Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Land Down Under





Dave and I have been around the Melbourne area for a week now. We have been fortunate enough to stay with two friends from Guelph, Brett and Jana, who welcomed us and our luggage! They have been living and working in Melbourne for a year, and have tentative plans to travel and climb with us.

Dave and I took two solid days hunting for a van that would be suitable for our three month stay here. The last van on our second day was the van for us. Now we will be driving and camping out of our ’92 Toyota Town Ace, its name still unknown. It is complete with a comfy bed and a roo bar in front; metal bars to protect your car from jumping Kangaroos! Dave has done well test driving these vehicles, on the opposite side of the road, on the opposite side of the car and shifting gears with his opposite hand.

As a break from the city Brett and Jana drove us to the Arapiles for the weekend. They recommended some great classic routes to climb and showed us around the area. We have already seen some local wildlife and experienced the style of climbing the Arapiles has to offer, pumpy face climbing on traditional gear. The rock is Quartzite; it is red like Kentucky and wavy like the New River Gorge. The gear is very “sporty”, and the placements can get very creative.

Tonight we finally get our van and tomorrow we are off to the Arapiles (3.5 hours from the city). There is cheap camping right under the cliff that’s three kilometers long, so that will be our home for the next couple of weeks.

So far we are jumping right into Australian life and lingo.

Cheers Mate = Thank you
Bloke = guy
How are ya going? = How are ya doing?
No worries Mate = No problem
Flat white = coffee with milk
Eski = cooler

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