After an uneventful night in a 'quirky' little caravan/trailer park/retirement village/camp in a industrial estate on the edge of Brisbane, we were pretty keen to get out and into the city centre. They obviously didn't get many passing travellers from Europe, (or from Australia for that matter), but especially not from Wales. We turned out to be quite a novelty and several of the elderly 'residents' came out to see for themselves, what they thought to be genuine Welshman! Given their excitement, I didn't have the heart to say I was actually born in England! Anyway, they seemed delighted and by mid morning, we were marvelling at yet another new horizon.
Kangaroo Point is an unusual setting for a rock climbing venue, as it is right in the heart of the city; on the banks of the River Brisbane. Having parked directly above the cliff, we walked down the convenient steps, to the well groomed base, next to the cycle track, park and river. We got straight to work on a few routes while there was still some shade.
The weather is a funny thing here. Now that it's got warm and summery and we can live in shorts and t-shirts, it's basically too hot to be in the direct sunshine! After a few climbs, we had to retreat to the shade of the nearby trees for some lunch and a cool down.
The rock is a quarried face, so many of the holds are angular or flat, slightly sloping edges. It took a bit of caution to climb as also, the first bolts are very high up off the floor compared to the standards we are used to. A 20m climb here, might also only have three of four bolts on it! We climbed carefully and slowly and used up loads of chalk as we sweated between moves.
At the top end of the cliff is a cafe with a a fantastically positioned terrace. When the afternoon got too hot, we went up for refreshments and to soak up the vista. Have a look at the bottom right of this photos - can you see what I did as I was leaning over the balcony rail.
That's right - a big Lizard! It was about 40cm long! None of the other patrons seemed very bothered about it, but it was a new sight for me compared to the little gekos you see in Europe!
After a nice breather up at the cafe view point, we returned to the other end of the cliff for more climbs and to meet our friend Lou, who lives in Brisbane. The sky was starting to cloud over so the temperature was becoming pleasantly cool again. In the distance it looked like it might even be raining. Time for a couple of quick climbs still we thought...
Wrong! Time for one climb only! Clare was just setting off up the second climb when the heavy rain drops started to fall. We had left some karabiners at the top lower-off, so she had to race up to retrieve them as the monsoon rains arrived! By the time she was back on the ground, we were both soaked to the skin! We crammed the ropes in dripping wet packs and scampered up the steps to the van. We'd just dried off and got changed when Lou arrived! This time we set out with the brolly and waterproofs!
She took us for a walk along the southbank which has been beautifully landscaped and planted like a botanical garden, all along the river walkway.
They've even made a beach with fountains, sand and swimming pools!
And of course, a host of cafes and bars, where we stopped to catch up over a drink, before heading back to her place for a delicious roast dinner!
Kangaroo Point:
- Bottle Stopper, 15*
- Pretennial Romanticide, 14*
- Hanging Garden, 12*
- Spooge in a Glove, 14* (in pouring rain!)
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