what am i doing now

Well the first apartment fell through so were ended up in a bigger place with two bedrooms and while a bit more each month its worth while and works out the same price as we are renting the second bedroom to one of Sonia's friends who works in Shenzhen.

Sonia has got herself a job with Bright Oil, so is happy however she will have to spend the first 3 months training but she gets paid for this and will hopefully enjoy the work.
I on the other hand have not found a job yet however have a few demo classes lined for some nursery schools over the next week. all part time but will pay ok and give me time to do my studies and adjust to teaching classes of insane toddlers who don't really know or understand English.

Think we may go to the beach later as is a nice day and in the high 20's. and to make a change its not cloudy. woo yeah..

Anyway just to let you all know im still alive and will keep in touch.. have fun..

Update, also on blog

 

A brief catch up.

So as you will have guessed I made it to China. Some 15hrs of travelling is hard work when I worked out I only had 5 hrs sleep in about 30 hrs. however I met my cousin Julie and her husband Peter at the Loft youth hostle in Shenzhen around 20:30 on Monday the 1^st and later that night Sonia arrived at about 1:30am. Due to her flight being delayed.

The next day after a slow start and much disappointment at no gas stove in the hostle kitchen preventing the production of proper coffee then to make matters worse Starbucks was closed,. (perhaps a good thing as its not the best coffee in the world but I was in need of caffeine).

After wandering around the electronic district we all met up and decided it would make for an amusing afternoon to go for a quick trip around the world stopping of at the major sights along the way.

120 yuan for entry into the Window of the World theme park where you can see the skyscrapers of Manhattan, a fairly good yet scaled down version of the Eiffel Tower and a host of other tourist attractions from around the world. Some were fairly tacky but it was well worth the cover fee for the entertainment value.

The next day we said goodbye to Julie and Peter who were continuing on to Hong Kong for five nights as they continue there travels around the world. Sonia and myself in contrast relaxed and had a fairly chilled day catching up on some much needed sleep.

We now find ourselves living in a hotel and have just sorted out an apartment. However things are fairly expensive in Shenzhen. 43 square meters for 2400yuan per month.

Its a good location, fully furnished, and cheaper than stopping in a hostel so no real cause or complaints, we just wish it was cheaper.

I guess now all we need to do is find jobs, however I need to spend the next month doing a English teacher training course to get a piece of paper and hence a job and with luck Sonia will have found herself a nice job then also.

Hope everyone is enjoying themselves back home and will let you know how my birthday goes.

will also try to get some photos on the blog but as i cant get on the page yet it may take a while for the photos.

Made it To China

Just a quick one to say i amde it to China. Wooo. will post a better update when i have had some sleep.

 

Later all.

Back in the UK

well i made it back..
What more can i say. its nice to see family and friends again. but so much has changed.

I drive around the streets and am seeing new building and road all the time.

My family has changed, my frinds have changed also. the have new jobs, more responsibilities, many have children. it all feels a little peculier. like iv come back but into a different dimention. where everything is just a bit different.

I have the lyrics from radiohead creep dancing through my head. "But Im a creep, Im a weirdo. What the hell am I doing here? I dont belong here."

I think it will just take time to adjust. after all its been 19 months or more and i have exsperienced so much in that time that has changed me i guess i just need to reajust. like getting comfy in a favorite seat after somone else has sat in it.. or putting on an old coat thats been hung up for a long time.. you know how it should be and feel but it just dosn't fit right at first.. it needs a bit of wearing in again.

well i need to find a job ASAP and work out a few things but so far its been nice to be back. to have a home again.. even if its not my own...

Araps Wow

Well what a way to spend my last few weeks of travelling.

This wonderful hulk of monolithic quartzite rock was spectacular. The last three weeks were great fun. I arrived at the pines camp ground, araps, mid afternoon on the 3rd of April, the wind was blowing but then I was to learn that the pines is always the windiest place to stay here, once 50 meters outside the shelter of these parasite ridden and dying pines the heat of the sun hits you. The rock is like a cross between granite and sandstone and placing gear is always fairly easy despite what the guidebook may say with regard to a few of the routes.

