Mr Grumpy

Last week the beach was once again choppy meaning the visibility would be poor.  However, the forecast promised a hot weekend, and more often than not that would come with calmer weather.  So Saturday morning I wandered down to take a dip.  While there was not a heap to see and the water still had a cloudiness to it I was very happy to find what are probably octopus eggs hidden in some weed:

I found some of these a few years back, and was told that they become translucent as they mature allowing you to see the developing young.  This time I reckon I have a good handle of where I found them so will attempt to relocate them next weekend.  They were about as far out as I would normally venture, which is shown in this image.  You’ll never see her but Lisa was on the beach lounging in a reclining chair, having breakfast and reading a book on the almost deserted beach:

I continued to look for something new and that included snorkelling over the limited areas of reef, weed covered rubble and open sandy areas.  They all provide a different range of gems that if you blink you might just swim past.  I was beginning to think that I wouldn’t spy anything when I noticed this fella:

The Southern Fiddler Ray seemed very happy for me to dive up and down to get a great close-up look at him.  He eventually got tired of my attention and lazily swam away.  While not at a fast rate and I could have followed him, I mostly leave them be when they decide they have had enough of me poking my camera at them:

There really wasn’t much else jumping out at me but I stayed out looking at the many different weeds species slowly swaying.  The swell was the lowest I can remember this season and I wasn’t being pushed back and forth, which made a welcome change.  While having my head underwater is a very calming and even therapeutic experience, I do bob up every so often to see where I am.  On one such time I came across an unexpected find on the surface, a single black swan:

As I headed back into shore, where Lisa was still lounged out reading I came across a few Eagle Rays.  She told me that they had been frolicking close to shore earlier.  She had seen four or five, two of which had been lapping about playing in the shallows right on the water’s edge.  So despite a promising look the ocean didn’t give away too many treasure for me.  That said I certainly didn’t have anything to be Mr Grumpy about:

Yesterday topped the mid-thirties and today it would be in the high thirties, two clam days meant hopefully clearing waters and improved visibility.  Instead of jumping in at my usual spot I wandered west to a spot that someone had said had a bit of reef.  There were still remnants of the less clam weekdays floating about, and as this image shows the water still had a cloudy look to it:

I didn’t see too much in the way of reef but it was nice to be in an area that I hadn’t looked at before.  I didn’t spot anything unexpected but did enjoy finding a few small limestone outcrops with some hard coral trying to make a comeback.  As I resurfaced from one of these dives I saw a large shape to my side and it was a dolphin.  Popping my head up I saw fins that had obviously been on both sides of me but they had already passed by:

It’s hard to judge but I reckon they got within five meters of me and I had missed the chance to (try in vain to) swim with them.  I watched them disappear as they followed the shoreline popping up so now and then to breathe.  It’s only the second time I have seen them while underwater and despite it being a tad cloudy it was very exciting.  After watching them move on I carried on in the opposite direction:

Within a few minutes I heard the distinct call of the dolphins and again they swam past me, this time I saw them all gracefully go past.  There were close to ten and I’m sure there was a young one with them.  Despite being so close this was the best image I managed to capture.  One hung about a bit longer, seemingly waiting for me to catch up with them but there was no chance of that:

This time they continued to move away and didn’t come back, so I continued my search and spied a tiny 1cm long something.  When I first saw it I thought it may have been the leftovers of a fish or bait, as it was all distorted and looked to have pink ragged flesh.  Then I saw it pulsate and form the distinctive shape of a jellyfish.  I’ve no idea what sort it is despite conferring with Google, but during that search the images of what jellyfish stings can do made me glad I didn’t get close enough to even this little fella to get stung:

Well I can safely say there is no sting in this tale to have made me come out of the water as Mr Grumpy.  However, this Globe Fish really didn’t look too pleased when I found him in a rock crevice, or was it simply the angle of the image?  I on the other hand had a very happy smiley face but before getting out I bobbed in the shallows and watched/videoed an Eagle Ray disturbing shoals of small white fish:

Hope this email finds you as Mr, Mrs or Ms Happy

New shoes

This morning Mikie and I headed out to finish off his 10km challenge, and he picked a great spot to do that.  It felt like there was landward breeze as we walked down to the crag but we couldn’t have asked for better conditions.   This place being so close the ocean and also being quite low is often salt sprayed and greasy:

Lost Buttress is the most northerly of the crags in the Willyabrup area and I imagine it is rarely visited.  I was very lucky to have been invited by Kym and Rob to help develop this crag, which admittedly had seen action before but there are no records of what was done.  On days when there may be crowds at the main cliff, no one would think to come here.  That may be the limited number of routes or the distance from the main area, but either way it is their loss:

