Nowra

Hello!

Well, I had the absolute best weekend ever. Hands down, the best weekend EVER. It basically involved a road trip down to Nowra for the best sport climbing crag in NSW! I was originally meant to sleep over at Thanjons on Friday night then go up to Blackheath on Saturday, but Baden and Louise decided to make something extra awesome out of the weekend, and thus, Nowra! Ended up going with Baden, Louise and Damion.

Woke up around 6:30am to meet at up at Penrith with them all, went to grab second breakfast at McDonalds and Damo had to vote for the local election, then we headed off towards Nowra! Three or so hours later, we reached our campsite for the night (Shoalhaven ski park) Me and Damo canoe'd (free rental) across, we were hopeless the first time! Baden and Lou kayak'd across with their own kayaks! We forgot the guide book so Baden went back to get it. Our climbing area is called Thompson's Point and there are so many climbs there. Over 200.

Walked around and about, and pretty much just did as many classics as we could and also ones in the sun, since it was windy as hell! Onsighted 4 climbs, and dogged one, Baden took a ground fall on this 6 metre 18, but he was okay. Was truly a holy shit moment! Lou was the one that happened to get hurt more, burnt her hand because she squeezed the wrong end of the rope unfortunately! She was okay too though, thankfully. I did a climb called Orca, probably my favourite climb, ever. It started off with awesome pockets and traversed around an arete, then ended with a balancey slabby finish. Awesome fun! You can see all the climbs I did/do here. Didn't see a single person, which was odd.

We headed back and we were much better at controlling the canoe this time, haha. Wind was still kicking ass, Baden was pretty cold, forgot his jacket! We snacked around on stuff all day, but were still hungry as hell. We set up our tents while there was still light and then headed off into the town for some dinner. Settled for Subway, then went to Coles/Liquorland to get more supplies for the night and the next day! I also got a Roast Chicken from Coles because well, I was still hungry, and it was cold, wah! Actually, it wasn't THAT cold, but the wind was just horrendous. Got back, made a camp fire, talked, drank, ate, all that stuff. Went to bed sort of early, around 10pm or so.

Woke up a bit before 8am, returned our canoe, so we could maximise climbing time (so we don't have to go back early to return it before close) Put the kayaks back on top of the car, packed the tents, had breakfast. (Stuff we bought from Coles) and we drove to the crag. Baden was tired as hell, and we went to Coles for ENERGY DRINKS! 3 more onsights (including one top-rope), one pink point and one dogged climb (so upset about that, gah!) They were all great climbs though, truly awesome. Bumped into plenty of people today, and the wind had stopped, perfect weather for climbing! Was completely knackered and sleepy by the end of the day, left a bit before sunset and headed home. One hour later, stopped by KFC for a feed, yummmmmm. Damo drove the rest of the way, dropped me off and it was official, best. weekend. ever!

Ciao!

Wollongong ahead!

Just after Wollongong.

Our canoe, and the crag in the background.

Damo, car, kayaks!

Ready to head off!

Kookaburra that was just watching us climb.

Rest position on Orca, so I decided to take a photo of the very enthusiastic belayer Damo!

Baden just under the crux of Orca, truly an awesome climb.

Got it!

Heading back to the campsite.

Using his piercing to hold the light to eat, "Wait... I gotta lift it so I can eat"

Campfire + wind = Flying embers!

Great day, sleepy time!

View while eating breakfast!

Packing up.

Taking a picture of the crag, from the campsite!

Taking a picture of the campsite, from the crag!

Lou top-roping Vanderholics, I onsighted these two routes. Both were awesome!

Couldn't do this, was an awesome one though!

Lou top-roping Santa's Little Helper. It was my EOD climb, I also top-roped, too tired!

Long tiring (but awesome) weekend!

As we were leaving.

At the top of Thompson's point.

Realization

Still sick, much better though!
In the mean time, my week has been pretty ... stressful, (but also fun) i procrastinated an assignment and started it the day before. I did finish it however!

So... what else did I do this week?

On Sunday, I went to 'The Surgery' with Dave, Mary, Damion, Baden and his dad! Father's day! I took a video of me climbing, but it turned out shit because of the lighting, so I'll leave a photo instead! (Not on the day unfortunately, but of the place!) Unfortunately, didn't send the climbs I was working on, but did a V1 and repeated a few V2s.

EDIT: I will put a screenshot of the video!

Well, like always! went climbing on Tuesday night at the climbing centre :D
Finally sent all my mini-projects upstairs in the bouldering room, very happy with that. nearly finished the blue circuit on the main wall, so close! We had a group of 30 UWS Penrith res peeps come climb, a lot of them were clueless so I had to help them out with their harness, good guy jason! learnt a bit more about the job at TCC, i'm definitely going to take up that job soon, probably when i finish my assessments.

Wednesday, i went to get a haircut, it's short again! i like feeling the breeze, it's so nice! Afterwards, I went to my orthodontist appointment, just a simple check up, then I had plenty of time to spare, so I decided to go to ClimbOz. To visit Halil, who recently bought it off the old owners to restore it, it is absolutely great and I intend to head back soon! Tried out two routes, one with an awesome dyno, and a roof climb, great fun! :D

Thursday, I went out with Briseida to Cabramatta to eat and hang out! I took her to a place called "Vinh Phat" which is amazing, it is the best Yum Cha ever, period. PERIOD. She did some grocery shopping like a housewife, got some Yummi to drink, some pandan waffle and then I got a new theme on my phone, thanks to her :O Then I decided to mess around with some of her friends that texted, har har har. Was very nice seeing her again! :D
I then went to work, my manager is back! Mo bought some El Jannah chicken, and I had that during my short break, DIVINE. LOVED IT. Tony gave me a lift home again, legend, best boss ever. (He's the other manager) I really like my job, haha! Although, I found out I have zero shifts next week, I guess I better hurry up and get working at The Climbing Centre!

Today, I voted early because I will be spending the weekend driving down to Nowra with some mates, to camp, canoe, and climb! Went to work in Parramatta, worked with Samantha for a bit, been ages since I've seen her!

Another blog coming soon, because I expect my weekend to be epic! Good night, I need to go pack for the weekend, need to wake up at like 6am, yikes! It's almost midnight, blargh.

Teflon V2 - The Surgery

Me and Sam felt that this was a great addition to their white board!

Bri! (Also my haircut)