Trip Report: Bouldering at Noosa 20221

On Saturday morning, we all drove to Devil’s Kitchen at Noosa National Park, where finding a carpark was a headache, except for Ruth who had to bail at the last minute. The strong sun welcomed us and was telling us to enjoy a relaxing weekend holiday instead of a serious bouldering session. Luckily, people did find some other fun things to do. Dan, Steve and Michael (Day) took photos with their cameras. Justin brought a camera as well, but he was definitely keener on climbing.

Ranger went fishing and wanted to catch one for the first time in his life, but only dolphins, a turtle and a whale were spotted. How awesome is bouldering with dolphins playing in the ocean behind you and birds chirping! Meike, Nicole and Charlie found fun on a feet-first bathang-start boulder.

Jacko threw himself into a body wide crack with his Katana climbing shoes as he forgot his street shoes and thongs at home this time. That was not as bad as when Justin found out he did not bring his sleeping bag though... Soon, when he reached the top of the crack, the trad-climbing legend (never had a ground fall in his career), Jacko, attracted Jarred, Will, Connor, Greenie and myself to follow him to the glorious crack top party. Greenie thought his new pants and T-shirt were more precious than his own skin, so he made a great decision to climb only in his underwear. Luckily, his underwear was not new, meaning we did not have to see more of his skin, and was not ripped by the sharp rocks.

People went to the beach afterwards and some people had good naps under the trees. I believe Justin, Tom, and Matias all had fun at their first club trip day.

After setting up the tents, we went to Quota park along Noosa River to enjoy the sunset and practice slackline. Elo, who is getting better on playing Ukulele, was singing while slacklining. No wonder she is good at multitasking. Jarred tried to surf with Jacko during the day, but they did not find any good waves. Fortunately, he had a good time with Will at the Cats/Chats concert that night at least, which Daniel thought was stupid to go to when you have Spotify premium. At campsite, we had dinner and played Mafia, a card game with lies, arguments and laughs, before going bed. Sharing a tent with someone is a good way to deepen a friendship for me, because I prefer to chat with a person one-to-one, but tend to keep silence in a big group. The second morning, Jacko and I woke up by Kookaburras and went for the sunrise view and local market visit. It was nice to have a hot shower and do some reading in the early morning with fresh air and a breeze. We did have hot showers at the campsite and book lovers, Emily, Belle and Jarred!

Soon we headed to the Boiling Pot with a 2.7ish meters tall cliff cutting our way. Sandra found that this was a bit spicy for her to down climb. But do not worry! The queen had her royal knight Alan, tailor Elo and pet Boulder to protect her. At the crag, Matias and I were stoked about the traverse boulder, while Steve, Justin, Kylan and Belle were getting frustrated by the Greenie-only-sent boulder.

After sending the hard boulders, Greenie put his attention to find some easy boulders for Kat to try, but found out even he could not send them due to the difficulty of figuring out good beta. The sun was still burning us hard – as you could tell from Jacko’s face and Connor’s neck. We went to the beach again and Meike brought her bomber gear- a Strawberry floaty. Swimming in the big waves was fun, but be aware of sharp rocks, they can hurt you!

Finally, we had enough fun and went back to Brissy. Hope the trip into the beautiful nature can restore some energy and reset the mind for the students and working gangs. Always nice to make human and rock friends during club trips!

Written by Yimin. Pictures by Steven, Nicole and Dan.