I'm just back home after an awesome weekend away mountain climbing near my home town.  Steep, slippery rocks and rain weren't enough to stop us getting to the top though, after an hour and half of walking we were rewarded at the top.

My good friend Ryan invited Rachael and I to go mountain man-ing to Mt Walsh near Maryborough, about an hour from my home town of Tiaro.  He said I better be ready as it wasn't going to be easy and he was pretty correct on that assessment.  I was wanting to test my collarbone out and see how it'd handle the punishment.  Ryan's parents Peter and Ros also came up, and they were making me look unfit which was a little scary!

The day started pretty well, except when we were working how to drop kilo's off our backpacks, somebody put the notion out there that red wine was going to be too heavy.  So we grudginly decided he was probably right since I didn't know what I was in for.  We headed up to Biggenden and made tracks up the hill.  The first 3/4's of the walk is fairly steep up-hill but not rocky, with the last quarter of the trek straight up the rock face. 

It was actually the 'easy' walk up the hill that hurt the most.  You are continually walking up and it feels like you'll never get there.  It was only when we reached the base of the cliffs that it started to get easier.  Although it looked scary, and Rachael was thinking we were going to go rock climbing without a harness and with a massive backpack, it was more of picking your line up through the cracks and getting the right tree's to grab onto.

The worst thing on the rocks is moisture, and right on cue, it started raining when we were half way up.  Luckily we were past the steepest part, as we wouldn't have been able to make it.  So we struggled with the rest with wet clothes, shoes, rocks and back packs.

Once we made it to the top it was just unreal.  The view was incredible, and the howling winds were enough to dry us pretty quickly.  It was definitely good kite flying conditions, like most FMX competitions really.

We set up camp, got out the billy and put Ryan's cheesy pasta to good use and then got set to lay on the edge of the cliff looking up at the stars all night.  Yeah, it was definitely a good way to get away from it all, especially the couch in Brisbane!