Ah, summertime!
The sound of cicadas. Christmas beetles banging on the window pane trying to get into the light. Droning mosquitoes, dive bombing your precious helix rim while you try to sleep. And who could forget to mention snakes, spiders, ants, blowflies.... and torrential flooding rain!
Day Five of our southern hemisphere summer and the weather officially
SUCKS. Out in the Central West and tablelands where we live, it just hasn't stopped bucketing down for what seems weeks now. It was great to begin with - it greened up pastures for stock, made the summer harvests look like being premium and filled up plenty of empty country dams. But, enough is enough.... we now have major flooding throughout country NSW and to be blunt about it, its all getting a little boring.
And, to be completely self absorbed about all this perplexing precipitation, I've been on holidays for the last four weeks and its been wet just about every steenking day! Yeah, yeah, I've got my hands full of baby nappies and toddler training issues at the moment, but I've also got a farm to keep going! While it keeps flogging down like cats 'n dogs, it makes it pretty hard to get out there and run things over with the tractor or break things that I'm supposed to be fixing (like I usually do).
Like most people out in this part of the country, while the rain really is quiet a blessing and it hasn't caused any threat to our livelihood, it just gets to a point where seasonally, you expect to see
SUNSHINE. Talk about seasonal depression and cabin fever, I can now understand why the Poms go feral during long grey months of winter! I just wanna go outdoors and go climbing, or bushwalking and not have to dress up like its still winter time!
Okay, okay, I know what some people might be saying. Yes, we should be grateful for the rain (we are). Ah, yeah it causes more debate on global warming (it's needed). But what about my motorbike??? The poor ol' Ducati hasn't been started in weeks and weeks because of the mushy wet clay road to get off our farm!
In my act of rebellious defiance against the Deity of Bad Weather, I decided enough was enough the other day. I purposely wore a light spray jacket, waterproof trail shoes rather than boots and headed off into the wild.
Man, did I get
wet =8^(
Bardens Lookout and climbing area at Mt York looked like a giant wave had just splashed over the entire cliff line. Deserted, miserable and clouded in fog, I still made a determined slog along a very wet cliff line to admire the steep lines and overhanging roofs that comprise the fab climbing routes, particularly along Jean Genie and Little Triggers Wall. If only it dries out, I'll drag Rope Carrying Second (otherwise known as Al) and some gear back here to do some sport routes =)
Unfazed by the weather's valiant attempt to leave me soaked like a sandy beach at high tide, I then ventured out to the mighty Victoria Falls, at Mt Victoria. Wateralls, especially in heavy rain, seem to get rarely photographed, so I made it my grand mission to record the Cascades in flood. No one told me though that the 2.5 hour return steep walkdown to the falls would end up being like a kayak slalom course, complete with rivers of water all the way down the single track!
I didn't start this walk til after 5pm. I made it out just before dark... and with no phone reception, no shelter and no torch, it could have ended up a very wet, lonely and miserable night if something HAD gone wrong. Still, that was the challenge and I've gotta say in all seriousness, it really was just what I needed. The scents from the wet forest, the thundering sound of the falls, the lonely bird calls and majestic glimpses of towering cliff lines through the mist were just glorious =)
Its taken four days now to dry out my trail shoes. The few photo's that I did manage to take were all pretty lacklustre as its soooo hard keeping the rain off your lens. But you know what, its been fun splashing around outside in a weird kinda way, a bit like being a kid jumping about in rain gutters >;^)
If we don't get washed away or slide away in a landslide, I'll be back with another post at the end of the week. In the meantime, keep your brolly up the right way.
Hodgie
