder. Graffiti here eludes to the adventure ahead. Just around another corner you get to the first of the many series of steps in this tunnel. What can I say but WOW! The first set involves 7 steps with hand grips on either side and makes for a great photo stop. See the picture below.

Waterfalls

3. More stairs. The tunnel extends onwards and upwards, with many more sets of steps in it's path. Most of the other steps are just 2 or 3 steps, some with very small half steps. Some way along on the left wall is a small pipe with the words "emergency exit" painted above. This easily navigable alcove leads to short falls followed by a 1 meter RCP which enters a small box followed by another RCP after another 1 meter fall. In all it's about 10 meters crawl, very easily done.

The pipe has a round hole in it's ceiling which leads into a large gutterbox, actually, two of them. Up the step irons is an easily liftable concrete manhole. This exits into a quiet side street. The locals here know of the drain, and one guy has gone down to explore it.

4. Road underpass. Working your way to the top of the stairs you will come to a short section of large RCP tunnel before coming to a square rectangular tunnel that runs for about 100 meters. This is quite a large chamber and is well lit by light coming in from an exit to a grille on the left wall. There's plenty of graffiti here, but as the chamber is quite long it's sparsely distributed. Greets from such people as Prowler, Craig, Alien and more adorn the walls as well as Prowler's classic 'lost in space' UFO seen in the picture above. Judging from the sound of trams I'd say this chamber is right under the road.

You can exit here via the grille emitting light on the left. This small grille is a bit hard to move, because it weighs so much. There are also no step irons to assist you in climbing out of the hole.

The Road exit. It is a bastard to move.

5. Split. At the end of this chamber the tunnel splits to a pair of RCPs, a smaller one on the right that's suitable for crawling down and a larger one on the left. The tunnel slowly begins to turn north, passing under the Road on the map above.

The split

Piss holes, there are many leaks into the drain that make the going slippery.

A tired Oggi rests in the drain at a low split.

Nice looking slidey ramp

Ramp again

Old bridge room

Same as above. There is an exit here but it is right on the side of a busy road.

The nasty low bit from the upper end.

Exit before going home.

From here the tunnel changes back into a concrete rectangular tunnel before changing into another RCP about 1.8 meters high which in turn changes into a 1.2 meter RCP. Take the right (not left) tunnel. Graffiti eludes to an exit upstream. Sure enough after about a quarter hour stooping along this tunnel you come to a manhole which exits way up the drain.

Expo report.

I had heard a lot about this drains and seen some pictures of it so I was keen to hop on a train over to the west side of the city to take a look. I barreled over and jumped on the bus down to the creek. I was surprised at the open gate into the drain which gave very easy access to the drain. I peered under the road bridge first and took a look at all of the graffiti under it.

Walking down to the drain entrance I slid down the side into the creek and carefully walked across the slime at the tunnel entrance. From the entrance you can hear the roar from the falls up the tunnel. I used to think this was the roar of cars under the motorway. Walking in you soon come to the mummy section which is a relief on your feet.

The falls, as depicted in the photo above really blow you away! They are just stunning! I really mean it, these falls have to be one of the very best features in any drain in UA City. I just waited for a while taking in the sight. Finally I strode up the falls and wandered around the many turns in this section of tunnel. I know it's straight on my map but there's just so many curves and bends here.

I came across the exit and decided to check it out. This was the first time I had ever crawled down any pipe and it was a bit worrying but since I've got into the crawl and no longer worry about this sort of thing. After peeping out the manhole I crawled back down and continued up the tunnel, up more stairs till I came to the big rectangular bit. This was a great little spot. With the cool sounds of trams going over the top and the light from the side this place had a good feel about it. I wandered around the bend to the split and walked onwards.

Heading up the left tunnel I noticed the unusual and unsettling sight of water spurting into the drain from beneath it. The water was spurting in under pressure creating little fountains in the bottom of the drain. Could there be a burst water main around there somewhere? I wasn't happy with this turn of events, so with visions of a pile of water pouring into the drain (probably never happen but...) I decided to turn back. I later returned some time later and explored right the way up to the manhole exit.

Camo's Rating:Bad airUpdated 10th December 1997

This drain can have bad air and gas in the section above the waterfall

6. Camo's. A short drain that's a good intro before doing Clan Tomb. Most people follow the directions to Clan Tomb and just walk down the bike path to Camos. You will find a note describing Northcote Golf drain here. South of this bridge, along the bed of the creek is Camo's Tomb. We must have ridden right over it when we were looking for it the first time.

Camo's is not exactly the most exciting drain to explore. The entrance is down near the concrete creek, by the playground. The entrance it's self has some unusual ring ties on it, presumably so a trash collecting net can be put around the entrance. The RCP extends for just under 100 meters to a small room and a set of falls. Watch out for the while liquid dripping in from the covered pipe on the right - it stinks! On the left there is some falls, about 2 meters high with a nice new ladder to climb them. The mummy shaped tunnel above the falls runs at a right angle to the entrance tunnel. It's not long till it comes to a split with a couple of smaller pipes forming it's end.

Popping drain manholes can be dangerous. You may open a manhole in the middle of a road. You might be hit by a car or have a car get stuck in the drain. There are strict speed limits in drains.

Do NOT enter drains. Read this warning!

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