Light as a feather

Australia Day means different things to different people.  Some see it as a celebration and some as sad reminder of when things went south.  For Steve, Rongy and I, yet another public holiday provided us with an opportunity to get away from it all, at least for the morning.  We instead immersed ourselves in the outdoors and, as you no doubt now come to expect, a bit of rock.  Welly Dam was on the cards and as I approached the area a group of five guys were furiously waving me down:

I don’t quite know how they managed to get any sleep, but the five of them had slept in their standard sedan sized car. During the process they had managed to drain the battery.  It only felt right to help them out, which I did before heading to the quarry via the toilets.  The gardens near the toilets, at the café, were alive with small birds.  What with three of us climbing I had brought my SLR today.  So I pulled my camera out and sat there for a while watching the birds, capturing the above Brown Honeyeater:

Honeyeaters are named for the obvious reason.  They have over time developed brush-tipped tongues especially adapted to be able to collect nectar from within the flowers they feed on.  While it was great watching all the birds, the one that had really caught my eye was the Variegated Fairy Wren.  A very dainty and colourful wren that is found in and around shrubs, as it feeds.  They don’t sit still for long, blink and they will normally have hopped away or flown off.  They rarely come out into the open, so it took me ages to get a good image:

The rock was however calling, and that was a stronger call than the bird song.  Rongy and I have been climbing here heaps, with our Friday morning sessions, so we handed the rope to Steve and said he could pick the lines.  After staring on Murky Corner he started to complain about not feeling fit, and suggesting he simply couldn’t improve his climbing strength or stamina.  Rongy and I nodded politely and offered him the rope again, which he gladly accepted.  He then romped up Raging Torrent, not really looking like he was weak or tired:

The five guys I had helped out with their flat battery appeared, and spent sometime in the quarry.  Their brought with them music, which bounced off the walls.  Normally this disturbance of the peace, and nature’s sounds, would niggle me.  But today it seemed ok.  The three of us enjoyed the change in ambience, as Steve then flew up Pocket Knife.  Rongy was kind enough to take control of belaying, as I ran about taking images and watching birds.  This wren had me a bit foxed, but I think it is an Eclipse Variegated Fairy Wren:

I’ll be honest and I didn’t know what this meant.  Google helped and the term eclipse is related to its plumage.  The dull “female-like” plumage, the internet’s words not mine!, is displayed by males for a while in summer after breeding.  Basically these more dreary colours eclipse the normally bright plumage of the male.  It is something ducks are normally known for.  However, other birds also go through the same process, including the Variegated Fairy Wren.  As Steve finished each route, we pulled the rope and both Rongy and I led the line, giving Steve enough recuperation time:

Next to fall was Welcome to Edges.  He confessed that he finds reaching and clipping the anchors mentally challenging.  He is not alone with that, but today he didn’t think twice about it and was soon coming back down to allow us to have a bash.  I really enjoyed flitting between bird watching, climbing and copious amounts of photography.  I didn’t however have the patience to wait for a better image of this Splendid Fairy Wren.  A species we see at home and, unlike the other wren, unafraid of open spaces.  But again one that rarely sits still:

Steve was keen for one more climb to end today’s session, and there were a few he had in mind.  Savage Sausage Sniffer was the winner, and finally I could see him starting to tire.  But despite taking two falls, the only ones today, each time he got back on he kept his cool and worked the moves with control and precision.  Afterward he accepted that maybe his earlier concerns about a lack of strength and stamina were probably unfounded.  In fact you could say he was a bit of a twinkle toes today, looking light as a feather: