Pictures Post

Castle Hill......sigh. This is about 1/3 of Flock Hill's boulders. Beautiful weather coupled with cool rocks and climbing partners = awesome. Side note, this was where they filmed the final battle scene from Chronicles of Narnia. Thought that was cool.

These two lovely people with me are Michal (from Israel) on the right and Elias (from Austria) on the left. Great people and climbing partners, they definitely made my time in Castle Hill more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. Thanks guys.

Imagine this is rotated. This was possibly the coolest V0 I've ever done.

Sorry this pictures post took so long. I'll try and make it worth the wait.

For some reason this computer doesn't like my USB cord so there are going to be just a few climbing/Castle Hill pics and some Sydney Zoo pics. Maybe if I can, some other NZ pics. I'm trying! Here's a panda-monkey I believe. Very cute.

While I'm waiting for these pics to load, I'll give you a little overview of my last few days.

I made it to Alice Springs! Thank you Qantas. However, once I got here and had my flights all figured out, I found that there is an airlines called Tigers that could have gotten me here and then to Cairns for hundreds of dollars less, like $400. Qantas was not the ONLY way to get here, as I had been led to believe. Oh well. If anybody's going to Australia, save yourself some money.

There's not much going on in Alice Springs. I did go to the reptile exhibit, which is not for anyone that has any dislike of snakes, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Next was a 3-day trip to King's Canyon, Ayer's Rock (Uluru), and one more spot whose name escapes me right now. Despite waking up at 5:30, 4:30, and 4:30 on consecutive days, it was a blast. Cool group in the bus, cool bus driver, and some pretty sweet views. If I can ever figure out these computer problems, I'll load some of the views. The trip was one big self-control fest because we were walking around these amazing looking walks and walls and IT WAS ILLEGAL TO CLIMB THEM! At times, I was physically uncomfortable looking at the red, crimpy, sometimes slabby, sometimes slightly overhanging walls surrounding me. Luckily, the views were more than sufficiently beautiful to make me enjoy myself. And the stars at night! We camped and were so far away from everything on one of the nights that it was like camping at the Buttermilks in Bishop--crystal clear with too many stars to comprehend. The constellations are different down here so that made it even more enjoyable.

So far today I've spent a couple hours on the computer figuring out the rest of my time in Australia, and after some scary minutes, it's going to work out as long as I get on the buses at the right times, which I should be able to do. I have about an hour left in Alice Springs and I want to get to the Flying Doctor's Museum before I head out, so I'd better go. I might end up just hanging out at the pool though, to hang out with my friends for a little bit longer.

Well, hope you liked the pics and the update. I can't wait to get back to free internet.

Talk to you later,

Andy