My blood is too thick for Australia

The heat and humidity has arrived like an oppressive military government and in it's wake I have discovered the joys of sitting in the shade and not moving. Climbing at a reasonable standard is still possible in the most shady gullys during the morning hours but any cliffs that only get afternoon shade are just too hot for me to touch. The mosquitos population has exploded like some out-of-control von neumann nightmare and it's almost impossible to sleep till after midnight. All this and the temperature is still only about 33-34 celcius. Thankfully cooler weather is on the way and I have made a firm decision not to be in Arapiles beyond the end of December, hopefully I will be climbing in Tasmania for February and March.

In the wake of Merlins accident, the police decided they needed to impound all the gear we were using for an "investigation". Several days later after an interview with an officer to get the facts of the incident down and release of the gear when they had finished with it, I was left with the impression that the Horsham police are quite affable folk and keen to do their job but at the same time rather amateur about it.

Merlins fall has affected me more psychologically than I thought it would too. Since then I have had to battle with a lot more fear than normal on hard climbs when I am above the gear. Also I appear to be getting weak and feeble! Every grade I climb seems to be harder than it was in the first few weeks I was here and I tried the next step up the ladder on the sport wall above camp (french 8a) but the holds are just a bit too small for me to move between and all I accomplished was scraping flesh off my fingers.
I think I'm losing weight because I almost have a six pack :)

Loose rock :(

Had a complicated few days. It all started when my climbing partner, Merlin, pulled off a massive piece of rock, ripped a piece of pro and hit the ground on rope stretch from about 15 metres up. It's amazing how the first aid training you never think you will remember trickles into the driving seat like some kind of automated reflex. Swear violently, Check self, swear, check casualty, shout for help, swear, put casualty in recovery position, run for help, send specific person to phone for help, get back to casualty immediately with reinforcements...



The block that nearly ended Merlin and I. 

Not textbook perfect but the wave of relief I experienced when I found Merlin had regained consciousness and moved was immense. From there on in various climbers then paramedics evaced him to hospital by ground then air. All the signs so far are that he will make a full recovery in a short period of time. I'll refrain from posting bloody closeups and settle for the boulder he pulled off.

On a lighter note the wildlife is really upping the ante at the moment. A massive huntsman spider scared the living daylights out of me, the mosquito incursion is turning into a full blown

Bearded dragon

invasion from which I have hundreds of bites and every night before I go to sleep I have to persuade my resident stumpy and his wife to move to a more convenient location under the groundsheet of my tent. There is also an amazingly tollerant bearded dragon whose territory is right in the middle of the campsight.

Me on Kachoong

On the climbing front I redpointed Have A Good Flight Direct, 27, my first 7c it would seem which is a pretty awesome milestone, now it's on to 8a I guess! Hard trad was on the cards till the boulder incident, now however the fuzz have impounded my gear for an investigation and a wee bit of sport using my brand new boots of agony seems the only likely activity for a few days. Talking of trad leads, I can now post a piccy of me on Kachoong.

Finally, I had an interesting time rescuing a pretty girl from a free hanging abseil after her belay device ate most of her hair. It turns out that if you approach on prussic from below (helpfully keeps the belay device locked so it can't move and make the situation worse) and don't want to cut the hair, you can get both peoples weight off the rope with a prussic above the belay device and a setup to hoist the trapped person with your own body weight. I assume this is pretty similar to a big wall hoist for bags that are not too heavy.