The intention was not to climb this weekend but Lou wanted to put some gear in to test her headspace. It’s been a long time since her fall and while she has got out once in a while, it has not been regular enough to truly get her back on the horse. So late yesterday afternoon, with a crew of young an old, we headed to Castle Rock for a variety of different pursuits:
I started my fun with a snorkel. I have been getting out heaps at my local beach but have not often strayed to foreign waters. This place I knew would be great, and unlike my home beach the water here was crystal clear. I have a stack of images but have only included this one of a Yellow Horned Blenny guarding his home made from an old barnacle, and just below him is what I thought was a Goby but might be a Threefin:
After my swim with the fish I got out to find Lou half way up a lead. Nana on camera duty and Craig and his boys were watching from above to see how she was doing. We opted for Castle Rock due to the short easy lines on this face plus the fishing, as the salmon are running and that meant Geoff and Craig kept an eye on the water:
I however managed to convince Geoff that seeing he was here he may as well have a climb. So I led one of the short but fun lines next to Lou. He too hasn’t been out for a while so was not keen to go on the floppy end, but thoroughly enjoyed the second:
There were also those in the group who were not keen to snorkel, climb or fish. They loafed about on the rock, soaking up the heat while the sun was out and high enough to offer some warmth:
Craig didn’t spy any salmon but was keen to throw a line in anyway. So he wandered round to the better spot with a nice rock ledge from which he and his boys could feed the fish. Only Charlie was successful catching anything and hooked a Zebra Fish, which was one to put back in. Despite there being a stack of fish out there, as I had seen them earlier, they didn’t get a feed today:
Lou was kinda happy to have had one lead and wanted to throw Denis on lead, but he has yet to try a full trad lead so was a bit hesitant. Instead we steered him towards a very cool and very aesthetically appealing (for the people with cameras) bolted line:
While Denis was upping the ante, Geoff and I played on another fun easy line. We made short work of it as we (read into that I) was keen to get back down and see how Denis was faring. It seemed that Denis scaling this fine face had attracted the attention of others too, including some walkers who had stopped on the path:
In addition a couple steered their tinny in our direction and anchored not far away, so there were all eyes on Denis taking on the mega face. He certainly gave it a good go but just couldn’t commit to the face. It did however allow for some specky photos. We all offered him good advice, which included a fair bit of niggling just for good measure:
As the image above shows the clouds were coming in and Denis finally gave up as the rain started to fall. By the time we were packed up it had set in and everyone scarpered for their cars. I helped Craig with the boys and the fishing gear and we were last to arrive at the previously heaving, but now empty, carpark pretty damp and cold:
A few of us decided that it was then time for a bit of nosh. So we headed into Dunsborough for a feed. This is something I would normally not be a part of but Lisa was keen so we went along. I’m glad we did and the food was awesome:
It was a bit of a bumbly late afternoon session but came with buckets full of fun.
Sandbagged 