"Exploring" in Canberra - any good tunnels / caves or other fun exploring areas?

PBO said :

Ahh, I see. I am used to the convention of using a smiley face like so 😉 when using humor.
Yeah, it would be cool to get together and chat about UE stuff. I have to admit that storm water drains in Canberra are mostly boring. The vast majority of them are 6 foot round pipes. There are a few ones such as Secret Squirrels, one down at Callwell and the Bat-Cave that are interesting

Yes, secret squirrels is quite interesting. What makes the Calwell and Bat-Cave so interesting? (Calwell drain has a few grille rooms i noticed from google maps)

Yeah P1. That’s what I read in the historical docos. But I found two in the bush off of I think it is Fairbun Ave (the road that runs south of the airport) and they are disused, by sheep or humans.

Oh, and yes, I have seen the aquarium and dome in Froggy drain. I quite like the sharks, penguins, diver and so on. That must have taken some work.

Try this:

Its out at the Cotter, on the ridge above Paddy’s River. There is a natural cave (caged up last time I was there), and also a mine tunnel up a small creek, which is just up hill from some copper tailings. I think you will see from the link (hope it works) that the tailings are the bluish green colouring in the sat map image. If you manage to find the tunnel, it cuts straight across the hill for 200m, vertically in a westerly direction. The entrance is a mans width hole that you will have to squeze thru. be careful negotiating the tunnel as there are a few verticle drops, some only covered up with wooden planks. Used to explore these with my Geology student budies. Also, as per previous thread, Giralang tunnels, and Kaleen tunnels (end of palying fields/tennis court road) are pretty rad too. Lots of off shutes and large cavins.

Enjoy.

I have to admit that storm water drains in Canberra are mostly boring. The vast majority of them are 6 foot round pipes.

This tends to be true, but often the journey is more interesting then the destination.

…and the two small ones south of the airport…

These were bomb dumps from WW2, single room structures with blast door, and earth berms around them. Four of the five are used by sheep, and one appears to be in use by the AFP for storage (based on the fences, signs and cameras.

PBO said :

##### INTERMISSION #######

Because it was funny at the time. Dont take this all too seriously mate. No one is better than anyone else on this site, so just roll with it, smile and have a bit of fun and share some knowledge and maybe have a bite at someone. What makes this site fun is that we are all hypocrites at some time or another.

I for one am interested in where you have been in Canberra and what you have seen.

Ahh, I see. I am used to the convention of using a smiley face like so 😉 when using humor.
Yeah, it would be cool to get together and chat about UE stuff. I have to admit that storm water drains in Canberra are mostly boring. The vast majority of them are 6 foot round pipes. There are a few ones such as Secret Squirrels, one down at Callwell and the Bat-Cave that are interesting, but not really interesting enough to go into more than a few times unless you were asked to show a new explorer around.

I find it kind of sad that some of them are former creeks. I wonder how the now open but concrete creek in Woden would look as a natrual creek with ponds and waterfalls as part as a centerpeice of town. Or how the drain through Weston would look as an open creek. I also wonder how much wild life was wiped out as result of putting those creeks underground. 🙁

Canberrra does not have much in the way of abandoned buildings either. It used to have the very nice Government Printing Works which was huge. I made friends with one of the security guards there and we used to walk around the inside of it a fair bit. I got to document it’s last days. I even got to drive my car through it during the process of it being demolished. I was hired to do some week end work demolishing it as well because I have a good working knowledge of asbestos removal and can drive a bob cat. That place (like most buildings built before 1980) had a fair bit of asbestos in it.

It was sad to see that go as well. It would have been beutiful to have seen it converted into a shopping mall, indoor community centre, sports ceentre or something similar. It was huge. It was also verty airy and had great use of natrual light. It would have made a superb community centre, being down there so close to the lake. Sort of like the old Bus Depot markets only about 4 times the size.

There was also an old brick factory up at Mitchell. Asbestos ridden too. Now it is gone and they’re building factories over it.

Which reminds me of the old pipe works in Queanbeyan. It was a huge place. It covered about 2 suburban blocks. Now there’s a housing estate on it. Only problem is, I am pretty sure that there was no soil remediation work done on that site. I never saw any of the topsoil removed from the site at all. I did see top soil shipped in and spread over thee dirt, silicates and other crap left over from the pipe works. I’d never buy there myself because of fears of possible carcinogens in the dirt. 🙁 Not good.

Then there is the old Canberfrra Brick works and their associated quarries. You don’t need to tresspass to explore them. Most week days people are there and you can wander on in and ask permission to walk around and take photos. If you look carefully you can find remains of the old miniture railways that ran there. I did write “railways” too. There were three! The old quarry railways which I think ran on an 18 inch gauge. The miniture entertainment railway that ran around a small (now mostly dry) lake in the quarries on the north side of the site, and a 2 ft 6 or 3ft gauge railway that ran along Adelaide Ave as far as the old power house with a branch into Civic. The old brickworks provided all of the bricks to build Old Parliament House and many historical builddings in Civic.

There were a bunch of old buildings that were once part of ANU. They werre kind of taken over by art students and had some really nice art work in them. But being old fibro blocks they were eventually demolished and I think they made way for a car park. 🙁 I have some nice video of them on my web site. I think Danman and I explored them together once when we were on better terms. But that was years ago so it may have been someone else.

Oh, and the now also gone massive old Canberra Hostel. That was HUGE. a massive 3 story, 6 sided hexegon building in Barton that would have easily had 600 rooms. When they went to demolish it there were still TVs in some of the rooms, and lots of furniture. It was such a waste to see that all go when it could have been donated to the Salvos and helped people out.

There was an asbestos ladened tower block in Woden which I think is still there. Even I would not go into that. When seeking permission the police who used it for training told me that even they were considering not going in there any more, the exposed asbestos was that bad. Since then I think it has been sealed off inside anyway. Though people might consider it a choice site, it would be a seriously bad idea to enter it even with permission.

