Thankyou

April 12, 2016 peterblunt23 2 Comments

photograph by William Blunt

Thankyou

I’ve learned over the year that when I open myself up to taking note of deeper meaning in experiences and looking for connections they tumble forth with reflection onto the page. The added richness to life and adventures has been surprising and wonderful.

This journey has taken me into the ocean, canyons, rivers, caves, cliffs, forests, deserts and to sacred mountains.

“52adventuresblog.com” has given me the structure to write and photograph and film regularly.

Along the way I have tried to minimise the self-indulgence and self-focus inherent in a blog and attempted to give attention to those alongside. By far the most popular entries have been about “others”.

THANKYOU for your interest, for reading, mostly for sharing being out there in the bush. Your company has been a treasure. Thankyou for letting me write about you. With your help and support I was able to complete the 52^nd adventure on the 365^th day of the year following completion of the first adventure. More importantly I was privileged to be able to share time with very special people. THANKYOU.

The future

I might explore a very small print run self-published book of the highlights (let me know if you are interested). The blog will remain live. The adventures will continue and the writing will happen at opportune times. But I won’t try to keep to 52 in the year. Other writing will take precedence – Africa Stories, contributing to a mythopoetic book on outdoor education, working on films and who knows what else. Maybe a small charity initiative taking shape – “Save the Planet, Save the World – One Day at a Time”.

Thankyou,

Peter

52 adventures list

95 days in the bush for the year

Trips from ½ a day to 10 days duration

Canberra area, Blue Mountains, Snowy Mountains, Tasmania, Central Australia

Activities – rockclimbing, caving, cross country skiing, cycling, hiking, surfing, canyoning, ocean swimming, vertical rescue, abseiling, whitewater kayaking, ski touring

Thankyou

52 Bowens Creek Canyon

7/2/16 Canyoning – Blue Mountains Lower Bowens Creek North

51 Serendipity

6/2/16 Canyoning – Blue Mountains Serendipity and Wollangambe 2 Canyons

50 Edge – Night Climb

4/2/16 Booroomba Rocks Rock climbing

49 Gibraltar Creek

11/1/16 Natural world immersion

48 Bogong Moth Frenzy NYE

31/12/15 – 1/1/16 Brindabellas mountain peak

47 Settlers Track

28/12/15 Hiking

46 Bold and the Beautiful

Ocean swimming Manly to Shelley Beach return 23,24,25/12/15

45 Surfing Manly with Royalty

Surfing – Manly Beach 20 – 24/12/15

44 Drawing the line

14/12/15 Bungonia – Cooee Point Abseiling

43 Big Wall Roped Solo Booroomba

10-11/12/15 Booroomba Rocks Rockclimbing

42 Underestimated and Under threat – The Best of the Snowies on Foot

5-6/12/15 Snowy Mountains Hiking

41 Volunteer

3/12/15 Budawang Ranges Hiking

40 Respect, Admiration and Gratitude

2/12/15 Booroomba Rocks Rockclimbing – with Neil Montgomery

39 Friends Fab Fun on the river

14/11/15 Cotter to Urriara Crossing 1.43 on guage at Mt. McDonald

38 Fog

11/11/15 Camels Hump and Pierce Trig Hiking 18km

37 Fields of flowers

4/11/15 Short Wednesday walk – Tuggeranong Hill. 8km. 2 ¼ hours.

36 Vertical Rescue

29/10 – 1/11/15 White Rocks, Snake Rock, artificial environment, Legoland

35 Rope Guiding

20/10/15 Jindabyne Rock Abseil guiding

34 Hero At The Seaside

16 – 19/10/15 Cycling and bodysurfing – Illawarra coast

33 Snakes and Lizards

15/10/15 Western Foreshores Walk – Googong Dam carpark to Tin Hut return – 21 km Hiking

32 Riverplay

23/9/15 Point Hut to Pine Island – Murrumbidgee River Whitewater kayaking

31 A walk to the creek with Mum

30/8/15 Pennant Hills Park

30 Making the Most

25 – 27 Aug 2015 Perisher Valley Nordic trails Cross country skiing

29 Jagungal – Journey to the sacred mountain

17 – 20/8/15 Kosciuszko National Park – Jagungal Wilderness Ski touring

28 Cross country ski trails with novices and winter Olympians.

14/8/15 Nordic Ski Trails – Perisher Valley Cross country skiing

27 Mount Twynam – A Day in a Life

26 Larapinta – Part 2 Ellery Creek to Simpsons Gap – 9 days

8/7 – 15/7/15 Western Macdonald Ranges – Northern Territory – Central Australia Hiking

25 Larapinta Trail – Part 1 Mount Sonder – Day walk

7/7/15 Western Macdonald Ranges – Northern Territory – Central Australia Hiking

24 A chilly swim in the local river

30 June Murrumbidgee River Whitewater kayaking

23 A walk in the old country – Gibraltar Peak

26 June Gibraltar Peak – Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve Hiking

22 Cliffcare

21 June Honeysuckle Crag – Namadgi Rockclimbing

21 Outlaws, bushrangers and hidden treasure

12 June Canberra Nature Park – Rob Roy Hiking

20 If we could read this landscape

6 – 8 June Budawang Range Hiking

19 Bucket List

4 June Googong Hiking

18 The Good the Bad and the Ugly

1 – 2 June 2015 Wee Jasper again – days 8 and 9 working underground Caving

17 Caving Connections

26 – 27/5/15 Wee Jasper again Caving

16 The Outdoor Education Teacher Underground

18 – 20/5/15 Wee Jasper Caving

15 Walking with Dad

9 – 10/5/15 Blue Mountains – Blue Gum Forest Bushwalking

14 Conversations while Walking for Pleasure

7/5/15 Canberra Centenary Trail Walking

13 Club day at the local

3/5/15 Booroomba Rocks Rockclimbing

12 Back at school – On the river

30/4 – 1/5/15 Clyde River Canoeing and kayaking two day tour between Nelligen and Anglers Reach.

Notes on Falling

11 Ethics and Retreat

Secret spot #2 14 – 16 April Rockclimbing – more new routes

Interlude Run

Canberra half marathon April 12

10 Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Maria Island – Tasmania March 30 – April 1 Bush cycling

9 Test of the toughest

Freycinet – east coast Tasmania March 26 – 28 Hiking

7 and 8 Pine Valley

March 17 – 20 Tasmania – Lake St Clair area Hiking

The Labyrinth, Cephissus Falls

6 Rocky Cape

March 16 Tasmania north coast Day walk

5 Adventure climbing

March 10 – 12 Secret spot in the Blue Mountains – no clues given Rockclimbing new routes

4 Eighteen

March 8 Booroomba Rocks Multi pitch rockclimbing

3 “The biggest abseil you could do on a school trip”

March 5 Blue Mountains Abseiling

2 Back on Rock

Feb 15 Booroomba Rocks Rockclimbing

1 Surfing in the Lucky Country

2 – 8 Feb 2015 Point Plomer – mid north coast NSW Surfing

Canyoning

Bowens Creek Canyon

March 8, 2016 peterblunt23 Leave a comment

Bowens Creek Canyon

7/2/16

Canyoning – Blue Mountains

Lower Bowens Creek North

A narrow foot track led us down into a land of deep green, damp, tree ferns, moss, mud, huge trees. Near the bottom a monster trunk had fallen diagonally across the gully.

This canyon offered “bang for your buck”. Lots of action in a small distance.

Jumps in, balances across logs, swims, scrambles through blockups, walks through wondrous narrows, passings beneath dripping ferns. We kept moving to stay warm, abseiled beside waterfalls into cold swirling water, laughed, marvelled at the grandeur of it all.

At a quiet sojourn Piper asked “How are your 52 adventures going Pete?” “When’s the last day?”

“This is 52. And today’s the last day of the year!” My face was just one big grin. We high fived then continue on.

Admired the stunning beauty, smiled and wowed as midday sunlight beamed down on us between the high walls. We awed at the power in floods, the tangled log jams and massive chockstones above.

And then we broke out into warm sunshine. A large orange yabbie welcomed us to a sandy lunch spot where we rested before the hike and climb out.

Canyoning

Serendipity

March 6, 2016 peterblunt23 Leave a comment

Serendipity

6/2/16

Canyoning – Blue Mountains

Serendipity and Wollangambe 2 Canyons

http://https://youtu.be/Bq3fJJSoBak

Summers for more than a decade I had dreamed of spending time exploring new canyons in the Blue Mountains.

Hot weather, too hot for other activities. Canyon water is cold. The perfect time of year.

Time now. Invitations to a variety of friends turned into a team of five.

Heavy rain two days before limited our options. Serendipity Canyon has a small catchment and so we could be reasonably confident most of the rain would have passed through.

Serendipity.

None of us had done it before. Perfect.

Serendipity means a “fortunate happenstance” or “pleasant surprise”. It was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to a friend, Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made by reference to a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he told his correspondent, were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”. (Wikipedia)

The first abseils went smoothly and took us deeper into the green, narrow chasm. Sandstone walls towered above. We walked downstream, in the water, balanced on logs, over boulders, at our own pace, taking it all in, staying in touch with each other. Sprinkling rain – light and not a bother.

People serendip into our lives. I’ve been luckier than most. Kathy descended first down into a twisted gulch beside a waterfall then yelled up that there was a stance below. She was generous, committed, insightful, creative, optimistic and incredibly hard working. She had been crucial to many of the biggest parts of my career – the local Outdoor Ed. Association, professional development, training programs for adults, a national teaching award, post grad research and an unpaid staff person on most of the “Big Trips” – The Reef, The Nullarbor, Point Perp. She’s just a remarkable person. Canyoning. This was our first personal trip together through 20 years of collaborative effort.

More gorgeous creek walking, drizzle and swims.

The trick is to be awake to the fortunate happenstance. To realise that something special is going on. To take note and appreciate. Piper scrambled down out of sight then reappeared swimming through the rift way below. Almost a decade prior she had sat at the back of the classroom. The absolute ideal student – keen as mustard for everything, patient, intelligent, capable, sensitive to those in the team, a born leader. She had aced the course and then uni as well. And been there as a volunteer on more college trips than I could count or remember. Now standing as the ace herself at the front of the class in that very same room, in her very own program. I can only hope she gains as much from it all as I did and has similar occasional happenstances appear in her world from time to time.

The final abseil was a tricky one. Down through a narrow slot. Breon hadn’t done much roping. The rope lowered across his foot as his body descended underneath. His weight pulled it down tighter and then water started falling on his upturned face. He had spent days guiding us round the ski runs in Japan in his own time. Carefully he had inspired and managed the safety of high spirited snowboarders in my college groups as they made jumps in the backcountry snow miles out from the Perisher ski patrol. He deserved better from me. Somehow as I eased the rope up slightly and Kathy belayed he wiggled his foot loose bit by bit. Then free. Relief. He disconnected from the rope in the deep pool at the bottom and swam to the other end.

We lunched at the intersection with the Wollangambe. A commercial canyoning group came in behind us. Another group floated by on air mattresses. We inflated our lilos and paddled downstream through long pools separated by boulder chokes and logs.

Lying back I could watch the sculptured walls above.

Another canyon, Whungee Wheengee, joined our stream from the left. We left our gear on a mud bank and explored up into it. The water was much colder. I followed Rachel upstream into the narrowest part of the chasm. The light, the green, the scene, was sublime. Rachel is a star. Some people just have a knack of lighting up the world. Of making things around them sparkle. Like singing up goodness out of the earth.

Just past the Waterfall of Moss Canyon was our exit beach. Another group and then another with a person with signs of hypothermia. After making sure he was ok we started the long, hot, steep climb out of the gorge. Out of my own Persian fairy tale with a prince and the three princesses of Serendip.

Rockclimbing

Edge – Night Climb

February 12, 2016 peterblunt23 Leave a comment

Edge – Night Climb

4/2/16

Booroomba Rocks

Rock climbing

Canberra summer. Too hot to climb on a north west facing crag, toes burn inside black rubber randed tight boots, any exposed skin prickles and burns, sweat, thirst, hot to touch granite.

