Saturday, June 30, 2007
Watched the Wallabies vs All Black rugby game last night (on tv), looks like its going to be a very interesting world cup. The Wallabies beat the All Blacks, so looks like there's hope yet. Looks like the Boks are going in as one of the favourites even after just loosing out to the All Blacks, better luck next time. GO BOKS GO!!!
Kamakazi Kangaroos
Hey, I'm in New Zealand at the moment, living in the coolest camper van ever that belongs to a friend of ours. I never ever thought that I would be calling a Toyota Hi-Ace cool, but it is.
Well when its not in Joburg and potentially going to swerve infront of you and slam on the brakes at any second to pick up a passenger and isn't costing me anything its very cool :D Driving in Oz with the kangaroos is almost easier, don't tell Sean I said that. He's hit two already!! The things are absolutly nuts, they just launch out of completely concealed hideouts in the bush right infront of the car, if it waited a second longer it would have bounced straight into the side of the car. Think I'm going to call them Kamakazi Kangaroos! Lucky we only clipped the last guys tail and he hopped off into the bush. We're in Wanaka organising ski passes and occomidation at the moment, a little stressful to say the least but I can put my feet up when thats organised. Its cool, there's a good gang of Irish climbers here, so should be a good laugh for the season, I can't wait. There's not much snow at the moment, so we're probably going to go exploring for a few weeks before heading back here. Looking at Stephen's photos of snow in Joburg, there's almost more snow there than there is in Wanaka. There's a bit on the mountains and its starting to ice up everywhere, so hopefully the clouds will dump soon. Weather looks crazy at the moment, good luck to anyone trying to find a sunny holiday, we've been driving in fog for the last few days, looks like snow predicted for Scotland and its the middle of summer there!! Hey Kev, I saw the coolest video today in a shop somewhere, this guy was going down a slope in powder snow on his surfboard, now thats something I'd like to see you try.
Well when its not in Joburg and potentially going to swerve infront of you and slam on the brakes at any second to pick up a passenger and isn't costing me anything its very cool :D Driving in Oz with the kangaroos is almost easier, don't tell Sean I said that. He's hit two already!! The things are absolutly nuts, they just launch out of completely concealed hideouts in the bush right infront of the car, if it waited a second longer it would have bounced straight into the side of the car. Think I'm going to call them Kamakazi Kangaroos! Lucky we only clipped the last guys tail and he hopped off into the bush. We're in Wanaka organising ski passes and occomidation at the moment, a little stressful to say the least but I can put my feet up when thats organised. Its cool, there's a good gang of Irish climbers here, so should be a good laugh for the season, I can't wait. There's not much snow at the moment, so we're probably going to go exploring for a few weeks before heading back here. Looking at Stephen's photos of snow in Joburg, there's almost more snow there than there is in Wanaka. There's a bit on the mountains and its starting to ice up everywhere, so hopefully the clouds will dump soon. Weather looks crazy at the moment, good luck to anyone trying to find a sunny holiday, we've been driving in fog for the last few days, looks like snow predicted for Scotland and its the middle of summer there!! Hey Kev, I saw the coolest video today in a shop somewhere, this guy was going down a slope in powder snow on his surfboard, now thats something I'd like to see you try.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Oz Trail
I've update my map so you can see a trail of where I went round Oz.
Just click on view map on the top left corner
Just click on view map on the top left corner
Chasing the Shadows
Neil's got a photo of me climbing Chasing the Shadows up on his blog if you want to have a look
Update from Downunder
Okay, its been a while since I've posted up here. I've emailed some of you guys, so you've probably read some of this already. Right now I'm in Christchurch in New Zealand and I'm about 12 hours ahead of home, how cool is that. So is this what it feels like to be in the future, its FREEZING!!! To give oyu an idea, they tell you not to use your handbrakes, cause they freeze and get stuck. I'm hoping that means that it is going to snow bucket loads and then I'm going to hit the slopes with my board, I can't wait.
I've been a few places since I last wrote on this. After the Blue Mountains we went camping in this place called Nowra, a few hours drive south of Sydney along the coast. The campsite is great, its right along this river and they have this small little pier that sticks out into the river, its nice to sit there in the morning while I'm trying to wake up and listening to all the birds. There is an animal park right next to the campsite and they have about a dozen peacocks that come prancing round the campsite and try steal your breakfast. If its not a possum or a kookabara, then its something else, basically if you're camping in Oz, remember that anything edible had legs and needs to be tied down, or eaten quickly.
I can throw a boomerang!!! and catch it!!!! Its so much fun, even though it clobbered my fingers a few times before I got it.
