Enjoying the Weekend
This afternoon I met up with Tiffany, Max and two of Max's friends at Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym in St. Peters for an afternoon of rock climbing. It is the largest climbing gym in Australia with 2900 m2 (over 31,000 sf) of climbing walls (hey, it seemed like an impressive figure to me). I have never seriously done rock climbing before, but have been known to scale things (trees, large rocks, the occasional rock wall at carnivals), and was quite excited to get started.
After getting our gear and a safety lesson we went out into the gym for an afternoon of fun. We started on some easier walls where we got the hang of things (both the climbing and the belaying - the person at the bottom who works the ropes so if the person lets go of the rock face they don't fall) before going on to some tougher things. I am happy to report that with some coaching from the ground (Max, the experienced one among us) I tackled a level 15 wall (angled outward a bit, had some areas of sparse foot and hand holds, and had a jump or two from faces that did not line up), followed by a level 16 wall with many of the same daunting attributes.
The climbing was a bit exhausting and I belayed for a bit while Max tackled some walls before we ventured over to a fun looking area with a jump from a wall to a stalactite and then up to the ceiling past some obstacles and an outwardly angled face. It took some trying, but I finally made it to the top!
After the climb we explored a bit and Tiffany did some climbing (while someone else belayed - don't worry, I didn't take pictures while belaying!).
We tried our hand at bouldering (free climbing on small faces which turn inside-out), but failed miserably. Before we left Tiffany and I each got one more climb in, before heading into Newtown to find some sustenance after all the energy we burned off. We ended up at Burgerlicious on King, not far from my house, where we had delicious burgers. Burgers turned into an excursion for food, which resulted in a trip to a bakery (I got a large Anzac biscuit which was delicious) and a trip to get ice cream, which ended in disappointment when we discovered the intended shop, which was talked up on the walk there, was closed for good. We settled on gelato (I decided against more food), and had a nice time sitting on busy King Street and having a chat as nightfall descended. We finally parted ways around 6:00 or so, and I made the short walk up King to get home.
Abs and I made a good dinner of pasta and chicken tonight. I suppose I was so hungry because of the climbing... Or at least I will blame it on that! There have been discussions of an excursion to North Sydney to check out Manly before it gets too cold for the beach - we'll see what develops.
After getting our gear and a safety lesson we went out into the gym for an afternoon of fun. We started on some easier walls where we got the hang of things (both the climbing and the belaying - the person at the bottom who works the ropes so if the person lets go of the rock face they don't fall) before going on to some tougher things. I am happy to report that with some coaching from the ground (Max, the experienced one among us) I tackled a level 15 wall (angled outward a bit, had some areas of sparse foot and hand holds, and had a jump or two from faces that did not line up), followed by a level 16 wall with many of the same daunting attributes.
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| The level 16 wall (only using the yellow holds). |
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| The stalactite about 15' above the ground, and the climb all the way up. |
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| Tiffany on the wall. |
Abs and I made a good dinner of pasta and chicken tonight. I suppose I was so hungry because of the climbing... Or at least I will blame it on that! There have been discussions of an excursion to North Sydney to check out Manly before it gets too cold for the beach - we'll see what develops.
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