The heat is too long a time not to climb.

Other adventurers go mountainbiking, caving, do pre-dawn starts to mountaineering days. All under new bright head torches.

A film fest showed a mini film about Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson doing the first free ascent of the Dawn Wall in Yosemite. They found the best friction and temperature of the rock at night. Under lights. Thousands of feet up the face.

Turning around the subconscious that tells us you only climb at night if you are having an epic was a challenge.

I talked about the concept with a few people and Neil was the only one interested to try it out. On the afternoon drive in we chattered about doing different things. Rather than just doing the same trips all the time he thought it was important to try new ways doing things, different locations, new canyons. To keep what he called your “edge”. Your ability to stay sharp, in tune with all the components of adventure – the group, the weather, the activity, the place on the map, the time, the terrain……….

As we got into the climbing, a middle grade warmup as the afternoon stretched towards evening, I discovered we had more in common than our professional outdoor education pasts. We both wore the exact same worn out black running shoes (kayano 18s), our sunscreen for the afternoon came from the same orange and yellow mini refillable cancer council containers. And then he made a comment about the amount of time he had spent away on school trips when his family was young that linked us in our emotional inner depths. On that day and evening though we could be like the singing golden whistlers nearby with independent grown up children and wives at work or travelling overseas.

Neil led the first two pitches. I had climbed and adventured lots over the past year while for him this was a more special treat. Then I took us through the easy ground and on to the top. The view over the imposing North Buttress and down valley to the distant city was filled with contrast and shadow in the late afternoon light.

Just like in the old days we made a small fire and cooked beans and cheese jaffles and drank tea. Except this time it was for dinner rather than lunch.

We scrambled down the central rocks and then skirted under the main cliff to the northern slabs and arrived at the base of our climb just as the sun set. The sun going down over the horizon is a defined moment between day and night but the edge of the day is less well defined. The light continues for a long time. He headtorched up the first pitch. I needed only a small amount of light from mine to make the moves up the familiar ground of the climb and fiddle the nuts and cams out. We swapped leads and I did a rising traverse across a slab and into a corner system. Night had fallen. The rock was almost in black silhouette against a starry sky. Dark clouds slowly passed overhead. The city lights way off in the lowland were beautiful. A gentle breeze cooled. We climbed on. Not quite at ease because this activity was so ingrained in our combined consciousness to be a pursuit of the day. But intrigued with the sensations of the situation and open to a new range of aesthetics. Around 11.00pm we approached the top unexpectedly wide awake. Stimulated by the differences, the drama of the scenes, the small pool of climbing light at hand. Unhurried. With all the time in the world. Until morning if we liked.

We were thankful of the good exit path and track through the scrub. A final take in of the whole nightscape vista from the summit rocks. Then back to the packs and down to the car.

Home in the early hours. The luxury of a sleep in. Strangely at ease in the world. A sense of shared experience beyond the edge.

Natural World Immersion

Gibraltar Creek

February 10, 2016 peterblunt23 1 Comment

Gibraltar Creek

11/1/16

Natural world immersion

The stick was long and strong, more like a staff then a walking stick. It helped with balance as I made my way up the creek. Sometimes walking in the water, balancing on slippery boulders, skirting deeper pools on rock shelves, occasionally stepping along fallen logs. Gibraltar Creek is a beautiful stream. It tumbles clear water through eucalypt forest. Cascades. Small falls. Sinuous flow over orange stone. Sluices past aboriginal axe grinding grooves in large white granite slabs.

Alone

Solitude

I explored slowly upstream. Part of the creek that no-one visits. No track. Bush too thick to penetrate on each bank.

Small fish. Orange yabbies. White faced honeyeaters and grey fantails. A small red bellied black snake swam across the surface then dived below some submerged sticks. Kinship with other living things.

I carried a wide snake bite bandage and a first aid kit. Slow, wary, watchful. Not a place to be bitten or fall hurt. Over boulder chokes and log jam dams. Hot.

Like when I was a kid. Exploring the creek down valley from home. In the bush.

