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7 more days and I will be on the plane to Phuket. It will be a long awaited vacation.

I will be heading off with a few friends initially, before meeting up with the rest of the climbing crew in Railay Beach.

Most of us will be spending a few days in and around Tonsai, before taking a boat trip to Laoliang Island for Christmas. We will pretty much spend most of our time climbing the relatively new routes on the island. Of course there will also be plenty of beach, beer and relaxation, not necessarily in that order.

One part of the preparation for the trip involved plenty of training at the local climbing gym, while the other part involved upgrading to a new camera. My old Kodak camera just wouldn’t do.

So as part of the Christmas present for myself, I ordered a new Canon PowerShot S3 IS. Not the latest model, but it certainly rated highly amongst those in the know.

As for the other part of the present, I can’t do anything about that except count down the days…

Just one more month till I leave for Railey Beach, on a much anticipated climbing trip. Situated in Krabi, the area is famous for it’s limestone karst cliffs. Perfect for us rock climbers!

After meeting the rest of the crew over there, I will spend much of my time soaking up the sun and scrambling up cliff faces. It won’t be easy, but someone has to do it…

;)

Spent another weekend at the Grampians. It rained quite a bit again, but we managed to set up some top ropes on the Back Wall in Summer Day Valley. I wanted to clean a few climbs that gave me a bit of trouble last time. One climb that gave everyone problems was Tootsie Direct (22). There is only the one move, but it is not a straight forward affair. It involved smearing off a tiny not so positive crimper, then crossing over to another crimper. After quite a few attempts, I managed to make the move, then eventually cleaned it.

Some other climbs on that wall included Tootsie Indirect (19), Overkill (17) and 666 (17). We were lucky the skies only made threatening gestures, but did not rain. It was an easy going day. We were just happy that we got some climbs in.

On the way back, we decided to stop over in Ararat at the Blue Duck Hotel (yes, it sounds gay, but no, it ain’t), to have a nice steak. The place is a very unassuming pub, complete with a few locals who could be mistaken as fixtures if you didn’t look closely enough. The walls were plastered with photos from district footy triumphs, as well as what passes for local humour.

We got there too early for dinner, so huddled near the fire place to warm up. After having a couple of beers and a game of pool, we adjourned to the dining room to make our orders. Everyone ordered the eye fillet, because that was all K and I talked about on the trip there.

Although not cheap, the eye fillets were big, thick and juicy. Served on a blue stone brick heated to 400°C, it was up to the diner to cook their steak the way they liked it. I had it medium rare, with a hollandaise sauce. *drool* Definitely the place to drop in for a good steak if you are anywhere near Ararat!

After the awesome steak, we made our way back to Melbourne, as the weather closed in and it started pissing down outside. Another great weekend, all in the spirit of training for Railay at years end! Woohoo!

Spent last weekend up in the Grampians doing a bit of climbing. It had been a while since I climbed there last. A friend, K, had hired a house in Halls Gap for the weekend, so it was the most comfortable and luxurious climbing trip I’ve had to date. If only the weather had held out a bit longer.

Saturday was a great day, with perfect conditions for climbing. We spent the whole day at Wall of Fools.

Sunday, was spent at Bundaleer. M was seconding the first pitch of a pretty straightforward climb, with K leading. They were both sitting on top of the ledge, contemplating the next section, when the weather decided to turn ugly. It started raining and the wind picked up. From where they were sitting underneath a huge roof (an overhanging slab of rock 40-50m above them), they hardly felt the change in weather. The only indication of foul weather was when they looked down the valley, which was misted up with rain and wind. K decided to try to go on a little bit further. She did a hairy traverse to the next section of the climb which was a little more exposed. This was when she realised it would be too wet and windy continue. The air had chilled somewhat as well, so she was beginning to get hypothermia, since she didn’t have warm gear on.

She decided to wrap herself up in some rope to keep warm, while the cavalry, T, clambered up to the rescue. T set up an anchor around a boulder, from which they all abseiled off. I’d say the girls had a pretty good rush from the experience. Shaken but not stirred!

We spent the rest of the day underneath a huge cavern, in front of a roaring fire. A great way to finish off a great weekend!

Easter long weekend is usually a good time to get away from the city. Since I have spent many weekends on the coast recently, I decided to trek inland with some friends to Mount Arapiles instead. If you are a keen climber you would have probably heard of it.

Mount Arapiles has more than 2000 climbing routes (mostly trad) and is one of the best known climbing areas in Australia.

The trip from Melbourne took 4 hours. We didn’t get underway till pretty late, so it was 1am by the time we got to the campsite.

Setting up camp in the dark is always fun. It’s quite funny sometimes to find yourself camped in the middle of a busy track the next day.

When morning comes, everyone wakes up to the sound of magpies and kookaburras.

There were roughly 15 people in our group and normally we get together for breakfast to discuss our plans for the day.

On the first day, we started out doing some single pitch climbs. My mate did the leading, while I was tasked with gear removal.

On this trip my goal was to learn how to place gear effectively. Gear removal is a good way to learn this.

