Roughing it out down South

Hi Chia!

I'm so happy that you get along with your housemate :) I hope to hear more about how you guys get along!

I also really enjoyed hearing about your observations of your new life so far! Amazing that those kids know about K-pop! Who would have thought!? How did they know about it?

How long is your drive from work to school? Must be awesome not having to deal with traffic jams!

We spent a lot of our weekend driving at 110kmph. It's quite a liberating experience. As I looked out the car windows, I noticed that I got this 'expanding' feeling and a sense of freedom when I looked out to see empty space rolling on, and on, and on.  It's the same feeling I get when I look out to the ocean on my runs. I love it. It just feels like the whole world is out there waiting to be explored and I feel like anything is possible!

On Saturday, Kev and me together with his Mom, Brother and Sister-in-Law decided to go to Bluff Knoll in the Stirling Ranges. However, from the early hours of the morning, it was grey and dreary with a constant drizzle.

Here are some of the snaps taken throughout the day.

Kangaroo riding an emu up ahead

Wild drive up to Bluff Knoll

A token 'snap' at Bluff Knoll

What we could see at the parking spot at Bluff Knoll

The weather in Mount Barker was completely different to Perth; wet and cool at 15 degrees! So when we arrived at the car park of Bluff Knoll, we quickly realised that it was not the ideal weather conditions to go walking.  It reminded me a bit of the time that you and I went up to Mountserrat in Spain. We could see the clouds which were moving so fast through the rocks! However, this time, the clouds had wind and rain with them, and so we had to make the decision to give Bluff Knoll a raincheck for another time.

We then decided to give 'Castle Rock' a try. The weather didn't seem as wild as Bluff Knoll, and we were pleasantly surprised to experience a lovely cool walk up.  The cloud and rain cloaked over the tree tops, creating a luminous white diffused light and delicate black silhouettes of branches that stretched higher and higher.

The rain and mist on top of the trees

Walking up

A photo request of Kev's which turned out awesome!

Fiddalee-dee he's touching it.

A natural frame. Loved this!

One of my favorite snaps - this is what we saw for most of the walk.

If you hear a 'cooo-ing' noise in the video, its not a pigeon. It's a Kev-pigeon.

When we reached the top of the climb, near the lookout of Castle Rock, we saw all these awesome rock formations. Obviously, we couldn't help but do some fun poses.

Kev's awesome upper cut

Me doing the 'THIS IS SPARTAAAA!' kick

When we finished posing we reached a sign which told us that we had two different paths to choose from; the Karri Lookout or the Castle Rock Summit.

The Karri Lookout was a easy 50m walk to a bridge which allowed you to look out in one direction.

The Castle Rock Summit however, required a 65m scramble. This included climbing up 2 sets of rocky walls, and then a ladder which takes you up to the sky walk on the summit. At first we thought we would just do the Karri Lookout as it was still pretty windy.  However, after seeing the Karri Lookout and feeling slightly deflated (didn't seem much of a challenge), we decided that we would do the 65m scramble to the Castle Rock Summit.

Climbing up to get to the lookout

At the base of the look out

We then had a narrow corridor before climbing up the second wall.

Kev on the ladder. 

The ladder was by far one of the scariest parts. The wind howling through the grates and the rain lashing on you while you climb up this wet and slippery ladder which was high above the ground, made me freak a little. But I 'just kept climbing, just kept climbing' (in a Dory-like voice) and started humming a random happy tune to keep me going.

When we got to the top, it was the weirdest sight ever. It was as if we had reached the edge of the world. Where there was nothing else beyond where we stood. Just white emptiness.

Sky walk leading to no where

Our confusion

This was our view looking down from the sky walk.

We weren't disappointed, if anything, it was a slight relief that we couldn't see out and below us as if we could, we would have probably freaked out more when the wind and rain thrashed against us.

On the way down, we took some more fun photos:

 

 

It was such a cool, fun and adventurous weekend. Kev and I were happy that we could try out our new 'outdoors wear' such as our trekking boots, Icebreaker thermal wear  and for me, my new waterproof jacket and water resistant pants. All items proved well worth the money and are definitely things we will pack in any upcoming holidays... *hint hint*