Often I stopped. Captivated by the moving water. Eroding the landscape, changing it through millennia. Cycling to the ocean or evapourating and raining and seeping then streaming again. Life blood of the land in veins. Joy at being in touch with the elements of life.

Swam. Took in the forest below the Falls. A love for the earth.

With thanks to Steve Van Matre who has given us a language with which to understand and communicate our deep and abiding emotional attachments to the earth and its life. “Earth Education a New Beginning”, Van Matre, S. The Institute for Earth Education, 1990, Warrenville, USA

Hiking

Bogong Moth Frenzy NYE

January 20, 2016 peterblunt23 2 Comments

Bogong Moth Frenzy NYE

31/12/15 – 1/1/16

Brindabellas mountain peak

Hiking

In other cultures it’s common for people to hike up mountains at special times, to see the sunrise or just to mark the day. Maybe we don’t do this so much in Australia as we do not have any big mountains. Mount Gingera is a special place. It is a peak that rises above much of the surrounding country. The trek in takes some time and effort. Most of all it feels remote. There is a strong sense of wildness with civilisation just a small smudge on the horizon.

On New Years Eve My wife and daughter and I walked the 8 km to the mountain after a two hour drive from town. The day was hot so we started walking in the late afternoon after a quick bite of dinner at the trail head. As we neared the summit in the dusk we heard a low thrumming sound like a lorry labouring up a long hill or a far off jet. The noise slowly grew louder. On reaching the rocks at the top we were surrounded by thousands of bogong moths. They were in a frenzy of movement with no pattern to their flight. I had seen lots of bogongs before but never like this. They usually aestivate in the hot summer months which is a bit like hibernating. They find the cool cracks and dark inner recesses between granite boulders where they attach themselves to the rocks in blankets. They slow down their body processes and the breezes cool them. After summer they fly back to their normal abodes in the western plains. To see them like this was astounding. They didn’t seem to be flying out on mass as if they were exiting the high country. On my camera the flash went off automatically and captured them in dramatic detail. Against the backdrop of golden sky over distant Jagungal and Tantangara they swarmed.

We tore ourselves away to search for a campsite nearby. Heavy footfalls sounded in the snowgums on a shelf below. A ghost white brumby and a brown sensed our presence and disappeared back into the growing gloom. After laying out the tent and a few bits of camp gear I explored the rock slabs for a view of the whole night scape. Two large eyes flashed in the torchlight then slunk away. The whole place seemed to be alive in this short period as the dark descended. Our intent to start the new year with the natural world at the forefront of our lives was richly rewarded with these surprises. The 9.00pm fireworks coloured a tiny space in the far distance as we toasted the time and place with a tiny champagne.

Later when it was properly dark the orange street lights of Canberra flickered through the haze like the shimmering embers of a large bushfire far away. This was a reversal of the vista Cath and I had witnessed from Tuggeranong as we watched the afterburn across Namadgi and Mt Tennant of the 2003 fires.

In the morning there were layers of moths in the cool cracks in the rocks but none flying around.

Postscript. Moth expert Ted Edwards, an honorary fellow with the CSIRO Australian National Insect Collection, says that “it is usual for a proportion of the bogongs to fly at and after dusk at least on a warm night. We know almost nothing about this behaviour, including whether the moths are off to feed, whether they are seeking more secure hiding places and what proportion of moths are involved.”

Hiking

Settlers Track – Namadgi

January 20, 2016 peterblunt23 Leave a comment

Settlers Track – Namadgi

28/12/15

Hiking

Historic bush huts, a walking trail that meanders through woodlands and across grasslands, old stockyards, grave sites and a sense of isolation from modern civilisation. The Settlers Track in southern Namadgi is one of the most pleasant walks in the region. Early life out here for the settlers was tough. Lonely. Harsh. Sometimes tragic. Sheep and cattle country.

Our little group of walking friends had links of a different sort to the bush that went back 40 years to uni bushwalking days. What a pleasure it was to continue sharing the simple enjoyment of a hike, the weather, the trees the history.

Our lives not as hard as the settlers but more complicated.

At least on the Track we could step ourselves back inside the huts and appreciate a little of the life and times of those with names synonymous with our Namadgi – Brayshaw, Oldfield, Westerman.