I’ve only found two, no three bunker sites in Canberra. The old DFAT one, some disused ones south of the airport along the road that goes from the airport to out past the aircrash site and a third bunker. The old DFAT communications one was featured on an ABC news web report, so I don’t mind mentioning it here and the two small ones south of the airport are listed in historical documents found on the web. So I don’t mind mentioning them here. The ones south of the airport are just two small buildings that were once covered in dirt. They are not all that impressive. They would be great if you were a kid and wanted a hide out, but yeah, as an adult I find them somewhat boring. The third bunker site may still be in use.

The tunnels from Old Parliament House to the old DFAT building were interesting though. It took a lot of persistant asking to be given permission to entter those, and that was with an escourt. You pretty much can not get into them without being seen, so please don’t try. The pipe is a big round 9 footer, (but gets smaller past the old DFAT building) very similar to a large storm water drain. Only this was made with formed concrete, not pipe sections. There is a centre walkway, racks on either side to contain pipes, the Hansard pneumatic transporter and cables. It was lit by fluro tubes. The tunnel is plugged below the foyer at the old DFAT building as the section under the lake is flooded. There is a pump room not far from te southern shore of the lake.

PBO, I’ve never heard of the Black Mountain Downpipe or the Mout Ainslie Bunker. I’d be most interested in taking a look at them provided it was legal to do so. As clearly stated on my web site, I do not promote illegal UE. If they are on public land, and there are no fences or keep out signs then I’m willing to take a look. But if there are fences, keep out signs or it is obvious that tresspass is required, then I won’t be visiting them. Still, I’m happy to talk about them, as perhaps the owner could be persuaded to give premission to see them.

I’ve seen quite a few intgeresting places in Canbera and overseas simply by asking. For example, in the USA the good old Aussie accent, and a show of genuine interest and knowledge got me into everything from a former main railway station through to a fomer police dog training centre to a tour of the TARP project in Chicago (you could drive a double decker bus through the TARP tunnels). Here in Oz I was given a guided tour of some of the tunnels under New Parliament House (as mentioned here, the Cathedral underground space – which was not so exciting) the Old Parlliament House tunnels, three underground power stations, and the high level diversion tunnels in Melbourne (poo tunnels). I’ve also been shown through several college tunnels systems, both here and overseas.

UE, does not have to involve tresspass. Some people say it is not real UE if you ask permission. But I say I like my job and I am not prepared to risk it by breaking the law. Having said that, it should be pointed out that it is not illegal to enter a storm water drain in the ACT unless there is a sign specificly forbidding you to do so, or unless you are required to “break or enter (enter can be as simple as pushing open a closed but not locked gate)” to enter it, or if you are carrying tools to be used for the purpose of break and entering (a torch can be considered such a tool).

As I’ve been saying all along, it would be good if the UErs in Canberra got together to do some UE. Forget the polatics, just get out and have some fun.

UrbanAdventure.org said :

P1, you must be the creator of the penguins in Froggy drain out at Belco. I like your work. 🙂 That was a heck of a long way up the drain though, past the loop and by the grille. Did you hike all the way up, or was there a closer entrance?

Penguins are my speciality. And I have exited/entered that drain at five different locations I can think of. Have you seen the “Aquarium”, or did you stop at the dome?

##### INTERMISSION #######

UrbanAdventure.org said :

PBO said :

urbanadventure.org (If that is your real name) If you know for a “fact” that they are Poo tunnels, why are you trying to dig up more info on them?

As far as i understand, the area under the well known car park in Belconnen is still there.

Of course that’s not my real name. Who has a web site as a name? Why even make that comment? I mean it’s not like for a minute that I think your name is PBO. That’s not even relevant.

Because it was funny at the time. Dont take this all too seriously mate. No one is better than anyone else on this site, so just roll with it, smile and have a bit of fun and share some knowledge and maybe have a bite at someone. What makes this site fun is that we are all hypocrites at some time or another.

I for one am interested in where you have been in Canberra and what you have seen.

###### CONTINUE THREAD ######

Hey Dan, seriously, why don’t we put the crap behind us? I don’t know how to contact you through here, but if you know how to contact me by all means why don’t we meet, chill out, have a cuppa and talk about UE. You can show me some of your new photos. I’m not trying to hassle you or antagonise you or anything. It would be seriously nice if we just made an effort to get on, have fun and do some nice UE eh.

Peace,
Panic!

PBO said :

urbanadventure.org (If that is your real name) If you know for a “fact” that they are Poo tunnels, why are you trying to dig up more info on them?

As far as i understand, the area under the well known car park in Belconnen is still there.

Of course that’s not my real name. Who has a web site as a name? Why even make that comment? I mean it’s not like for a minute that I think your name is PBO. That’s not even relevant.

I have an interest in almost all tunnels as it is my hobby. Look I’m not interested in the polatics or defamation. I just like to explore. If you have a problem with that, then you don’t have to reply. If you enjoy that, then let’s chat civilly.

Danman said :

Hay Jason, That Captain Pike nicname is news to me, have you ran out of people to antagonise, perhaps you best leave sleeping monsters lie.

I have always maintained that I am a photographer – I prefer my vocation to my hobbies, it pays my bills, my hobbies do not and to that end, my hobbies are limited by my vocation.

To everyone else, if you have a government security clearance, I would suggest distancing yourself from non sanctioned* urban exploration and most certainly Panic! and the poster urbanadventure.org.

He has a long and sordid history which I will not make public, but you have been warned.

*I have on several occasions had guided access to closed systems, abandoned buildings (Think Glassworks circa 1999/Yarralumla Brickworks, LM Water Treatment centre) for the purpose or urban exploration style photography.

Gee Dan, chill out. What’s with the sour grapes? I didn’t give you the Captain Pike nick. I think Mira called you that and it stuck. I thought it *was* your nick name until it was explained to me.

Dude, it seriously does not make sense for two urban explorers to have so much animosity towards each other. It would be a lot better if we were just out exploring. Also, before you start acccusing me of illegal stuff, I have made a point of not doing any illegal exploring for years. You’d be very surprised what people will let you do if you ask polietly and offer them beer.

