Kachoong Photo Sequence

Almost over roof when foot becomes stuck
Trying to free R foot just before falling
.....and the ride down

Kachoong

I am now back in the U.S. but a final Aussie blog to close out the chain of events from the rest of my trip. I met a solid group of people at Arapiles that I was climbing with every day for about 2 weeks. We all hit it off really well and consisted of a young Belgian climber by the name of Fabi, two Seattle firefighters Doug and Lukic, two traveling Aussies Al and Acey, a good friend of theirs from Melbourne Juzzy (short for Justin of course), and Dave an Aussie turned Texan after marrying his American wife. During our stay we did many of the notable climbs in Arapiles and still left a lifetime of classic climbs to do. We would usually have several ropes going at once in a particular area so we could get a lot of climbs in. The entire climbing area was almost 100% traditional climbing, which for the non climber means there are no bolts pre-placed in the rocks and you must put your own form of removable protection in as you ascend to prevent you from having a long fall. I particularly enjoyed this element of it because I got the opportunity to lead climb several climbs without having brought my own traditional climbing gear over and just borrowing my partners. It also tends to make what would be an easier bolted route a more complex and difficult climb. It's kind of like doing puzzles as you are climbing to find the right piece of protection to place in the right size cracks / pockets / abnormalities of the rock. Anyway, I bagged the trip down to Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road I had planned to have an extended stay at Arapiles, which in hind site didn't exactly turn out in my favor. On the day I was planning on leaving to drive back to Sydney all the guys were going to do a route called Kachoong early in the morning so they could be the first ones on it. Kachoong is probably the most notable / talked about / photographed / and fallen on climb in Arapiles and perhaps Australia. I wasn't about to miss a chance to do it so I figured I'd go do this last route in the morning and start my drive by early afternoon. The climb is named Kachoong because that's the noise they say the rope makes if you fall while going over the hardest part of it. Funny, because when I fell on it the only noise I heard was the loud crack of my lower leg breaking. What had happened was I had my foot turned sideways in a horizontal crack / flake in the rock while I was upside down in order to stay on the wall. As I moved past that part to get back up onto the vertical wall I stretched out and pulled but was unable to move up any higher because my foot had moved in the crack to become trapped. This left me with a few seconds left in the most difficult part of the climb to hang on and move back down to try and extricate my foot. Well time ran out and I couldn't free my foot so as I fell past it my leg became a fulcrum and was finally freed when the falling weight of my body broke my leg. I guess somethings gotta give. It was the better of two possible outcomes, the other being upside down with a broken leg and my foot still being caught. That would have been interesting. When I got down I wasn't sure if my leg was broken because there was no deformity or displacement but I was unable to stand on it. I was hoping it was just bruised but we all heard the pop and had a pretty good idea what it may have been from. I hobbled on one leg with a stick to the top of where we were climbing at and eventually was carried out to an access road on the back of a big hunky Seattle fireman, every woman's dream huh? When we got back to camp I just iced the leg and the guys helped me pack up what I had left in camp, then drove into Horsham which is about 25 miles away. Thought I'd try out Australia's health care system, which is free to Australians, but costs to anybody else unless your country has reciprocity, which we don't. After an X ray it showed a clean fracture of my fibula, which is probably the better of the two lower leg bones because it's more supportive than weight bearing. First fracture in 29 years of age, I guess that's not doing too bad considering I'm a pretty active person. They put a backslab with some bandages on which is basically just a fancy personalized splint. They wanted me to wait to see a physician in the U.S. before casting due to the swelling that may take place post injury and during the flight home. Surprisingly and fortunately, because you have to pay them upfront for your treatment, I was expecting a much bigger bill than what it was being in one the most expensive places I've ever traveled. I'm thinking if a beer is 8 dollars a pint in the bar I could only imagine what this little surprise is going to be. Any guesses? 230 dollars for an ER visit, X rays, and splint! Wow, seriously, I'll pay cash! After I left the hospital I had a bit of a dilemma on my hands. I had no crutches because they wouldn't let you take them unless you could return them and I needed to get to Sydney which was about 700 miles away. I had to get to Sydney because that's where I had to return the van, I could relax at Dave's house, and where my flight back home left from. So basically, I could sit around Horsham across from the hospital in my van with my leg up and have to try and go get food when needed etc.. and still have to figure out some way to get back to Sydney, or I could just suck it up and make a big push to Dave's where they could help me sort things out. I went with option B and did the first leg of the trip that night until about 1230 when I was getting tired and sore. Next morning I was up by 6 or 7 and back on the road for a straight shot to Sydney which I got to about 3:30 that afternoon. The only real difficult part was at gas stations, which were the only places I'd pull over to stop at, and I had to hop on one leg to go inside and pay. It was nice being back at Dave and Pav's as they were more than helpful with everything I had to do and I could relax with my leg elevated. I had to tell Dave the bad news that we wouldn't be having our climbing trip to the Blueys that weekend as I had promised him. After seeing me, having never climbed and was going to give it his first shot, he was probably more relieved than disappointed haha. We settled for a fun time in Sydney and I had scored a pair of crutches to aid my mobility. As you may imagine the rest of my time there, which was 5 days, was rather uneventful. Dave drove me to the airport and helped me get my bags sent off. Dave and Pav are coming to the U.S. this summer I can only hope to try and repay them the great favor and hospitality they gave me during my stay with them. The flight was needless to say pretty miserable, as it already is without a broken leg, but I will say going through customs, immigration, and getting to your next gate is quite a speedy process when you are escorted by an airport agent. All in all......landed on my 6th continent, covered over 2500 miles in my rental van, visited the better of two Australian states, caught up with some very good friends I've always wanted to visit in their country, did some world class climbing, hit the highest peak in Australia, failed again attempting to surf, made plenty of new friends, saw and ate a kangaroo, learned more funny Australian words and slang, broke one bone and most of my wallet, and had a pretty damn good time. Could never give enough thanks to Dave and Pav for making my stay what it was, you guys are AWESOME!

