Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Author

The place to be for climbing

Cam McKenzie

13-Jan-2011
1:06:43 PM

I'd take living in the Ho above Melbourne or Sydney.

Organ pipes are 20 minutes drive away, Waterworks and Freuhauf are on the outskirts of town and are as good as poxy local cliffs get. 2 hours to Freycinet, 2.5 hours to Ben Lomond. 1 hour to the Tasman peninsula. Bit of fun deep water soloing 1/2 an hour away.

Great little town too. The weather's not nearly as bad as everyone seems to make it out to be. But it keeps the punters away, so no complaints.

Duncan

13-Jan-2011
1:06:46 PM

I've lived in Surry Hills and it's f---ing rad. Sure, you can't throw a brick without hitting a hipster douche (I've tried it), but it is an awesome suburb. Anyway, slightly off-topic. Calling Sydney a cultural wasteland during the Sydney Festival is utterly retarded, by the way.

widewetandslippery

13-Jan-2011
1:20:00 PM

My suggestions were quite honest.

Surry Hills is full of wankers, oh your french, you might like it then. I live in Glebe and previously Redfern for quite a while. The Gong is a great place.

Sydney Festival? WTF? Whats to be festive about living just another overcrowded shit hole full of families, theists and property owners trying to justify they are special because they hate the fact all they are is precompost.


cruze

13-Jan-2011
2:01:25 PM

Whilst not quite the Eastern Suburbs, the Surry Hills mentality reminds me of one wanker's turn of phrase:

"The only time I leave the Eastern Suburbs is to go to the International Airport"

So, yeah, I guess blind parochialism isn't limited to the city by the bay.


Superstu

13-Jan-2011
5:39:51 PM

The only time I go to the Eastern Suburbs is when I miss the turn off to the International Airport.

Sidney

13-Jan-2011
7:12:29 PM

Thank you for your answers. A lot of good infos! It is not easy to find on internet the details you give!
I have to find a work so I cannot go to much In rural towns and my girlfriend has to do her Thesis.
It looks like there are many good places to climb, a bit far from each other but it is impossible to have everything.
Without entering the eternal debate, I like trad climbing but the idea of doing it on a one pitch route feels strange. Maybe it is just that I only did trad on limestone and it is a bit scary!
So trad for long routes, 1 pitch routes on bolts or with easy placing protections.
If I understand Sydney has good climbing but the town is not so pretty, Melbourne has good but far crags (and rain), Tasmania is often wet but beautiful.

Is their climbing near darwin ?

Thanks


Superstu

13-Jan-2011
7:22:59 PM

Sydney...

Versus

Melbourne...

Wendy

13-Jan-2011
7:26:17 PM

whilst there is climbing near darwin, between the very limited amount of it and hot humid conditions, it is hardly a climbing destination. it is however, a pretty reasonable city and close to some amazing countryside. The equivilent of crossing europe away from almost anywhere else in Australia.

adelaide is close to climbing (not great but reasonable and very convenient 20m from cbd) has cheaper housing, and only 4-5 hours to Moonarie and Arapiles.

Brisbane is close to great crack climbing, some steep sport, a scrappy toproping crag in the city centre that you could DWS at the moment, but miles from anywhere else and rather hot and humid all summer.

Perth is the most remote city in the world, but does have a small amount of climbing and 5 hours or so travel will get you to a bit more. 3-4 days of driving will get you to arapiles.

That's pretty much all your city options. There are a few regional centres that aren't badly located but i figure if you're going to go country, go really country and be really close to the rock. Natimuk is still the centre of the universe.

Duncan

13-Jan-2011
9:54:11 PM

On 13/01/2011 Sidney wrote:
>If I understand Sydney has good climbing but the town is not so pretty,
>Melbourne has good but far crags (and rain), Tasmania is often wet but
>beautiful.

Sydney is gorgeous. Apart from that, you're not far off.

Karl Bromelow

13-Jan-2011
10:30:06 PM

Sidney quotes bouldering first in his short list of pleasures. It also seems apparent he is looking at city living rather than rural. I'm sure there are good reasons for this. He comes from Europe. He's used to easy access to heaps of variety on world class rock with a strong culture of climbing. For these reasons he'll not find anything that will totally satisfy him in the "lucky country" but I would strongly suggest Sidney go to Sydney rather than Melbourne, if it comes down to a choice between the usual two. I'm not biased as I live nearer the latter not the former. I have a bouldering guide to Sydney by Pete Balint (funky guy - I met him when he was living in Sheffield). There's bugger all of any great consequence within a tedious drive from Melbourne (from a European perspective).

Cheers and Happy New Year to you rather tribal lot. Keep up the bickering. Might as well. Not doing much climbing, eh? : )


salty crag

13-Jan-2011
11:38:54 PM

Surprised no one mentioned "The Pines". Everything at your doorstep.

One Day Hero

14-Jan-2011
12:09:45 AM

On 13/01/2011 superstu wrote:
>Sydney...
>Versus
>
>Melbourne...

Great photo's Stu. Manly sure does look pretty from the plane, doesn't it?..............not quite as scenic when you're trying to get there on a summer arvo and find yourself gridlocked on Military Rd. for 1.5 hrs!!

They took the most amazing venue for a city and ruined it by carpeting with disfunctional infrastructure and fully functional wankers. No one in Sydney leaves their local area much because its such a ballache to move around.......if you can't organise to live and work next to the beach, that photo will have nothing to do with your Sydney lifestyle

Duncan

14-Jan-2011
11:08:46 AM

You can see my house in that photo and I work at UNSW. I have no problems with getting around, but I guess that's largely because I'm used to it. I'm still not really sure why I'm applying for a job in Canberra.

widewetandslippery

14-Jan-2011
11:53:43 AM

The gorge, the gorgeous gorge Duncan.

martym

15-Jan-2011
12:56:41 AM

You've got an Aussie passport? Then you can live anywhere.
After the Netherlands, I think you'll find Melbourne bland and Darwin unbearable. As for Sydney not being pretty, Australian architecture is like the United states: pretty it ain't. That said, the harbour is gorgeous, and most Euros love Sydney. That's why there's so many people there.
It all depends on the work you want to do & whether your girlfriend needs to be close to a University. If you're game, rural life will be a very interesting experience, and you'll be a novelty rather than just another foreigner. I'm guessing your girlfriend isn't a native speaker and will simply find the Rednecks quaint, rather than scary.

Just in case you need some perspective, it's a HUGE country:

There are 35 messages in this topic.