Barzma, no problems with being curious, that’s how this thread was conceived. However, I do not think it would be good netiquette for me to describe in great detail a fellow contributor regardless of my opinion of them.

Mongo and Panic have a history – if you want to know more, just ask our friend urbanadventure.org – or as he says get user access to his website and chances are that you will find dozens of pictures in which he is a subject.

Danman said :

WMC – Your statement barely comes as a revelation to me, it seems that is his MO with online communities. UER.ca springs to mind.

I would not say I *know* him, I have met him on one occasion, but his reputation certainly goes before him, and on meeting, his reputation manifested evidently.

Don’t make my mistake.

What is this guy like? Old? Young? Sorry if i sound a little interested, it is just that I remember in my primary school days staring down into a drain covered by a steel dome next to the oval with wonder, and there always being two fading signatures… one reading “mongo” and the other “panic!”. And now that i explore more drains i am coming across his name a lot.

WMC – Your statement barely comes as a revelation to me, it seems that is his MO with online communities. UER.ca springs to mind.

I would not say I *know* him, I have met him on one occasion, but his reputation certainly goes before him, and on meeting, his reputation manifested evidently.

Don’t make my mistake.

UrbanAdventure.org said :

I know of some 35 storm water drains, 3 bunkers (okay one of them has now been converted ito offices) and at least three seperate tunnel systems in Canberra. I’ve got a nice Google Earth file with them all plotted too.

P1, you must be the creator of the penguins in Froggy drain out at Belco. I like your work. 🙂 That was a heck of a long way up the drain though, past the loop and by the grille. Did you hike all the way up, or was there a closer entrance?

Hey Danman / Captain Pike, I always wondered if that was you posting here. Long time no see.

Anyway, I’m trying to dig up some info on the tunnels running under Northbourne Ave. The Poo and Poo 2. Anyone got any info on them? Besides the fact that they are poo tunnels? What about Electron?

Where on earth did you get those names from? There is no such thing as a poo tunnel, if there was it would be a sewer. I think that you are referring to certain access tunnel that goes under a certain area of Northbourne Ave.

If you want to brag, then find and photograph the Black Mountain Downpipe or the Mount Ainslie Bunker.

You know Panic!, danman? Dude almost singlehandedly trashed the ACT geocaching scene a few years back IIRC.

Hmm, who else do we have in Canberra that does UE.

Well, I’ve been a few places, and while I love to name drop and brag with the best of them, I would probably stop short of being that arrogant. There is always someone cooler then you.

As for Poo, I’ve been in a couple of storm-water drains that pass under Northbourne, or do you mean sewers? Because I have a map of the active ones, but they are, well, full of poo.

And Furthermore, I think that you are a bit geographically embarrassed as it seems that you dont know about what bunker is where or who used it. I appreciate that you are an experienced urbexer but you are coming off a bit full on. As for being the most experienced and most well travelled urban explorer in the ACT region, that is a big call my friend as there are some folk who work for NCA who would laugh in your face as it is part of their job.

Lets just share our experiences and not argue about who has a bigger headlamp.

Furthermore urbanadventure.org, it is probably prudent to not boast your criminal exploits on open forums, rumour has it a motorcyclist once done that, RA got wind of it, and the boys in blue became aware of him pretty quickly.

In a post 9/11 environment do you really want the world to know that you have accessed stormwater tunnels that go under parliament among other secure locations that you boast of ?.

Even moreso if you are employed in the APS.

urbanadventure.org (If that is your real name) If you know for a “fact” that they are Poo tunnels, why are you trying to dig up more info on them?

As far as i understand, the area under the well known car park in Belconnen is still there.

That Captain Pike nicname is news to me, have you ran out of people to antagonise, perhaps you best leave sleeping monsters lie.

I have always maintained that I am a photographer – I prefer my vocation to my hobbies, it pays my bills, my hobbies do not and to that end, my hobbies are limited by my vocation.

To everyone else, if you have a government security clearance, I would suggest distancing yourself from non sanctioned* urban exploration and most certainly Panic! and the poster urbanadventure.org.

He has a long and sordid history which I will not make public, but you have been warned.

*I have on several occasions had guided access to closed systems, abandoned buildings (Think Glassworks circa 1999/Yarralumla Brickworks, LM Water Treatment centre) for the purpose or urban exploration style photography.

I have never really done any Urbex, but the other day i walked in to a tunnel on Red Hill. There is a section of steel that has been removed probably long ago so you can clime in. There is a lot of graffiti which tapers off a couple of hundred meters into the tunnel before reaching a room filled with graffiti. You will be faced with a wall that you can clime under (about knee height) and then a fork in the tunnel – take the right as the left is a bit slippery. Watch out for spiders above you! Anyway after a fair while (maybe an hour?) you should pop up in Curtin. It is quite eerie when you are near the end, you see what looks like a small opening in a wall in front of you, but you soon realise that is the exit really far away!

vg said :

“I’m the most experienced and most well travelled urban explorer in the ACT region.”

Even if you say so yourself

Well, I don’t have to say so myself. Go sign up for a membership on urbanadventure.org and you will see some of the
Over 300 stormwater drains,
Over 120 abandoned buildings,
Over 60 bunkers,
24 plus abandoned underground stations,
8 College tunnel systems
2 nuclear missile silos
The Paris catacombs,
Chernobyal,
and more that I have explored.

Hmm, who else do we have in Canberra that does UE. Well that would include danman, who earned the nickname “Captain Pike” for piking out on 4 UE expos in a row. Who by his own admission did not like exploring storm water drains and to my knowledge has never been in one. The guy is a photographer, not an explorer. A good photographer yes, and I like some of his work, but he’s not into UE big time. Even the description he gave of Guy Fawkes (with the incorrect spelling) is all from my web site.

“I’m the most experienced and most well travelled urban explorer in the ACT region.”

