The premonition

I should have known that I probably didn’t need two days off to reset my body clock before I get back to work.  With a full day, and no need for napping, yesterday I spent my time catching up on mundane domestic stuff, as after a week or so away my OCD tendencies kick in.  This results in not being able to turn my brain off to fully relax until things are in order.  Today however with everything up to date, fixed, and/or in its proper place, I was keen to get outdoors.  My initial thought was to head coastal, to get a climb and snorkel in:

Sadly like most of this season the ocean conditions didn’t look all that great and I also heard the wind howling overnight.  So for ease I decided to go inland, not quite making it to Welly Dam for first light.  But it did at least allow for a very picturesque drive up the escarpment, watching the wispy clouds changing colours with the early stages of the sun rise.  It was not until I arrived that the sun crept into the sky and began to bathe the treetops, while also making the moon fade from sight before it had the chance to drop below the horizon:

As I wandered about the top of the quarry walls setting up my top ropes, I was surprised to see the large Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) looking a bit on the bare side.  Being a non-native deciduous tree I would expect it to drop its leaves over autumn and winter, while on hot days during summer and into the early part of autumn this tree would normally provide great shade.  If the leaves were yellowing it could have been down to heat stress, but it really hasn’t been that hot this summer and the leaves looked to be turning brown:

I’ve read up about a fungus called anthracnose.  This causes the leaves of some trees including Sycamores to drop and turn black or brown.  It is more prevalent in cool and wet weather, but can come on in summer.  The good news is it does not result in permanent damage to established trees, but repeated back to back years of infection can weaken the tree’s resistant to the fungus and other pests.  Being no arborist I can only assume this may be the cause, for the thick mass of leaf debris accumulating under the poorly looking tree:

The leaves of the Sycamore were not alone in going brown.  It seems that the once green and reasonably well looked after grass was no longer being irrigated and left to crisp up.  With some patches being so far gone that they were turning to dust.  Before the new road and carpark layout installed last year this facility was well maintained and heavily used by families.  Now I do not see many people using the area, and the question is whether this is by design or default.  If it has been their plan all along it is a little sad:

Despite the run down look of the area, compared to previous years, I thoroughly enjoyed and trashed myself.  Picking six lines, none of which were a pushover, and finishing on a route that I was sure would spank me.  Mario just a few days back asked Howsie if any holds had come off midway up, as he had been playing on this line last Friday.  The response was ‘no’ and he was right it all looked to be in place.  That was until my second lap, when an important hold popped as I stood on it.  Maybe Mario has second sight: