Back in September 2019 Howsie, Wiggins and myself made the big trip down to Cape Le Grande past Esperance on the south coast of Western Australia. It was a magical trip with glorious weather, incredible scenery, scrumptious food, delicious homemade beer and of course stunning climbing. On that trip we saw a number of very interesting creatures including this very colourful and fluffy looking, what took to be a beetle. Since the trip however Howsie managed to track down that it was in fact a mite:
Now the reason for this post is not to advise you on the taxonomy of one little mite but to write up a little keep sake of the completion are first showing of Wiggin’s video of the trip. It has taken a long time for him to complete this one, and we were all eagerly awaiting the first viewing. So we decided that it was high time to open up the shed and put on the BBQ and make a bit of a social event of it:
So as the climbers jumped on the boulder wall, and showed their prowess on artificial plastic holds; the kids enjoyed the trampoline, pulled out the “little kid” toys that we still keep for such occasions and also had a little climb themselves; the non-climbers had a bit of a social and catch-up; while Lisa made sure that everyone was fed and watered. Um, I sometimes wonder if I take advantage of Lisa’s desire to ensure the food and drinks flow while I just play on the wall but it seems to work:
It was also time to show off the new look garden, after three plus months of major upheaval of having paving, fencing, verandas and the entire garden dismantled… all because of a hole that opened up in the driveway. The new veranda is not only a nice shady place but also really cool, due to the insulated panels. The garden is now super low maintenance with no grass and a bunch of wicking garden beds to pump out the veggies, herbs and fruit:
After a few hours of bouldering, chatting, relaxing and filling up on snags it was time for the main event. So some 20 plus people crammed into our living room for the premiere showing of what was a very entertaining film. Wiggins had outdone himself once more and provided a film that I feel will make climbers and non-climbers laugh out loud, while learning about the area we visited and being in awe of the places we were lucky enough to have climbed:
After the viewing of the Esperance Cape Le Grand film, some were eager for more so we also had a showing of another recent trip Wiggins had captured when we went to Eaglestone Rock. Then it was time to break out the cakes. Eyes were firmly fixed on Ram’s Persian love cake, but when it came to the eating Howsie and Nadia’s cherry tea cake provided an equal taste sensation. After food the boulder wall finally beat us into submission. With the rubber shoes off we then ensured we had our fill of tea, coffee and beer before everyone finally headed home:
If you are keen to see more of Wiggins videos there are a few of them linked on his very own page on my blog at https://sandbagged.home.blog/2020/01/04/wiggins-videos/
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