Even if you say so yourself

I know of some 35 storm water drains, 3 bunkers (okay one of them has now been converted ito offices) and at least three seperate tunnel systems in Canberra. I’ve got a nice Google Earth file with them all plotted too.

P1, you must be the creator of the penguins in Froggy drain out at Belco. I like your work. 🙂 That was a heck of a long way up the drain though, past the loop and by the grille. Did you hike all the way up, or was there a closer entrance?

Hey Danman / Captain Pike, I always wondered if that was you posting here. Long time no see.

Anyway, I’m trying to dig up some info on the tunnels running under Northbourne Ave. The Poo and Poo 2. Anyone got any info on them? Besides the fact that they are poo tunnels? What about Electron?

In relation to one of the bunkers, there was, and kind of still is a HUGE underground communications centre ment of Treasury building when it was the old DFAT building. It used to have a thick lead roof block out radio transmittions and was intended to be fallout proof. After the building was handed over to the Treasury department, they cut big holes in the roof which was under a car park. (so not in Belconnen) The space was converted into office space.

It has been mentioned on an old ABC web site, and is as plain as day to see now days so I don’t mind mentioning it. One night Myself, Zool, Dsankt and Nivelo snuck down there and explored it while it was still being rebuilt.

I’m the most experienced and most well travelled urban explorer in the ACT region. I’m pretty much always up to a bit off urbex and exploring, as long as others are sensible, and there’s no polatics involved. I don’t give a crap about who you will or will not explore with. I’m there to explore, not whinge.

Had a look at the Cotter Caves on the weekend and to my shock some of the barriers have been removed. The main cave is still caged off, but the other little one has had the barrier removed. When did this happen?

p1 said :

Up stream of Faddon Pines is a tunnel I have explored. IIRC it is a peffect example of Canberra’s RCP (round cement pipe).

If you do some running ’round under canberra, you’ll come across some familier names on the wall. Panic! Being one of them.

Thanks for that info, ill chdck em out hopefully. There is a good drain to go in, just north of the end of the tuggeranong open drain (gpt?). The drain has 3 entrances, and call these drains. It is one you have as a ? in google maps p1. also remove the ?’s that are on the edge of mount Taylor on torren and pierce. they are only small drains that are 1 1/2 ft in size.

The paper I mentioned above, which has a nonfunctional link, is this on;

KARST AND CAVES IN THE CANBERRA AREA – PAST AND FUTURE MANAGEMENT

I used to work for ACTEWAGL and did a inspection walk down a 1.5m sewer main running to the weston pump station near RSPCA>
We entered the tunnel at 5am and my workmates said ‘watch out for the 7:30 wave”.
I thought they were only joking, but at 7:25 you could hear this roaring sound of the wave coming. We all got out of the tunnel. The water level went from ankle deep to waist deep in a matter of seconds. Most households get up and shower, have breakfast ect between 7-7:30 hence the large amout of water flushed at once creating a wave Stormwater drains are not safe even when it is not raining. Burst water mains, emptying swimmimg pools ect can cause to water levels in stormwater drains to raise.

p1 said :

The Paddy’s River Caves (known as Cotter Caves) are here

There were blocked off at some stage decades ago, and appear to have been broken into some days latter.. Not very big, but interesting for those into this kind of thing. At the end of the post I have included the descriptions from the Australian Karst Index.

Other information about them, and other karst in the Canberra region, (plus some local history) can be found in this paper.

I also came across a mention of the caves by our exalted leader back in ’06. I would be interested to know if the steps/lookout have been built. If so, it would be pretty easy to find the caves.

Cave

Description
2PR-1 Cotter Cave at Paddy’s River
Entrance is pothole type; (Unknown entrances); development is large passage with vertical bedding; karst type is unknown; length is 90.0 m , surveyed; vertical extent is 20.00 m; systematically explored, no obvious leads.
2PR-2 Powder Store Cave at Paddy’s River
Entrance is cave type; (Unknown entrances); development is short simple narrow passage with terminal chamber; karst type is unknown; length is 14.0 m , surveyed; vertical extent is 2.00 m.
2PR-3 Blasted Cave at Paddy’s River
Entrance is cave type; (Unknown entrances); development is short complex network with crawl passage; karst type is unknown; length is 20.0 m , surveyed; vertical extent is 8.00 m.

p1 said :

Has anyone ever found or seen the entrances to a mine or tunnel on the banks of the Molonglo river? I have heard about them but i know bugger all about where they are and what they were used for.

Apparently there were major works done in the area where a large tunnel was built at the beginning of the fifties and that is all i could find out.

There is this tunnel at the Cotter.

It runs from just below the dam, under the ridge to the pumphouse near the bridge. It is almost completely filled with a water pipe however…

You rock my sad little world! Cheers, I think that a nice walk in the Cotter is a great way to spend a saturday.

PBO – they are actually sewers… pretty sure they are active…definetly those stacks are heritage listed. I think they connect to the tuggeranong interceptor that goes up to LM Water Treatment Centre

Has anyone ever found or seen the entrances to a mine or tunnel on the banks of the Molonglo river? I have heard about them but i know bugger all about where they are and what they were used for.

Apparently there were major works done in the area where a large tunnel was built at the beginning of the fifties and that is all i could find out.

There is this tunnel at the Cotter.

It runs from just below the dam, under the ridge to the pumphouse near the bridge. It is almost completely filled with a water pipe however…

The Paddy’s River Caves (known as Cotter Caves) are here

There were blocked off at some stage decades ago, and appear to have been broken into some days latter.. Not very big, but interesting for those into this kind of thing. At the end of the post I have included the descriptions from the Australian Karst Index.

Other information about them, and other karst in the Canberra region, (plus some local history) can be found in this paper.

I also came across a mention of the caves by our exalted leader back in ’06. I would be interested to know if the steps/lookout have been built. If so, it would be pretty easy to find the caves.

