Lost in the woods...: School approaches.

I finally go back to school tomorrow. Not the Knee's Bees. It's been about 3 months since my brain last thought about school, and I can't say I'm to happy to go back.

This past week has been a blast. Monday was orientation day for international students, which was pointless. The only plus about Monday was the free food and hanging out at "Bar on the Hill" on campus. We spent most of the day relaxing at the bar, enjoying drinks, and listening to live music (Thats right... a bar on campus).

Two main topics for the rest of the week: Blue Mountains and Kangaroos.

Blue Mountains

My roommate Will and I went on a three day trip to the Blue Mountains this week. We spent most of our time climbing in the Mount Victoria area and stuck to mainly single pitch sport climbing (and one multi pitch route). By the end of the trip I could barley lift my arms or open a water bottle.... great start to get back into climbing shape. We meet some cool climbers, including a local crag developer/renovator.

We did learn two valuable lessons. Bring lots of water and bring warmer clothes. Will didn't bring a sleeping bag and ended up sleeping in his shoes to try and stay warm (I don't think he got much sleep that night).

If I was an English major or a poet I would probably be able to come up with some amazing descriptions for how breathtaking the area was. Hopefully the pictures will do it justice. (There will be plenty more trips to the blues in the future).

Base Camp.

Approach.

Where's Waldo? (a.k.a where is the ridiculously strong girl pulling through a roof?)

Sector Two climbing area (we worked through a really fun 5.11b on the left called lyptus)

Some cool rock. There were lots of these "iron" looking bands in the rock. They made for great holds.

Will resting on Lyptus (surprisingly not as comfy as it looks).

View behind one of the climbing crags.

View in the early morning near our campsite.

The Three Sisters.

Horne's Point.

Will resting on Horne's Point at sunset.

Kangaroos and stuff

Saturday the international student association organized a dolphin watching trip and a visit to Oakland zoo. We've seen dolphins swimming in the waves on Newcastle beach, so I wasn't expecting to much. The only dolphins we saw on the cruise were off in the distance, but it was a great opportunity to meet new people.
The zoo on the other hand was an awesomely hilarious experience. Animals on the free rang zoo ranged from chickens, goats, sheep, and cows all the way to camels, kangaroos, and koalas. I felt like a little kid again.

The animals were all obviously very tame, but it was weird seeing a lot of them for the first time.

Picture time.

Stefan and Cameron on the way to the cruise. Kids will be kids.