One Paradise to Another

Swadeeka=Hello in Thai!


We are down to our last day in Thailand. We have stayed in Tonsai for our entire trip, enjoying life here way too much. We have sent all of our climbing projects and are taking it easy as we prepare to go to Kalymnos in Greece.

During the last couple of weeks we enjoyed a four-island snorkelling tour and deep water soloing. During the snorkelling tour we explored colourful corrals, schools of thousands of fish, and other sea creatures that are most memorable: moray eel, trumpet fish, puffer fish, jelly fish, sea urchins and clown fish.




The snorkelling trip finished on an isolated beach during sunset with huge pots of Thai curries. Our last stop before home that night was a late night swim in phosphoresent waters, and everything that moved in the water sparkled. The day was beautiful!


The deep water soloing trip was also a blast. We climbed up steep lines and jumped into the water from 5-15m.

One deep water solo climb we both enjoyed started steeply grabbing tufas, then stemming out to one stalagtite and hugging it, then stemming out to another giant stalagtite and moving to it. I jumped into the water from there and Dave enjoyed more of the climbing above on the stalagtite. The crew we were with loved the climbing and jumped from crazier distances!


We will remember our time here of good eats, fun new friends, great climbing, new experiences, romantic sunsets, and oceanside relaxation.

We are satisfied with the amount of climbing we have accommplished and we are getting ready for more in Kalymnos.

Paradise in Tonsai, Thailand

Life in Tonsai and Railay is amazing! We enjoy breakfast, head to a cliff in the morning to beat the heat and enjoy the shade, then relax on the beach and wade in the water before ordering a mango shake and some lunch. We have indulged in massages, reading books, personal yoga practices, and snorkeling. We have landed ourselves a comfy bungalow with buffet breakfast for a fair price of $23/night. We have made ourselves at home by adding a hammock to the front porch, enjoying a pre dinner cocktail at our favourite bar, becoming regulars at our favourite restaurants, and meeting new friends at the cliff.
Climbing has been spectacular with a variety of routes of many styles.

We have seen most of the crags here and have enjoyed roof, tufa, face, and bouldery routes. We warm up on 7a’s and have sent a few projects of 7b+ and 7c. We have a great schedule of projecting, climbing, and resting…and we are motivating each other to send…or waiting for each other to send…always a sending train with us. We are half way through our trip in Tonsai with still so much to climb and experience. This will definitely be a place to visit again and enjoy everything that life on the beach and at the cliff has to offer.

Cat Ba Island, Vietnam

We were millionaires! But as they say, easy come, easy go.
After getting great beta at the Sydney Airport from Slo Pony’s climbing website we were off to Vietnam. Upon arriving, Dave bartered for our first cab ride to a bus station in the city, and after an hour wait for a three hour bus, 40min bus, 40min boat ride followed by a final 40min bus we landed on the streets of Cat Ba. Although the trip seemed epic we got completely excited when towering limestone walls and islands began to appear in the night shadows.

Our hotels were comfy costing only 150,000 dong per night, which works out to $10, and our motorbike rental was only $4/day. I think we were renting someones personal bike for the day, because once we returned the bike at night the gentleman was waiting and was probably finished work for the day.
Beer was $1, and Vietnamese style meals (Pho, noodles, spring rolls) $3…life was even cheaper if you were good at getting bargains.



Due to the rain and drizzle we climbed at Butterfly Valley most days, with completely dry 20-30m routes from warm up to project. We were psyched to flash our hardest grades, even though they were a bit soft…we’ll take it!
Another great climbing day included a boat trip near Halong Bay, to an island called “The Face”. We kayaked to The Face and danced our way up two 30m climbs, 7a, 7a+. Our new friends, Peter (South African), Dennis, Dave, and Mat (Aussies) shared in the adventure of boating past small viet floating villages, being amazed by the limestone features, and climbing melting limestone features. We hung out with these good blokes often, bar hoping, playing games, climbing and dining.


We experienced lots of culture including cooking in a Vietnamese kitchen (in hindsight, not a good idea), singing karaoke in a local kitchen to a Vietnamese family, motorbiking around Cat Ba Island, drinking “snake juice” at the local bar, being cracked by a Traditional Viet. Massage Therapist, and visiting the Hanoi night market and dodging traffic to cross the street.


We survived that adventure and have started another one in Thailand. Now the vacation starts with climbing, beaching, swimming, eating delicious thai food for $2 and relaxing all of the time.

More on Thailand later…we need a refreshing swim.
xo

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!

Canadian Devils in Tasmania

A couple of days ago we said farewell to our Mom and Dad, Jen and Tony, who spent 10 days with us in Tasmania. We had a wonderful trip with them camping, climbing, hiking, and so much more. On our first days we took a shopping trip to the local camping store and loaded down our 4WD, ready to explore a few areas in Tasmania. Our first stop was The Tasman Peninsula, an East Coast destination with many different climbing areas, such as the famous Totem Pole. Our campsite was right near the ocean and some beautiful, long hikes lead us to our climbing areas. Jen and Tony hiked with us and took some amazing photos of our climbing adventure. We climbed the Moai, a 30m pole with 3 classic lines ranging from 18-24. While we were climbing we had very close coastal views and we were constantly hoping the swells or the tide would not come up on us. The amount of Jelly Fish in the water also surprised us and kept us out of the water. The next day we climbed at another area named Pardiso, with more hiking, coastal views and sprays! The bolted climbs here were amazing and on one climb we had to run across a gully to avoid the waves crashing into the wall. Jen, our photographer, made it across to...brave lady!
Frecinet was our next stop on the eastern coast. Our 4WD made it into our free camping spot with clifftop coastal views and more aussie wildlife to enjoy.

The "Taj Mahal", our tent we acquired from the purchase of "Puff", housed the four of us comfortably with beds and suitcases too! Snoring was kept to a minimum and the night stars were viewed throughout the night from the surrounding windows and doors. Jen and Tony finally saw their first Wallaby and kookaburra here which added to the list of viewed wildlife. Tony had an encounter with a Possum that wouldn't back down from our garbage and we saw a Paddymelon, a smaller version of a wallaby.
The climbing in Frecinet was equally amazing with fantastic trad lines and this time no hiking was required. Jen climbed her first 12 (5.6) ever, climbing 150ft and taking out trad gear as she went. We were proud of her ascent and she definately has the climbing bug now.


After a full week in the tent we were due for more hotel life. Our last night together was enjoyed with a great meal and the casino.
Thank you so much for coming to visit us Jen and Tony. You gave us a great vacation from our vacation and we had such a great time with you. We will miss you and hope to see you again in our travels.
Now that we are back on our own, we have rented a new little car and are off to Ben Lomond National Park to explore Australia's "best" crack climbing.

A Kiwi Christmas

After our last blog we successfully sold our Toyota touring van in two days and Dave sold his first vehicle exclusively in French. Hopefully “Puff” will drive well for the two girls from France who are road tripping through Australia.
With the van off of our mind and our pockets deep with cash we went directly to a travel centre and purchased flights for the next part of our trip around the world. Looking for holidays? Maybe you just miss us? Here is our flight itinerary if you want to visit us somewhere: Hanoi & Halong Bay, Jan. 21-31; Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Feb. 1-Mar. 6; Greece, Mar. 6-April ?; and then Spain. We’re looking forward to our new adventures in the new year and are currently loving the new adventures as we finish off 2009.
Parents, Jen and Tony, arrived in Sydney on December 17th full of energy for their holidays, which is good for what we had planned for them. On their first night we toured Sydney Harbour in style on the Showboat Cruise. The cruise offered a three course meal, all you can drink, classy showgirls presenting dances and fashion from different countries, and beautiful sunset views of the Harbour Bridge, Sydney’s Opera House, and the city’s skyline and surrounding coast. The next couple of days was dedicated to exploring the Blue Mountains’ scenic views, towns, and the most memorable Empress Canyon. Although Jen and Tony put their wetsuits on backwards before we entered the canyon, they proved their athletic skills and sense of adventure as they scrambled through rocks and waterfalls, jumped into pools of water, swam and slid down natural rock slides, and abseiled 30metres down the final cliff. It was a fantastic day and we thank our good bloke Ken who provided us with most of the equipment necessary to make this outing possible. Cheers Big Ears!
By mid-afternoon the next day we arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand. Our hotel was nestled in the town’s Cathedral Square and city centre. We enjoyed delicious meals at local restaurants, shopped at the nearby market, won some spending money at the Casino, and rested our heads after very busy days. We spent two days bouldering at Castle Hill and were impressed with the view. Limestone boulders littered the vegetative foothills of the Southern Alps, a very beautiful place especially if you like mantles.
After our visit in Christchurch we were off to Takaka, at the far North end of the South Island.