Back along the road we walked the shorter trail to Shanahan’s Mountain with fabulous vistas towards the east. In “giving back” as a volunteer guide at Tidbinbilla Jill could now advise visitors with detailed knowledge about these other walks.

Settlers Track – Southern Namadgi, 6 or 9 km loop. Shanahan’s Mountain Trail – Southern Namadgi, 3 km return. Brochures from Namadgi Visitors Center.

Settlers Track Brochure link http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/404591/The-Settlers-Track.pdf

Ocean Swimming, Uncategorized

Manly – Surfing with Royalty + Bold and Beautiful

January 19, 2016 peterblunt23 Leave a comment

46 and 45 – Manly

All photos by Elspeth Blunt

Bold and Beautiful

Ocean swimming

Manly to Shelley Beach return

23,24,25/12/15

We watched through the window spray and seaweed thrown two storeys into the air as waves pounded the stone wall below. Just after 7.00am the first of a small group of brave swimmers appeared pink headed round the point. Somehow they had made it out safely from the beach then headed across through the chop and rebound. 1500 meters overall with a stand on the beach at Shelley to wait for the slower people in the group at the half way point. Every single morning of the year. Conditions permitting were a grey area and up to each person to make their own judgement. The “Bold and Beautiful” informal, no exchange of money, swimming group. Ocean swimmers.

We had done some ocean swims in the past. The Cole Classic on almost this same route with a couple of thousand others. Months of training, butterflies in the stomach, the swim and elation at finishing. Now we were hoping to join this group who practically do the “Classic” every morning.

I did a trial swim with my brother while the swell was still big and just managed with a total hammering coming back in to the beach which tumbled me into the sand. I surfaced into foamy water that didn’t support my body weight as much of the water was bubbly air. Lost my goggles and swimming cap and coughed and spluttered my way into the beach. Overambitious.

On the first calm day Cath and I did a practice run. It was a little spooky on our own. Deep water mixed up with rocky terrain and seaweed shallows. With googles unfogged it was almost like a strenuous version of snorkelling. I knew there were sharks in the water. I knew if I was attacked I was unlikely to see it coming. I knew the statistics of thousands of people in the water every day and no recorded attacks in Sydney for some time. But. And I kept occasionally looking over my shoulder out in the depths.

Next morning the sea was calm. We registered at the surf club and were given our prized pink caps. Milled around for a while and chatted nervously. The start was massive – hundreds of people pushed out through the small swell and then swam out to wait off the point. Legs, arms, bodies, sleek, tubby, strong, strugglers all mixed up and headed towards distant Shelley Beach. Breathe, stroke, kick. It was hard to build a rhythm in the pack but the camaraderie was wonderful. A hundred different styles and speeds. Pink heads were everywhere. Male, female, young, old. Across the open part I measured off sections past blocks of units, the outdoor pool, tall trees and finally made it onto the sand. I was about half way through the pack. Around stood hundreds of healthy humanity sharing a long early morning swim in the most staggering surroundings. This must be one of the best informal, non-competitive sporting events in the world. Every morning. Free. Patiently and without any pressure the crowd waited for the slower swimmers. Then the splashing arms and legs whitewashed the whole of the small beach as we all left for the return. I slowed towards the end and found more space. Every now and then I raised my head between strokes to check direction before ploughing on again. Round the headland I tried to take it wide to come in with the waves but found myself closer to the rocks and swimming doggedly tired against the gentle rip. Eventually on the beach Cath and I bubbled over with impressions and feel good vibes. Health. Vitality. Cleansed body and mind and soul. Manly, so beautiful. Ready for breaky and to start the day.

The following day we swam like old hands. Confident. Capable.

On Christmas day the crowd was just as big. At Shelley we sang happy birthday to one of the swimmers as we waited. Back on the main beach day trippers had already arrived with hampers to stake out the best bits of shaded grass and beach for the day.