Over the course of the weekend, as part of a group of two or three, I did some climbs which took three or four pitches to complete. These longer climbs (about 120m high) usually took most of the day, so by the end of the climb, we were happy to kick back at camp and have a beer or three.

Dinner time was a good time for everyone to tell their climbing stories for the day. Mixed with beer, the tales were quite entertaining.

Of all the climbs I attempted, I’d have to say Arachnus (9∗∗∗) and The Watchtower Crack (16∗∗∗) impressed me the most. The combination of height and exposure did it for me.

It’s hard to describe the sense of exhilaration as I made my way up the cliff face.

Instinct made me want to finish the climb quickly. However, another part of me wanted to slow down so I could take it all in…

…the rock face, the swirling wind, the spectacular scenery stretching away far below me, the adrenalin - what a rush!

A friend decided that this year for his birthday, we should all do a spot of camping in Wilson’s Promontory, as opposed to camping in the mountains like we normally do.

About twenty of us went on the trip. Most left after work on Friday night, while a few like me decided to leave early Saturday morning for the three hour drive.

As it turned out, I made the better choice. I learnt later that many other people drove down on Friday night. Normally this would be ok if it was anywhere else, but since ‘the Prom’ is a National Park, there were camping restrictions. So, to get into the reserve, everyone had to check in. Thus, the long queue. Finding a camp site and setting up camp is not fun in the dark.

Heading off at 6am on Saturday, I took the scenic route and made it there by 9am, just in time for breakfast before hitting the beach.

Saturday was spent at Whisky Beach, while Sunday was at Squeaky Beach.

The surf was pretty good on the second day, so we did a spot of swimming/surfing/body surfing/body boarding/jumping up and down to the wave motion/swallowing of sea water.

The Prom is strewn with granite boulders. If we weren’t in the surf we were bouldering.

When night came, the beers came out, while we sat around in the darkness star gazing. It would have been nice to have had a fire going, but due to the extremely hot weather, there was a blanket fire ban over the whole of Victoria. The mossies were a bit of a nuisance, but I think the alcohol dulled the itching - till I got home.

A great weekend indeed.

Note: If you plan to head to the Prom for some camping, make sure you bring insect repellant. There are plenty of biting bugs down that way. The march flies are the most annoying. Some of them look like humming birds. I kid you not.

Had a relaxing couple of days this weekend. The weather has been hovering around the high-30s C, so I headed down the Mornington Peninsula. Spent two days lazing on beaches around Portsea and Sorrento.

Only an hour’s drive from the city, it’s the best place to go and relax. I guess that’s why half of Melbourne heads that way. (The other half heads in the opposite direction, up the Great Ocean Road.)

During winter, Melbourne weather can get a little gloomy, so when summer comes, everyone wants their piece of sunshine. There is one thing about the Australian sun. It can get very intense.

Normally, tourists from countries with less sunshine, having arrived in town for a holiday and not accustomed to our sun, tend to over idulge on the solar rays. They are the ones walking around with glowing red complexions. Not unlike a red lobster.

Well, after the weekend I could be mistaken for hapless tourist. Too much sun and not enough sunscreen is not a good mix. Sunburn is fun. Not!

I’ll know better for next week.

It was the hottest day in Melbourne in 53 years, with the mercury hitting 42.1°C. Luckily we had organised a weekend getaway down the coast. The golf fanatics stuck with their golf. The rest stocked up on booze and spent the day sipping beers, while soaking in the cool sea. It was hard work. We gave it our best shot. I think we succeeded.

After two days of this, we were quite exhausted so decided to head back early - before the rush. As it turned out, everybody else down the peninsula had the same idea…

On top of that, a bushfire had cut off part of the highway for a period of time, so traffic was banked up for miles. It was great fun waiting in mid-30°C heat. But that’s just part of the holiday tradition. Half the fun was the journey. We’ll have to do it again soon.

Related: Ten Top Barbecue Places

I’ve added more photos to the gallery, from my visit to Angkor Wat. As you can see, I visited many wats (temples)!

After a full day in the sun and being almost the last person to leave the island, I was ready, as I ever will be, to go home.

With my boarding pass, passport and departure tax paid (500 baht), I boarded my flight at 12:30am (Bangkok time). I arrived back in Melbourne at 1:10pm (Melbourne time). The flight took about 8 hours of hell.

Having had the window seat for all the flights I’ve taken throughout the trip, I scored bigtime and got middle seat in center row (i.e. 2 people on either side of me). Two kids in front. And a projector screen two rows in front of mine.

I’m a light sleeper at the best of times, so for this flight it meant no sleep at all. To top it off, the girl next to me was running a temperature and had a fever. I couln’t help but think SARS or bird flu. Half way through the night she did the techni-coloured yawn, luckily into a barf bag.

Apart from all that, it was all peaches and roses. Now, I will just have to wait and see what my fate will be.

So, now that the trip is over and I am home with a decent connection, I will gradually go through the pictures and post them up in the gallery for anyone who wants a peek. Register to gain access to the gallery.

I will also add images to previous entries. As they say “A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words”.

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