New Year's Day, what better way to start off the new year by going rock climbing? I know right. Started a bit later than usual, and met up with Gene and Thanjon to go climb at Barden's Lookout. None of us could stay so long either, so we definitely made the most of the 3 or 4 hours we had out there. Warmed up on Lady Stardust, which Thanjon hated for some reason, I found it quite pleasant!
Then each of us threw ourselves at a 24 each in the cave, which Gene ticking Jean Genie, Thanjon ticking Chicken Skin and me failing Goosebumps, kept falling off the final dyno... Damn! This pretty much ruined my skin because I had tried it 3 times.
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| Gourmet Lunch! Trout, Crackers, Chocolate Milk, Gatorade |
Headed back afterwards, the kebab shop was closed, but Foodworks was open, so we got lunch with a random assortment of food in there. That night, I went back to Barluck with my parents, and two cousins from Melbourne, who were visiting Sydney. I was ridiculously tired, nearly fell asleep in the food.
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| Dinner! |
Day after, on the 2nd, yes, more climbing! Went to Hartley Vale road crag, which has some nice afternoon shade to do a couple of routes. Warmed up on the easy corner and did the classic 21, Something with Spiders. I didn't see any spiders, but Thanjon did! Then put ourselves on two Mike Law routes; Hitlistless, which was terrifying and hard, but we managed to send it! Then Alpaca Corner, which was dirty as anything, until we cleaned it up, we think it's a great slab now!
The ground was pretty wrecked from all the back burning, and there was so much rock around, lots of potential for more routes in this area. Access is ridiculously easy, the walk in takes about one minute. Finished off the day with some kebabs!
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| Logan Brae |
On the Saturday, 4th, we hit up Logan Brae around lunch time; it was a hot day and it has shade in the afternoon, perfect! The only problem is that the whole crag is overhanging and the easiest route is a solid 22; not the best one to warm up on. Managed to both onsight/flash it, then proceeded to get spanked an awkward 23! Tried another route afterwards, but couldn't finish it; I had hit the wall. The new Black Diamond harness I got from Climbing Anchors was great!
We called it early and went back to Wentworth Falls for some food and coffee.
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| Bare Essentials - Andy Richardson |
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| These People Are Sandwiches |
Afterwards, we headed down to The Glen, where we bumped into Andy! He was trucking through a monstrous amounts of route, which really didn't seem to stress him out at all. He is too strong. Thanjon set his eyes on Ernest in Africa, an arete roof, it looked like a nice line! We both sent it second shot, and the crux sequence is just too fun.
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| Pre-crux heel hook |
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| Mid crux, he's not holding jugs! |
Called it a day after that, and went back to Mountain High Pies to have lunch!
7th, went out with Esmeralda to go to the city; hadn't seen her in a while, so decided to catch up! Got off at Town Hall, and she was interested in a bookstore called 'Abbey's Bookshop', which she had heard was on Kent Street. Great, no need for google maps, we'll just walk along Kent Street, because I wouldn't mind having a browse in some of the outdoor stores, still kind of the sale period, so why not?
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| Thanjon was looking for a crash pad, this seemed alright |
We had ended up pretty much finished Kent Street, and hadn't found it yet; I decided to go get some lunch in Chinatown first, before we continued our search! While eating, she pondered the idea of going to the aquarium, and hoping it wouldn't cost many Yolos.
(So, Thanjon and I came up with a new form of currency, called Yolos. One dollar, is one Yolo; PEOPLE WILL CATCH ON!)
Me: Oh man, this Osprey I want costs tooo much!
Thanjon: YOLO
Me: That's ... a lot of Yolos
That's kind of the conversation, I don't quite remember.
We didn't end up going to the aquarium, and cheated to find the book store, and spent a surprisingly long time in there. We kind of used it as a library, and the upstairs section was just hilarious. Paranormal romance section, it was the cheesiest thing you could imagine! Found a book that I forgot existed, and sat there reading it for a while with her; "Hyperbole and a Half" by Allie Brosh, I had read her blog posts in the past, and it is just the funniest thing.
Walked through the botanic gardens afterwards, and ended up watching a really cool street show. It's always in the same spot at Circular Quay, I swear.
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| The weirdest panorama I've taken. |
Next day, 8th, more climbing! Well, specifically bouldering. Met up with Sid at Penrith (because I missed my train and the connection up the mountains). Got some sushi, and Thanjon made a detour to get us at Penrith instead. Thanjon had retrieved my crash pad from Chew's house in the morning earlier, I had forgotten it there a while back! Jimmy and Seann were also going to be coming along as well.
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| Taping up |
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| Doctor |
It wasn't meant to be such a tiring day, but Thanjon and I ended up powering out a lot of routes, ticking Doctor V5; all the easiest ones and then working on some new ones we hadn't tried before. Skin was absolutely destroyed by the end of the day. We had Maccas at Blaxland afterwards, with Seann and Jimmy leaving earlier; Big Mac's really go down well.
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| Nephrectomy |
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| Say ahhhhhh |
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| Really nice looking wall |
That night, met up with Ben Young, his brother Will, Paul and Thanjon to watch The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It was a good movie, apparently quite different to the book; and there was just a sense of happiness throughout, a feel good movie. I enjoyed it.
9th. Underestimating how sore we were from bouldering the previous day, Thanjon and I planned to go to Sublime Point to climb. The weather was cloudy all day, and we thought it would rain, so the Binary Cave area would be perfect to climb. Most of the day, I spent repeating my favourite moderate climbs in the area; had only attempted a new 22 slab I hadn't before, but couldn't link it, just too tired. It will go easily when I'm fresh, though. However, Thanjon couldn't even do the crux moves! Got him on a few slabs during the day so he could refine his slab technique. Since he's been back, we have really only been doing vertical and steep routes. Also got to try out my new Osprey pack!
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