Surfing Manly with Royalty

Surfing – Manly Beach

20 – 24/12/15

Storms lashed the coast early in the week. After some tough times during the year we’d lashed out with a pile of hard earned for a week in an AirBnB right near the water. The swell picked up. The beach was closed. Surfers went wild. Along the main beach the bigger sets rolled in and peeled left and right. Out at Fairy Bower the long right hander was crowded. From our window bay I watched it all. Surfing is a wonderful spectator sport. Fluid moves, wipeouts. Power in the waves and the riders.

When the weather cleared I ran along the beachfront promenade – walkers, scooter kids, pram pushers, Christmas groups from the western suburbs, beach volleyballers, swimmers, joggers, runners, cyclists, people doing yoga and hard isometrics, scuba divers, kite surfers, kayakers, snorkellors, sailors, coffee drinkers, picnickers, beach dance party goers. It was like the world was out And right there was where it was all happening. The homes and units along the water’s edge make up a millionaires’ row but the beach, the surf, the foreshore and the coffee places belong to Everyman.

In the smaller swells that followed and matched my ability I took my longboard straight out from the main beach. There were other surfers in the water but I was amazed there was space for all of us. I got a few nice ones. Lefts and rights. And long enough to play a little up and down along the face. Enough to bring out the full body smile and the endless “just one more” as I bailed out each time in the shallows. I thought of the Hawaiian Duke, Kahanamoku, in the summer of 1914/15 showing the locals right here how to ride a board on the waves, initiating with Tommy Walker the whole surf culture that has become such a huge part of Australia.

Late the next day I surfed again. Sitting out the back my gaze shifted from watching for swells o ut at sea then round to the scene on shore. The strip of beach sand was backed by the stone wall with the path above alive with active souls. A strip of grass, Norfolk island pines, the road, coffee shops and surf shops then the high rise units and hotels. In a sweeping arc all the way from Shelley Beach to North Steyn. Magnificent. I felt a connection sitting out there, still, calm, waiting, with Layne Beachley. Years before I had been to a conference where she did the keynote. Then I read her book. What a tough life she has had in so many ways. One of our most successful sports people ever. 7 times world champion. Totally inspirational. And she surfed right here too. The “Beachley Classic” is held at Manly every year. In the National Portrait Gallery there is a photo of her by Petrina Hicks. I’m not usually one to be taken by a person’s appearance but this shot portrays her arresting eyes that seem to be made of translucent pools of clear, blue ocean. Layne’s comment on the portrait was that ‘whales look you right in the eye, sharks stare straight through you’. I caught a last wave of the week in.

In the evening beautiful coloured lights of the Manly foreshore were visible from Shelley Beach.

Layne Beachley from “Beneath the Waves” (2008) on what makes a champion;

2 Champions have a strong support team
5 Champions have often suffered emotional or physical trauma before they succeed
9 Champions give something back
10 Champions inspire

Abseiling

Drawing the line

January 13, 2016 peterblunt23 Leave a comment

Drawing the line

14/12/15

Bungonia – Cooee Point

Abseiling

An old cable linked rusted metal stakes drilled hard into limestone. The barrier to an old safety fence at a lookout now abandoned. Cooee Point. A mate had pushed one of the first climbing routes up the cliff below in the seventies. “Old and Grey”. It had a fearsome reputation for lack of protection and a crux through loose overhangs at the very top of the 300m wall. Times change. Now bolted sport routes at the current limits of human climbing capability lace up most of the rock. Bold and sustained. The preserve of those at the cutting edge of physicality and adventure spirit. This is one of the biggest cliffs in Australia.

I played mind games with the cable while I set anchors, rechecked knots and placed protective carpets over the sharp textured stone on the rounded edge. Caleb went fearlessly over the edge. Dan abseiled down further to the right. On a spare shorter rope I ducked the cable and lowered myself to the brink then locked off. The space sucked at my psyche and tried to pull me down. 300m of verticality below my feet. I’ve never been comfortable abseiling and this just didn’t feel right. The plan was to multi-pitch abseil all the way to the gorge floor. We hoped to link up anchor systems on existing climbs or find natural anchors when we needed them. A commercial company advertises a 300m abseil down this cliff. Maybe we could find a way down. The hoped for series of double ring bolt anchors were not in the area Caleb and Dan had gone down.

