48h in Australia

Sydney.

Anni: 48 tuntia Australiassa tuntuu järjettömän lyhyeltä ajalta, ja se on sitä. Simon, kotoisin Sydneystä, aloitti painostuksen jo viime helmikuussa. Kun Uuden Seelannin matka alkoi pikkuhiljaa muotoutua, hänellä oli jo tiukka aikataulu, jota noudattaen saisimme ujutettua reissuun pari päivää Australiassa. Ideana oli aloittaa heti aamusta (Bangkokin kone laskeutui tasan klo 6 aamulla), ja jakaa valveillaolon tunnit kanjonireissun, kiipeilyyn ja kaupunkiturismiin. Melkein onnistui.
It felt quite tight to squeeze in 48h canyoneering, climbing and city tourism. We almost made it with the help of Simon, who started pestering us about visiting Sydney in last February, pretty much as soon as he found out about our plan to go to New Zealand. Oh well, the plane arrived at 6am, Simon was there to pick us up, and off we went.

Sydney Opera house. It is even more amazing from close up.

This would be the close-up. You should see the tiling, too.

Sydneyssä paras tapa nähdä kaupunki on varmasti kajakkiretki satamassa. Se on varmaan myös nopein tapa hommata kunnon palovammat. Lämpöä on koko ajan 30 astetta plussaa ja taivas on pilvetön. Ensimäinen ostos oli 30 kertoimen suojarasva ja hattu.
You want to have the best view of Sydney? Go kayaking in the harbour. It is worth the wet trousers, which you will get, if you do not time your beaching with the waves correctly.

Scenic view of the Blue Mountains.

Another view of Blue Mountains.

Aika pian menimme itse asiaan, eli kanjoniin. Tähän olimme henkisesti varanneet hiukan alle 3 tuntia kävelyineen, kuten innokas oppaamme oli meille reissua etukäteen kuvannut. Saimme myöhemmin selville, että emme sitten menneetkään siihen kanjoniin, vaan jonnekin ihan muualle. Paikka oli nimeltään Butterworth, ja tasoltaan helppo tekninen kanjoni. Se vain oli aika paljon pidempi kuin alunperin luulimme. Saimme kulutettua 6 hengen porukalla kanjonissa koko päivän, sisään mentiin klo 10, ja takaisin autolla olimme klo 18.
We headed fairly quickly to the Blue Mountains, to a canyon called Butterworth (Simon may want to correct this), which allegedly could be done in shy 3 hours, with the walk-out. Hah. Being in a group of six we manage to spend most of the day there, fueled entirely by one chunky steak pie, and some banana bread.

Australian wildlife. No idea, who (or what) this fellow is, but he sure was keen to pose. And we don't believe it was poisonous.

Kiipeily sitten jäi. Istuin kypärä päässä ja tossut repussa katsomassa illan pimetessä kun Tony kiipesi puoliksi huijattuna verrattain kovan tason sportin.
Then to the climbing. We didn't do much of it. In fact, I did not do any, whilst Tony was kind of willingly sand-bagged to do an overhanging 6c. I was promised bolted slabs (awesome), but never saw any of them.

The second last abseil in the canyon, to a waterfall. The whole place was kind of slimy and slippery, but enormous fun, too.

All in all, the whole side tour to Sydney area was absolutely fantastic. With the amount of jet-lag we had, I was pesonally quite amazed, how long we managed to keep sleep off. I guess the trick is to just keep going, and going hard.
Thanks heaps to Adam, Marie, and Ben for the company in the canyon.

We're off!

Well, almost. After the fear caused by grounded Quantas planes, Bangkok airport being closed by protesters and a small delay at Helsinki, we are now checked in and "good to go". We even managed to pack our camping, climbing, snorkeling and other worldly possessions to weigh only a modicum over the permitted 20kg per person. Luckily they didn't weigh the hand luggage.

Lähdön hetki lähestyy - Anticipation

Sää Jyväskylässä, varsin jouluista. Christmas day in Jyväskylä

Nyt kun matkakume alkaa todella poltella, ja lähtöön on enää hiukan päälle vuorokausi, päätimme ottaa hiukan perspektiiviä vallitseviin olosuhteisiin. Joulu Suomessa: Lunta (paitsi helsingissä) ja pikkuisen pakkasta (paitsi, jälleen kerran, Helsingissä). Sydney, Australia: puolipilvistä, +28 astetta vanhalla Celsiuksella mitattuna. Juu.

Reiluuden vuoksi mainittakoon, että Joulumme on tänä vuonna vietetty Jyväskylässä, jossa sää todellakin on huomattavan jouluinen.