Kozy to Arapiles

Well the fearful Mt. Kosciusko was a beast of a mountain, coming in at just over 7,000 ft towering over everything else in Australia. It is arguable whether or not the Mt. is considered one of the seven summits, as it's the highest in Australia but not on the Oceana continental plate, which is Carstenz Pyramid in Indonesia. All debate aside I thought it would be a fun thing to put on the to do list while here in Australia. It is located in the snowy mountain region of australia and I believe is part of the great dividing range. At the base of the Mt. there are several ski resorts. The actual hike itself to the summit of the mountain departs from the top of one of the Thredbo Resort chairlifts. It is recommended that it takes roughly 4-6 hours round trip from the top. The trail is actually a raised metal grate almost the entire way to keep people off the brittle alpine plant life. That being said there was no navigation required as you follow the yellow brick road to the top. I jogged most of it actually and made it to the summit in 49 minutes. Check that off the list I guess but wouldn't exactly consider it an accomplishment aside from actually coming to Australia to do it. The Kozy National Park was a beautiful mix of alpine mountains and Juniper bushes and I spent a few days in the area. If you haven't noticed Australians have a short name for just about everything not excluding the names of their National Parks. on the other side of the snowy mountain range I stayed in a small town having a weekend festival honoring the Man from Snowy River. I'm assuming the movie or book was based on this area? Anyway, it was a fun little redneck festival in a small farming town much like it would be in any similar town at home. I picture the Riggins Rodeo. I spent the entire next day driving across the state of Victoria to get to a place called Arapiles. It is a state park and an Internationally recognized climbing hot-spot, much like what Yosemite is like in the states. There is a base campground called the Pines which is similar to the reputation Camp 4 in Yosemite has attained. There are nothing but climbers here, some for a short time and some that have all but taken up a permanent residency in a tent. I love it here! My favorite part of Australia is oddly enough but definitely not the beach. The campground is a 2 dollar a night honesty system which fits well within the budget. The weather is awesome most of the time. It's nice being in one place for a while so I have time to cook and relax a bit. My typical day in Arapiles: Wake up to nice weather, cook breakfast, pack climbing bag for day, climb all day with thousands of routes to choose from within 5 minutes walking distance from camp, return to camp to cook dinner, search camp to find another partner for the next day and plan tomorrows routes, repeat. Awesome! The only thing better I could ask for is a solid partner, but there are plenty of climber here that are also in need of a partner so it works out well and it's a good way to meet new people. There are people here from all over the globe. Ironically enough the first two days of climbing here I paired up with a couple of firefighters from Seattle. Small world I guess. The closest tiny little town called Natimuk is about 5 miles down the road where you can pick up a few supplies and grab a shower every now and then at the paid campground. For anything major including gas and groceries you have to head into Horsham which is about 20 miles away. I may leave here with enough time to drive the Great Ocean Road which begins west of Melbourne and have a stop over in Melbourne for a night or two and see another friend of mine.......but then again.......I may just continue this sweet routine until I have to drive back to Sydney? So much climbing to do and so little time. I could easily spend several weeks here for sure.