We moved further along and found evidence of climbers developing routes. Lots of shiny new bolts at the top and lines of rings plunging below. Glue containers, carpets and drink bottles were stashed in an alcove back from the edge. Caleb went over and found a ring bolt anchor 30m down and then spied more bolts further on. We may have found the top pitches of a super hard climb a couple of Dan’s friends had been working on. I tied on and photographed at the edge. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if I had just got on the rope and gone down. Red flags marched into mind. The edge area was sloping and unstable here. Pulling down the rope would be tricky over edges. The climbing guidebook highlighted the loose nature of some of the rock. Caleb found a broom on a ledge. I started to feel like this was not the place for us – abseiling. Some times your gut takes over. Intuition? Instinct? Experience climbing big cliffs – Frenchmans, Bluff Mountain and Buffalo – from the ground up where you get used to the exposure as you ascend – made me feel we were somehow crossing a threshold in this place. We didn’t belong here, like this.

Rockclimbing

Big Wall Roped Solo Booroomba

January 6, 2016 peterblunt23 Leave a comment

Big Wall Roped Solo Booroomba

10-11/12/15

Booroomba Rocks

Rockclimbing

Yosemite. Tuolumne Meadows. Stunning, beautiful alpine granite. Huge walls. Wonderful climbing. History and stories. Over decades I had read the magazine articles and books, seen the Ansell Adams photos. Inspired by the earlier adventures of John Muir. These are climbers’ dreams. They are/were my dreams. To go there and spend time in the vertical world. Immersed. In the balancing of life’s relationships, family, work, time, money some dreams get prioritised to the periphery. Occasionally creative alternatives pop up that fulfil the ache left behind. My local crag, Booroomba Rocks, has 5 pitch routes up to 200m long with ledges big enough to sleep on. An idea percolated while I waited for the right time.

I hiked up in the early afternoon. I climbed the first two pitches roped soloing before dark then camped on a ledge and climbed the remaining three pitches the next day. The system I had was mostly relatively safe – the end of the rope tied off to a bottom anchor I then led each pitch while feeding out rope lengths attached to my harness with alpine butterfly knots. This was pretty much the same as normal lead climbing except that there was more slack in each new loop without a belayer meaning I would fall further than “normal”. I had done the climb years before and felt pretty confident. The crux second pitch focussed the mind/body/judgement totally as the climbing for me was tenuous slab climbing on slopers and very small holds. Staying in control through this section was challenging when unclipping the next loop and undoing the knot in the rope with one hand and teeth then watching the rope snake further down below my feet making a potential fall longer. There is not much protection on this steep, hanging slab section anyway for the leader but somehow up there with a slack rope I felt very alone and exposed. (Whenever I watch the video of this part I am instantly “gripped”.) Even after this section at the headwall the protection is fiddly and a little questionable. I was totally stoked to reach safe ground at the ledge. I then abseiled down the anchored rope and reclimbed the pitch with the pack using jumars as a self-belay and backup knots as I removed the protection. The water was heavy so I hauled it up next in a smaller backpack. The system worked reasonably well on this climb. It took a lot of time but unlike normal climbing with a partner I was on the go the whole time rather than spending half the time sitting belaying.

The night on the ledge was beautifully cool. The aesthetics were heightened by the situation – being surrounded by rock, sun set, evening glow, breeze, tree silhouettes, stars, dawn. The distant street lights of Canberra shimmered like the embers of a bushfire.

The second day’s climbing was easier but had its own adventure exacerbated by a strong wind which twisted the ropes and tried to blow me off the balancy moves. At the top I felt a great sense of satisfaction. I had experienced much of what I envisaged the big walls overseas to be like. Now I’m thinking about a week up on Tiger Wall and The Bluffs at Arapiles as the next step.

Please note that any solo (roped) rockclimbing activity is dangerous and requires a very high degree of skill and knowledge to apply even an elementary level of safety. The attached video is not intended as instructional material.

52 Adventures. That's the aim. One each week. Like any real adventure the outcome is unknown. The journey, the comrades, the solitude, the challenges, the special places are what matters. And this is the record – writing, images and video. Enjoy.

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