Thursday, December 21, 2006
TWO DAYS IN AUSTRALIAI think it's ideal for us to share some entries of our EOY journal here! Here's two days worth of entries from my journal. For the full journal, visit my blog. =)
---------------------------------------
23rd Nov
12 p.m.
I am now sitting in the comfort of my tent. Though I am sweating profusely, this is wonderful compared to the intense heat of the scorching sun outside, and the merciless flies. Flies can kill.
I have returned from yet another fairy-tale like experience. We did multi-pitching up the Organ Pipes in Arapiles, doing a grade 10 climb. This meant we go up as a team, one by one to each 'level', wait for all to come before going off again, towing up ropes for each other as we ascended, and belaying from the top. I found it extremely enjoyable.
The experience was exhilarating. When we reached up we had climbed some 95m or so, and were about 120m above ground. This is amazing because the most I've ever climbed before is 12m. For the first time I have felt like a real climber. Though I was initially apprehensive, as I climbed more I gained confidence. I began to love and appreciate the rock and the way it feels and support me. My fingers and palms embraced even small notches that could be gripped, my climbing shoes-clad feet scraped the roughness and trusted friction. I enjoyed the journey upwards and took each step up with more confidence.
Every ledge we reached was an achievement. We sat and stared into the horizon, which seemed to have come out of a storybook or children's drawing. The land all around was flat farm land, so far and wide we saw fields of various shades. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue with fluffy white clouds. It was perfect... for a queen =)
At the very top ledge, Peter gave us a lesson in geography, explaining how Arapiles was created. He pointed out quartz and sand compressed together to form the rock, suggesting that Arapiles was initially an island protruding from a large water body, with evidence of erosion by waves. The flat land was eroded flat to become the bed of the water body. We also used stretched rope placed in line with the horizon to compare and see that the earth is round, not flat. Simple knowledge that everyone knows but never discovers.
The entire thing felt like a dream, a once in a lifetime experience I am unlikely to go through again. This entire trip feels like the most amazing holiday I have ever had, and probably will ever have. I am in paradise.
Another thing I have noticed is the friendliness of the Australians. Everyone stops to say hello and give a smile to everyone else. So much for Singapore's 'Four Million Smiles' for IMF. People here are much more relaxed, friendly, and know how to enjoy life to the fullest. Away from the hustle and bustle of my pressure-cooker homeland.
By the way, I have blackened an entire piece of wet wipe just wiping my face. Another one for my neck and 2 more for my hands. I am filthy, yet happy.
The winds outside are going mad and some tents are flying away. It's a miracle mine still stands strong.
I forgot to mention that this morning, while brushing our teeth, we spotted a kangaroo with a joey peeking out its pouch. It looked directly as I snapped photos, but did not run away. Extremely adorable!
8 p.m.
I am in love with Arapiles.
Today we went to the set of climbs called the Charity Buttress. I scaled the conquered the grade 8 wall 'Charity'. It involved a lot of looking for routes and even creating our own scrambling moves, laybacking, jamming, and simply anything that would get us up. After much struggling I got up, switched over to the abseil rope and came back down. Great fun.
On the way back to camp we stopped and explored wildlife like birds, lichens and even a kangaroo with an insanely bulging pouch. We took photos with the Arapiles plague as well. I will miss this lovely place.
My skin has become a shade lighter with a swipe of the wet wipe. I am filthy and not going to bathe for another many days, but it is worth it.
I love Australia.
10.30 p.m.
Things people do when the temperature reaches below 10 deg Celsius, and winds blow in from Antarctica:
1. Wrap up in layers upon layers of clothes.
2. Jump on the spot.
3. Go for long runs.
4. Huddle together and moan.
5. Squat and refuse to sit, though I can't figure out how it helps.
6. Break out into loud renditions of YMCA.
7. Hide in tents.
8. Simultaneously huddle shoulder to shoulder when we gather for briefing.
9. Exercise mind over matter. "I'm not cold, I'm not c..coold"
10. Huddle up in a comfy sleeping bag and sleep. Goodnight =)
24th Nov
6 a.m.
This is the coldest morning I have woken up to, and the coldest night I have been through. I can barely write now because my hands are numb with cold. Australia's weather and climate is really unpredictable. While we expected only serious cold the first 2 nights, and indeed it got hotter after that, now weire back to the same numbing coldness - and even worse.
I'm starving too. Not that we haven't had enough to eat, but all the energy is going towards creating (insufficient) heat and I am left famished.
Today we will move out of Arapiles and into Grampians. I am much looking forward to Grampians, but I will miss the beautiful rock I am now in love with.
After Arapiles, it seems so foolish to ever climb on an artificial rockwall again, so dumb to grab obviously protruding pieces of colourful manufactured plastic pieces on a manufactured wall. Not when we have gone through Arapiles, which is considered the mecca of rock-climbing.
Arapiles provided a lot, including rock-climbing, abseiling, trekking, mountain climbing and even some caving. A perfect place I recommend to every rockclimber and adventurer.
12 p.m.
Some things we learn to appreciate only when we're here. Especially with climbing. For one, we never really appreciated helmets as there is no way to fall upside down and bang our heads on the artificial wall. But at Arapiles we're constantly declaring, "I love my helmet", such as when loose rocks are sent tumbling down onto belayers and onlookers by a climber, or when climbing we step up and knock into a suddenly protruding slab of rock.
Another thing is the climbing calls. For example, before the climber climbs, the belayer takes in the robe and when taut, the climber responds with "that's me!" That seemed silly when the climber and belayer stood side-by-side in front of a sports wall. But at Arapiles, especially during multi-pitching, it was a top belay system and the irregular rocks resulted in the belayer unable to see the climber. We had to rely on the climbing calls to communicate effectively and ensure our safety and proper belaying.
We have also learnt to appreciate the warm rays of the sun upon our exposed skin to counter the chilly winds. And at the same time we appreciate the breeze of wind that cools our burning skin in the afternoon heat.
We are now on our way to another foodstop at Horsham, before heading over to Grampians.
6.10 p.m.
Today has been declared slack day.
Having arrived at a privately-owned huge piece of land (even has its own cliff for climbing) by Peter's friend, Dave, at the Grampians, we have been spending the time resting in the grass and playing silly games like 'fuzzy wuzzy'. We were supposed to take a trek to explore the area, but it was too hot and we were 'busy slacking'. I finished my book as I lay down on the grass, and have really enjoyed this time of pure relaxation before we start some work restoring the burnt land tomorrow.
7.10 p.m.
It started with a book Rob presented to us called 'tracks, scats and other traces', which talks about exactly what its name suggests. We sat around pieces of scats, touched them, opened them, sniffed them and explored them to discover they probably came from a passing kangaroo. Scats, for your information, are pieces of excretion. That continued with an impromptu trek down the valley to look for more tracks, scats, and other traces.
Through we only found more fresh kangaroo poo, we also discovered beautiful black, white and blue feathers. We looked at trees and thought about what species they may be, all of our own accord. We squatted down to examine tracks and found one that looked like a camel's, but obviously no camel would have passed through. We also talked about how it was greener and cooler in the valley, with water flowing in. If the weather is hot, one would build a house in the valley. If cold, build on top. If lazy? Build in the middle, as Brendon suggested.
The outdoors is our classroom. A few guidebooks on birds, wildlife, plants, stars and more and our interest is piqued. Our knowledge, according to Rob, of Australia's natural environment would be more than that of most Australians' by the end of the trip.
Grace loved ODAC at 9:35 PM
0 comment(s)
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home