. I was planning to do Dungeon, Anzac and BURP soon, but would be doing them alone and am worried about gases/other factors. Are there any better drains to attempt as a beginner going alone?
Thank you for getting back to me, that sounds terrifying and definitely something I will actively avoid for a while, but glad you made it out safe! I'm prioritising Mini 10th and hoping to go there this weekend. I've also heard very mixed stories about Maze, so I'll invest in some decent equipment and slowly work my way upironfistdoug wrote: ↑02 Oct 2024, 12:53 amFrom my experience, newer explorers often find Maze daunting.
Mini 10th has plenty for a newbie. 4 shapes, a few waterfalls, the dog room, the big joining room/abseil room all within 10 minutes of the inlet plus, if it's your kind of thing, some pretty cool graffiti, and all easy to walk through (even the RCP is big enough to easily travel through).
Dungeon isn't a good drain for new people as its catchment is massive.
It's the drain that has caught more experienced explorers out than any (in my experience).
Even checking radar in Dungeon can be misleading as storms can form over the Bass Strait, which is probably the case with other drains too, but as Dungeon is so long, you can be a fair way up and the rain coming from even further up & be caught out.
I rode up Dungeon in sunshine & got to The Grille (still in sunshine) As I was pottering around just a bit past the grille, I suddenly heard roaring further up the tunnel. In a minute I was back at the grille except I was confused because it was as if someone had painted the ground black underneath it.
Of course it was rain.
A freak storm had formed.
I raced out on my bike. The tunnel between the grille and the outlet has about 20 small pipes entering it and depending on the angle, they would either spray water with force into your head or into your torso (it was kind of like a video game ducking below some jets of water & standing up on my bike to avoid lower jets.)
At the two platforms I had to get off of my bike and walk on the platform. When I got to the outlet, the double barrels were spewing water too so I had to get over the main flow to the other side. Luckily I was tall and pumping with adrenaline so I managed to jump the canal while carrying my bike.
5 minutes later I was up at the first bridge on the street and the canal was about 50cms deep on the sides.
Not a drain to mess around with.
Stay safe.
Edits: I typed this while really tired so there were a heap of typos.
Thank you for getting back to me! I do have a map of Anzac, but it is over 20 years old so I'm not sure if it's still reliable. I want to get around to Maze soon, but a horror story about an entrance full or red-backs put me off for a littleEcho wrote: ↑01 Oct 2024, 4:11 pmDepends what you mean by beginner friendly.
The 2 Dougo mentioned are good contenders. Tenth is on the same vein as them. They're really easy, big, walk throughs. Not particularly feature rich but good for getting a feel for it.
For something more feature rich but still pretty easy I'd say maybe Maze.
For the drains you mentioned -
Dungeon is a nice stroll depending on how far in you go. There's many off shoots and such of varying size.
In terms of Anzac for a solo beginner outflow to chamber is probably the best bet as I'm assuming you don't know where the upstream chamber access points are. However the long dam in the outflow doesn't make it as beginner friendly as it was pre-2015 or so. Not inherently dangerous, just stick to the wall and move slowly so as to not trip over anything potentially under the water.
As for BURP, tbf I'd called that almost more a water related feature than a drain. Technically it drains water I suppose but basically it's just a big funnel you can be in and out of in 5-10mins. Beginner friendly I suppose but not much to see or do once you get over the big funnel novelty.
Gases, ehhh idk never read into all that too much and I've been going down drains almost a decade now. Don't think there's been any serious incidents where gases and drain exploring are concerned, least not that I've ever heard about.
Other factors. I mean they're drains. As Dougo said the biggest factor is the weather. When it rains no drains. Apart from that just utilise common sense. Things can be slippery, you might get wet and so on and so on. s*** can happen doing anything in life. Take reasonable care and hope for the best.
. I'm planning to go to Mini 10th soon, and will hopefully have some photos to upload!