Sorry to all the guys that don't understand climbing terms, I'll try get a glossary or something up for you guys soon. Got some cool climbing there after resting my fingers for a few days. I got my second 7b!!!! I wasn't expecting to get it, just had a really good day, was climbing with this Australian guy Jason and he put me on this route as a warm up, and its all uphill from there. I got it on my third go too. Its got this crazy move at the crux, you have to reach up for this small crimp from an undercling and then grab this tiny little crystal sticking out the rock with your left hand and then jump from there to this sloper, then match hands on the sloper and jump again with your right hand for another hold that isn't really good at all, but at least its a bit bigger. All this while you're 3 metres above your last bolt, so you take a nice big swing if you miss the hold your jumping for. I had fun getting it :D
A few days later we were climbing at another crag straight across the river from the campsite, it looks cool. Climbing is a different style here, its not steep and overhanging so they're a lot more technical. Me and Julie-Ann decided we were going to try do 10 routes in a day and every route we tried was a gem, just fun to climb even the really easy ones. We decided that the next day we were going to hire canoes with Liz and Jo (other climbers that we met along the way) and paddle across the river from camp instead of the 20 minute drive down river to the bridge and through town. Sitting in traffic lights just doesn't do it for us ;)
Next day we woke up all excited about going canoeing and climbing and it was bucketing down with rain :( And it was our last day climbing in that area, I'm sure NZ has got tonnes of adventure just waiting to be found.
While in Nowra I went up to Sydney for the day with Sean and Ryan. Sean gave me a tour around the city. It feels so surreal to finally see and touch (just to make sure its real, you know) the Sydney Opera House. The whole harbour is awesome to see, took tonnes of photos.
The drive back down to Melbourne was good, we took a more scenic route that the main highway and drove through some cool forests. There had been tonnes of rain in the area over the last week, including flooding rivers just North of Sydney where Jason was from cause blackouts, unfortunatly his work was still powered, poor guy. So these construction guys were out cutting down some trees next to the road. Normally I'd imagine a few guys out with chainsaws and a few more guys holding up the traffic, but no, why not use a big hydroilic digger if you have one, man that thing was taking those trees down like a kid snapping twigs. It was scary how quickly he took down 5 trees, I'm definatly not messing with one of those things on the road.
The forest was awesome though, really worth the drive through, it was cool to see it in all the mist as well, added to the whole atmosphere, I'd love to come back in the summer and go for a hike through it.
We stopped in Melbourne to put up a for sale sign for our car and then drove straigh out to the Grampians. Neil and Sean each have a project climb that they want to try get. Neil is working his 8a Kualas and Sean is working this 7c Chasing the Shadows. I decided to hop onto the 7c as well to see how I'd do and I could get all the moves, but just didn't have the endurance to put them all together. Something else to do in the summer, should be a busy summer if things go well. By the end of the week out there Neil had almost got his 8a and Sean almost got his 7c, just needed a few more days as always, but it was getting quite cold, my fingers were starting to go numb when I tried climbing the cold rock, it was very frustrating.
So we decided it was time to say good bye to the Grampians and head to Melbourne to try sell the car before we head to New Zealand. Me and Sean were really lucky, we stayed with my cousin Owen in his appartment on the 16th floor of the docklands looking over all the city lights was pure luxary.
So now I'm in New Zealand and we're off to explore Tolkeins world of the Lord of the Rings as true adventurers and have a go at some bouldering if its not too cold up there (wishful thinking)
I've been a few places since I last wrote on this. After the Blue Mountains we went camping in this place called Nowra, a few hours drive south of Sydney along the coast. The campsite is great, its right along this river and they have this small little pier that sticks out into the river, its nice to sit there in the morning while I'm trying to wake up and listening to all the birds. There is an animal park right next to the campsite and they have about a dozen peacocks that come prancing round the campsite and try steal your breakfast. If its not a possum or a kookabara, then its something else, basically if you're camping in Oz, remember that anything edible had legs and needs to be tied down, or eaten quickly.
I can throw a boomerang!!! and catch it!!!! Its so much fun, even though it clobbered my fingers a few times before I got it.
