Once again I have left the blog field fallow for far to long and there is much to much to tell about from the past month and a half. So, a summary is in order.

After leaving NZ, John and I hit Melbourne and a hostel for our first night in Aus. The next day we took a train/bus/shuttle to Mt Arapilies and found that although the area has been in drought for 9 years, the skies were dumping. This was a common theme for the next month. We stayed at Araps. for a couple of weeks, not climbing very much due to rain days and lack of motivation. To be honest, I was not a big fan of the climbing there and not having proper gear made climbing even harder. After a particularly heavy spell of rain, John and I followed a bunch of friends to the Grampians about 60 k away. The weather was better there (for a while) and the climbing suited me much better. It is also my opinion that the area is much prettier. The Gramps. was not without its problems however. The area is very big and we did not have a car so finding rides to the climbing sometimes proved hard. We also still did not have gear. We did get in some great routes though and I also fell in love with a great overhanging sport area called The Gallery. Despite the steep 45 minute approach to the area, the climbing was very "me" and we did some stellar routes there. Eventually John decided to leave and head back to the UK, which was sad for both of us. After he left I started hanging with a great group of boulderers and began climbing with them most days. I ended my trip with a lot of bouldering which was good because the group dynamic was awesome and we could still boulder in the rain. I can say that one of the most beautiful problems I have ever seen is in the Gramps. Although I did not send it before I left I feel grateful that I got the opportunity to try, especially with such a great group of people.

Soon the time drew near to leave camp, which in all honesty, I was very glad to see. I was not very happy in Aus., with the rain, friends leaving one-by-one, and the idea that soon I would be amongst old friends in one of my favorite places in the world. I was very ready to leave. I hopped a ride to Melbourne in the back of a van and spent the day there with friends combing the market. That day I broke down and bought a didgeridoo after Glen and I got the vender to knock off 60 dollars. I spent the night in a hostel and apparently left my best (and one of only two) pairs of pants behind on accident. I also had some trouble getting to the airport but eventually I made it and boarded a flight to Sydney after finding out that although one can carry on guitars, you cant carry on didgeridoos.

Our flight to Sydney was 30 minutes late and after getting rushed onto the connection flight to LA, I was on my way home. 13 hours later I was at the LA baggage claim wondering why my newly purchased instrument was not coming out with all the other didgeridoos I was seeing. Turns out that the baggage handlers sent mine and not everyone else's through the oversized baggage line, and after finally finding it the customs line was so long I missed my next flight. To top it all off I dropped the didge, off my cart and cracked the crap out of it. Needles to say I was pretty upset, but I got on standby, unknowingly paid 7 dollars to phone Jenni to tell her I would be late and caught the next flight to Fresno 4 hours later. After a total of 20 hours of travel and 1 hour of sleep, I arrived in Fresno, haggard, minus a pair of pants and toting a broken didge.

Jenni met me at the airport and we spent one night in Fresno and set off the next day for Yosemite, where I reside at the time of this update. I have been doing a lot of hiking and hanging out, and even some climbing here and there. Its great to be back amongst all the cats I have not seen in 7 months, and even though three of us are living in a small cabin, I find the comforts here that I did not have in Aus. wonderful.

Thats about it for now. As per usual I will follow up long, drawn out commentary with pictures which should be coming in a few days.