While it doesn’t have mobs of lines it’s a gem of a place with a high proportion great routes that people have agreed deserve the star or two we gave them when publishing the guide.  Mikie had to bag 108m of leading and we knew that was an easy target at this place, so we didn’t have a ridiculous early start.  We tallied up the route meterage and worked out that six lines on the main buttress plus one on the Playground would be enough.  :

He worked from right to left to warm up on the easier lines (No Nuts Required and Baby Shower (both 13 – UK VS 4b’ish)).  We also brought a rap rope to make things that bit more efficient.  For a relatively short crag this place provides routes that give an disproportionate amount of exposure.  There are two lines that provide great positions above the capping roof, and he started with Airtime (17 – UK HVS 5b’ish):

The image above may give away the fact that I was being a photographic belayer.  When I was a fair distance away that meant anchoring in and when he was leading Overexposed (17 – UK HVS 5b’ish) I used the red cam, the precise piece that he really wanted for this next move:

Unfazed he worked his way out and sorted out something less secure but sufficient before pulling through into the corner on smeary slopey feet in an increasingly airy position.  Kym he agreed that the routes were stonking, and better still unlike some peoples thinking he considered the grades were pretty spot on:

The wind wasn’t turning yet on this glorious day that provided us with dry rock, solid lines and not surprisingly the crag all to ourselves.  Within a mere couple of hours Mikie had racked up the six lines on Lost Buttress, having also bagged the very fine Jenga (14 – UK VS 4c’ish) and Washing Away the Blues (16 – UK HVS 5a’ish).  So next we had to move over to the Playground, which can be seen in the background:

However, before we went over he was keen to try one more route, on second this time.  It was the test piece route of the crag and my own creation call As the Crow Flies (22 – UK E3 5a’ish).  Despite the conditions being great, and I have a stack of lame excuses, I didn’t have the head to make the bold committing moves up the rounded featureless arête on nought but smears:

Instead I piked out by head left, and Mikie had a crack on second.  After a bit of flailing about he worked out the moves, declaring he would never have led it.  I’ve not heard of anyone leading it but would be keen to hear if anyone has been successful.  We then hauled the gear across for the grand finale climb, passing this huge jammed piece of driftwood some 4m’ish long that I always admire when I am here:

For the last route we picked another starred route, Tunnel Vision (18 – UK E1 5b’ish).  Kym and I had been eyeing this one off for ages but the stars never aligned and we never made it to this crag together, so he eventually led it with Lou seconding it.  Being the route that would see him cross the finish line I simply had to get some good shots.  So we set up an elaborate system to allow me to do that:

It was great to watch Mikie work this route.  It has a couple of crux sections with a pumpy start, balancy delicate slab and then a pumpy hold finding roof.  As he climbed it I thought I saw him falter, but he pulled through to finish his challenge on exactly 10,000m (not a meter more or less) of clean leads on routes he had not done before:

This challenge has taken him approx. 5 years to complete and in that time he told me he had gone through two pairs of shoes.  However, looking at the state of his current shoes I reckon he could count that as three pairs.  As a reward for reaching his goal he is going to treat himself to a new pair of shoes, and it’s about time:

Despite being a tad tired it would have been rude not to have a little bounder at the Playground.  Great rock and fine problems above a (mostly) sandy landing makes this a brilliant spot to muck about.  So we had a play on two boulder problems Slime Ball (19 – UK E2 5b’ish) and The Slicer (21 – UK E2 5c’ish), and after much falling and close calls both admitting to being trashed:

I found out afterwards that Tunnel Vision (at 18) was the hardest trad line Mikie had done to date so a double celebration was in order!

Finally… my boulder wall

Rongy recently downsized his woodie and in late November offered me three panels plus the frames.  I found out that these panels and frames originally came from the Mountain Design shop in Bunbury, so I was inheriting a little slice of SW climbing history.  Lisa asked how long I thought it would take and I said to give me time and it may take 3-6 month all up:

I have toyed with the idea of building a wall many times and always decided not to bother.  There are several people who have them and it seemed extravagant to build my own.  But once the ball was rolling things kinda got bigger and a week into December I had designed the wall and bought the additional material needed:

I started to clear out the shed and had in mind to use a sixth of the floor space, taking advantage of the portion that had a sliding door opening onto the garden.  It was pretty exciting but I had to control my enthusiasm and wait till I had some time to get stuck into it:

Luckily I had a couple of weeks off over Christmas and New Year’s.  So on my first weekend off Craig came over and we had a huge twelve hour day in which we smashed out heaps of the wall.  He has all the tools and toys to make a job like this less painfully and both more efficient and professional:

I proposed to have a roof, vertical wall and the overhang and all of it needed to be framed up.  While it was secured to the shed frame I wanted to have access to the back of the walls, in case of bad t-nuts or worse.  So we built it with that in mind, which made it a tad more complex:

We got a heap done but there was still more framing to make, boards to cut to size and of course none of the new boards had been drilled or had t-nuts placed.  I wasn’t however in a rush and we were pretty chuffed with how far we had manage to get.  I couldn’t resist an image of Nicka who came to check out the progress and was rewarded with a nice blue streak from the chalk line:

Over the next week and build up to Christmas, I was off work.  That meant at 6am when Lisa had ducked out to F45 I snuck into the shed and stayed there for 4-6 hrs each day.  The frame and panels were soon ready, and I found drilling the holes and fitting the t-nuts was relatively painless due to using screw in t-nuts:

As you can see above I went to painstaking levels to make sure when I cut the roof panels they were the right size.  That included plumb-lining the top edge of the overhang, as the pre-made frames I had received were not quite the same dimensions.  Then just two sleeps before Christmas Craig came over to help get the roof panels up and then all that I needed were the holds:

Australia post teased me a bit and indicated they wouldn’t get here till the New Year.  Then that changed and they would arrive before New Year’s, with five out of eight boxes arriving on the Thursday and the last three due to get here on the Friday.  Only problem was that when I went to get the last three the post office was closed:

It was back to work after New Year’s so despite the holds having been collected on the Tuesday, I waited till today to place them so Craig could help out.  It felt like it’d be more fun setting it up together and also I knew he was pretty excited about it.  I placed the first hold at 8am, and it had to be the one that Elseya encouraged me to buy:

We had a bit of a scare when we realised that I had not been provided enough long bolts.  Luckily Geoff had a few spare and came over to drop them off.  He then promptly stayed and helped finish off the wall, while Lisa kept us going with tea and coffee supplies:

At midday and 200’ish holds later I was given the privilege of placing the last hold.  There were times of wondering if I had got enough holds and then whether I had possibly got too many, but it worked out about right:

So after telling Lisa it may take 3-6 moths, it only took just over a month.  With the wall complete it seemed crazy not to give it a go, and Elseya was the first to jump on and of course go for the biggest and best hold.  We then set about having a general muck about:

We played the traditional follow on game and while Craig and I ventured out onto the roof, that really didn’t get as much attention as the other walls.  Just like at Lou’s wall we seem to have an issue with dogs wanting to lounge about on the mattresses below where you are climbing:

Even Lisa put her sticky boots on, and that is a very rare occurrence.  After a while some were getting tired and left Craig and I to have a quick bash at some of the routes we had set.  Some were easier than expected and others were pretty desperate, but overall we agreed it’s pretty good:

So who fancies coming over for a boulder sometime?

Things are clearing up

This email has images from several trips over the last week.  After Christmas the water wasn’t showing any great signs of clearing up and each time I went for a snorkel it was hard to spy much.  That said I still braved the water to see what I might find:

Couldn’t resist this picture of a cray I spied during a morning snorkel.  It was completely out in the open when I first found it.  It’s quite unusually to see them so exposed, and sure enough as I ducked dived down it quickly scurried for shelter, and eventually was lost from vision:

During this relatively uneventful trip I did come across a mature Cownose Ray.  The water was several meters deep here and there was little point trying to get down to say hello, as it was already in flight mode and moving away from me:

As the week progressed the water cleared a little.  On one trip I thought I had found a shell to equal the one Elseya discovered washed up on the beach on my birthday back in October.  However, as I pulled the half buried shell out of the sand the weight told me it was still a home to a large sea snail so I left this Bailer Shell in peace:

Despite not seeing a great deal on some trips I still love getting out and immersing myself in the underwater world.  I tend to stay in for about three quarters of an hour by which time I’m shivering with cold but also very happy.  Most times I go out a group of Banded Sweeps quickly attaches itself to me following me wherever I go:

On the morning of New Year’s Eve it was the first time that the swell was down and the water seemed clearer.  It was also the first time I spied shoals of baby fish hugging the edges of the weed.  I like to think this is a sign that things really are calming down:

I also spied what I thought was a Wobbegong, but he was a bit too quick for me and hid most of his body in the weed.  I bobbed about patiently above the weed and on one occasion it parted to show me the fish, but then quickly closed.  When diving down I looked hard but had no chance of finding it:

As I was starting to cool down and decided to head back in, out the corner of my eye I saw something move.  It was my first squid of the season.  He never let me get too close but with the good light and calmer water I was able to snap a pretty cool image.  After watching him for a while I went down but not surprisingly he shot off:

This morning I went for my first swim of 2018 and finally found another sand gobbler.  I’ve only seen one at Peppy Beach, as it was working its way across a clear sandy patch.  I often see their tracks but rarely find them.  I guess that during the day they find a cosy nook in the limestone reef and bury themselves out of sight, and harm’s way:

I then came across the biggest fish I’ve seen off Peppy, at a good meter long, my guess it is a Banded Rock Cod.  I hovered above it for some time, then swam a bit to the side and dived down keeping my distance.  It looked like he may not swim away, so I went to clear my mask but as I looked down again all I saw was his tail as he was swimming away:

As I made my way into the shore I found a very colourful Mosaic Leatherjacket.  While fishermen can’t abide these fish I have to say they come is some amazing colours and patterns and are very pretty to see:

Well tomorrow it is back to work for me, but before that happens I’m heading down the beach for another New Year’s Day underwater adventure.Have a great 2018!

A winter’s day

As Dan and Joanne were over from Melbourne I had a good reason to head out and they were keen for Willyabrup, which is where we went yesterday.  We had agreed to meet at 6:30.  However, seeing I’m awake at 5 most days and creep round the house like a mouse so as not to disturb the others so I got there a bit before them.  With not another sole at the crag my initial thoughts were to watch the waves and maybe do a bit of photography, but the waves were not very clean and the sky was grey so I was a bit stumped:

Instead I set up a self-belay and led Hope, it’s the first time I have done this and wasn’t entirely sure about it.  But some 12 years back I met Craig doing the same thing at Willyabrup and I think I got it right, plus for me Hope is a pretty safe climb.  I was about half way up when Dan and Joanne rocked up and by the time they were ready to climb I had topped out and set up a belay.  Have to say I enjoyed the self-belay and am tempted to repeat the experience, but am not sure how hard a climb I would lead this way:

I leaned out over the edge of the top slab of Hope, so I could see how they were going as they followed me up.  As I belayed the sun was poking it’s head out every so often and when it did I could make out my shadow in the waves below.  I had to wait till the white water was somewhat calm enough to get a good shot, and caught it pretty well in the image below.  I also spent  a good length of time watching the waves in case the dolphins should show up but it was not to be today:

Seeing we had three people climbing I also brought out the SLR camera to play with.  It’s been a while since I’ve taken this one along and was hoping that I could convince the others to lead a few climbs that would provide some good shots.  Better still today was a bit grey and that meant I wouldn’t be battling with the stark contrast of the shade and bright ocean/sky backdrop.  I could enhance the images on a photo package to get over this hurdle, but I use my images without any changes so what you see is what I take:

Joanne had in mind to lead Inner Space, which I reckon is a very spicy 17 especially with its ‘Wilyabrup’ style top out.  But she wanted to warm up on something a bit easier, so after showing her a few lines she went for Hitching.  It was a great choice as it too has its own runout cruxy section, so was a good way to get her head into the right space:

She confessed that she preferred trad, and had moved from the dark side to this brighter more natural side of climbing.  On this lead she also got to use, for the first time, tri-cams and had to trust one for this nervous section up the blunt arête.  She styled her way up the climb and looked very cool and calm, even managing a smile and wave for the camera half way up this section:

Dan had already hinted to me that he was keen on Stainless Steel, he’d not been on it before and was feeling confident that he could give it a red hot crack.  It is certainly up there as one of the true classics here and other than start up the flake and head for the crack in the headwall I didn’t give anything way.  So as he started I was running up and down and along the slab to the side to get some good angles:

It was an impressive thing to watch, he didn’t seem to stop and hesitate at any point, the gear was placed fluidly and he made every section look very smooth.  There was minimal stopping, but he on occasion waited straight armed on a bigger hold to shake out.  At the final roof he powered up and didn’t break a sweat once.  Another fine lead to watch and again a well-deserved smile at the end of it.  While technically it was my lead next, seeing I can get here so often I encouraged Dan to have a pop at Dolphin Smiles and hopefully get another on-sight 21:

Joanne, after seconding Stainless Steel clean, was feeling a bit pumped and sat this one out.  So I belayed this time, a shame in a way as Dan again looked good on this route but he did attempt the left variant to the crux wall.  He almost managed it but popped off the top and took a long fall, which would have made a great image!  I hadn’t told him which way to go, but I reckon the left is way harder and sure enough when he jumped back on and went right he got it clean.  Joanne was still feeling a bit tired and I think mention of the top out on Inner Space had spooked her so she went for a different climb, which you may recognise from this image:

Instead of a 17 she went for One for the Road at 19, go figure.  It was good to observe how she climbed the bottom wall, I often feel the route is over graded and a bit inconsistent.  However, watching her climb I realised it probably isn’t and it is more that I am so used to the moves and know what is coming up so don’t think too hard about it.  At the roof, she took her time and went up and down to the very well chalked up hold three times before committing:

I’m very happy to say that on the third attempt she found the good hold and pulled through, so another good on-sight was in the bag.  I was sat on top of the crag while she was working the route and the wind was felt cold and I was making me shivering.  Looking out at the cloudy sky with blue patches, an ocean with raggedy waves and feeling cold made it seem like a wintery day.  Despite the perfect conditions to continue to climb into the afternoon it was time for me to head out, so after saying my goodbyes I left the two of them to carry on climbing:

Hope you are all gearing up for a great New Years.