Sorry to all the guys that don't understand climbing terms, I'll try get a glossary or something up for you guys soon. Got some cool climbing there after resting my fingers for a few days. I got my second 7b!!!! I wasn't expecting to get it, just had a really good day, was climbing with this Australian guy Jason and he put me on this route as a warm up, and its all uphill from there. I got it on my third go too. Its got this crazy move at the crux, you have to reach up for this small crimp from an undercling and then grab this tiny little crystal sticking out the rock with your left hand and then jump from there to this sloper, then match hands on the sloper and jump again with your right hand for another hold that isn't really good at all, but at least its a bit bigger. All this while you're 3 metres above your last bolt, so you take a nice big swing if you miss the hold your jumping for. I had fun getting it :D
A few days later we were climbing at another crag straight across the river from the campsite, it looks cool. Climbing is a different style here, its not steep and overhanging so they're a lot more technical. Me and Julie-Ann decided we were going to try do 10 routes in a day and every route we tried was a gem, just fun to climb even the really easy ones. We decided that the next day we were going to hire canoes with Liz and Jo (other climbers that we met along the way) and paddle across the river from camp instead of the 20 minute drive down river to the bridge and through town. Sitting in traffic lights just doesn't do it for us ;)
Next day we woke up all excited about going canoeing and climbing and it was bucketing down with rain :( And it was our last day climbing in that area, I'm sure NZ has got tonnes of adventure just waiting to be found.
While in Nowra I went up to Sydney for the day with Sean and Ryan. Sean gave me a tour around the city. It feels so surreal to finally see and touch (just to make sure its real, you know) the Sydney Opera House. The whole harbour is awesome to see, took tonnes of photos.
The drive back down to Melbourne was good, we took a more scenic route that the main highway and drove through some cool forests. There had been tonnes of rain in the area over the last week, including flooding rivers just North of Sydney where Jason was from cause blackouts, unfortunatly his work was still powered, poor guy. So these construction guys were out cutting down some trees next to the road. Normally I'd imagine a few guys out with chainsaws and a few more guys holding up the traffic, but no, why not use a big hydroilic digger if you have one, man that thing was taking those trees down like a kid snapping twigs. It was scary how quickly he took down 5 trees, I'm definatly not messing with one of those things on the road.
The forest was awesome though, really worth the drive through, it was cool to see it in all the mist as well, added to the whole atmosphere, I'd love to come back in the summer and go for a hike through it.
We stopped in Melbourne to put up a for sale sign for our car and then drove straigh out to the Grampians. Neil and Sean each have a project climb that they want to try get. Neil is working his 8a Kualas and Sean is working this 7c Chasing the Shadows. I decided to hop onto the 7c as well to see how I'd do and I could get all the moves, but just didn't have the endurance to put them all together. Something else to do in the summer, should be a busy summer if things go well. By the end of the week out there Neil had almost got his 8a and Sean almost got his 7c, just needed a few more days as always, but it was getting quite cold, my fingers were starting to go numb when I tried climbing the cold rock, it was very frustrating.
So we decided it was time to say good bye to the Grampians and head to Melbourne to try sell the car before we head to New Zealand. Me and Sean were really lucky, we stayed with my cousin Owen in his appartment on the 16th floor of the docklands looking over all the city lights was pure luxary.
So now I'm in New Zealand and we're off to explore Tolkeins world of the Lord of the Rings as true adventurers and have a go at some bouldering if its not too cold up there (wishful thinking)
Sunday, June 17, 2007
A Picture Paints a Thousand Words
Howzit,
I've finally managed to get some photos up in the Gallery.
Thanks to Neal and Julie-Ann for some of the pics.
Enjoy
I've finally managed to get some photos up in the Gallery.
Thanks to Neal and Julie-Ann for some of the pics.
Enjoy
Friday, June 1, 2007
Biking Blues
Since my fingers are too sensative to climb on them I've become a tourist for a few days,
and gone exploring the Blue Mountains. The most popluar tourist attraction in the Blue mountains is the Three Sisters, unfortunatly I wasn't able to borrow a camera that day, so no pics, in a way I was glad, I felt less like a tourist and wasn't exploring through my camera lense. There are these three towers of rock at the end of this ridge with an amazing view. There was an Aboriginal man dressed up in his traditional clothing playing his Digiridoo, it was so cool looking out over Australia listening to this guy playing with all the tropical birds chirping as his quire.
I went on the Scenic Railway, worlds steepest railway (51 degrees) down into the rainforest
sheltered at the bottom of the cliff. Thanks for the advice Brian ;) Its some experience walking around the rainforest, you'll have to come see it for yourself, its worth it.
Next Day me and Neal decided to do something different, so we splashed out and rented some mountain bikes for the day, I don't think I've ever pushed myself so hard on a bike, even today when I stand up my legs argue with me! Its going to be fun climbing tomorrow. It was so good to be back on a mountain bike again we followed a fire road throught this forest along a ridge and the views were spectacular. Me and Neal were well matched, I thought he would kick my ass with endurance, but I still managed to power past him on the short really steep stuff, and was a little faster on the down hills, so we really pushed all day long. I'm so glad that we stopped for so long at the fire watch tower for lunch. On the way back I tried standing up on the pedals and my legs started cramping, but then we hit the steep windy roads into town and I flew down that hill chucking the bike into those corners.