Roos

After climbing in the Blueys, which was a spectacular week of weather and climbing alike, I stayed the night in a small town called Bulahdelah to wait for my Sydney peeps the next morning. I mingled with a few of the laid back country folk and even had a chat with the local policewoman about where would be a good place to "illegally" camp in my van without paying the price of a caravan park. She referred to me as "mate" and told me an awesome spot to stay which was basically their fairgrounds equiped with warm showers and all. The next morning we all met up and spent the next four days at a place called Seal Rocks. It was a beautiful beach and in between rain sessions we spent the weekend attempting to surf, bodyboarding, hiking, tossing the football, and celebrating my 29th birthday. Dave and Pav delivered me a card that Amanda sent me from home along with a card of their own, a cake with candles, and some sweet shorts with Australian colors. I set up my slackline, hammock, and gymnastic rings at the campsite. Owen has titled me with the nickname of Action Man that may stick with me as long as I know them which was earned basically because I'm not a city slicker like most of them to make a long story short. While setting up Dave's monstrosity of a tent that could house an Omish family, a giant Iguana looking lizard that was the size of a small crocodile came casually strolling out of the bushes and walked right past us. Even the Aussies weren't quite sure what to do and were a bit scared but he seemed to be well practiced in chilling around campers and he just wondered right on through. During my stay here I had been mentioning to Dave that I would like to eat kangaroo as I've seen in in grocery stores and some restaurants. They all kind of looked at me funny because being Australian natives none of them have ever tasted it. To my delight they brought some kangaroo kebabs along camping that were mutually agreed upon delicious. They basically reminded me of a nice elk steak with no game flavor at all. Speaking of which I have actually seen a few living kangaroos, but most of them I've seen have been splattered on the roadways much like deer at home. We saw a lot of other wildlife as possoms routinely came to visit during the night hours and a school of dolphins we saw were literally surfing waves by the beach. After camping my intentions were to continue up to Byron Bay and possibly Brisbane, but after a long conversation with Dave and a reality check with how big Australia actually is and how much time I have left, I've decided to put that on next times to do list and head south. Basically there is no rock climbing or mountains, just nice beaches which are abundant anywhere you travel in Australia. I'm a bit torn because I would like to dive the great barrier reef and see a friend of mine that lives up there but you can't do everything at once I guess. Anyway I headed back to Sydney to regroup for a day and do some bouldering on the local beaches. I've decided to come to Kosciusko National Park which is where I am now to hike the continents highest peak. I took the long way down to Kozy along the coast on the Grand Coast Drive, which is similar to taking HWY 101 at home along the oregon coast. Lots of neat little towns and beautiful coastline but lots of driving.

Down Under

Well I've been in Australia for over a week now so I'll fill you in on the local haps. It was a pretty easy 14 hour flight over the Pacific because I slept most of the way and the seat next to me was empty which is pretty much like being in first class to me. Customs was no problem as they didn't even run my bags through the xray after questioning me if I was carrying any microwave popcorn or beef jerky in them. Seriously??? So anyway my buddy Dave picked me up as promised with a cold Aussie beer to greet me to his country. I met Dave and his (girlfriend at the time) but now wife Pavelina, Pav for short, 5 years ago when we were traveling in Thailand. Since then we have met up again in Germany and England while they were living there, and now Australia, so we have built quite a friendship. First impression of Oz.....clean, and very similair to being in the United States apart from the near language barrier of their Aussie English and driving on the left hand side. The first night we had a "barbie" at their house to welcome the "yank" to Australia. They live on the northern beaches of Sydney, which is about a 45 minute drive from downtown, in an apartment that sits literally across the street from the beach. I checked out Sydney and their neighborhood on my own the next few days while they were at work and enjoyed the beach. We went to a steakhouse with Dave's friend Owen and his girlfriend Sarah whom I also met in England for St Pattys Day. You got to choose, season, and grill your own steak, not exactly the most Irish thing to do but oh well. Over their weekend we went down to Sydney to see some live music that some of Dave's friends from New Zealand had scouted out. We ate at a nice Thai restaurant, which come a dime a dozen in Sydney. Prices however in Australia have nothing to do with dimes, it's more like fifties and hundos! Whatever the price is of anything at home you can expect to double it here. I find beer is a unique currency to judge the cost of living in an area, which you can get at the pub here for about 6 to 7 dollars in a glass that is smaller than a pint. That will keep a guy sober, but it doesn't seem to slow the Australians down at all. I pay about 20 dollars a meal every time I eat out, and gas is nearing 6 dollars a gallon. Even being a cheap ass is expensive here! Anyway, we checked out a professional rugby game when Dave's local team played another team down in Sydney. Fans are pretty into rugby to put it lightly. After the game we went down to the Rocks which is where the famous oprah house that you see when you think of Sydney is and did the tourist thing for a while. On monday I rode the bus with Pav to the city and caught a train to pick up the campervan I rented for the rest of the trip. Driving it back to Daves place through Sydney was an adventure to say the least, but I only got turned around a couple of times. Let me tell you navigating city traffic alone when you don't really know where the hell your going in the first place and you're driving on the "wrong" side of the road can be a challenging experience. I left Dave's headed for the Blue Mtns which is a popular climbing destination and national park about 2 hours from Sydney. It pissed the entire drive and all of that night which is Australian for pouring down rain. It has rained every day I've been here except the first day. Not exactly the most tropical vacation I had in mind but there's not much you can do about the weather. Today the sun actually broke through and I went hiking / climbing partner searching through the Mtns. I came across a New Zealand couple that were more than happy to share a rope with me. They were from Christchurch and just took a short 2 week climbing vacation to get away from all the disaster that's happened from the quake. When all else fails, go climbing, I like their philosophy. It felt great to be finally climbing outside in nice weather on some really steep sandstone cliffs. My arms didn't feel quite the same as they were reaping the repercussions of having such good time in Sydney for a week, but they pushed on through. Climbing on sandstone can be a bit rough on the fingertips that have been protected in winter gloves for the last few months. I'm sure they will either callus or scab over, hopefully the first of the two haha. The blue mtns are an amazing array of an almost jungle like dense vegetation and giant sandstone cliffs soaring out from everywhere. My first experience wondering through the trails I was always on the lookout for snakes and spiders and every other thing that's been built up to kill you in Australia. Just as I got comfortable a 2 foot long iguana / lizard looking thing jumped up on the trail to greet me and scare the shit out of me. We had a stare down, which I eventually won when he got tired of me taking pictures of him. The Kiwis and I have plans to climb together for the next 2 days in the Blue mountains before I head back towards the coast to meet Dave, Pav, and several of their mates for a 4 day camping trip on the coast north of Sydney.