Cave Description
2PR-1 Cotter Cave at Paddy’s River
Entrance is pothole type; (Unknown entrances); development is large passage with vertical bedding; karst type is unknown; length is 90.0 m , surveyed; vertical extent is 20.00 m; systematically explored, no obvious leads.
2PR-2 Powder Store Cave at Paddy’s River
Entrance is cave type; (Unknown entrances); development is short simple narrow passage with terminal chamber; karst type is unknown; length is 14.0 m , surveyed; vertical extent is 2.00 m.
2PR-3 Blasted Cave at Paddy’s River
Entrance is cave type; (Unknown entrances); development is short complex network with crawl passage; karst type is unknown; length is 20.0 m , surveyed; vertical extent is 8.00 m.

Vy, shame you didn’t go far into the caves, very interesting graffitti in them, looks like people have been writing on the walls for many, many years.

I went through some of the old cotter caves as a teen before they were closed off. Quite interesting, althogh I didn’t go in far.

after the fires went through the cotter, there were a number of stormwater drain covers that came into view near the old quarry. always wondered whether they were caps to the cave system, or part of a stormwater network. there are caves in the cotter area, apparently not all have been closed off, there are still a few out there that are accessible, but I am not aware of their locations. If anyone knows of easy access caves, can you let us know?

Has anyone done the old Yarralumla storm drains? I mean the old, old ones that have ventilation stacks.

Up stream of Faddon Pines is a tunnel I have explored. IIRC it is a peffect example of Canberra’s RCP (round cement pipe).

If you do some running ’round under canberra, you’ll come across some familier names on the wall. Panic! Being one of them.

You weren’t actually referring to your sex life were you Woody?

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

Bloody young people. In my day we stumbled around the the dark til we fell in a hole; you’ve got websites and GPS coordinates and you still can’t figure it out.

please don’t tell us about how you lost your virginity, you’ll spoil the dreams I have of you.

Dam, so no luck in condor area. What about near macarthur, fadden or chisolm?

Could not find the right search area, or the info. Any help please?

Bloody young people. In my day we stumbled around the the dark til we fell in a hole; you’ve got websites and GPS coordinates and you still can’t figure it out.

– Go here: http://www.geocaching.com
– See the Advanced Search link? Smack bang in the middle of the page? It’s in the big box that says ‘Search for geocaches’. Click it.
– Change the ‘By Postal Code’ dropdown to ‘By username (hidden)’
– Type ‘Panic!’ without the quotes in the search box
– Click Seek
– Lookit! Four pages of links to geocaches. You can tell which are the ones you’re looking for from their titles. For example, ‘Tunnel of Terror’ is almost certainly some kind of terrifying tunnel.

A 60km/h trip headlong into a churnblock is a bad career move IMO.

…and on the off chance you make the gap, there is a lot of tunnel between there and the downstream exit.

Fatal if hit..Hence why I am yet to do it.

Another cool concept would be a 60L tub full of super balls.

The Idea I had for the projector/Camera on a bike was not mine, but I envisioned recording an outdoors scene, think driving a car down a country road…Then projecting that onto the walls of any tunnel… even a pedestrian tunnel whilst riding a bike down at same speed and recording…

Only in Summer though….That place is fatal on the end slope with watermarks that are mid thigh high. A 60km/h trip headlong into a churnblock is a bad career move IMO.

We only did golf balls, bowling balls sounds like heaps of fun.

I have tossed a bowling ball down secret squirrels Danman (after taking all appropriate care that no one was in there). It made the most awesome noise as it bounded faster and faster until hitting one of the churn blocks in the temple of doom and shattering.

Unfortunately, no one had been willing to take even the slightest risk with a good qual camera, so we have no footage.

Have been thinking for some time that a pretty good movie session could be held in that chamber though…

Theres a drain that runs from Tuggeranong to Mt Taylor with a section entering a room (Think 4 meters wide, 20 meters long, 8 meters high..with churn blocks) Upstream of this room is a very steep section of pipe approx 1500m long.

The plan has always been to get a few low lux HD camera dynabolted to the wall of the room, Two parties then split up , a party on a CB downstream from this and a party on a CB up stream, to make sure that there was no one within these sections.

There are sections with line of site to both points, so communications would not be a problem.

It was then our intention to bowl pre purchased bowling balls down said tunnel and record the results at the end.

Another plan was to mount both a projector and camera on a bike/rig and then project onto a wall in a 180 degree arc in front of the bike and record teh results whilst riding bike. This could be done in any drain really… just a matter of money and throwing it away on teflon coated channels.

Another idea, that happens regularly in Syd and melb is impromptu guerilla electronica music gigs underground, utilising the natural reverb.

wish someone would just take photos of all these places for us all to enjoy.

Too small, even.

Any one got info on mawson drains, and are there any drains down near condor(Southern area)

A Condor is a kind of endangered vulture native to the Americas.
Conder is the Tuggeranong suburb (named after Charles Conder, who was an occasionally mad and severely alcoholic artist, whose major within-life success was marrying a rich Canadian widow and eventually dying at age 40 of end-stage syphilis.)

Ontopic:
Most of the drains around Tuggeranong suffer from being of a standard height, too large for anything remotely adult-sized.

p1 said :

The Mawson drains are pretty easy to figure out. I have looked extensively at the southern area (used to live in Conder) and there isn’t many drains over 1.3m, so unless you are short…

This might be lost on a few people but: Would you call a person exploring those particular drains a “Mawlock” (morlock)?

The Mawson drains are pretty easy to figure out. I have looked extensively at the southern area (used to live in Conder) and there isn’t many drains over 1.3m, so unless you are short…

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

Go to geocaching.com. Use Advanced Search to look for archived caches by a Canberra guy called ‘Panic!’ eg Tunnels of Terror 2, Secret Subway, Temple of Doom. Go from there. The caches are gone, but the locations (tunnels and drains) are obviously still there. Stay safe.

