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Call me crazy, but, lkng for partners, rides, etc |
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12-Dec-2012 9:50:31 AM
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So I’m wheels up and flying to Oz in a few hours. Can’t wait to see all the marsupials!
And? And had some things lined up with some friends in the Melbourne area. But their family plans for the holidays all recently changed, so I’m scrambling for lodging, for partners, and for all forms of adventure. I fly into Melbs Thursday afternoon, Dec 13th. And staying here…till the beginning of February? Till the wombats kick me out, anyways.
Me, I’m a laid-back, good-hearted yank. Loved his mother and pays his taxes and everything. I was actually in Oz this past April/May. Had a POS little car and rode around, adventuring with new friends. And ended up leaving behind some unfinished business in the Blueys, the Gramps, AND the ‘Raps. Also want to explore Taz and Mt. Buffalo, too! I’ve got a fat rack of draws, a virgin, 80m rope, a double/triple rack of cams and a billion RPs and other assorted nuts/stoppers. No carrots, but will most likely have a tent and the Blue Mountains guidebook this coming weekend.
So? So really, I’m down for anything. Looks like temps are kinda hot in Arapiles, so was thinking of making my way up to the Blueys first, then head back down to Arapiles and the Grampians later in Jan. Or could go right down to Taz and camp/climb around. Or go explore Buffalo’s mad cracks. Can project sport 25s. 26s? Trad 22s on my good days. Would LOVE to work on a 23. Can belay 29s like a mutha! But really, I’m down to play around on easier teens, too.
I guess what I’m saying is that I’m wide open, game for whatever. Sounds a bit whack, I’m sure. But it works for me, most times. Part of the fun of it. Jump without a lotta plans, and just see what life brings.
I'm active on Couchsurfing.com. Find me as: Captainstargazer if’n you want to know more what I’m about. Or you can FB me and I’ll pay my friends to lie brilliant about my winning personality, my endless, side-splitting anecdotes. Never mind my heroic beer drinking skilz.
So?
So? So let a fella know what up and we'll get logistics sorted if any of that sounds any good.
Er…cheers, mates. Thot’s notta knife! Shrimp onna bah-bie, as you guys all say…
~R. Kelly Liggin
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12-Dec-2012 10:04:40 AM
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So one of the people who was coming on my Christmas - Mid January roadtrip just pulled out and now we're down to 3.
If you can be in Perth by the 27th, and feel like driving back to Melbourne stopping at as many crags as possible on the way let me know and we'll see if we can fit you in.
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12-Dec-2012 10:11:07 AM
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On 12/12/2012 Captainstargazer wrote:
>So I’m wheels up and flying to Oz in a few hours. Can’t wait to see all the marsupials!
>
>And? (snip)
You win the 'Most effort put into finding a partner' award with that post...
Airports are boring places eh?
Within your given timeframe, the later you leave going to Arapiles the hotter it will become. I suggest doing Arapiles first and Buffalo or Tasmania last.
There will be quite a few climbers up Buffalo late January and the campground for that period has already been booked out...
Good luck.
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12-Dec-2012 10:22:54 AM
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On 12/12/2012 dawyndham wrote:
>So one of the people who was coming on my Christmas - Mid January roadtrip
>just pulled out and now we're down to 3.
>
>If you can be in Perth by the 27th, and feel like driving back to Melbourne
>stopping at as many crags as possible on the way let me know and we'll
>see if we can fit you in.
What.......the.......fuch??? You're driving across the Nullabor in summer for a 3 week climbing trip........."stopping at as many crags as possible on the way"????
There's precisely 2 crags on the way, and they are (respectively) 4, and 3.5 hours from your final destination of Melbourne, which makes them about 100 and 100.5 hours from Perth! There's also Moonarie, which isn't actually on the way from anywhere, but I guess it's kind of relative. The average monthly temperature of the rock at Moonarie in January is 280 degrees which is hotter than the surface of Mars!
West Australians are fuchin' crazy!
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12-Dec-2012 10:31:21 AM
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As I said in another post, you're about to hit a few days of mild weather at Arapiles. See the forecast link below.
http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/horsham.shtml
If you haven't got a ride organised, catch the train from Melbourne-Horsham first thing Friday morning. Shop at the Horsham supermarket (get fuel here too plus some drinking water) and then catch the Naracoorte bus which will land you at Arapiles in Mid-afternoon. There are people there, you will make connections and climb.
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12-Dec-2012 10:37:51 AM
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Just to reinforce what kieranl said, if you think December is hot, wait till late January or Feburary. Dec is relatively mild, at least you get breaks in the heat when it goes below 30 for a few days.
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12-Dec-2012 10:42:23 AM
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Make sure to catch the train on Friday morning or you'll miss the Horsham-Arapiles bus connection which only runs once a day Monday-Friday.
And here's the link to the Chockstone sticky on Arapiles :
http://www.chockstone.org/Forum/Forum.asp?Action=DisplayTopic&ForumID=3&MessageID=11121&Replies=0&PagePos=0&Sort=#newpost
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12-Dec-2012 10:47:09 AM
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On 12/12/2012 One Day Hero wrote:
>There's precisely 2 crags on the way, and they are (respectively) 4, and
>3.5 hours from your final destination of Melbourne, which makes them about
>100 and 100.5 hours from Perth! There's also Moonarie, which isn't actually
>on the way from anywhere, but I guess it's kind of relative. The average
>monthly temperature of the rock at Moonarie in January is 280 degrees which
>is hotter than the surface of Mars!