In a Nutshell

Well It's been since our trip to Africa that I have written anything on the blog, so I will briefly catch up. Post Africa we ate up what was left of the summer in the great Pacific Northwest. We kayaked and rafted the Salmon River on the stretch near Riggins, ID for our annual fire dept. float trip. No lives or equipment were sacrificed to the river so all in all a successful trip. Shortly after we made a trip to Lake Koocanusa near Libby, MT for some general camping and climbing at Stone Hill. Early September came and Amanda started back at school so our adventures were mostly limited to extended weekends and vacations. We went camping with Amanda's family at a place called Gospel's Hump in central Idaho and stayed at a historic ranger house that is now rented out for overnight stays. In late September I had my first experience of bidding for and buying a vehicle on Ebay. What was I thinking haha! It may not seem like it, but sittingaround a computer watching the clock expire on a vehicle you're bidding on that you may actually win and have to pay for can be a rather nerve racking experience! I think was in a bit of shock when I saw that I won. My first thought, "oh shit, I won, now what"? Well after getting a small loan squared away and a few phone calls I was soon on a plane to southern California to pick up my new ride with my friend Dylan who came along just forfun. I bought a 2008 Ford Econoline Cargo Van from a private security company that had purchased the van new with plans of making it a surveillance vehicle. They never put the vehicle into service and it just sat on their property collecting dust, and was basically a write off for them to get rid of it, which I gladly took off their hands with less than 3,000 miles on it! We took our time driving back and stayed a night in California, visited friends and stayed the night in Ashland, OR, stayed another night in Portland with more friends, visited my grandparents in Sumner, WA, went to the Octoberfest in Leavenworth WA, and ended at a Jack JohnsonConcert at the Gorge. The van you may ask I will be slowly converting into a custom campervan to support the life of a cheap outdoor enthusiast. Jordan and I made a climbing trip to Vantage Washington and Chimney Rock to close the season before he took off for Japan and Southeast Asia.
A lot of October was spent adding hardwood floors to my house, painting bedrooms, turning a bedroom into an adventure room, and giving the house a basic facelift. Late November marked the beginning of our ski season which has since kept me busy for most of the winter. All in all I got almost 20 days in on the season and made it to Canada, Montana, and Jackson WY for ski trips. The rest of the time was spent ritually driving back and forth to Spokane to go climbing at the gym to try and stay in climbing shape. As of this blog I have officially hung up my skis for the winter and my bags are packed to catch a plane Monday morning. I am headed to the Land Down Under for a sunny month and a half of climbing, attempting to surf, diving, and chilling with my "mates" that I've met from other travels. I am flying solo on this trip as Amanda and Cliff will be holding the fort down and educating our youth. My friend Dave is picking me up from the airport and I'll stay a while with he and his wife in the Sydney area before picking up the camper van I rented and heading off to the outback! Well, technically I won't really be going to the "outback" per-say, but off to explore what Australia has to offer. More to come once I cross the pond....

Pictures Above: Chimney Rock ID, Vantage WA, Big Mountain MT, Jackson Hole WY