We spent 5 nights, including Christmas Eve, at a lovely rental house with Jen, Tony, and our friends Brett, Jana, and Derek. Mom made an amazing bird and the Texas Holdem’ proved to be very exciting. Our adventures in Golden Bay were non stop including swimming and climbing at Paynes Ford, hiking and sea kayaking the Abel Tasman National Park and collecting shells on the beach. A highlight of our kayaking trip was watching seals swim and play on Adele Island. We got a little scared when a seal jumped into the water and charged our boat, missing us by only a couple of inches.
We took our time driving back to Christchurch for our flight back to Sydney. We made an overnight stop in Kaikora to watch more lazy seals and enjoy the views off the coast.
Back in Sydney we enjoyed dinner with Oli and his family at the “Braza”, a Brazilian BBQ restaurant that serves more meat than the cows we saw in New Zealand. It was a great meal in Newport that will keep Dave’s carnivorous appetite happy for a few days. For two nights, we stayed at a great hotel in the Darling Harbour and watched an amazing firework show at 9pm right out of our 8th floor window. We continued ringing in the New Year with dancing shows and music bands, and a midnight display of fireworks with a panoramic view just minutes from our hotel. It was a show that will never be beat.
Today we fly out to Tasmania for more world class climbing, camping, and Aussie wildlife.

Happy New Year! All the best to everyone for 2010!

Blue Mountains

For the past two and a half weeks we have been staying at our buddy Ken’s place who invited us to move in and make ourselves at home…and we did just that. We enjoyed the indoors for a change and took full advantage by watching movies, cooking in a kitchen, taking a shower regularly, and playing poker without headlamps or candles.
Ken was not only a great host but a fabulous tour guide. He showed us around a few climbing crags in the Blue Mountains and gave some recommendations for later. The Blue Mountains offered beautiful views of rocky, treed valleys, and featured, varied sport climbing on sandstone. Each crag offered something new and once again we enjoyed the multi-starred classics of each area. We had great climbing days that included flashing 25’s and sending a few 26’s and 27’s second go.
The routes were usually long and pumpy with short cruxes, decent rests, and superb movements.
Due to the textured, sometimes sharp rock and the harder climbing we took a few more rest days for our bodies to heal. However, one rest day included canyoning at Claustral Canyon which tired us out more than our usual day of climbing. The canyon was filled with beautiful ferns, dark caverns, and cold water. We hiked an hour to get down into the canyon and then began jumping into pools of water, abseiling three pitches into waterfalls and more pools of water, swimming down tunnels and chambers sometimes over 30m, and scrambling over rocks, boulders and logs. Even though we wore wetsuits we were still very cold by the end of the canyon and looked forward to the hour and a half hike out to warm up. It was an awesome experience and adventure that will be remembered as a highlight. Thanks Kenno! Just before we left the Blue Mountains we toured a smaller canyon with a short hike, water slides, a 3m jump into a water hole, and a 30m abseil into a waterfall and pool. Because this canyon was short and sweet we are planning to take Jen and Tony down this canyon when they arrive in Australia. We hope they enjoy the adventure as much as we did.
Right now we’re in Newport, Sydney at our buddy Oli’s house, a good bloke we met in the Arapiles at the start of our trip.
As our first introduction to Oli he played a good Aussie joke on us. Oli and his mates planted a rubber snake near our campsite and upon our approach to this snake we freaked out. The Aussie blokes watching the gag broke out into laughter, signaling something was up.
Today, Oli showed us around Manly (beaches and market), and took us climbing and bouldering in Palm Beach. For our second day here in the Sydney area we have already sampled a handful of great restaurants and pub life and are looking forward to more tours with Oli.
The selling of our van is looking good. We have had some interest and have showed it to some potential buyers. I think “Puff” will be off our hands in a few days and hopefully will give someone else a great road trip through Australia.