In the Mount Arapiles-Tooan State Park (5060 hectares) there are these rocks that just jut out of the ground....there are many, and they offer rock climbers over 2000 different climbs-some of the best climbing in Australia. (I have done 4-the easiest ones :) )
To get there I go through a small country town; "Natimuk"...which is Aboriginal for "Little Creek". I think the population is around the 500 mark, but obviously gets it's fair share of climbing-sightseeing tourists.
The old jail lock up, Natimuk.
"Why ? Why, why, why do I do this ???" — Chuck PrattI don't know why it is, but I just love to climb...I don't even particularly like heights, it isn't really about the height...it's something in the climb and the quiet...
"I think you love rocks so much that they've replaced your brain." — Rex Pieper
Your legs can actually feel on fire and all air goes from the lungs..
"I have never turned back in my life ; I shall not do so today". Emile Rey
"The best climber in the world is the one who's having the most fun." ...Alex Lowe.
"Come live with me, and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove, That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods, or steepy mountains yields".-- Christopher Marlowe
Aaaah some sheep of undetermined intelligence :)
Look what someone (no, not me!) has written on bottom right hand corner rock...
Each time I come here I see something different in the rock sculptures...today this looked like a foot-toes poking up through the ground..
A face with no eyes or nose, just an open mouth?
This climb winds around and up through undergrowth first, then gets more difficult..."They say miracles are past; and we have our philosophical persons, to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and causeless. Hence is it that we make trifles of terrors, ensconcing ourselves into seeming knowledge, when we should submit ourselves to an unknown fear '. -- William Shakespeare All's Well that Ends Well, Act II Scene III
Is it just my mind, or does actually look a little vulva-rish?..........."Rocks make no compromise for sex... rock climbing is not like some sports, where it is made easier for women; or sports like, say, softball, which is only baseball for soft people. On a rock, everything is equal."
Beverly Johnson
"Every moment of light and dark is a miracle." Walt Whitman.
"Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God". Kurt Vonnegut
As high as I could get..."If you're ever killed mountain climbing, then all that you've worked for is gone." Jim Whittaker
The backpack got left under the old dead tree....was getting pretty steep and needing balance by this time....camera strap in between teeth with camera tucked down front of shirt.
"Many years ago, I climbed the mountains, even though it is forbidden. Things are not as they teach us; the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky". from Startrek
Camp site....at the base among pine trees birds and animals.."Short is the little time which remains to thee of life. Live as on a mountain". Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
"Mountains viewed from a distance seem to be unscalable, but they can be climbed. The slopes that seem so steep seem to level off as we near them."-- Anonymous
*Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.."John Muir.