Now that we're very close to starting our journey, and the travel fever is rising, we decided to reflect upon the Christmasy weather conditions in both Finland and Australia. Helsinki: bleak. Sydney: hot. Oh, well.

Sääolot Helsingissä (urgh) ja Sydneyssä (tappavaa).

Finnish climbing 2008

Of course it's no surprise to hear that we were climbing throughout the year in Finland. December has been a bit grim, but otherwise Tony had been climbing in Finland during every other month. Anni joined on many of these trips. Highlights included two trips to Olhava, one trip to Kustavi and many to Revetenvuori and more local crags. We made a few first ascents. The first by Anni and Tony being the rather easy Heinähanko (F4+ PG) in Haukkakallio. Tony also made first ascents Mastodontti (F6b) and the rather surprisingly Tutu hard (F5 ), both at Haukkakallio and the latter done on his stagnight in a tutu. Unfortunately we're not publishing the photos here! We also repeated some great routes, Anni did fantastically well to climb Ruotsalaisten reitti and Salama (both long F6a routes at Olhava). Other favourite routes of the year included Urkkupilli at Revetenvouri, Sledgehammer at Falkberget and Leppakomiehenfriendi at Kvarnby. Several of the photos here are from Toby's blog and complete accounts of the various trips can be found on his blog at http://lightfromthenorth.blogspot.com/ by clicking on the rockclimbing label.

Winter camping near Valkeala with Toby

On the crux of Mastadontti - the crack flares making jams feel insecure

Anni in action on Constant Gardener at Haukkakallio

Simon climbing Urkkupilli at Revetenvuori

February climbing in Rollarit

Spring flowers in Kvarnby

Olhava - a tranquil place to climb

Many of the climbs are accessible only by boat

Salama follows the obvious crack system running up the face with two traverses to the right. Ruotsalaisten Reitti starts behind the island and follows a rising traverse out of the frame.

May - weekend break in Budapest

Not only has our trusty Hyundai Getz got us around Finland and traveled to Arctic Norway and back, but it also earned us a weekend break in Budapest.

A stay in Budapest meant drinking beer - and they came in worthy measures

Actually we quite liked it.

Church front

An uncompleted job. There was even curtains in the window.

View of Castle Hill

Someone wasn't so enthusiastic about Akseli Gallen Kallela (Finnish artist)

Hungarian Parliament Building

Relaxing on Margaret Island

We relaxed in the thermal springs within this spa

An art deco elephant house (of all things)

Inside the Elephant House

Making friends with the gargoyles

An elaborate doorway

July - Scotland

Anni had never been to Scotland. On our week tour with our good friends Gwilym and Caroline we ended up seeing an incredible amount of it, and still found time to go climbing and trekking.

3 small figures at the bottom of Spantastic (F5 R/X) at Flodigarry on the Isle of Skye. We had just abseiled down to do this rather unique route.

Anni following the exposed pillar, even seconding this pitch was serious as a fall would result in swinging into the opposing wall. Thanks Caroline for the fantastic telephoto snaps.

The easier (but loose) second pitch (F4+ R)

Steeper but safer; Anni did a fantastic job seconding this route. On the North West the sandstone sea cliffs at Reiff make wonderful cragging. (Unknown route about F6a+)

Castles and lochs - truly this is Scotland

A lone orchid beneath Stac Pollaidh

A wet hiker on top of Stac Pollaidh

The beautiful Smoo caves on the North coast close to Durness

The Ring 'o Brodgar Standing Stones - one of many visits to Neolithic sites

The visiting of such places involved considerable crawling underground.

Rackwick bay on the Island of Hoy

The Dwarfy Stane was carved in the sandstone by neolithic man without metal tools.

The Hackness Martello tower provided protection of a "more modern" kind.

The Glenmorangie distillery in Rosshire

The Magic Islands of Lofoten (Arctic Norway)

During the time the blog was dormant, many adventures went untold. Perhaps we'll find time to tell them, but in the meantime here is a sneaky peak at what has was missed.

June 2008: Tony and Simon were climbing in the North of Norway.

Typical weather in the North, but something we didn't see a lot of

Our trusty little Getz made it from Finland to the North of Norway.

Cruising up perfect granite cracks (about F5) on Bare Blabaer (Only Blueberries)
After the Creek this route lived up to it's name, the Norwegians describe a trivial task as bare blabaer.

From a small task to a slightly bigger one. Vestpillaren (F6a+ -11 pitches) forms the skyline.

The 1910 route on the Svolvaer Geita redetermined what man could achieve. Now it is "only blueberries" but following the classic route was an eyeopening experience.

Honest words.....

Steep sport climbing....... preparation for the Blue Mountains?