Could not find the right search area, or the info. Any help please?
Any one got info on mawson drains, and are there any drains down near condor(Southern area)

PBO said :

Danman said :

I know of a storm tunnel that is affectionately called Guy Fawlkes (Google Guy Fawlkes) that runs right under a prominent federal building on a hill. Complete with electrical conduit and batten fluoro’s. Only been there via my armchair exploration though – to do any more post 911 would be laughing in the face of authorities paranoia – and taa taa to any gainful gubment employment for a great deal of time for the perp

Can we get a link?

Beserk Keyboard Warrior said :

I heard a JJJ story some years back about clandestine (possibly ASIO?) offices which were in operation in the 70’s. Though they are apparently no longer used, their location remains a secret although they did say that they were “beneath a well-known Belconnen carpark”.

Can anyone elaborate on this or can I just put it down to another bad acid trip?

News to me, could be under Cameron offices. That seems to be the most likely spot if there were something under there.

Since the offices have now been demolished to some point, has anyone had a look around the area to see if such a structure may have existed or still does? Might have a look after work.

Has anyone ever found or seen the entrances to a mine or tunnel on the banks of the Molonglo river? I have heard about them but i know bugger all about where they are and what they were used for.

Apparently there were major works done in the area where a large tunnel was built at the beginning of the fifties and that is all i could find out.

Can anyone else elaborate on this a bit more as i think that it would be a great place to explore.

There’s some nice short squeezes out on Orroral ridge in amongst the huge boulders there.

Would it be too obvious to mention the Wee Jasper cave system?

Go to geocaching.com. Use Advanced Search to look for archived caches by a Canberra guy called ‘Panic!’ eg Tunnels of Terror 2, Secret Subway, Temple of Doom. Go from there. The caches are gone, but the locations (tunnels and drains) are obviously still there. Stay safe.

kaynox
just by searching google for 30min+, you can find pictures, sites, locations and even drain specs. As long as you know a bit about urban-ex, the internet OR walking will answer you needs.
As for me, i dont know much of by heart. never been in any drains in canberra (Going soon) so i cant help much. Athlon drive and Mawson drains would be good to check out.

hey all i was wondering if any of you could give me as much info of tunnels (especially) around the canberra region. me and a few friends are bored out of our minds and love doing stuff like this. prob is being a girl most guys wont tell us about these places as they think that … well i dont know what they think but they just wont tell us! so would you mind enlighting me?

I work at Belco mall and there is this one tunnel near the rubbish compacter. It looks like it contains electrical wire and what not but when the light is on it goes on fore ever. The tunnels that run behind stores are boring as shit.

Above and below another northside drain.

The old Sewage tanks west of Belco.

Whats left of Orroral Valley Deep Space Tracking Station

One of the Fairbairn Bomb Dumps.

Old Black Mt quarry.

The temple of Doom (This guy has some good Canberra (and other places) urbex photos.

All these photos I found with a little googling.

some pics from around the ‘net of stuff under Canberra,

The drain under Benjamin Way to Lake G

The Zoo, or the Penguin drain under page

more to come…

H1NG0 said :

I touched on some of this in this article posted a while back: http://the-riotact.com/?p=6622

I find this stuff very fascinating. Can anyone explain why there are tunnels under belco mall? Are they drains or some kind of service tunnel?

no idea.

not worth looking for, belco mall has the largest proliferation of security bud cameras i have ever seen, anywhere.

and I was able to gain access to all sorts of areas when i worked there prior to westfield taking it over.

I touched on some of this in this article posted a while back: http://the-riotact.com/?p=6622

I find this stuff very fascinating. Can anyone explain why there are tunnels under belco mall? Are they drains or some kind of service tunnel?

This is an interesting thread guys, some exploration might have to be undertaken in the next month or so….

Could any of you post pictures of these places in this thread??

Cheers

What he said. I got into the space between the exterior wall and the interior wall in the Benjamin Office buildings once (worked in there, and someone had left the access door open). That was pretty interesting. I also spent some time exploring the plant rooms etc since I had a key that accessed them as part of my job. Exploring active buildings is quite different to abandoned ones, same feeling about avoiding detection, but with different result if caught.

Zapruda said :

Are you guys talking about the corridors behind all the shops in belco mall or are they below the mall??

you can explore the corridors, they are ok fun, you just get asked to leave.

the other corridors are subterranean. probably filled in by now, but had a good distance to walk and come up in the churches centre….

Are you guys talking about the corridors behind all the shops in belco mall or are they below the mall??

Beserk Keyboard Warrior said :

I heard a JJJ story some years back about clandestine (possibly ASIO?) offices which were in operation in the 70’s. Though they are apparently no longer used, their location remains a secret although they did say that they were “beneath a well-known Belconnen carpark”.

Can anyone elaborate on this or can I just put it down to another bad acid trip?

I think that JJJ may have mistaken this for the Communications centre under the old DFAT / John Gorton Building.

yeah dunno who that is – same name as me – weird huh ?

You aint seen the beginning – Google I.S. Danman – go on i dare ya

Amazing the places and names that pop up on websites when you browse…

PBO – maybe when I get home – not the most work friendly googling unfortunately.

Danman said :

I know of a storm tunnel that is affectionately called Guy Fawlkes (Google Guy Fawlkes) that runs right under a prominent federal building on a hill. Complete with electrical conduit and batten fluoro’s. Only been there via my armchair exploration though – to do any more post 911 would be laughing in the face of authorities paranoia – and taa taa to any gainful gubment employment for a great deal of time for the perp

Can we get a link?

Beserk Keyboard Warrior said :

I heard a JJJ story some years back about clandestine (possibly ASIO?) offices which were in operation in the 70’s. Though they are apparently no longer used, their location remains a secret although they did say that they were “beneath a well-known Belconnen carpark”.

Can anyone elaborate on this or can I just put it down to another bad acid trip?

News to me, could be under Cameron offices. That seems to be the most likely spot if there were something under there.

Yeah, I to have “arm chair” explored that drain. Haven’t quite had the balls to check it out in a post Sept 11 world, having met will the police in the past while exiting the drain under Page…

Fawkes, Guy Fawkes. Not Fawlkes.