I was fortunate to meet many great people to climb with whilst in residency at the camp ground.
Banjo and Carrie, a young couple from Tasmania who had not been climbing very long were good fun to climb with as their friend Alec who later joined them over the Easter week,

Kumpy an American of Asian decent was really entertaining. having climbed for about as long as myself he has likewise acquired many anecdotes and met many people along his travels, and I have memories of him sat eating broccoli or pack choy for lunch and playing his ocarina which is a little whistle like musical instrument, and we subjected the camp site to renditions of happy birthday, Twinkle twinkle little star, a few nursery rhymes and ode to joy. Which used to come echoing out of the afternoon shade from the recess of some gully and probably drove people insane as we only knew the first 20 bars or so.

I later met another American by the name of Andrew, we were climbing in china around the same time and he knew Kumpy from his time in China also. There was also Parish from Melbourne. Matt a walking guidebook to araps was most helpful and I spent a fair amount of time picking his mind for good routes. A couple of Kiwis and many other who I met and climbed with. Gustav who liked anything involving crack climbing and Massa who's love of the crazy Asian card game was only second to that of his love for climbing.

It was a bit like 6 degrees of separation where everyone could be linked to everyone else stopping there. The atmosphere was great to be around and with having 3 weeks a laid back approach to climbing ensued. Basically getting up before 8am was uncommon. But normally breakfast was eaten, toilet ablutions attended to and climbing commenced around 10ish. I will have to read through a copy of the guidebook to recall al the routes I climbed but a few that stand out in my mind are, King Rat, Tannin, Astral Plane, Muldoon, Missing Link, Sphinx, Blue Hawaii, Running on empty, Claw, Jesus built my hotrod, A taste of Honey, Hertz. I even had a good play on have a nice flight but unfortunately couldn't get it clean, which Is a shame because its a great line which should be within my ability but for the lul in climbing and my body becoming out of shape.

Many of the poorer climbers or thoses who just had a phobia of spending money would go and check the supermarket bins when in town to see what delights had been thrown out. To my utter surprise such things as Brie which was still well in date and fresh fruit and veg were bread and milk which pursueded myself and Kumpy to make a point of checking out the bins whenever in town.
I even got myself an Easter bunny and Easter egg, along with many other items to supplement my shopping budget which just meant I spent the saved money on some beer.

Climbing every day on such rough rock cut my fingers to shreds and I should probably have taken more than a couple rest days but it was hard not to climb.

I arrived back in Melbourne on Friday after securing a lift with Francesca, a regular at the pines who was happy enough to save me the $30 bus fare. I will no doubt make it back this way at some point in the future but for now my travelling days need to take a back seat until I can earn enough money to go to all the places I heard about whilst trotting around for the past 20 months.

It will be strange to go back to a regular job but im sure I will manage for a short time until the joy of travelling calls me once again.

I didn't take many photos but a selection will end up on my flickr account.

Araps

Well im in araps. have been here from the 3rd of April and today is my first proper rest day. Have climbed lots, made some new friends.. bumped ibnto a couple of old ones.

Starting to smell a bit now so time for a shower and a spot of shopping.

Will update this with a some of the routes and add some photos to Flikcr by the end of the month. 10 more days until i head back to melbourne.. best make them count.. perhapse a few more grade 21's and with luck a few 22's.. may even get the 25 i'v been working but i doubt it.. feels super hard so i must still be weak from good living and eating in melbourne.

Later folkes.. Will be back in the UK by May.

Tasmania

Well I made it to Tasmania and back in one piece

A friend of mine Jose was going out there to meet some friends and do some climbing so after checking the cheap Jet Star flights a plan was made and we ended up flying to Tasmania on Saturday the 14th march..

After arriving and checking into the hostel which had been previously booked on-line we discovered than no record of the reservation had been received.. So I ended up sleeping on the Sofa which would have been fine apart from the rowdy drunken group who were half cut when we arrived at about 22:30.

