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Chockstone Forum - Crag & Route Beta

Crag & Route Beta

 Page 2 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 31
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Author
6-12 months in Aus, where should I stay?

Big G
15-Mar-2013
2:52:26 PM
he still wants a job!
One Day Hero
15-Mar-2013
3:10:24 PM
Well yes, there is clearly a 3 way compromise required between proximity to the crag, possibility of employment, and pacifying the girlfriend..........actually there was no mention of where the gf fits into the spectrum. Hmmm.....maybe the idea of free choice regarding where to live is merely an illusion? :/

plumb-bob
15-Mar-2013
4:23:54 PM
Or maybe the gf climbs too? If so, lucky bugger.

I would say sydney for a short stay like 6-12months. It's not so long that you'd get sick of the place. I live in Melbourne and I lament the fact that there aren't any great options for climbing close to the city. Sydney also has better weather and the beaches, which is usually a big factor in why brits come to Oz. I'd be pissed if I came here for 12months and didn't get much beach time in.

ChuckNorris
16-Mar-2013
1:00:31 AM
Adelaide. Steep climbing 15 mins from town to keep in shape. The locals are actually nice and not some forum hogging power seeking dicks like me and Neil
Wendy
16-Mar-2013
9:19:16 AM
Natimuk (or god forbid thinking about it, Horsham). I know both electrical engineers and primary school teachers who have walked into jobs instantly around here. I hear there are about 3 cafes needing a chef at the moment if you can cook! Ok, so there are no gyms, but who needs a gym with a climate like ours? Even our winter that I constantly complain about is better than UK summer. There is an indoor bouldering shed if you get desperate enough.

Time to best crag in the world: less than 10 minutes. Araps does actually have a smidge of sport climbing and quite a bit of bouldering although I'm not the person to ask about it. You could take the opportunity to learn trad climbing and there are actually routes less than 28 that are fanatastic.

Time to large collection of almost as fantastic crags in the Gramps: 40min -1.5 hours. Loads of sport, loads of bouldering. Depending on when you get here, some of the range is closed after being razed over the summer, but most of it should be open again in a few months. Still leaving a truckload of stuff around Stapylton that is steep, powerful and hard. More than I can recollect in the whole of the UK.

Great community (well, if you chose Nati, not Horsham), cheap living, definitely climbing focused lifestyle not work!

I wouldn't bother with Melbourne or Sydney - other than some of the bouldering, Sydney local cragging isn't that flash and I'm struggling to find some 28+ excellent sport climbing in them. Melbourne, as mentioned, is a fair way from any decent climbing, so you'll end up communting to the Gramps a lot anyway. Choose either if you want to be in a city, not because you want to base yourself around climbing.

Nowra might give you some good climbing (i haven't been there for 20 years, but people keep assuring me it's much better than I remember) but the town is a shîthole. I guess there are good beaches too, but I can't think of any reason why I would suffer through living there.

The Blueys will certainly provide no shortage of hard sport climbing, lots of it is really easy access, good climbing community, is still quite expensive and rather busy with tourists, retiries and sydney communters. But its main draw back is the weather. Still, compared with the UK ... Excellent gym might be pushing it a bit, but there are crags and bouldering possible in rain if you are better at suffering than I am.

davidn
16-Mar-2013
10:59:09 AM
This is interesting:

http://www.thecrag.com/routes/at/11737699/with-stars/3/with-grade/AU:28:39/with-gear-style/boulder+sport/
Wendy
16-Mar-2013
5:58:50 PM
Yeah, interesting .... Lets face it, boulder problems at Kangaroo Point are not really 3 stars. Nor The Hole! You do actually have to know the areas a bit to make sense of that list. Don't travel the world for some of those things! Anyone turning up at either from just looking at that list would be horrified. I think we could safely say that Taipan and Muline for example would keep you far more entertained despite having a similar representation to KP and TH on that list!

Really, it is kinda indisputable that the Gramps and The Blueys are the only places that are going to provide any quantity of "excellent sport climbing" in those grades (Nowra might get a shoe in, but I still reckon it's not comparable and more importantly, who'd want to live there?). The Blueys probably have a greater concentration of easy access hard sport routes. The Gramps will provide a lot more bouldering than the Blueys. I personally find the Gramps better climbing, but to each their own. Whether Sydney's bouldering makes up for actually being in Sydney and having to travel to decent climbing, someone who particularly cares about Sydney and bouldering can comment.

davidn
16-Mar-2013
10:33:09 PM
On 16/03/2013 Wendy wrote:
>Yeah, interesting .... Lets face it, boulder problems at Kangaroo Point
>are not really 3 stars. Nor The Hole! You do actually have to know the
>areas a bit to make sense of that list. Don't travel the world for some
>of those things! Anyone turning up at either from just looking at that
>list would be horrified. I think we could safely say that Taipan and Muline
>for example would keep you far more entertained despite having a similar
>representation to KP and TH on that list!

Hmm... Does an area have to be the equivalent of the Grampians or Blueys to have a 3 star climb?

But anyway, what I took away from the list overall is pretty much exactly what you said - Grampians and Blueys dominate for 3 star bouldering and sport climbing, and Nowra has some (in comparison) with other areas having much less.

ChuckNorris
16-Mar-2013
11:22:59 PM
Don't knock the hole Wendy. Have you managed to get off the ground of anything there?
Wendy
17-Mar-2013
8:08:21 AM
On 16/03/2013 Eduardo Slabovic wrote:
>Don't knock the hole Wendy. Have you managed to get off the ground of anything
>there?

Not much more then! But that doesn't change it being skanky, dark, damp, drilled and chipped. Living in Adelaide is my only excuse for having even been there at all.

ChuckNorris
17-Mar-2013
8:28:28 PM
On 17/03/2013 Wendy wrote:
>
> But that doesn't change it being skanky, dark, damp,
>drilled and chipped.

That's what makes it special - and are the reasons why it should be number 1 on every visiting euros grand tour of Oz.

 Page 2 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 31
There are 31 messages in this topic.

 

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