Since Lisa and my trip down to Pemberton, I have been living a relatively secluded life in Peppy Beach. The car troubles that started on the return journey took until yesterday to resolve. There were two faults. And due to the wonders of computer managed engines, these days, pin pointing faults and investigating them becomes that bit trickier. You’d think it was the other way round. Sadly not. A bit like the thought that computers would reduce the use of paper through digital communication and documentation. It isn’t a given:
Living some 30km from what is considered a major town, in our local patch, and with most of my orchid hunting spots and all my climbing spots being that bit further, my trips into nature came, like my car, to a grinding halt. Rather than thinking of the three weeks as lost time, I saw it as an opportunity to chill and practise patience. After all I can work from home, have an indoor climbing wall, and had my health. It did however mean that most of the locally found orchids have gone to seed, so I felt a little robbed of the chance to spot something new:
Speaking of which the first image is of a pair of Robber Flies mating. These can be very hard to identify, and even with the enlisted help of a pretty clued up entomologist we failed to get past the possible genus of Neoscleropogon. Other than that image the only other one related to nature from my last three weeks, was when we were lucky to have had another aurora australis display. Along the southern coast and over east it was spectacular. Whereas where we live it was meh, being barely visible to the naked eye. Hence there is no image:
Unlike the unimpressed feeling of watching a very, very slight pinkie hue hovering on the horizon of the night sky; yesterday picking the car up, fully functional, I was in euphoria. On the chance that it was going to be roadworthy once more, Howsie and I had already talked about an early morning trip to Welly Dam. Now that could happen. He’s had a crook household for a few weeks prior, only coming good this week. Added to that he hasn’t touch rock for quite some time, so his energy levels were not particularly high:
On the other hand, I had been able to pull on plastic a few times to keep some basic fitness. That said I did expect coming back to the dam would feel tough, considering my last serious climb was all the way back at the beginning of October. Our different situations resulted in the routes we had in mind, being somewhat in conflict. It did raise Howsie’s eyebrows when I jumped on first lead on a nervous line. I feel he may have been a little relieved when I took a good whipper half way up. In the best fashion possible, being completely unexpected:
After that slip I powered on. Surprising even myself with the third lead, which really had me a bit unsure as to whether it was a wise choice. I was probably helped by Howsie taking on some pretty easy leads in-between, allowing some recuperation time. We were not alone today. An outdoor education group was on their way, and as we climbed we saw a zip line abseil ropes, and all the hardware being set up and laid out. Fortunately it wasn’t till our last route that the hordes of kids arrived. Peering over the wall above the quarry:
As expected the rock shelf that lay in front of the peering kids had finally and fully dried up. Along with the drying and warming weather over the last few weeks, all the sun orchids I was hoping to find had also withered away. The only flower of note, being at the base of Howsie’s last route. A Yellow Hawkweed (Tolpis barbata), native to southern Europe and considered a minor weed in Western Australia. But pretty all the same. Today we were squeezing in a climb before work, and now it was time to hit the road. Man it feels good to be mobile again:
Sandbagged 