It was a week of possibilities as Sunday approached, and it could have ended up with six of us heading out for a climb. A number that we have not managed for a long time, but as the day got closer, and even a mere hour before my departure from home, a few people dropped out leaving us with four. Also for various reasons we headed out in three cars, but I won’t bore you with the details of why. This resulted in me arriving first, and after Lisa and my wet walk yesterday it looked like today might have been a repeat event:
It rained on an off as I drove out, and as the boys strolled in after me I wondered what they would say about it. The low rain-bearing clouds to the south were making their way towards us and the rock was wet. But Smiths Beach friction won’t be beat by a bit of rain and they were not put off by the conditions. So we descended into the Zawn. Now you may think that I would have a Déjà-vu moment, seeing I had been here last week with Dan. But no, last weekend my feeling was one of slight dread, an emotion that Smiths Beach rocks can bring on:
Today having had a recent visit here I felt more prepared for the place. I also had plans for what I needed to tackle to prove to myself that I had overcome that feeling of fear that the place can create. You may also be thinking here comes a post that will be a bit samey, but again think again. I have not included much about the climbing, instead focusing on other aspects of this place. For example this seal, which eagle-eyed Howsie spotted and that stayed with us for hours. It also remained for most of the time in this strange position:
Howsie was again on point when we discussed why we were observing this behaviour. The seal’s capillaries are close to the surface of its skin, and by putting the flipper it can catch whatever heat the sun might be able to provide. If it was too hot the body would be underwater to cool down. Fortunately for the seal, and us, the clouds slowly broke up and eventually stayed away, allowing the sun through. What we could not understand was why the seal would not have just found a rock to purchase on and take in even more of the heat on offer from above:
Today Craig and I had gate crashed Mikey and Howsie’s morning session. If Dan had been able to get out we would have been headed to Moses Rocks. But seeing he wasn’t able to join us, we decided to be social and join the boys. Mikey, for a moment, forgot he was at a true trad crag. No he didn’t try to clip this bolt plate but as he started to climb he did have the rope over his shoulder, ready for the first piece of gear. Needless to say the trad patrol (i.e. me) put him right and he duly complied and went back to more traditional approaches:
The little snail seen above was one of probably millions, they were all over the walls and even on the rocks that were being relentlessly smashed by the waves. Its name is quite simply Marine Snail, or for those more academic types Austrolittorina unifasciata. They are the most abundant mollusc you will find on the rocky shores along Western and southern Australia as well as New Zealand. They were sprawled across the rock platforms and faces, and were ready to feast on the lichens and algae. Just waiting for them to be moistened by either the ocean or rain:
While we were scaling the cliffs, our best endeavours were completely outdone by the Purple Rock Crab or Leptograpsus variegatus. These are found across the entire southern subtropical Indo-pacific Oceans, and are masterful climbers. Clinging onto vertical and overhung faces, nimbly scuttling about while picking at the lichen and algae with their claws. Being omnivores they are also known to prey on barnacles and limpets, and for the latter they wait patiently for the limpet to start moving before swiftly placing their claw under the shell and throwing the limpet upside down:
I named one of the routes here after these fellas, and I did attempt Crab Scuttle today. But as can be seen below the waves were on occasion still reasonably big and the seaward wall this route was on was wet as. Despite trying several times I just couldn’t commit to the unprotected moves up the initial blank looking wall. A common thought going through my mind, did I under-grade every route here? No matter, as I did climb the route I wanted too on Harbour Wall. A route Howsie also led allowing me to include a short video of him topping out on Crow’s Nest:
With two routes under each of our belts we left Harbour Wall and headed to our packs. As we wandered back I spotted a bright orange crab and this is where I get a little confused. While I am pretty sure it is the Swift Footed Crab, it seems to have the same Latin name as the Purple Rock Crab. So I will wait to see if anyone out there can unravel this mystery for me. I still included the image I captured, as you will see this one also has a tasty meat dish. But I have had no success in working out what crab was on the menu:
Craig had done us proud today and brought not one but two flasks of tea, sorry Dan maybe next time! We sat and supped on a welcome cuppa and chilled out for a bit. Then it was back into action on the mighty face of Camelot Castle. Craig indicated quite assertively that he was more than happy with his two leads for the morning and I could take the floppy end from here on in. That was fine with me and we romped up a couple of routes finishing on the second line I had was keen to test my psych against, Lady of the Lake:
This wall is that bit further away from the ocean and there are no more interesting creatures or facts to share with you. The seal was long gone; the crabs still scurried about; and the snails we hadn’t knocked off, as we had indulged in our pastime, were still clinging on. While I had spent a fair bit of time watching these creatures and observing their behaviour, we too had been observed. On numerous occasions we would look up to the top of the zawn and a party of walkers would be peering down at us. I do wonder what Latin name they might give us:
Whatever it may be we had a blast today and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, finishing the session with a second cuppa while sorting the gear in glorious sunshine. My guess is insanus stultis or in English, crazy stupid people. You may have been expecting that I was going to say people might have called us Muppets, thinking that was the connection with the title of this post. However, this time the title is completely unconnected to the tail. It is in honour of those TV legends, The Muppets, who graced our screens for the first time 45 years ago today. Happy birthday Kermit and all your colleagues:
Sandbagged 