For more info on this drain see this expedition report!

A small section of this drain upstream from the triple split can be subject to bad air and gas.

This drain is one of the most unique drain systems in the City because it contains several different types of tunnel (RCP, RBT, RBA, Bluestone and rectangular concrete), it has an above ground section and an underground section, an easily navigable falls and has many interesting side tunnels. In all there is about three and a half kilometers of tunnels in this drain system.

It's upstream section contains 3 large separate tunnels, some interesting rooms and chambers including a unique wooden roofed tunnel. Overall there's a huge amount of tunnel length to be explored in this system. It also has lots of interesting features within it. It is the perfect training ground for new explorers. The only tunnel system to compare with it is Dungeon. You could easily spend several days exploring this tunnel system.

This drain system consists of more than 1 tunnel. This commences with the main tunnel from the basin entrance and extends all the way to Room about five kilometres away. This system is interesting because it consists of an underground section and an above ground section. See the 3rd Expedition report for the more news.

Drain Report

1. Room. South of the short strip of open canal the stream disappears under a road and enters the Room. This is a huge Red Brick Tunnel which can be easily walked along. The sides of the open canal themselves though are steep and I recommend good shoes.

The leafy entrance to Room, in the downstream section of the drain.

The Room is one of the bigger chamber I've visited in this drain system. It's big, and well lit too if you do it in the daytime. It's unusual to think that both tunnels eventually join up again upstream. During the daytime the light from the mouth of the tunnel can be seen. I heard of one explorer who walked out to see the entrance and was fooled by the shallow water which suddenly becomes deeper. He ended up into the water to his chest, destroying his mobile phone in the process.

Just in from the entrance is a small alcove on the left. This contains a little burping hatch to a very gas filled drain. Unless you like barbecues don't bother lighting up around here.

The room it's self is at the junction of the large RBT and the smaller RCP which leads to the upstream section of the drain. See the Expedition Report for more details.

2. Downstream entrance. is located just to the east of a railway station and is the best entrance for entering Room. From the station we would walk down hill along the rail line to the pedestrian underpass. Looking north we saw a wooden paling fence. At the end of this short fence near an office block was a gap which we could climb through to a ladder down into the canal. We could then walk downstream to Room or upstream to Slide. We had to wear comfortable shoes with good grip! Note that walking the entire length of this system on it's edges will give you sore ankles.

3. Slide. For more info on this drain see the expedition report!

This drain can best be accessed from the Park entrance. Walk downstream to Slide. From park the canal/drain continues downstream from the upper end westwards under a few streets.

A small red-brick drain about 1.8 meters high leads off north under some streets and a park reserve. This is Slide. It's quite a nice little tunnel, not too long, well at least not to the slide it's self. Only a short way in you come across a small step and a blue-stone arch. It is here that you'll find quite a few messages and graffiti. The tunnel then turns into a strange red brick tunnel, the lower half of which is a smaller arch than the upper half. The best way to walk down here is to just walk straight down the center, gumboots or not.

The Slide has no step-irons and is hard to navigate, but it is possible. Judging from the amount of graffiti at the top it can be done. One of these days I'll have to leave a rope at the top. The Slide is where the drain turns from a red brick tunnel to concrete one on the map above.

4. Park Entrance. This is one of the easiest ways to access the drain. The park is located in a quiet suburban street within the City. A canal runs through the park near the playground and tennis courts. We entered the park via the walkway by the rail line off and walked down to the canal, the entrance was right by the railway bridge over the canal.

Upstream of this entrance a lot of new graffiti is located in the drain under the rail bridge. Just upstream is the main upstream tunnel and the diversion tunnel. Downstream is Slide.

The Park entrance to Maze looking upstream under the rail bridge to the main tunnel.

5. Upstream End Main tunnel. Heading upstream under the rail line you come to a short section of open canal then the split where the wide, square cross section tunnel splits into the canal and a RCP tunnel. From here you can head upstream into the fairly large rectangular tunnel. You will soon get to the three way split depicted in the second picture below. This is under Lynch St right near the foot subway under the rail line. The spit has two RBTs on the left and a bigger square concrete tunnel on the right.

This section of tunnel has a great deal of graffiti, including some nice new pieces only just recently done. The area around the split is often used to leave messages to other drain explorers.