>
>West Australians are fuchin' crazy!
So West Cape Howe, The Gap, Peak Head, Peak Charles, Mt Frankland, Stirling Ranges, Adelaide Hills. None of these are between Perth and Melbourne? What kind of a map are you looking at? There is climbing in Australia that the average Victorian doesn't know about.
Just so you know, I am Melbourne born and raised, I don't let the weather get in the way of my climbing. Be that Southern Ontario limestone in -2 degrees or South Coast WA in 35+. I'm not saying that we will be doing 14 hour days on the rock, probably early starts and finding somewhere to swim during the hot part of the day.
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12-Dec-2012 11:17:15 AM
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Don't forget the dry tooling opportunities that abound on the cliffs of the great Australian bite:)
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12-Dec-2012 11:24:23 AM
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On 12/12/2012 rodw wrote:
>Don't forget the dry tooling opportunities that abound on the cliffs of
>the great Australian bite:)
>
... and in that case, also don't forget to befriend the local spotters first, in case you deck out!
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12-Dec-2012 11:32:31 AM
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HEY! Looks like my last gurlfriend!
“Airports are boring places eh?”
More like the scrambling desperation of a partner-less climber.
Say hey, Perth sounds fab and all. Lots of fine Wallabies and what. But it’s a little long out of the way, and as I say, I’m dropping in, in a few days. Waiting till after Christmas, I think, would see me bonking my head against the koalas.
So I think I’m going to politely pass (but thank you, David!) in favor of wandering up to the bluies or Taz for the cooler temps. And yah, I certainly get that the ‘Raps n’ Gramps are gonna be hotter later in Jan. Unfortunately, that’s when my Halls Gap friends have time off to roam and put up with my ugly ass. So unless anyone has specific plans to roll up there, I’ll likely stick out a thumb and make my way east.
So still calling out for any folks friend, foreign or foe who want to explore the Bluies or Taz…? Or? Anybody wanna learn to surf? Then teach me!?! (Sounds like a good excuse to invest in some whiskey if’n I have ever heard one…)
~Kelly
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12-Dec-2012 11:43:45 AM
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It looks like everyone is stoked then!
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12-Dec-2012 11:55:01 AM
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On 12/12/2012 Captainstargazer wrote:
>my ugly ass. So unless anyone has specific plans to roll up there, I’ll
>likely stick out a thumb and make my way east.
>
Well there are climbers camped at Arapiles which is more than you can say for sure with any other climbing area in Aust.
Hitching east from Melbourne? Not a good direction if you want to climb but OK for surfing and fishing.
Good luck.
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12-Dec-2012 11:59:17 AM
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If he goes East, he will get to Araps eventually... :-)
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12-Dec-2012 12:02:20 PM
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Sorry, my mistake. There are also a couple of worthwhile spots within 4.5hrs of the other end of your enormous drive........and some utterly worthless, but blast furnace hot shit in between.
There's "not letting the weather get in the way of your climbing", and then there's deliberately going to Frog in summer and Tassie in winter..............driving 3000km in order to locate horrible climbing conditions isn't really a sign of toughness, it's a sign of fail.
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12-Dec-2012 12:09:00 PM
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Finding a place to swim "during the hot part of the day" at Peak Charles in summer would be interesting.
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12-Dec-2012 12:23:42 PM
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On 12/12/2012 One Day Hero wrote:
>There's "not letting the weather get in the way of your climbing", and
>then there's deliberately going to Frog in summer and Tassie in winter..............drivin
> 3000km in order to locate horrible climbing conditions isn't really a
>sign of toughness, it's a sign of fail.
Hey, by all means you can climb on the WA South Coast during Winter. Let me know how the storms treat you. I know people who have done it, and had to prussic up 60m to get back out.
And no, this isn't driving 3000km in order to locate horrible climbing. This is driving 3000km in order to relocate to Melbourne, and taking some time out to climb in between rather than drive non stop for three days.
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12-Dec-2012 12:28:34 PM
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As for the Blue Mountains, you'll be able to hit up the 'Meat Market' in Blackheath for meeting up with partners on the weekends. For during the week you'll probably have to insinuate yourself into some local climbing circles to find partners - or just rock up to the Meet Market and hope. Of all the local mountains climbers I know they are all pretty friendly and approachable. Good luck
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12-Dec-2012 12:28:53 PM
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On 12/12/2012 kieranl wrote:
>Finding a place to swim "during the hot part of the day" at Peak Charles
>in summer would be interesting.
Much harder than Esperence, I'll admit. But with the 'hot part of the day' being roughly 10 hours long out there I'm sure we can find something.
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12-Dec-2012 1:02:35 PM
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Average temperature in Esperance in January is about 26°, fine climbing weather, Peak Charles might be a few more but should be fine with an early start. Moonarie will be a bit warmer, but an early start and working with whatever shade is available will make that fine too.
Don't see what all the doom and gloom is about, you can climb anytime if you don't just sit in the sun all day. We sure as hell don't quit climbing in Perth just because summer comes along!
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