Roadtrip to Arapiles

The BU Sydney "spring" semester (technically it's fall here in Australia) ended as abruptly as it began back in January. All of sudden, it was the end of the program, students were flying home, and I was gearing up for a two-week adventure down to Mt Arapiles, a mythical climbing spot in Western Victoria.

My first kangaroo spotting!

Oli was here visiting for his second trip down under, he couldn't get enough of Sydney (and the Blue Mts) the first trip in March, so he was back just in time for my holiday time. We left town on a train, up to Katoomba to meet my friend Nathan and begin our 14-hr journey to Araps. We drove out of the Blueys towards Lithgow, then Bathurst, then to the middle of nowhere for a long time-- we finally hit the bustling metropolis (just kidding) of Wagga Wagga sometime around 11pm.

Climbing outside Wagga Wagga at Rock Hill

Wagga Wagga is the largest inland city in Australia...which isn't saying much at all. We camped 40 minutes outside of Wagga, near "The Rock," (also aptly named Rock Hill, because that's exactly what it is). We made this slight detour to climb for a day at Rock Hill, similar climbing to Araps because of the quality of the rock, plus it's on trad. We made camp under a little shelter, woke up early to spot two kangaroos not too far away in the woods. One of them even had a little joey poking out of its pouch. It was the first time I (and Oli) had seen a kangaroo in the wild-- and it was everything I had hoped for. They are awesome creatures! And only found on this continent, which is rad. Friday we spent most of the day climbing, two routes that were under 16, both on trad. The second climb was up a magnificient crack, then out from under a roof to the top. I was slightly terrified, but Nath was right behind me on a second rope so it was all good.

Bomber anchor

[For those of you reading this and not sure what trad is, it stands for "traditional climbing" or placing your own protection. Instead of fixed bolts like in sport climbing, trad revolves around natural protection, or not leaving anything permamnent in the rock. It's a totally different headspace and mentality than sport. Gear includes wires (also called nuts), and cams (also called "friends"). Depending on the rock and your options for placing gear, you can choose between wires, cams or slings.]

I'm the master of the slings

We hit the road around 2pm to continue to drive south, I had been driving for only 20min when I got pulled over in Nowhere Ville, and slapped with $200 speeding fine. Here's the thing: they have these huge stretches of road with 100km/hr speed limits (about 60mph), but these little towns are scattered every 10km, where the speed limit abruptly changes to 50k/hr. Before you know it, you're no longer cruising but going very fast in a small town. Anyway, I had to learn my lesson the hard way. Kept me in line for the rest of the trip! I didn't go a single kilometer over the speed limit. Albury NSW, right on the border of NSW and VIC was our next pitstop for groceries, petrol and lunch, before we began the long haul to Arapiles. We drove all through the night, past these little country towns in rural Victoria with nothing more than a pub and a sorry little petrol station. It was awesome though to see this side of Australia--small town Australia. The past 10 months I've been living here I've stuck to the main cities on the East Coast; this was a real transformation and a true insight into the heart of this country.

After hitting Horsham, it was after midnight by the time we pulled into the campsite at Arapiles, the Gums, not the Pines since that's where the majority of the hippie climbers (and schoolkids) camp. Oli and I quickly pitched our tent, took turns blowing up the stupid air mattress (why didn't we spend an extra $10 on a stupid pump!?).

And the next day commence 12 days of amazing climbing....