6. Left tunnels & Dodgy Deals. Beyond the triple split the two RBTs both flow around to the left before rejoining after about 100 meters. This chamber is known as 'Dodgy Deals'. Apparently it was where some schoolboys divided up their ill gotten funds. Take the left tunnel because it's at a slightly higher level than the right one and is generally dry. At Dodgy Deals the two tunnels meet again and another two tunnels leave the junction, both RBTs, the right one slightly higher than the other.

The left tunnel continues along with a slight curve for about 8 minutes walk till you come to a chamber beneath a main road. A grid provides plenty of light into this chamber. You can see the tramline overheads and the underside of many cars through the grille. There is a nice even half dozen pipes or tunnels entering this chamber not including the main tunnel. You can see the first two pipes entering the tunnel join a side chamber to the left. There is a 1 meter RCP leading off left and a small mummy tunnel. These are drainage tunnels from gutter boxes.

This room represents an opportunity for a bit of harmless fun. Yelling up through the grid at the people above can bring mixed reactions. I've also been tempted to fire off some small roman candles through the small grille.

7. Swipe's Room. Further down this tunnel, a mere 1 and a half minutes walk you come across Swipe's Room. This is one of the more interesting and spectacular rooms in any tunnel. It's not big, it's got no great waterfall or pillars, but what is does have is,.... well I won't spoil it. Let's just say it's unique, strange and even cute. You have to check it out, it's only a short walk from the split.

8. The main tunnel. from the split continues straight for a while before curving around to the right, heading south east. A short way in you see a low tunnel on the right wall. This is the Loop (marked by other point number 3). It very shortly turns into a RBT after a very short fall or a big step. This loop re-joins the main tunnel and by all accounts it's not a really exciting or worth visiting.

A bit of a way in you come to the first of many obvious bridge overpasses. There's a group of 8 metal pipes and some plastic ones as well as a bit of interesting graffiti. Judging from the large number of step irons that lead up the side of the drain to nowhere this was once an open canal. (as one bit of graffiti said: "Stairway to heaven" - then "Oh, my head.") Popping along the drain a bit and being careful not to step on the slippery bits you will soon come to another unique feature in a drain.

I'd noticed the metal roof of the tunnel a bit of the way in. Now as I spotted light from what I thought was another grille. Looking through the slit above I could see what appeared to be a garden above. I walked into another unusual chamber, one with a wooden roof! (roughly near where main point 8 is marked on the map) This was obviously the floor of a building above. There was a couple of copper water pipes attached to the wooden beams above, and even a tap (wonder what it turns off?), some old disconnected electrical cable. This building is right on the main road, apparently the OP-shop.

Right on from here you come to the noisy section under the main road it's self. This bridge is in poor condition, bricks ready to fall on your head, rust and dripping slime. Looks cool eh! In fact not far from here some old bluestone pokes through the side of the tunnel wall looking like it's going to collapse at any moment. Anyway continuing on the tunnel you will come to a split with a really low tunnel on the left and the main tunnel on the right (marked by other point 4 on map). The small tunnel on the right has plenty of light shining into it. According to graffiti it stays low for 5 minutes before getting bigger.

The main tunnel it's self gets a bit lower but I found if I stooped just a bit and tilted my head I could get along it fine. The ceiling of this tunnel is rather damp. I later worked out this is because it runs right under the Hawthorn city bowling club. It gets bigger after 3 minutes and turns into a stand up height RBT. Around a few curves you'll find a couple of plastic pipes crossing the tunnel.

Eventually you'll get to an old grille type manhole on the left side of the tunnel. This is referred to as Dougo's Dunny. Only 1 and a half minutes walk on the tunnel turns into an old bluestone arch type tunnel which then turns into a red brick mummy type tunnel that for all intents and purposes marks the end of the main tunnel.

The upstream end of the drain extends all the way to Camberwell Junction.

9. Upstream entrance. This entrance is located in the small retarding basin and is mistakenly marked as council depot on most maps. This small park like basin can be accessed through the gap in the fence right on the corner of a road. The entrance to the drain is the downstream one - Yes, that tiny one!

Crawling in the tunnel will curve to the left and then rise to a balloon shape after about 40-50 meters. After a short walk of about 5 minutes you will come to a small chamber with a unique UFO cross section. At the end of this will be slide which has a deep sump in it's bottom. The tunnel continues in a balloon shape with some deep holes in the bottom. After a great many different shape changes it eventually gets the triple Split, about 2 hours walk away. If you insist on doing this section be prepared for a lot of stoop.