Merry Christmas!

We decided to have a Christmas Eve get together at Welly Dam, and the hard core crew turned up at 6 for a not so early start.  My guess being that it was a later start so we could make sure we were not too tired on the big day to see what Santa may have brought us.  Mikey was keen to get a few more meters in for his challenge so we let him kick the proceedings off:

The idea was that everyone should wear some festive attire, but the message must have gone AWOL.  That said I did replace my tin pot with an ultra-safe Santa hat, and I must admit it seemed to make some magic happen as I managed to bag Chasing Mason (finally!):

The Howe brother’s donned festive (probably more appropriate) tin pots decorated with bows.   Occasionally it felt like it was snowing as a bow would float down from above, and on one such occasion Rongy was quick and picked up a bow for his tin pot!  It was however far from cold, although the rock was in good condition and lines were being ticked left, right and centre:

There were a few faces from old too:, Marnie was down from Freemantle; Chris popped over from Donnybrook; and Dan and Joanne were over from Melbourne.  Dan foolishly believed me, as I picked a few lines for him to tackle, but he did really well.  He was not the only one to take a fall or two and nearly everyone who led tested the ropes at some point:

By ten’ish the second wave of party goers turned up.  They were the mostly non-climbing crew.  Soon it was starting to warm up, and some of the early starters decided that food, drink and a chat was more appropriate than climbing so the action slowed down:

There was also a chance for the kids to jump on, but being Welly Dam there is never anything real easy for them to try.  That said swinging on the ropes and abseiling down is always fun:

As we got close to midday the BBQs were fired up and everyone settled down to munch some lunch in the shade of the trees, as the sun started to hit the wall.  It was definitely now time to stop climbing and top up on energy:

Hoping everyone has a very Merry Christmas and great New Year!

Sprint Finish

I have not had a real first light start for a long time, but this morning I meet Mikey at 3:30 and as the day was waking up we were starting the first route of the day.  Today we were going to the Organ Pipes at Willyabrup with the aim of bagging as much meterage as possible before Mikey was too tired to lead any more:

The Organ Pipes is not often visited.  Mainly because it is short (for Willyabrup), has relatively low grades and is a bit scrappy.  That said it has some great lines and now it has even more!  As we worked from left to right along the crag there were a number of obvious chimneys that to date have not been written up anywhere.  So on this trip he got to do a few first ascents and in keeping with the crag they were nothing too hard despite how hard he is making this one look, but good fun:

So you may be wondering why this is all about Mikey leading and there have been no images of him seconding.  Well he is nearing the end of his mission to clean lead 10km of climbs, and that is not allowed to include any repeat routes.  Before this morning he still needed some 800m, and has only got a few more weeks to finish the task (due to a self-set timeframe).  So he led all the routes and to speed thing up we had a rap rope set up and where possible we used belay setups multiple times:

It’s strange that in all the times I’ve climbed here I hadn’t bagged the chimneys he took on.  They are obvious lines and worth the time, but as I said to him it’s publish or peril so this is a reminder to him to get me those route names.  We did however question the following first ascent, which was a tad more scrappy than most and went at a big grade 4.  Still it added to the meterage for the day and his overall tally, so it had to be climbed:

Lou you will be happy to hear he also led your route New Kids on the Block.  We both agreed it is a great line and nicely consistent, with now one less loose hold, if you try the direct before then deciding to go slightly left.  Mikey tried hard on a few occasions to hit me with blocks and on this occasion got the closest he could manage.  If anyone was wondering yes I was wearing my tin pot while belaying:

Mikey also ventured onto my creation Short and Sharp, put up with Steve many moons back.  It had him foxed as to how to get established on the wall but once he got going he managed to get yet another clean lead.  Judging by the loose blocks at the top, which he managed not to throw down at me, I’m guessing this may have been the second ascent of this route:

I’ve always wanted to venture a bit further left and today we did that, but not on the two lines I had previously spied.  They are still waiting for a keen new route bagger, instead he took on a nice wide crack that had, unlike the two I spied, lots of easy good gear placements.  We did look at the other two from the top (one being up the wall to the right of where he is) but decided against as they could take some time and end unpleasantly:

We managed to wrap up the Organ Pipes in a neat 3hrs, so headed over to Inner Space Wall for a bunch of again shortish but not too hard routes that he hadn’t as yet led.  Starting on Gargoyle was purposely done, it was going to be the most gnarly route so I thought it was best to get it out of the way.  Unfortunately he took two successive lead falls and had to bail.  Mostly (he claimed) down to damp, rounded holds but also possibly not helped by fatigue and a lack of stamina:

However, he wasn’t so gassed that he couldn’t attempt the easier stuff, which included a line I’ve often looked at and wondered about.  Having left the number 4 cam at the top of the crag the chimney/corner of Brepus yielded, but with no gear until the final moves.  Despite the low grade it was a bold lead considering he had just taken two lead falls:

We finished off on Left Hand Crack, he had looked at this line earlier in the week but it was running with water after the storms on the weekend.  I declared it in good enough condition to climb today and sent him on his way up it.  On this lead (which he managed to get clean) he declared the rock was sharp and painful, it was damp and slippery, he twinged his shoulder and finally when he topped out that he was done:

Another awesome morning out, and of course as we walked out foolish people were walking in only to be greeted by sun-drenched rock.  So today’s early start  was rewarded with 18 clean leads (including 4 first ascents) and 231m being clocked up.  With less than 600m to climb his target is looking more achievable – go Mikey!

Colourful ocean adventures

Last weekend I went down to the beach on Saturday morning hoping for a milk pond, with no stingers.  It wasn’t quite that flat but the stingers were absent, which was good.  Lisa came down with the poodles, a cup of coffee and beach chair to soak up some rays while I braved the water in hunt for some.  It certainly felt cold when I got in but took a deep breath and dived in:

The water still hasn’t really cleared up and it looks like we will have another change in the weather this week meaning it won’t settle down again.  That said I could see enough and as I peered down between all the non-stinging jellies I spied what I think is a sunflower sea star.  It was pretty amazing how fast this ten legged creature moved and if I could hold my breathe that bit longer I would have taken a short video.  Watching all the tiny suckered feet moving like they do was pretty cool:

There was not a heap to spy but a few colourful standouts did attract my attention, this included these feathery plants.  I’m not entirely sure but from a book and google search I reckon they may be lytocarpus philippinus, and if they are then I read this stinging hydroid can cause itchy painful weals even with just a light brush contact.  I didn’t touch them, I rarely touch anything I see, and I’m pleased as if my research is right then there is no known first aid measures to deal with the discomfort I would have had:

Fish activity seemed low with the occasional sweep, wrasse and leather jacket about and the very occasional small fish I didn’t get close enough to really see.  Nothing in any great numbers or outstanding except a beautiful globe fish, they have the most amazing googly eyes.  Most of the fish other than the sweep and leather jackets were well camouflaged in the weed, such as this decent sized wrasse with his head only just poking out.  By the time I get down there they have usually shot off to a better hiding spot:

I did however come across a brilliant unexpectedly find.  As I was diving down to check out a sea star the swell was drifting this way and that and opened up a space in the weed to reveal this fella.  Pretty sure it is a tube anemone, with tentacles about 10cm long and a good 1cm thick.  As they waved about gathering food they seemed to be luminescent and the colours changed, giving it a very ghostly feeling.  I’ve seen many anemone before but never one like this:

After about 40min in the water I was shivering and headed back, as I swam across the 10-15 wide sandy patch between the reef and the beach I spied a dust cloud.  Or so I thought, but as I go to closer is was a shoal of Common Toadfish.  These fish were almost perfectly hidden, other than a distinct brown band along their sides and their dark eyes.  Mostly swimming in unison darting this way and that but when you got to close they would go in all directions, before coming back together and starting over again:

On Sunday we had an early start, it was forecast to be hot and four of us decided to head out for a climb at Willyabrup.  The morning wasn’t colourful due to an amazing sunrise or the language, it rarely is.  But Wiggins had brought his new rope and every time you looked over it seemed to glow!  He climbed with Rongy and I climbed with Denis, and not surprisingly we were the first at the crag.  Racked up and bagging routes by 5:30:

We had already managed a few climbs, on the surprisingly wet and greasy rock, before the next group turned up.  They comprised a small contingency of army boys, some camouflage gear was in tow with them but the climbing gear they used was the normal stuff we use.  I make mention of that as I have in the UK come across the army training, and all their gear was black with not one piece of shiny metal showing:

