Australia - Part 2 - Great Ocean Road and Mt. Arapiles/Grampians

Great Ocean Road (Melbourne to Adelaide)

The southern coast of Australia from Melbourne to Adelaide is wild and beautiful.

Some of the 12 Apostles on the southern coast

Surf coast on a mellow day

It's amazing Katie can stay standing up without feet

"Don't worry about the wind - it will be fine!"

Between squalls on the coast

White faced heron

Meeting furry friends in Mount Gambier

We spent the night in Mount Gambier, and were told the local town park had friendly possums that love bananas.  We headed over at dusk and quickly made new friends.

Yes, the possum is hanging by its tail!

Free ride for Junior

Feed me!

Keri's new BFF

Alex tried to smuggle this guy home in his jacket

Mt. Arapiles

Mt. Arapiles is called "the best climbing crag in the world."  It doesn't look like much, but has an amazing number of high-quality routes, particularly multi-pitch traditional (gear) routes.  And not crowded - every route we climbed was considered a five-star classic, and we were alone on all of them.  I'm not sure if it's the best crag, but it is ridiculously fun climbing!

Keri having a blast on Siren

These black rock skinks are all over the place - and fearlessly scurried over our ropes and packs

Keri cranking a fun corner crack

Alex topping out on Muldoon with a lot of air below him

Alex and his shadow descending the amazing caramel rock

Alex leading on gear for the first time ever (D-Minor)

Looking out at the endless flats from Mt. Arapiles

Katie at the start of her first gear lead on Tiptoe Ridge

Katie led all five pitches, including route-finding, building gear anchors, and belaying me up each one of them

Confident guide looking up into the unknown

Sunset behind Mt. Arapiles

Grampians

Alex and I also went out into the Grampians, the "bigger" mountain range in Australia, to climb a fantastic four-pitch route called Debutante.  A super fun day in the mountains.

Alex traversing at the top of the first pitch

The view out across the Grampians to the flatlands

Alex savoring the fantastic rock

The climb had a lot of different, interesting moves

Next up...

Back to Melbourne, then off to Tasmania!