I can't wait for summer in Oz, I'm definatly getting a bike!
Rest day today, so updating my blog. Neal and Julie-Ann have laptops and update theirs a lot more, I'm going to try link to their blogs too, they've got some cool pics, I hope they put them up.
For those of you that aren't climbers Neal is sitting across from me in the coffee shop working on his white Mac and drinking his mixed berry smoothie while making up a glossary, so I'll put a link to that up so you can translate some of those climbing terms :)
and gone exploring the Blue Mountains. The most popluar tourist attraction in the Blue mountains is the Three Sisters, unfortunatly I wasn't able to borrow a camera that day, so no pics, in a way I was glad, I felt less like a tourist and wasn't exploring through my camera lense. There are these three towers of rock at the end of this ridge with an amazing view. There was an Aboriginal man dressed up in his traditional clothing playing his Digiridoo, it was so cool looking out over Australia listening to this guy playing with all the tropical birds chirping as his quire.
I went on the Scenic Railway, worlds steepest railway (51 degrees) down into the rainforest
sheltered at the bottom of the cliff. Thanks for the advice Brian ;) Its some experience walking around the rainforest, you'll have to come see it for yourself, its worth it.
Next Day me and Neal decided to do something different, so we splashed out and rented some mountain bikes for the day, I don't think I've ever pushed myself so hard on a bike, even today when I stand up my legs argue with me! Its going to be fun climbing tomorrow. It was so good to be back on a mountain bike again we followed a fire road throught this forest along a ridge and the views were spectacular. Me and Neal were well matched, I thought he would kick my ass with endurance, but I still managed to power past him on the short really steep stuff, and was a little faster on the down hills, so we really pushed all day long. I'm so glad that we stopped for so long at the fire watch tower for lunch. On the way back I tried standing up on the pedals and my legs started cramping, but then we hit the steep windy roads into town and I flew down that hill chucking the bike into those corners.
I can't wait for summer in Oz, I'm definatly getting a bike!
Rest day today, so updating my blog. Neal and Julie-Ann have laptops and update theirs a lot more, I'm going to try link to their blogs too, they've got some cool pics, I hope they put them up.
For those of you that aren't climbers Neal is sitting across from me in the coffee shop working on his white Mac and drinking his mixed berry smoothie while making up a glossary, so I'll put a link to that up so you can translate some of those climbing terms :)
Working Hard
The Blue Mountains are filled with cliffs to climb, there is just so much to do.
Every lookout point that I go see has views looking over a valley for kilometres over green forest and along most of the top of each valley is a solid wall of rock screaming "Climb Me!"
We decided to go explore a diferent area and went to Sentential Glen. There must be hundreds of bolted routes here, I felt like a kid walking round Hamley's Toy store. We decided to go to a section called Wave Wall. Wave wall is the first cliff that you see on the walk in and it looks a bit like a massive 25m wave that has just broken and you are the surfer sitting on your board below it brasing yourself, but the wave is frozen and when you open your eyes again you start noticing all the chalk marks and bolts. To get to it you zigzag throught the winding valley past all the other crags a behind a few waterfalls and tiny mini rain forests with ferns all around.
Its times like these that I wish I had better luck with my camera, my brand spanking new camera that I got in Melbourne has packed up, this time it was nothing to do with me and something has malfunctioned and I was doing such a good job of looking after it. I have managed to borrow the other cameras at times, so I will put some photos up when I get them.
I've started working another 25(7b) Rubber Lover, I have all the moves figured out, I just have to find a way of putting them all together. It is winter here in Australia at the moment, thank God for fire and hakki sack, thats how we warm up in the morning and stay warm in the evenings. My hakki sack has improved a lot, I can now touch the ball more than twice! Last day I stayed as warm as I could, wearing my down jacket, fleece gloves (thanks Jonathan, they're briliant) and my warm hat, I even borrowed Julie-Ann's invisible skipping rope to try help. I took off all the extra layers and hoped on the route, I was doing really well, I got up to the
crux and I wasn't pumped, I had the crux sequence memorised, moved my left hand onto the first 2 finger pocket my fingers suddenly felt icy cold and just would not hold, moved back to the good holds and tried shaking them, but they just wouldn't warm up. I had rest on the rope and try about 10 times before my fingers eventually decided to start working, it was very frustrating, but it was good to learn that I need to include a few crimps on my warmup.
Another great thing about the Blue mountains is that the friction of the rock is amazing, but like glendo, this also means that after a day or two climbing there you're fingers feel like toast. By now my fingers looked like toast as well. Just as I managed to get my fingers warm enough to do the route, my skin had had enough and it was no longer comfortable to climb on them. So I'm going to have to take an early rest day tomorrow.
Every lookout point that I go see has views looking over a valley for kilometres over green forest and along most of the top of each valley is a solid wall of rock screaming "Climb Me!"
We decided to go explore a diferent area and went to Sentential Glen. There must be hundreds of bolted routes here, I felt like a kid walking round Hamley's Toy store. We decided to go to a section called Wave Wall. Wave wall is the first cliff that you see on the walk in and it looks a bit like a massive 25m wave that has just broken and you are the surfer sitting on your board below it brasing yourself, but the wave is frozen and when you open your eyes again you start noticing all the chalk marks and bolts. To get to it you zigzag throught the winding valley past all the other crags a behind a few waterfalls and tiny mini rain forests with ferns all around.
Its times like these that I wish I had better luck with my camera, my brand spanking new camera that I got in Melbourne has packed up, this time it was nothing to do with me and something has malfunctioned and I was doing such a good job of looking after it. I have managed to borrow the other cameras at times, so I will put some photos up when I get them.
I've started working another 25(7b) Rubber Lover, I have all the moves figured out, I just have to find a way of putting them all together. It is winter here in Australia at the moment, thank God for fire and hakki sack, thats how we warm up in the morning and stay warm in the evenings. My hakki sack has improved a lot, I can now touch the ball more than twice! Last day I stayed as warm as I could, wearing my down jacket, fleece gloves (thanks Jonathan, they're briliant) and my warm hat, I even borrowed Julie-Ann's invisible skipping rope to try help. I took off all the extra layers and hoped on the route, I was doing really well, I got up to the
crux and I wasn't pumped, I had the crux sequence memorised, moved my left hand onto the first 2 finger pocket my fingers suddenly felt icy cold and just would not hold, moved back to the good holds and tried shaking them, but they just wouldn't warm up. I had rest on the rope and try about 10 times before my fingers eventually decided to start working, it was very frustrating, but it was good to learn that I need to include a few crimps on my warmup.
Another great thing about the Blue mountains is that the friction of the rock is amazing, but like glendo, this also means that after a day or two climbing there you're fingers feel like toast. By now my fingers looked like toast as well. Just as I managed to get my fingers warm enough to do the route, my skin had had enough and it was no longer comfortable to climb on them. So I'm going to have to take an early rest day tomorrow.
Good Day at the Office
SMALL CRIMPS!!!!!! climbing here is great, its bolted and crimpy, I know how to climb this.
More my style than climbing vertical cracks on trad gear, although it is a pretty cool sense
of adventure climbing in Ireland, I am a sportsman at heart, and love pushing myself and I find it hard doing that on trad routes.
Climbed a cool 21 to warm up, small crimps all 20 odd metres, fantastic.
Next day went down to badens lookout crag and decided to just climb lots of really easy stuff to
warm up and get used to climbing on crimps again. Did 8 routes in the day.
The second last route I did that day was a 21, awesome route, climb up laying back on slopers to get to the first bolt, and then traverse out right with absolutly nothing for your feet to get to this arete. Then you find the tiniest of impressions for your left foot and just make your right foot stick to the rock somewhere (I love my new climbing shoes) and rech for this small flat corner with your right hand while you try clip the rope into the next draw, all the time convincing yourself that your right foot has actually been super glued to that rock and that your pumped right arm can hold onto that flat ledge while you balance there for another few seconds with the rope in your mouth so that you can pull up enough rope to reach the next draw above you and have a plan in your head so that if that right foot does actually figure out that you havn't used any super glue and you do fall the 2m to the last draw you dodge the tree that thinks its a spotter below you.
Just Magic, I loved it!
I calmed my nerves clipped the draw and then made my to the top of the route to admire the view from the top. Looks realy awesome fantastic spot to climb, looking at the route I wanted to climb it from the first time I saw it, sitting there soaking up the sunshine, with the valley dropping out to the right and all the Eucalypstus trees hanging below
That was route number 7 of the day and I still felt good, I must definatly be getting fitter, all that endurance training before I left helped a lot. Julie-Ann had told me about this 23 (7a) that I would love, its steep, its overhanging and its reachy. This is a strange feeling, climbing with Sean and Jullie-Ann who are both shorter than me, I've become the tall climber, I'm used to climbing with Roland and Stephen in SA where I'm the short climber and can't reach
straight up for the good holds and have to use the small intermediate ones.
Scheme of Things is another cool route, I'm really enjoying climbing in the blue mountains. You start off climbing this overhang and then get up to this massive jug rail then you have to reach right, lock off on this tiny crip and then reach high up left for this other tiny crip, then clip from the good hold, gaston on this sloper with tiny little spikes and move up for another good hold. I figured out all the holds on my second go, and decided to call it a day, eight routes, good day at the office. Next day I came back to try get Scheme of Things clean, but was just too tired, 3 days climbing in a row is hard work! I made the sensible decision and took a rest day, but all I could think about was getting that route, I was really phsyced to get it. If I got that route it would have been my third 7a!
Next day got up and went down there, and flew up it on my second go, amazing the difference a rest day makes. Next on the list was a 24 called Goosebumps, really pumpy overhanging route, I still felt good after getting Scheme of Things so hoped on that one next, it was fun climbing that route, Me, Sean and a Josh, a local guy from Sydney, were working it. Sean was the first to get it and by the end of the day I had got it as well, Josh wasn't in much of a hurry to get it as we were and decided to save it for another day, but came really close. I think that could be my best day so far this trip a 23 and a 25 in the same day, I'm really impressed with that.
More my style than climbing vertical cracks on trad gear, although it is a pretty cool sense
of adventure climbing in Ireland, I am a sportsman at heart, and love pushing myself and I find it hard doing that on trad routes.
Climbed a cool 21 to warm up, small crimps all 20 odd metres, fantastic.
Next day went down to badens lookout crag and decided to just climb lots of really easy stuff to
warm up and get used to climbing on crimps again. Did 8 routes in the day.
The second last route I did that day was a 21, awesome route, climb up laying back on slopers to get to the first bolt, and then traverse out right with absolutly nothing for your feet to get to this arete. Then you find the tiniest of impressions for your left foot and just make your right foot stick to the rock somewhere (I love my new climbing shoes) and rech for this small flat corner with your right hand while you try clip the rope into the next draw, all the time convincing yourself that your right foot has actually been super glued to that rock and that your pumped right arm can hold onto that flat ledge while you balance there for another few seconds with the rope in your mouth so that you can pull up enough rope to reach the next draw above you and have a plan in your head so that if that right foot does actually figure out that you havn't used any super glue and you do fall the 2m to the last draw you dodge the tree that thinks its a spotter below you.
Just Magic, I loved it!
I calmed my nerves clipped the draw and then made my to the top of the route to admire the view from the top. Looks realy awesome fantastic spot to climb, looking at the route I wanted to climb it from the first time I saw it, sitting there soaking up the sunshine, with the valley dropping out to the right and all the Eucalypstus trees hanging below
That was route number 7 of the day and I still felt good, I must definatly be getting fitter, all that endurance training before I left helped a lot. Julie-Ann had told me about this 23 (7a) that I would love, its steep, its overhanging and its reachy. This is a strange feeling, climbing with Sean and Jullie-Ann who are both shorter than me, I've become the tall climber, I'm used to climbing with Roland and Stephen in SA where I'm the short climber and can't reach
straight up for the good holds and have to use the small intermediate ones.
Scheme of Things is another cool route, I'm really enjoying climbing in the blue mountains. You start off climbing this overhang and then get up to this massive jug rail then you have to reach right, lock off on this tiny crip and then reach high up left for this other tiny crip, then clip from the good hold, gaston on this sloper with tiny little spikes and move up for another good hold. I figured out all the holds on my second go, and decided to call it a day, eight routes, good day at the office. Next day I came back to try get Scheme of Things clean, but was just too tired, 3 days climbing in a row is hard work! I made the sensible decision and took a rest day, but all I could think about was getting that route, I was really phsyced to get it. If I got that route it would have been my third 7a!
Next day got up and went down there, and flew up it on my second go, amazing the difference a rest day makes. Next on the list was a 24 called Goosebumps, really pumpy overhanging route, I still felt good after getting Scheme of Things so hoped on that one next, it was fun climbing that route, Me, Sean and a Josh, a local guy from Sydney, were working it. Sean was the first to get it and by the end of the day I had got it as well, Josh wasn't in much of a hurry to get it as we were and decided to save it for another day, but came really close. I think that could be my best day so far this trip a 23 and a 25 in the same day, I'm really impressed with that.
Blue Mountains
We arrived in the Blue Mountains and it was raining, properly with lightning and thunder. It was a little dissapointing thinking that we had left the Grampians early because it was raining and now its raining here. We pitched camp anyway and when we woke up in the morning it was dry, sweet. The campsite is really cool, its 5 minute walking distance from 3 different crags!! A climber dream, and I really was awake, even though I probably didn't look like it. We missed all our pets from the Grampians, there were none around, not even a possum, just lots of birds that sound like little dogs barking.