After Jose checked in we headed for Pizza and I decided to stop out for a few drinks to give the noisy people in the hostel a chance to quieten down as I was sleeping in the communal lounge which had been fairly busy when we went out..

I arrived back shortly about 12:45 to find out that the group had made no attempts to quieten down and were being ejected from the hostel. I was also informed of the car which had been burnt out in the hostel car park and decided that a peaceful nights sleep was out of the question.

I awoke about 8:45 the next morning.. Jose had gone to locate his friend from the US Gabe who is studying in Australia so I unfolded myself from the sofa and we all met up and went for breakfast which was nice but exceptionally overpriced but gave us a chance to chat and formulate some form of plan.


We met up with some fellow climbers and travellers and got the local take on where would be best to head... it didn't look good and the rain appeared to be moving in but our time here was limited and we wanted to make the most of it.. we jumped into the hire car and headed out towards Freycinet, a small peninsular on the east coast which is mostly national park.

On the way we stopped at Anaconda (the big Australian outdoor store) in the hope of finding the climbing guide as all efforts had failed due to shops not opening on a Sunday, we also looked at the chances of obtaining some camping equipment.. Whilst we couldn't hire any form the store one of the employees, Drew with a pink mohawk said he could lend us a tent.. winner...

So with our recently acquired climbing guide and camping kit we headed of to Freycinet, however as the first night was raining we decided to stop at the hostel on the camp site which also proved to be useful as we were able to liberate a number of cooking utensils which were to come in most useful.

The first day in Freycinet we went for the tourist walk up and over to wineglass bay then back through the bush to the other side of the peninsular and around to the car park.. the sun came out by the time we started and we enjoyed wonderful weather and views and resolved to go climbing the next day.

We camped that night on the beach and the wind picked up and it rained but the tent held and the grey morning invited us to change our plan but we knew the weather was blowing through and it would clear so we packed up and spent the next 4 hrs. trying to find the Crag which was only 1.5hrs walk in.. however due to unmarked paths a guide book written by someone who cant tell the difference between feet and meters and a hillside full of cairns leading in every direction but the one we wanted it turned into a hike to the top of Mt Amos which overlooks the hazards range and down to wineglass bay and the circuit we had walked the previous day..

After our failure at climbing on what we would have liked to be a climbing trip we ran to Launceston and spend a few days at the sports climbing venue of Hillwood a short 45 minute drive away. This proved to be just what was in order however there were serious doubts about the solidness of the rock but a few classic lines were sent and we had a great time before we left for the delights of Cradle mountain. Perhaps the must see area in Tasmania. The drive along the winding road took us past a small town called Sheffield so I stopped for a photo or two and we went past Mt Roland with a great 350meter easy climb up the shoulder which promised to be a great adventure for the willing.. however due to the state and condition of various ankles a bit of inexperience and lack of helmets on we opted to spend the next day walking the start of the Overland trail up to Cradle mountain.

We could not have picked a better day. It is said that the summit of this peak is in cloud for over 320 days per year and we didn't see a cloud all day. The peat bogs and moorland plateau that runs south through three national parks is stunning and the vista provided from the summit was fantastic. This day was the highlight of the trip so far and made any disappointment about the decision no to do the multi pitch on Mt Roland rapidly dissolve.

The 5 or 6hr walk was completed and we stopped of at the camp ground to cook dinner before a long drive through the evening back to Hobart where we were offer accommodation in a house of climbers.

The next morning we raced of to the Tasman Peninsular to take a look at the Famous Totem Pole. Which is a great finger of rock although dwarfed by the candle stick that sits next to it, its steeped in climbing infamy.

We were also greeted by the view of a huge pod of dolphins over 50 strong swimming around the coastal waters and playing, I assume they were in pursuit of a school of fish but it made the walk and the experience all the more rewarding when looking down from the cliffs to the clear ocean with such a scene laid out before us.

After camping the night and cursing all the possums that tried to creep up on us as we made out meal we left for Hobart and the flight back to our respective homes.. Iv now done my washing an am packing some things to send home before my last trip.. this one to Mt Arapiles where I hope to get some climbing done before my return to the UK.

photos are also now on flickr..