the birm*

We’d planned to go climbing on the central coast (1 hour drive south of newie), so we started off with a hearty brekkie at adski’s (yum!). I made some coffees while adski cooked the good stuff. Tezza and his mate leo turned up and we headed south. It was pretty grey and drizzling. We stopped at a servo and waited for “pommy” and by the time he got there the hacky sack was soaking. We opted for an indoor climbing gym in Sydney. Back in the cars heading to Sydney the rain kinda eased off and the ground looked dry, so we decided to go and check out a bouldering crag on the water. We parked at cowan station and walked down the ridge to Jerusalem bay. It was overcast but warm and dry. At the bottom of the hill we spotted the cliffs, only 100m away…but on the other side of the river estuary. Cause none of us had packed a boat we waded across clear, warm, salty (sharky) waist deep water with our packs on our heads.

We spent the next few hours wading or swimming to the base of the cliff and tried various “problems” all harder than each other. Some of the better climbers amongst us (anyone who wasn’t me) managed to get a few moves in here and there. The slippery rocks, oysters, steep/overhung sharp edged cliffs and wet tevas (sandals) made for quite hard climbing. Jumping into the deep part of the water was also enjoyable. Very clear, very warm and very, very deep (which occasionally got spooky due to all the shark stories of late in down town Australia). The cliff was also much higher than it looked from the water and jumping from the overhung thin roof top was a rush (the old “ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…breath.. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” splash)! It turned out to be a lot of fun and a very enjoyable day. A terrific spot!