I know of a storm tunnel that is affectionately called Guy Fawlkes (Google Guy Fawlkes) that runs right under a prominent federal building on a hill. Complete with electrical conduit and batten fluoro’s. Only been there via my armchair exploration though – to do any more post 911 would be laughing in the face of authorities paranoia – and taa taa to any gainful gubment employment for a great deal of time for the perp

There is a spot in the belco drain where they have sealed up the branch that heads under what is now the AFP headquarters. I always wondered if it is just a wall and a sledge hammer might gain access. Any large build has interesting service tunnels, etc under them, I’ve only seen a little of what the mall has, they always make me think of playing doom or wolfenstien.

Beserk Keyboard Warrior said :

I heard a JJJ story some years back about clandestine (possibly ASIO?) offices which were in operation in the 70’s. Though they are apparently no longer used, their location remains a secret although they did say that they were “beneath a well-known Belconnen carpark”.

Can anyone elaborate on this or can I just put it down to another bad acid trip?

bad acid.

why would they put it beneath a carpark?

the buildings around are far more interesting….

a set of tunnels that will certainly get you arrested are in the belco mall.

very interesting subterranean exploring areas.

I heard a JJJ story some years back about clandestine (possibly ASIO?) offices which were in operation in the 70’s. Though they are apparently no longer used, their location remains a secret although they did say that they were “beneath a well-known Belconnen carpark”.

Can anyone elaborate on this or can I just put it down to another bad acid trip?

I have been in that drain, and it is the sort of place you could wait out a pretty large rain storm if you wanted, but being drunk leads to stupid decisions, and results in death.

That said, I repeatedly operate a motor vehicle on a public road, and by staying sober and thinking about what I am doing, I am still alive.

There is a very popular drain in Sydney called the Fortress that a couple of people died in at the start of the year, because it is an ocean outfall drain, and the got washed down it at high tide and couldn’t get out.

I have known of someone camping in that drain for a week all weather – in a safe spot above the main flow – The drain is not iself unsafe – its the lack of respect for what could go wrong.

What killed them was not checking the weather reports and drinking tremendous amounts of alcohol – dulling their wits when they should have otherwise been acutely aware of what was happening to them. Flash floods do come with warning – air moving in a closed circuit indicates fast moving water – temperature and colour change of water in the channel – loose debris (Leaf litter) in the water.. All these things add up to find shelter on a downstream facing wall or ledge or GTFO quickly.

If they were aware of what was going on, *maybe* they could have raced upstream and sat the storm out on a safe ledge/platform above the main flow.

*Disclaimer – I cant make an educated statement without having been there myself.

There are cave at Mt Fairy, north of Bungendore. Mt Gillamatong (the big hill at Braidwood) is on Granite, so probably not real caves, but almost certainly over hangs etc amongst the tors.

there are rumors of caves around the big mountain near braidwood – never got a chance to have a look, but will one day…

crazy thing that we used to do was go over the ginninderra outfall at the end of the lake on an inflatable boat. awesome fun, but the drought soon put paid to that….

The bottom of drains that have a constant trickle of water even in summer develop a layer of slime that is the most frictionless substance known to man, you can fall over stepping on it even without flowing water trying to push you over.

I have always been a little uneasy about the drains that ending in lake Ginninderra (the previously mentioned Jamison on, and the one with the Nirvana room), because the drain exits below the lake surface (ie, no way out).

There is a very popular drain in Sydney called the Fortress that a couple of people died in at the start of the year, because it is an ocean outfall drain, and the got washed down it at high tide and couldn’t get out.

There is a large drain with a room running across Chan street from the old Benjamin offices. I remember back in the late 80s when the road started to collapse so they dug it up and revealed this rather large concrete room/ drain under the road.

I dont remember this, but could probably get you there via Jamison 🙂

Thing is I hate being in drain pipes when you can not see the weather for lengths at a time, and when you get further downstream, the catchment area gets greater and therefore less time for contingency should Sh1t hit the fan and the drain do its intended job and the only way out is 1.5km upstream against fast flowing brackish cold water with hard heavy debris thats stops for nothing.

I was taught when I was in primary school never stand in fast flowing water thats deeper than 1/2 way between your knee and ankle (We has an open drain channel near our school) – because it can sweep you off your feet, then your a goner.

‘then’ vs ‘than’ is the bane of my life.

What did Bob say?

I know you were fishing, but you’re perpetuating a stupidity.
(And it makes it really hard to teach english as a second language when people see everyday english-speakers doing stupid shit)

eg:
‘then’ vs ‘than’
“So I tole ‘im to arksk Bob, and Bob says…”

The old sewerage treatment plant is cool.

Argh.

If it treats the greywater or blackwater (sewage) that flows through the network of pipes, its a sewage treatment plant.
The network of pipes and drains are called the sewers.
The individual pipes that make up the network are the sewerage.

There are no sewerage treatment plants.

Thank god I’m not that journo – he turns up in some dangerous places!

Lotta love in this room….

/chunders

PBO said :

niftydog said :

Isn’t this cozy?! I spent most of my time in the vicinity of the music room or with the dramaheads.

Bassist, guitarist or drummer? Or does your name start with S, T or G?

zomg!!111~11!!!

niftydog is The Stig!

niftydog said :

PBO said :

Ahhh, i know who you are now. Suspicions are once again correct. I remember you tried to show me some bass stuff once and we realised that it just wasnt my thing. Still like Primus?

Jebus… um yeah. Sounds like you bypassed the whole “fry your brain cells” thing at college then!

PBO = intials?

Yeah, i have a really scary memory. PBO is a psuedo-acronym (shortened version of a nickname). I actually thought that you were now a journo with the same name.

Some pretty interesting places under Canberra, and on top. People can drop me a e-mail if they want some info, but I might heed Danman and be a bit subtle about public postings.

One places of interest that I don’t have a problem mentioning (due to it being on the surface and publicly viewable)

Old Sewerage treatment place

PBO said :

Ahhh, i know who you are now. Suspicions are once again correct. I remember you tried to show me some bass stuff once and we realised that it just wasnt my thing. Still like Primus?

