Mt Arapiles

Off on the open road, in search of the world famous 'Mt Arapiles' Rock climbing area! 

Many many birthdays ago, Aunty Norah gave me a photographic book called 'Top Climbs of the World'. In a kind of un- planned, yet sub-conscious way, it turns out I've slowly been ticking my way through it. I had a flick through (as I do from time to time), before we left on this trip and found that I'd now been to many of the documented areas. From the easily accessed alpine mixed routes above Chamonix to remote rock climbs on Mt Kenya I now found myself on the far side of the planet, en-route to the highly recommended Mt Arapiles, which is also in the book!

The road from our camp at Lake Burrembeet, was straight as an arrow and went on for miles and generally without much in the way of traffic...

The weather was mostly overcast although we passed through some very heavy downpours on the way, which were interspersed with some vibrant rainbows.

We stopped in the town of Horsham for a  spot of lunch. It was pretty cold and wet at this point, so we were glad to be able to brew up easily in the comfort of the van.

Finally, we passed through the tiny town of Natimuk, and just beyond, the cliffs reared into sight! Yahoo! We'd made it!

The clouds briefly parted as we pulled up at 'Declaration Rock' but it was still too wet to climb. We were happy to get out of the van and just have a walk about while the rain had stopped. 

 

Less than a kilometre further up the road, we got to the camp ground and the rain began again. But who cares about the rain, when you pull into the camp area and find yourself greeted by a kangaroo!! 

There are loads of 'Roos' just hanging around the camp. They are great fun to watch and are like nothing I've ever seen before. They bounce around so effortlessly. The birds are also just as unusual and the noises they make seem ever so exotic. I must buy a bird book when we next get to a town. I think might be a Kookaburra just sheltering from the rain next to us?...

It was an alarmingly cold 4 degrees when we arrived at Arapiles. Then the sun set and and it dipped further still. Hardly what you'd expect for Australia!?  We were at least lucky enough not to be one of the tent bound climbers in the campsite, but even so, it was baltic in the van! Without an electric hook up, we have no heat, so down jackets, hats and thermals were donned while cooking dinner! Thankfully (as this van could sleep four people) there are two double 'dooners' (duvets), - we needed both to stay warm during the night! Rain hammered down on the van roof, but I was still comatose soon after 9pm as my jet lag continues to knock me out...