Mountain Lifestyle: Siren, Arapiles

Saturday 16 July 2016

Siren, Arapiles

Woke to be greeted with two alarming discoveries this morning. Firstly, according to the altimeter on my watch, we were -7 metres under sea level. Having ascertained that this was just due to an overnight change in pressure, rather than a sudden rise in sea level, I checked the thermometer which was reading 1 degree above freezing. Judging by the frost covered windows, this reading seemed pretty accurate! It was a bold dash from the bed to the other end of the van to get the heater going.

Even with the heater fired up, it was still too cold for the gas stove to be working properly, so took a while to get a warming brew served back in bed. Hot porridge was favoured over the usual musli and fruits. The good news though, was that it was a stunner of a morning. Not a cloud in the sky and as the sun rose higher, the frost melted away and we basked in the morning warmth.

Given the fantastic weather, we decided to head up another big route, as at least we'd not have to worry about it raining.

We climbed a route called 'Siren'. It's one of the first recorded rock climbs here and had more great climbing. From the second belay, you have to step from the top of a detached pinnacle to rejoin the main cliff. It was quite a committing 'step' across and was full stretch for me - and there was no going back once I'd committed!

For the final pitch, we did a harder varient called the direct finish which involves simply fantastic climbing and is highly recommended!

It was the kind of day to enjoy the summit views and revel in the warmth of the sun.

After following a well made path back down, we returned to the van for a very late lunch in the form of a repeat of yesterday's high cuisine. Even though it was about 4pm, the sun was already low in the sky. We enjoyed it until the shadows finally reached us and the moon appeared above the trees.

As the cliffs were now blocking the sun, we decided to drive upto the summit and see what was the other side of the mountain. It's hard to appreciated just how flat the surrounding land is!

Behind the mountains, there was more forests rather than farm lands though.

In the last of the light, we drove back to Natimuk. We had planned on camping at the crag, but another frosty night is forecast, so we'd opted for an electric plug in and some heat in the van! On our way back, we stopped off to look around Natimuk.

It's a one road town, and very old. It's lost a bit of its hussle since to boom days of the mid 1800s, but none of its character! On a whim, we ducked into the 'National Hotel' for a pot of Castlemane XXXX. It was as wacky as we had hoped. The smattering of patrons must have been in there all day and were just about managing to balance on their bar stools. The local Ozzy Rules Football team were also in the house and eventually got carted off in a bus somewhere. It was just like a crocodile Dundee 'watering hole' scene. Brilliant, but one drink was enough!

Just before we left, I spotted this photo on the wall. If you look closely, you'll notice the climber is not only climbing one of the hardest routes here, but he has no ropes, is swigging a beer and is wearing flip flops!! Ridiculous! What a hero!