Each of us took turns on lead.  Denis who almost didn’t come along found himself on the floppy end more than he expected, as I had already picked out a few bolted climbs he would feel more comfortable on, never having led on trad.  Every time we looked over at the others it seemed like the bright orange and yellow rope was fake and had been drawn into the view:

Despite the less than favourable conditions we kept going, and also pushed the grade with each successive lead.  There were a few slips here and there but nothing serious and all falls were on second until Denis’s last lead.  His arms were obviously tiring and he was making the most of every chance to rest and shake out.  Towards the top things got spicy and he took a couple of good falls, after misreading the climb and wandering up the (too) hard way.  That said he stuck at it and figured out the best way to go, and was deservedly very happy afterwards:

For the last climbs we eased off the pace, the temperature was creeping up and the humidity was rising with it.  Steve you’ll be very pleased to know the tri-cam you donated as fixed gear to the traverse on Sirius is still there, and was used by Rongy.  We had a rap rope hanging down the wall but we didn’t stop to bash your piece anymore.  So it remains there for the next party who lead this route:

For our last climb I plumped for the longest at the crag, one that I really enjoy but many people find disturbing.  The bottom corner with its rounded holds and occasional brittle limestone coating puts many people off.  But with good bridging it is very cool and despite the sticky conditions felt really good this time.  As we finished off our last lines a good number of other people turned up.  So as we were packing up and walking out they were just about to start climbing, just as the sun started to hit most of the crag.  More fool them I say:

It was a hot walk out and Lou/Glen you should have come as on the way home we stopped at the Shed markets in Busselton…

Was it really that long ago…

Looking back at my emails it has been 20 months since I have donned my mask and flippers and delved into the underwater wonderland right off our beach.  The reason for such a long absence is three fold: we were back in the UK last (Australian) summer; I managed wreck my ankle when we got back; and the ocean never seemed to clear up last summer.  But this weekend just gone I braved the water and dove in.  It was not quite as clear as I have seen it but it wasn’t bad and it felt like greeting an old friend:

On my birthday I had gone out climbing with Craig and managed to drop my camera, cracking the back screen.  So what with some birthday cash I didn’t know what to do with, I went out and bought the new Olympus TG5.  Three models on from my first underwater camera so I was hoping that the images would come out pretty good.  Being the first time of using the new camera I wanted to find something special to take my first image of:

Luckily I stumbled across something that I have not noticed before, and that was these slightly more chunk sea stars.  I thought there were only black ones but as I check about I came across a few more some which were more colourful.  Not really sure but I think they are all types of cushion sea stars:

As I bobbed about I was followed by a group of about eight banded sweeps.  They would swim directly below me mostly, not seeming to be too afraid even when I duck dived down to say hello to them.  This image also shows that the ocean was still a bit murky but it is already looking promising for a better summer than last years:

Couldn’t resist an image of one of the more common sea stars I find at our beach.  This one seemingly had lots of little air bubbles all over it, but I didn’t touch it to find out if they were something different:

I also had a good look round the rock limestone rocks and came across one sea urchin that for once was not hiding in protective crevice.  I didn’t know it but sea urchins are members of the phylum Echinodermata, which also includes sea stars.  One of their characteristics being that they have five-fold symmetry and move by means of hundreds of tiny, transparent, adhesive “tube feet”.  Picking both sea stars or sea urchins up can result in these feet being ripped off:

Most times I have seen sea urchins like this one buried into a hollow in the relatively soft limestone.  It seems that over time generations of urchins form the shallow pits they live in.  The one above had pencil like spines that were not so spikey, where as the one below was more spikey.  I’ve had a look at my books and online but with so many varieties am not prepared to try and identify them.  Maybe this season I should start collecting images of all the different sea stars and sea urchins:

I also noticed in one crevice something different, in the background in another sea urchin, but it was the filaments that caught my eye.  I reckon they belong to a feather star, but it was so well tucked in the rock that I can’t be certain.  Yet another relative of the Echinodermata phylum, were phylum google tells me means a level of classification that is below Kingdom and above Class in the eight tiered hierarchy of biological classification:

One thing I discovered in my first snorkel in so long was my inability to hold my breath, something I will need to start to build up again.  Luckily the reef here is pretty shallow so I didn’t use up too much valuable time duck diving down to the sea bed.  But after approx. half an hour I was tiring and getting cold so decided to head back out to warm up, spying on the way a few jellies but none of the stinging variety:

Have to say I’m pretty pleased with the new camera and looking forward to my next strip underwater…

On the home turf

I’ve been back from my Kalbarri trip for just over ten days now and I have still been feeling somewhat achy and sore.  That may also be down to the sudden increase in temperature and/or the hay fever that has hit me worse than any previous year.  So there was only one thing for it, to get out climbing and figure out if I really was in bad shape or just been a wuss.  So a few of us decided to head out to Welly Dam, and an early’ish start was more than warranted:

