I have been lurking in this forum for far too long, so I figured it was about time that I made a post. Here is a quick write-up of a trip that I made to sloth's tomb recently. please note that all of these photos were taken on an iPhone, so some of them aren't great.
It was a hot day and the weather was looking clear. today was the perfect day for a solo drain expo. I was originally planning on checking out some unknown (to me) small outfalls on the banks of the Yarra. although I was running out of time and I wasn't exactly in the mood to wade into the Yarra, in clear view of lots of people, anyway. So after a long and hard think, I remembered that it has been two years since I've visited sloths tomb, and considering its a personal favourite of mine, that was obviously the go. Anyway,
1. The sloth's drain outfall
I eagerly changed into my thongs and began the slow wade, preparing myself for roughly twenty meters of sticky, leave filled, sinking mud. eventually, I reached the step and was able to step out of the brown, polluted drain water (ick). It all paid off when I realised that looking back out made for a cracking photo,
2. Looking back.
It was less than 1 minutes walk to the first of many sets of stairs in this drain. I'm not sure how I managed to walk past not one, but two sets of stairs and not take a picture of them, but I did. oh well, here is a photo looking down the steps, at least.
3. looking down
Soon ahead the tunnel changes to a rectangular shape, and not much further is the cave clan guest book I scanned it and quickly found a very old tag that I left a few years ago as a thirteen-year-old (which honestly I find quite embarrassing) I decided to embrace it and I searched my bag for something to sign with.
4. the guest book
After the guest book, the tunnel took lots of twists and turns and I soon arrived at the first of many red brick "station" chambers. This chamber seems to be under a road with a tram, which managed to scare me twice. before I noticed some very helpful graffiti. I think this station is referred to as "flagstaff" by the way
.5. The "flagstaff station" chamber
6. Insightful graffiti
I can't quite remember whereabouts in the tunnel this was, but many of the side pipes in this tunnel are made of some kind of plastic, and from what I could see, are prone to cave-ins. This one even seemed to be melted a bit?
7. "melting" side pipe
Lots of interesting shape changes followed, even a few steps, then I arrived at the next station.not much to say about this one, it's pretty much identical to the first. Its is, however, next to a manhole, which lets a small amount of light in, as well as a tiny bit of fresh air, and that's always music to my ears.
8. Shape change...
9. steps
10. suspicious bag
11. manhole
wondering on through the round pipe that was continually getting smaller, I came across a few odd things. the first of which was a plastic side pipe that was black in clour of some reason, and also warping and caving in on the inside. coming out of another side pipe was a whole lot of leaves and sticks and plant matter stuck just sorta hanging... looks quite gross. I recall seeing a lot of this kind of thing in the Slide drain near the maze.
12. odd side pipe
13. gross brown object
further on were some long and low steps similar to those found near the entrance to GOD. oh and I slipped here
.14. more steps
After these steps, it wasn't long to the third "station" chamber once I reached the chamber I sat down and decided to turn back. this was because my ankles were starting to hurt a whole lot and I wasn't entirely sure if I could navigate to the upstream exit. anyway, here's the third chamber, note that it's different to the other two as the channel through the middle is a lot narrower and flatter and is covered with water. it also seems a lot less "clean" in a way.
15. third chamber
16. an interesting manhole shaft
overall, I certainly recommend a visit to this tunnel, although if I were to do it again I'd do it from the top down. This tunnel seems a little underrated, probably because of its close proximity to the great stairway, which is another excellent tunnel.
Thank you for reading!
-Fitzy:)
