[abarro81]

Right the UKBizzle, I'm planning on going to Australia next Spring once I'm done with my phd. Have already spoken to a few people but got some questions and interested in general recommendations for crags, routes, fun rest day stuff etc...

Current plan:
April/May - Grampians/Arapiles. Taipan wall is obviously prime target, Muline maybe, plus keen for a bunch of Grampians bouldering
June/July - Blue Mountains
Any thoughts on that plan? Other places worth adding? Psyched for a mix of sport and bouldering mainly, possibly the odd trad route if it's a real cracker.

Questions
- From those I've spoken to it sounds like it'll be worth having a car. Anyone bought one out there? Any knowledge/advice? I know some people in Blue Mnts so could potentially use their address if needed...
- Rob Greenwood advised staying at Arapiles and driving to Grampians rather than staying there as it's easier/cheaper? Anyone agree/disagree?
- Is there much Blue Mnts bouldering and is the Sydney bouldering worth a look?
- Is Coolum (sp?) worth a visit or not really?
- Any recommendations for where to train if it's raining?

Thanks for any info!

[JackAus]

Right the UKBizzle, I'm planning on going to Australia next Spring once I'm done with my phd. Have already spoken to a few people but got some questions and interested in general recommendations for crags, routes, fun rest day stuff etc...

Current plan:
April/May - Grampians/Arapiles. Taipan wall is obviously prime target, Muline maybe, plus keen for a bunch of Grampians bouldering
June/July - Blue Mountains
Any thoughts on that plan? Other places worth adding? Psyched for a mix of sport and bouldering mainly, possibly the odd trad route if it's a real cracker.

Pretty good plan. Could be worth checking out Nowra. Whilst not the most scenic of routes but amazing climbing. Some hard bouldering too. About 3hrs south of Sydney (also a big sea cliff trad area 30min away - Point Perpendicular). Not the place to spend a long time in but do multi-day trips down from the Bluies.

Questions
- From those I've spoken to it sounds like it'll be worth having a car. Anyone bought one out there? Any knowledge/advice? I know some people in Blue Mnts so could potentially use their address if needed...
- Rob Greenwood advised staying at Arapiles and driving to Grampians rather than staying there as it's easier/cheaper? Anyone agree/disagree?
- Is there much Blue Mnts bouldering and is the Sydney bouldering worth a look?
- Is Coolum (sp?) worth a visit or not really?
- Any recommendations for where to train if it's raining?

Thanks for any info!

- Having a vehicle would be much much better. Pretty easy to pick one up and insurance is alot cheaper unlike the UK. www.carsales.com.au or www.autotrader.com.au
- Parks Victoria recently changed all the pricing for the campsites. Now all very expensive, except for The Pines at Araps. Its still pretty cheap. Taipan is only an hour drive from The Pines. http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/mount-arapiles-tooan-state-park
- There is some bouldering in the Blue Mts, no guides or anything though. Sydney bouldering is definitely worth a look... 3000 boulder problems in and around the city.... Theres alot here. Not many big areas but lots of smaller ones. There is a guidebook but it is from 2001... Have a browse here: http://www.thecrag.com/climbing/australia/new-south-wales-and-act/sydney-metropolitan
- Coolum... I've never been but it's all kneebars so you'll love it... Might be worth flying up for a long weekend or something?
- There's a co-op bouldering wall in Blackheath. Other than that, there is a bunch of climbing gyms in Sydney (St Peters, Villawood, St Leonards, Parramatta, Brookvale). There's a few boulder crags in Sydney that stay fairly dry in rain too.

[DaveC]

If you need any help around Melbourne for any reason fee free to get in touch, I'm in a town about 45 minutes from the city and an hour or so from the airport.

[Pako]

Coolum is pretty cool for sure, bouldery style and weird moves. However, from what I can gather about gramps and blue mountains, going to Coolum instead of staying in the south would be a bit stupid. Anyway, there is no good bouldering in Queensland apart from my board. If I were you I would just spend all my time in Grampians, that place looks godly. Not that I would know ;(

[Pako]

I just saw who the OP was, yeah you probably would like Coolum considering that one of the 4 bolt climbs has a total of 17 possible kneebars. There is a 34/35 project there also, the seam project. Coolum probably has more kneebars than all of the Blue Mountains and Taipan.

[abarro81]

Ace, cheers guys!

[DDDD]

I lived in Blackheath in the Blueys for 14 years so know a bit about it.

The weather in the Blueys in June/July can be pretty variable and would most probably be on the cold side and you could get big westerly winds making things difficult. Having said that, though, it could also be good and I've had plenty of good days in winter there. There are crags on the Bells Line of Road where it can be sheltered, such as Bowens Creek although only a few harder lines for you. The crags you may be more interested in are Diamond Falls which would be pretty bad in the cold and wind (I had my back sieze up completely there once due to the cold) and Elphinstone which I haven't been to although it faces SE so would most likely be sheltered from the wind but cold if it's cold. Boronia Point has a few harder things but also faces SE.

PM me if you would like any more info

[GazM]

I was out with Rob Greenwood last year and totally agree that hiring/buying a car and doing daytrips to the Gramps from the Pines made most sense.  Araps is a concentration of loadsa stuff and a cool place to hang out, while the Gramps is much more spread out so there's not really a central location to base yourself.

If you want to climb some trad in the Gramps go to Lost World.  It was all far too hard for me but I had a great day watching wads climbing some of the best looking routes I've ever seen.  Likewise, the classic Archimedes Wall just along the hill lives up to the hype.

No doubt you'll absolutely love Taipan, but it's worth knowing that a fair few of the classics aren't straight up bolted sport routes and rely on trad kit too. 

[abarro81]

Cheers guys. How much of a trad rack would you need for the taipan classics? Doubt we'll take a whole rack due to weight but happy to throw some wires in or similar if it'd be useful

[T_B]

You used to need a few cams (one biggish one on the initial pillar, one in the break) and medium wires for the headwall on Serpentine, but maybe it's been Yorkshirefied?

Back to your original post, I stayed at Araps for 4 months and mainly commuted to the Gramps due to it being easier to find partners for day hits. But I did stay in the Gramps at one point for a bit as we were getting up stupidly early to be on Tapian before the sun gets on it. It's nice over there.

This was 16 yrs ago, so not recent knowledge.

[SA Chris]

sixteen years later, I'm sure it's still fucking hot!

[abarro81]

Got some good info from wiz on staying near taipan so no doubt we'll do that a bit. Well psyched for groove train!

[T_B]

It's the best rock and the best crag in the world. You won't be disappointed.