Other points of interest:

1. St James Park tunnel. This is a short section of tunnel under St James Park. It's not all that interesting apart from the 'mini-warehouse' arch section with it's wooden shoring.

2. The diversion / overflow tunnel. Following the RCP downstream from Park you come across several sets of small stalactites which have slippery deposits under them. About 8 minutes walk down the tunnel you come to a 3 meter falls which has a step iron ladder on the left side to descend to the lower tunnel. Following this tunnel for about another 4 minutes you come to Room. You will probably get your shoes wet in this tunnel.

3. The Loop - as mentioned above this is a small loop in the main upstream tunnel that's not particularly interesting to explore but seldom visited.

4. Bowling Club split. Also mentioned above.

5. Central Gardens Grille & Split. This grille is located in Central Gardens just near Swinburn TAFE. It is jus upstream from a split. When looking downstream the left tunnel is the harder and less interesting of the two. The right tunnel leads to Swipe's Room and Dodgy Deals.

6. Upstream Slide. This Slide is best navigated from the upstream end, climbing down is hard enough, climbing up.... well let's just say it'd be painful but not impossible. This slide is always well lit during the day due to the vent in the tunnel roof. The sump at the bottom is particularly deep so try not to fall in.

7. Park Grille. This is just a simple grille and is a welcome relief when traversing the entire length of the tunnel.

Expo Report

With the majority of the explorers in our little club called away I decided to do a bit of solo exploring. Having done the open air bit of the Maze and Slide the week before I proceeded to the exit where I had last left. I again tired my legs walking down the open air section of the canal, dodging falling branches (damn Sunday gardeners dumping their rubbish in storm water canals) and making my already sore legs even more sore.

The big three meter RBT of the downstream end of the drain stood there enticing me in. I could not wait to take a look in. I strode in, thankful for the easy to travel red brick sides of the tunnel rather than the steep sided open canal. Down I went into the tunnel. I could hear the sound of some falls ahead, big ones by the sound of it. Knowing the entrance was at the level of the UA City River I was expecting a large set of falls and around every corner I was expecting to see it. Still it could not have been much more than 200 meters in that I came to the Room. Nice!

Lit up well by light entering from a manhole above and from the entrance to the river downstream about 20 to 30 meters the Room was great. Wished I could have been showing it to someone else but what the heck. I looked towards the other tunnel and reading the signs stating walking time, I decided to head up the tunnel. It was now 'get my feet wet' time as I strode down the tunnel, or perhaps up it.

Spotted a nice grid manhole and left a tag. Heard some kids wandering around up there and almost got bashed in the eye by a marble falling down the drain. Recovering my footing I peered up at the manhole to see two kids peer down the hole.

' Aw, I lost my marble down there. Billy, you made me loose my marble down there!' A kid moaned.
'Did not.' complained another kid, probably Billy.

I could not resist this! "Growl!!!!" I growled in one huge voice. "Grrrr! Aiyeeeee! I am the monster of the drain and I've just eaten your marble and now I'm gonna eat you!"

Ever heard the noise two kids can make when their worst nightmares come true?! Could hear the screams for a fair while. Sure it was nasty but it was fun. Bet their parents will think they were telling stories. Probably gave them nightmares for weeks to come.

So on up the tunnel I went. The sound of some falls could be heard up ahead. Presently I came to them. About 2 to 3 meters high, GOD style. Well I thought, I'm in this tunnel alone, there's only an e-mail to tell someone where I am and if I fall off of that thing I'm gonna be real stuffed. But then I remembered that if I walked back I'd get sore legs from the sides of the canal. Anything was better than that so I climbed up the ladder, pocket flashlight in my mouth and clambered under the rail and breathed a sign of relief. I hate those ladder things!

Judging from the amount of graffiti above those falls a lot of people had explored that tunnel from the upstream end, less from the downstream end. Wandering up the tunnel I presently came across some interesting stalactites and discovered that what was under the stalactites was very slippery. Did a nice little jig and regained my balance then strode on, far more careful about walking on stalactite deposits.

Once again well feel it is prudent to warn you that this web site is not intended to encourage you to explore drains. The exploration of drains by inexperienced people may lead to death and injury. You may also shit your pants. For this reason no one should ever go in drains okay. No I am not being sarcastic, this stuff is really dangerous. It�s safer to surf the web and see everything from your home.

Do NOT enter drains. Read this warning!

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