Second morning in the Blue Mountains and Julie Ann told me we had another pet, a real one with four legs and waggy tail of the barking kind, thanks to Clara I thought she was being sarcastic at first, Clara I think you've confused me for life ;) Then a little Jack Russel came running out of the trees. Jules had found him on the kitchen table, we've taken over the campsite, there is a picnic table with 3 walls and a roof made of corigated iron, just like a big bus shelter and it has become our kitchen. Jules saw this Jack Russel up on the table looking for scraps and told it to get down, so it did and he followed us around for about a week. We called him Shiver because he didn't stop shiverring for the first 2 days.
It was really cool having our own dog, we even got dog food and a proper dog bed for Shiver, a local shopping centre was throwing them out. We asked a few locals if they recognised the him, with no luck, so after a week we took him to the local vet and they found he had been chip, so they could scan him for us and return him to his owners. Neal is really going to miss Shiver, shiver slept in the front seat of the car with him and woke him up with a waggy tail every morning.
Don't worry, we have another pet, Hunch, a huntsman spider, who lives in the bus shelter and dissapeared when Shiver arrived. We thought Shiver ate him, but he's come back out again so that we don't feel too lonely.
Second morning in the Blue Mountains and Julie Ann told me we had another pet, a real one with four legs and waggy tail of the barking kind, thanks to Clara I thought she was being sarcastic at first, Clara I think you've confused me for life ;) Then a little Jack Russel came running out of the trees. Jules had found him on the kitchen table, we've taken over the campsite, there is a picnic table with 3 walls and a roof made of corigated iron, just like a big bus shelter and it has become our kitchen. Jules saw this Jack Russel up on the table looking for scraps and told it to get down, so it did and he followed us around for about a week. We called him Shiver because he didn't stop shiverring for the first 2 days.
It was really cool having our own dog, we even got dog food and a proper dog bed for Shiver, a local shopping centre was throwing them out. We asked a few locals if they recognised the him, with no luck, so after a week we took him to the local vet and they found he had been chip, so they could scan him for us and return him to his owners. Neal is really going to miss Shiver, shiver slept in the front seat of the car with him and woke him up with a waggy tail every morning.
Don't worry, we have another pet, Hunch, a huntsman spider, who lives in the bus shelter and dissapeared when Shiver arrived. We thought Shiver ate him, but he's come back out again so that we don't feel too lonely.
Outback Experience
We left the Gallery and went to try do some climbing at Taipan Wall but the day after it poured down with rain and we had only planned on spedning 2 days there for the moment, so decided to drive up to the Blue Mountains early and see a few things on the way. We consulted the Lonley Planet and decided to expereince a bit of the Outback, so planned a route to Broken Hill, where Mad Max was filmed.
We had a realy faffers day, it was lunch time when we had a plan and were all packed, but we ended up playing hakki sack for the rest of the afternoon with a few other climbers that were waiting out the rain. Tee, who's from Squamish he's the guy that is cheering Didier Berthod on and filming from a tree while Didier is climbing Cobra, 8c+ trad in Dosage IV DVD. Awesome climbing. Anyway, Tee is coming up with us to the Blue Mountains, that makes 5. Me, Neal, Sean, Julie-Ann and Tee. Eventually, after getting hakki (See Neal's Glossary, coming soon) we hit the road for a 6 hour journey, at about 5pm, I told you it was a faffers day. We arrived at Broken Hill at about 2 in the morning and were welcomed by the Cops. Turns out that driving at night in the outback just isn't done, the Kangaroos are just are just everywhere, we did have our eyes peeled the whole time we were driving and did come across a few so I can understand their concern. We got away with it as long as we didn't do it again.
They did drill us with questions and eventually gave us a police escort to our campsite surrounded by a grave yard that we only discovered in the morning. Definatly a huge contrast to our campsites for the last few weeks. I kept on having to remind myself that I wasn't in SA, it looked so much like the Karoo or somewhere like that and Broken Hill itself looks like so many old mining towns around joburg, it was really scarey how familiar everything looked.
After a good cup of coffee to wake us up we went into the Tourist information office to plan our Outback Experience and get the Key to the Outback. We had to drive through these gates to get to a sculpture site and lookout area and needed a key for it. The gates were just like the gates you drive through when going to the 4X4 track across the road from the gliding club. The view from the top is impressive, it looks just like an african desert with the exact same windmills and dry dry shrub. We were supposed to return the key to the tourist information office to get my deposit back before going to the Marawinji national park, but as I was closing the last gate this guy pulled up in his 4X4 asking if you needed a key for the gate, I told him he could buy mine from me for the price of the deposit and that worked out really well for both of us. I don't know if you could get away with that so comfortably in SA :)
The road to the National Park was an adventure of its own, the road went from tarred to dirt and about 5km down the road back to tar for 2km and then dirt and then miles down the road at this intersection in the middle of nowhere the intersection is tarred and then the rest of the road is dirt, its cool. I only know of two dirt roads in Ireland and one of them is on the dunes in Conemarra. Found more of those post boxes out in the middle of nowhere, some of them aren't even at a gate or even an intersection, just totaly random places in the middle of nowhere. I'm beginning to wonder if the national flower of Australia is the oversized postbox.
