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