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Moving to Ballarat

gjoh

19-Jul-2010
8:36:51 PM

So, today I was called into my bosses office and asked to move to Ballarat for 9 months at the end of September..

Does anyone have any advice for me, as to: where to live, how much to pay, where to avoid, what to do (when im not working) etc etc

freesolo

20-Jul-2010
4:49:10 AM

where are you moving from? to me ballarat would be a great place for a climber, location wise. don't know about the actual living there, but close to gramps, araps, moderately close to buffalo, easy to get to the airport for flights to tassy.

gjoh

20-Jul-2010
8:50:28 AM

I'm moving from Wollongong to work on a water infrastructure project down there. I don't know too many details yet, but after 2 weeks into the job (working in North Sydney) iv been asked to relocate.

Anyone from the climbing club have any info for me? How often do you meet, how can I get involved etc.

Also, how far is it to the alpine region? Would it be worth bringing any mountaineering equipment in Sept/Oct and would anyone be interested in showing me around?

Thanks

kieranl

20-Jul-2010
10:14:05 AM

Western Vic Climbing Club has an indoor wall event every Tuesday night. Maybe PM PatB for details.

SHONKY

20-Jul-2010
10:21:29 AM

I live in Ballarat and might be able to help you out. pm me your number

tmarsh

20-Jul-2010
1:08:02 PM

Ballarat is kinda far from the Victorian Alps, and there isn't that much technical climbing anyway.

Probably the best thing about Ballarat is its proximity to the Grampians. Depending on where you wanted to go you'd be there in 2-2.5 hours.

Rental accomodation in Ballarat is cheap compared to Melbourne. You might also want to look into living in some of the small towns that are nearby - places like Creswick might even have share houses given that the Melbourne Uni Forestry School is there. Good luck!

Pat B

20-Jul-2010
3:01:16 PM

Hey gjoh,
My name's Pat, I'm involved in the Western Vic Climbing Club. Go to http://www.wvcc.com.au/ to see our website.
Cheers Pat

tinman

20-Jul-2010
7:32:09 PM

hi there my partner lives in the Rat. it's a quiet town (although the locals call it a city) with the odd bogan or two, and not much to do apart from soverign hill, or the wildlife park, and the really nice old school cinema. Or you can go for a run around lake wendouree
You can try the restaurants there- some of which i think are quite nice like the park bistro, jasmine thai (the one on the left side of sturt st when heading away from melbourne towards the gramps), olive grove. food tends to be more expensive than melbourne suprisingly.
good luck

Wendy

21-Jul-2010
7:44:39 AM

I think that Ballarat is one of the coldest and wettest places in the state. However, it's not too badly located in terms of getting to the Grampians, the coast or Melbourne pretty quickly. Whilst it's not too far from the alps relatively speaking and you might get some good spring ski conditions (ie wet and slushy by the afternoon, but nice weather), I wouldn't hold out for much and there'll be buggerall in october. People occasionally talk about ice at Buller. It's not extensive at the best of times and September will not be the best of times. Take a trip to NZ and get it out of your system before you move!

gjoh

21-Jul-2010
8:36:36 AM

Thanks everyone for your advice and contacts. It will be great to have some people to hook up with and get some advice from when I arrive. The climbing club sounds like a great way to meet new people in a place where I don't know anyone.

In fear of this forum being hijacked... Everyone keeps saying that the Australian Alps are crap for climbing. I don't doubt this, but does that mean don't bother going? If you can't get the time to take a trip to NZ for a week, is it even worth going to have a look around on a weekend at any time of the year? Or does everyone agree a trip to araps is a better way to spend your time, even if your into both rock and mountains?

kieranl

21-Jul-2010
8:58:29 AM

On 21/07/2010 gjoh wrote:

>..... Everyone keeps saying that the
>Australian Alps are crap for climbing. I don't doubt this, but does that
>mean don't bother going? If you can't get the time to take a trip to NZ
>for a week, is it even worth going to have a look around on a weekend at
>any time of the year? Or does everyone agree a trip to araps is a better
>way to spend your time, even if your into both rock and mountains?
It depends on when you are coming down. Before the end of August, if conditions are good you still might get some mixed climbing at Bogong and some easy snow climbing at Feathertop. Trouble is the "good" climbing areas there get lots of sun so once the weather fines up things go out of condition very quickly.
Don't really know Buller but it's much lower than the other two.
Still, a wander up Bogong or Feathertop on a nice day would still be a nice outing.

nmonteith

21-Jul-2010
10:05:05 AM

On 21/07/2010 gjoh wrote:
>If you can't get the time to take a trip to NZ
>for a week, is it even worth going to have a look around on a weekend at
>any time of the year? Or does everyone agree a trip to araps is a better
>way to spend your time, even if your into both rock and mountains?

Well.... Araps is possibly the best trad climbing in the world and Buller is possibly the worst ice climbing in the world. That should give you some hint.

gjoh

17-Jan-2011
8:02:03 AM

So i've finally moved to Ballarat.. Better late than never, so they say.

I might be looking to rent a room. Does anyone have anything available?

gjoh

17-Jan-2011
9:28:53 PM

Also looking for climbing partners....

There are 14 messages in this topic.