Denis and I got there soon after six and had racked up a couple of warm up climbs on Welcome to Edges and Raging Torrent.  Denis hinted at the need to pull the rope so both people led each climb, but that only happened for the first climb.  He then realised just how out of shape he was and opted to second the next route.  As we were finishing off on these lines Andrew rocked up with Steve and Howsie and they soon got down to business:

It had been a while since any of them had been out, and Welly Dam being Welly Dam it was a sharp shock to the system for those who had had the longer break from climbing.  Steve however seemed to be in fine form and marched up Edges without breaking a sweat.  Andrew hasn’t been out since May so he like Denis decided it was quite acceptable going on second:

Howsie opted for Pocket Knife, for which the top was starting to creep into the sun.  When he came down we had a vote and agreed that Denis was more than capable of leading this line, so we pulled the rope leaving him no option.  He gave it a red hot go and with ever tiring arms he finally beat his demons and made it up the strangely troublesome crux sequence:

There was lots of repeating the lines today and I accidentally (and I still stand by that) pulled the rope through meaning Steve had to lead Pocket Knife.  But I needn’t have felt bad about the accident I made as he romped up it, with a ‘cheeky’ move at the crux that Andrew then copied:

After one more warm up route on BBQ Howsie decided to pull out the big guns and went for Red Alert, with the direct start.  He made fine work up to the third bolt before gassing out, but he didn’t freak and with encouragement down climbed to a rest stance rather than sit on the rope.  Then when he pushed for the top he did it cleanly and in good form, with a big ear to ear grin:

Following on from my learnings in Kalbarri, and reinforced by Denis’s early enthusiasm, we pulled the rope and I headed up Red Alert on lead.  Someone stole my camera and took this very cool image, so thank you.  I hadn’t been on this route since I pulled the enormous flake off about a year ago so was a tad nervous, but needn’t have been and lapped it up:

At the top anchors, rather than rush back down I took advantage of the birds eye view.  Steve was taking on one of his favourite climbs, Raging Torrent and the position was perfect.  Showing great core muscle control and foot work he navigated the lower sections of the route, and as usual on this line moved with relative ease:

Even at the crux he didn’t falter and pushed through so fast that I would have missed it if I had blinked.  He has certainly tamed this bad boy, and more impressively that was now three clean leads out of three for him today:

Steve did have one minor complaint and that was that I had not brought the tea making set, so there was no morning tea break to be had.  That said we didn’t rush things and took a casual pace in-between climbs and for the most part moving along the crag as a group being very social:

Andrew was determine to have at least one lead so we sent him up This Murky Corner.  It was aptly named as this mind game of a climb messed with Andrew.  However, rather than lower off he asked for moral support.  So while he was battling his seeping strength, disco legs and disbelieving mind we encouraged him along and he made a good ascent of this fine line, nice:

The heat was turning up and it was getting close to the time we all needed to head off, so just for giggles we did a couple of final fun lines.  Denis headed off leaving me on Ebonie Road, and after I lead it I stayed atop allowing Howsie to pull the rope and climbed up.  This gave me another chance to nab more great images from an angle we don’t usually get:

Then as Steve and Andrew tried in vain to get past the bottom sequence of Ebonie Lane, I suggested that Howsie might fancy jumping on one last climb.  So while Steve and Andrew were being held back by heat and exhaustion, Howsie continually fell off before being able to clip the third bolt on Taj Vs The World.  We reckon he was either trying to recreate the image of him in the SW Guide, or that the shorts he was wearing were unlucky on this climb.  Some research of past images is needed:

It was definitely time to wrap things up so after taking the lead on Taj I left Howsie to second that while I cleaned Ebonie.  With another opportunity for a different angle shot I was a little disappointed to see him hauling past the second and third bolt.  Well I guess it is safe to say that everyone climbed themselves out at Welly Dam, and that is a good thing:

A quick clear up of gear in the shade and then it was back down the hill for all of us.  So looking back I have decided that I was being a wuss, but feel like I have repented with nine climbs today.  Admittedly, unlike in Kalbarri the highest (not the lowest) grade was 22.  Maybe next time I’ll have to push the boat out a wee bit more, that said I do have that satisfying achy feeling after a great day on rock.  So thank you to the crew:

For those that were not aware of this morning’s trip we have set up a local SW climbers WhatsApp group; so as and when trips out or boulder sessions might occur we can all stay informed.  If you are keen to be included on that then get onto WhatsApp and let me know.

I’m looking forward to getting out again!