Just a few pics from the last week.

• Spring is springing, a few blossoms on a tree on the way to work.
• Catherine and Alison in the lounge room, eating Sarah’s lovely curry.

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I just whacked this together today in a few spare minutes. It’s a reasonably good map of where I travelled in Germany.

The red is train travel, blue is by car, and green is where we hitched. We hired a car for three days to do the bit near Munich, the other sections were lifts with various people.

There’s a few loops in there, if you’re trying to follow it chronologically, it goes:

• Frankfurt (bottom left)
• Ilmenau (near Erfurt)
• Hannover
• Bremen
• Amsterdam
• Meppen (Daniel’s home town)
• Berlin
• Munich
• Back to Augsburg by car
• Austria (and Italy not on the map)
• Switzerland
• Berchtesgaden (via Munich, bottom right corner)
• Ilmenau (again)
• Frankfurt (again)

There are some more photos of Point Perp up on the ANUMC site. I’ve grabbed some of the best ones and put them here as well.

I think these were all taken by Jen & Farah, thanks guys!

See the original story.

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Today Jeremy and I went climbing at Kambah Rocks. We’d planned to go to Ginnindera Falls, but for some reason the whole place was shut.

Seeing there was only two of us we couldn’t get any action shots, so these photos aren’t particularly exciting. Yawn!

Update: Jeremy’s got some photos up too, there’s even one of me!

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Lene sent me this the other day. I think it’s taken from Red Hill, it’s Mt Taylor in the foreground.

I rode to work that day, I remember the snowy-breeze as I rode across Commonwealth Avenue bridge.

On the weekend of the 7th-8th of August I went climbing at Point Perpendicular (which is basically the north head of Jervis Bay).
It was everything from relaxing to exhilarating and at times ballrippingly terrifying (that’s an in-joke).

Saturday morning Clancy and I climbed Urban Spaceman and Elspeth, me 2nd-ing. Although not particularly hard (both grade 14 or so), the exposure was enough to make your head pop. You can see me freaking out on Elspeth in one of the photos.

In the afternoon we mucked around learning to place gear, and I did my first Trad lead (Just For Fun – Grade 6). We also climbed a 15, the name of which I’ve forgotten, but I think it’s next to Room with a View. Clancy, Jose and Danny climbed Over the Rainbow, a very exposed 21. Nice work.

On Sunday we went to the seaside of the cliffs (near Windjammer wall). To start we abseiled down ~90m to the sea, wow! Clancy then led Dreams and Visions, and Gen and I 2nd-ed. It was a bit full-on at times, with wet rock, big exposure, two overhangs, a hanging belay, and really shitty rock on the 2nd pitch. But we made it, and boy were we excited when we got to the top.

To get back to the top of the cliffline Clancy led Grey Mist (17), which Gen and I 2nd-ed. It was looooong, ~40m, which tested my endurance, and I was swearing just a tad as hit the top. What an awesome weekend.

Here’s a selection of pics, if you think it looks like a long way down in the photos, just wait ’til you get there! I didn’t take my camera down on the 2nd day so you’ll have to trust me.

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Tom and I were saying on the phone last night that we never remember what to take on outdoor trips. We both agreed it’d be good to have a list, but have never got around to it. Here’s my attempt:

The basics

• Tent
• Trangia
• Trangia FUEL!
• Thermarest/bed roll
• Sleeping bag
• Pack
• Day pack?
• Climbing gear (more later)

Depending on wetness/coldness/snow

• Gore Tex Jacket (always take this!)
• Gore Tex Pants
• 2nd Bed roll for snow
• Sleeping bag liner (good when it’s hot too)

Depending on temperature (it’ll always be colder than you think)

• Medium Fleece
• Warm Fleece
• Down Jacket
• Thermals
• Beanie
• Fleece pants

Misc Gear

• Head torch (spare batteries on long hikes)
• Space blanket
• Compass
• Mirror

Saturday 31st of July I went climbing at Gibraltar Peak (it’s basically between the start of the Corin Dam road and Tidbinbilla if you don’t know it). The week before there’d been an aborted trip (due to rain), but the weather was absolutely awesome for us.

Clancy, Gen and I started on a lovely crack called Nail Biter. It was a bit strenious for me, given that I hadn’t climbed during my 5 weeks away. But we all made it in the end. The view from the top was awesome.

Later in the day I climbed a 2 pitch 15 (or so) with Oli and Alice. I led the 2nd pitch (on bolts) which was my first ever lead. It was a good place to do it I thought, 2nd pitch so lots of space, and on double ropes as well.

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I got a digital camera, woo. This is the first photo I took:

Not very exciting, but there’s potential.