Jebus… um yeah. Sounds like you bypassed the whole “fry your brain cells” thing at college then!

PBO = intials?

okay, here is one worth visiting from gininderra creek, near charnwood – (dry weather) up the pipe, into the amphitheater and then further up to charny shops. interesting art at the amphitheater.

if you are caught in the pipe and it is your first time, a warning and a send on your way is usually given.

stealth is key to getting in and around, but eat first, the chinese takeways seem to permeate the site with the smell of chinese food cooking.

don’t attempt if raining, or has rained in last 2 or 3 days.

(it is pretty wet and very slippery)

another one is the stock crossing bridge between csiro sites near spence. someone has built a little cubby in there, and there is all sorts of stuff in the site. If you can’t fit in the hole, don’t try. very embarrasing to be stuck there.

Ahhh, i know who you are now. Suspicions are once again correct. I remember you tried to show me some bass stuff once and we realised that it just wasnt my thing. Still like Primus?

bass – looking for a gig too, anyone need a bassist?

S

Sorry, Skidd Marx, you’ve already spun the wheel.

Can I buy a vowel?

niftydog said :

Isn’t this cozy?! I spent most of my time in the vicinity of the music room or with the dramaheads.

Bassist, guitarist or drummer? Or does your name start with S, T or G?

Isn’t this cozy?! I spent most of my time in the vicinity of the music room or with the dramaheads.

Aside from hanging out with the Muso/Drama/booner/caf crowd, not much. I did hate Bombers though, really hated them. Just another under-utilised public servant these days. Where did you hang out at Hawker?

Sweet – did you have a claim to fame at college?

niftydog said :

PBO said :

Niftydog, did you go to Hawker college?

Uh, yeah. You?

So much for a career as a stealthy urbexing guerrilla / legendary nameless graffiti artist!

Your secret is safe with me, The name was the giveaway, I remember you guys from back then.

PBO said :

Niftydog, did you go to Hawker college?

Uh, yeah. You?

So much for a career as a stealthy urbexing guerrilla / legendary nameless graffiti artist!

Open source information. Most kids know how to use google
Its one think to know but if you dont know what you dont know then how will you google it ?.

In saying so I have already let on too much info.

I suggest if you are going to pursue these activities that you read about safety and awareness beforehand – Ill finda link when I get home and post it up…

Niftydog, did you go to Hawker college?

UC seems to have some interestingly large man-hole covers in places and some that have padlocks and anti-tamper bars retro-fitted…

Drains, It would not make sense to attach Tunnels to Drains as they would flood.

PBO are they drains or tunnels under Benjamin offices?

Danman said :

PBO – not too wise to give away locations as such like that – what happens if it rains this weekend and some kids happen across you rinformation and on teh strength of that get into trouble underground ?

Open source information. Most kids know how to use google.

As for Benjamin offices, I did get under them but it was quite surreal in the design of the tunnels. From what i remember (too many doobies and po-has), there was a lot of sharp turns in the tunnels (maybe i was at an intersection) and my mate went up this one tunnel that just kept shrinking until he could not go any further. There was a lot of room down there and we did not even see the whole thing. It would warrant another look.

Belco has lots of hidden wonders.

PBO – not too wise to give away locations as such like that – what happens if it rains this weekend and some kids happen across you rinformation and on teh strength of that get into trouble underground ?

I have heard about large empty spaces (no, not a car park) under Benjamin offices, PBO have you been underneath them??

Belconnen seems to be an interesting place to explore

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=gross+tomb&jsv=126d&sll=-35.247722,149.067553&sspn=0.003154,0.004613&ie=UTF8&latlng=-35248158,149067352,5640028957735014468&ei=KW7ASPOLGqiKiAP3wJHBBQ&cd=1

I hope that this link works, This should be the Jamison Drain. We went in a few years ago and saw the blocked off bit and wondered what was on the other side. Has anyone been under the old Benjamin offices?

Used to explore all the stormwater channels under woden as a youth. Riding bikes, travelling and coming out in different suburbs. Looking back on the risks, it’s amazing we all survived.

There seemes to be a blocked off section in a drain in Jamison – rumour has it it was a dump pipe for Jammo pools and that kids would access the centre in the off season via this pipe.
I guess environmental and legal concerns prevailed.

Thanks Peterh for making a thread about this…..

I get the feeling that know one wants to give up there
secrets, Some kind of underground conspiracy I assume (Get it).

C’mon guys and girls, there has to be someone that knows
of some old cold war era tunnels or bunkers that can be entered
(Safely of course)

Has anyone ever been in one of these drains and found something
that seemed a little out of the ordinary (not paintings or graffiti)like
a sealed door, you know things of that nature…..

You’re not helping, Danman. I want in!

…and I’m not too old for doobies and po-hahs yet!

We used to smoke doobies in that drain pipe – apart from supplied entertainment (Doobs and po-has to scare the kids at a park close to the grille room) it was pretty boring.

I no longer need doobies or po-has so I decided to explore something cool – with rooms dedicated to the memories of Kurt Cobain and grunge in general – walls plastered with tributes and poetry – plus another room that is covered with drug/yoda style rantings – and another room that has the yellow brick road painted on it – get underground in belconnen 🙂

Of course it would be irresponsible of me to tell you where to find it – because when you did, inevitibly you would go there after drinking whilst raining, get washed down and killed and it would all fall back on me and RA.

Oh there is also another place with a room that is bluewashed and some locals have stencilled a full aquarium on the walls – including seaweed.

giralang drains near the afl oval very dark n spookey
enter the carpark behind the afl toilet building at the end of the carpark there should be a bike path head right for about 50 or so meters up the path.keap a look out 2 your sides there should be a small downwards slope the drain entrance will be there.

I remember walking through both Orroral tracking and Honeysuckle Creek tracking stations before they got torn down. Memories!

Canberra has quite an active Geocaching community that involves visiting many out of the way places in search of hidden treasures.