I wish we were in Gerry's Yellow Bannana, my Dad's beetle, with my Dad driving (Don't tell Puddy). Our Trusty Steed, a 4 litre Ford Falcon station wagon, just didn't cut it. After coaxing the car to find a way around flooded sections of the road we came across a few bumpy sections and there was no way that the falcon would make it, so we decided to pitch our camp right there on the side of the road.
I went for a run further along the road from camp and its one of the coolest places that I've run. There is absolutly nothing out there. I ran for 30 mins and passed a cow ... twice. Oh yeah and one of those post boxes. One of the farmers stopped when passing to check if we were okay and he had the coolest attitude: "Do you want to borrow my spade?"
We made a campfire and chilled out eating soup that we had made with our left over veggies, I think we're getting used to this camping setup. I woke early and saw the sunset the next day, really impressive. That was a perfect touch to my Outback Experience.
We had a realy faffers day, it was lunch time when we had a plan and were all packed, but we ended up playing hakki sack for the rest of the afternoon with a few other climbers that were waiting out the rain. Tee, who's from Squamish he's the guy that is cheering Didier Berthod on and filming from a tree while Didier is climbing Cobra, 8c+ trad in Dosage IV DVD. Awesome climbing. Anyway, Tee is coming up with us to the Blue Mountains, that makes 5. Me, Neal, Sean, Julie-Ann and Tee. Eventually, after getting hakki (See Neal's Glossary, coming soon) we hit the road for a 6 hour journey, at about 5pm, I told you it was a faffers day. We arrived at Broken Hill at about 2 in the morning and were welcomed by the Cops. Turns out that driving at night in the outback just isn't done, the Kangaroos are just are just everywhere, we did have our eyes peeled the whole time we were driving and did come across a few so I can understand their concern. We got away with it as long as we didn't do it again.
They did drill us with questions and eventually gave us a police escort to our campsite surrounded by a grave yard that we only discovered in the morning. Definatly a huge contrast to our campsites for the last few weeks. I kept on having to remind myself that I wasn't in SA, it looked so much like the Karoo or somewhere like that and Broken Hill itself looks like so many old mining towns around joburg, it was really scarey how familiar everything looked.
After a good cup of coffee to wake us up we went into the Tourist information office to plan our Outback Experience and get the Key to the Outback. We had to drive through these gates to get to a sculpture site and lookout area and needed a key for it. The gates were just like the gates you drive through when going to the 4X4 track across the road from the gliding club. The view from the top is impressive, it looks just like an african desert with the exact same windmills and dry dry shrub. We were supposed to return the key to the tourist information office to get my deposit back before going to the Marawinji national park, but as I was closing the last gate this guy pulled up in his 4X4 asking if you needed a key for the gate, I told him he could buy mine from me for the price of the deposit and that worked out really well for both of us. I don't know if you could get away with that so comfortably in SA :)
The road to the National Park was an adventure of its own, the road went from tarred to dirt and about 5km down the road back to tar for 2km and then dirt and then miles down the road at this intersection in the middle of nowhere the intersection is tarred and then the rest of the road is dirt, its cool. I only know of two dirt roads in Ireland and one of them is on the dunes in Conemarra. Found more of those post boxes out in the middle of nowhere, some of them aren't even at a gate or even an intersection, just totaly random places in the middle of nowhere. I'm beginning to wonder if the national flower of Australia is the oversized postbox.
I wish we were in Gerry's Yellow Bannana, my Dad's beetle, with my Dad driving (Don't tell Puddy). Our Trusty Steed, a 4 litre Ford Falcon station wagon, just didn't cut it. After coaxing the car to find a way around flooded sections of the road we came across a few bumpy sections and there was no way that the falcon would make it, so we decided to pitch our camp right there on the side of the road.
I went for a run further along the road from camp and its one of the coolest places that I've run. There is absolutly nothing out there. I ran for 30 mins and passed a cow ... twice. Oh yeah and one of those post boxes. One of the farmers stopped when passing to check if we were okay and he had the coolest attitude: "Do you want to borrow my spade?"
We made a campfire and chilled out eating soup that we had made with our left over veggies, I think we're getting used to this camping setup. I woke early and saw the sunset the next day, really impressive. That was a perfect touch to my Outback Experience.