Last Days in Tazzie

It always takes less time to drive across Tasmania then you think it's going to, even with the dirt "tracks" the island is just so small. Ben Lomond is basically on the other side of Taz from Hobart and it only took us a couple of hours to get there. Ben Lomond was absolutely stunning... except for having to eat dinner in our tent because of the density of mosquitoes, our time there was very special. The camping area had four sites and most of the time it was just us. The approach to the cliff was just over an hour of hopping over huge boulders, we felt like we were on the moon. The lower part of the cliff offered some of the best crack climbing we have ever done followed by some of the most dangerous crack climbing we have ever done. We compared the lower pitches to the best of Yosemite, and the upper pitches to climbing on china plates that would pull off at any moment. Due to the physical nature of the climbing mixed with the mental battles of loose rock and the hairy descents we only climbed there for two days. Next time we will bring helmets to Taz.

After a few short stops to climb at Bare Rock in Fingal and back to Freycinet to climb at the Hazards we decided to head back to the Tasman Peninsula to wait for a weather window to climb the famous Totem Pole. With only four days left and the weather looking rough we started to worry that we wouldn't get a chance to climb this world renowned feature.

The Totem Pole sits at the south tip of Tasmania in between the mainland and an island called the Candle Stick. It rises almost 100meters out of the ocean and in 2x2 metres at the top and only 3x3 metres at the base. To get to "The Tote" you make a full 70 metre rappel off the main land, swing across to the pole and anchor into the side of the cliff less than a metre from the pounding waves and shark infested waters. Once you are on the pole there are little options but to get up it and make a tyrollean traverse back to the mainland.
With normal 40 knot winds in the area, and the easiest free route on the tote being climbing grade 5.12b this had us sleeping uneasy with some scary to weird dreams. The very next day we hiked out to the pole just to check it out. We planned on leaving our gear there and returning when the winds were calm and the skies blue. After the hour and forty minute bush bash we discovered that our window had arrived.

If there was a seven wonders of climbing the Totem Pole would definitely be one of them. We hooted and hollered with joy all the way up as the face climbing was amazing, the position spectacular, and each of our climbing game was on. The cold Arctic air and the howling winds were no match for the pumping adrenalin and the long underwear we wore. This will be something we remember for the rest of our lives.

After climbing our last climbing goal for Tasmania we settled into vacation mode and were happy to do anything that came our way...it just so happend that our friends, Brett and Jana found us out of the blue and suddenly more climbing was on the horizon.

Today we are off to Vietnam...a little bit sad to say goodbye to Australia but we have had the most amazing time anybody could have.

Cheers Mates!