It's so tempting to stay at Arapiles and just spent the summer (Oz winter) living here, working through both the grades and the guidebook; climbing everything in sight. It really must be a contender for 'best crag in the world'.
But, Australia is a big place and there is still much to see and great distance to travel, so after much deliberation we have decided to move on...
But not before a few last routes!..
An earlier start was going to be needed to fit this in. So this morning, despite not wanting to move form the warmth of the duvet, I did get the bonus of being sat up in bed with a hot brew, watching the colours of the sun rise through the window.
The air was much warmer today and there was not a soul at the crag. It couldn't have been more idyllic. The only noise was that of un-recognisable birds chirping and calling from the trees. The rock was warm to touch and each route felt like the best we'd done yet!
It was hard to leave, but by midday hunger made us return to the van. On the way over, we stopped for a quick sample of the bouldering.
Then we said our goodbyes to the kangaroos and campground and set of for Horsham, where we filled up the van with food, fuel and water. Next stop was the Grampians, where, it turns out, the roads are not all paved...
We're camped up near a peak called Mt Zero and it's exciting to have a landscape and scenery that is all new.
Between the mountains, the land is so flat that we could look back on the horizon and still see Mt Arapiles way off in the distance!
There is a big ampitheatre of rock here that is home to some exceptionally hard climbs.
The area was engulfed in a forest fire a few years back so all the trees are still burned black. Some trees have shed the burnt bark though, revealing that they are still protected inside.
It was good to have a new panorama as we hiked up with our guidebook to spot some of the climbs.
This is 'Taipan Wall' and somewhat out of our league for climbing up, but it was well worth walking up to see. It's like someone sliced off the mountain side with a knife. It's an impressive gently overhanging cliff if of about 70m in height. And a wonderful orange colour!
There were also some other cool natural rock sculptures on our walk up Mt Stypleton.
Like this 'camel/bird/thing'...
The erosion on some of the rocks has just left the craziest shapes.
We made it back to the van just before dark and decided to stay put for tonight. It's times like these when the camper really comes up trumps. It's also warmer over here, so no heaters are required. All we had to do was get in, get the kettle on and collapse on the sofa...
Arapiles, Organ Pipes;
- Hornpipe, 13***
- Conifer Crack, 10**
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