Kangaroo Point Bites Back
My heart races as I hold on to this rough ledge of a cliff while attempting to balance myself enough to move my feet upwards. I am breathing quickly and my shin is throbbing because I hit it forcefully into the rock face as I grasped for the foot hold. Scrambling up the rock cliffs is legitimately terrifying, which makes it all the better for me to do it. For quite some time now, climbing has been a source of refuge and escape. Sure, I know a lot of people would prefer their refuge to be on stable ground and possibly requiring no energy at all. Where would the fun be in that though? Climbing, in my highly sought after opinion, is the best kind of recreation and refuge. It takes skill and agility, and also there is a good chance that you need friends to do it with; Since I love friends and being around fun people, that is pretty high on the priority list. I also love the fact that every climb is different and requires so much more than just being strong to complete them. Which in my case is a significant plus, because the spinach from the can hasn’t quite given my bulging biceps like I previously thought it would. Thus being able to use my more natural flexibility, balance, and well stubbornness I am usually able to figure out the climb. Which brings me to the other fact of why climbing is the best, it is not just exercise. For instance the monotony of running, or swimming laps, or bike riding — which are all great for other people, would bore me and not motivate me to want to do it. However, when you put a little puzzle or challenge involved I suddenly feel the need to overcome. All of this to say, I rather like rock climbing.
Five months ago I joined the local climbing gym here in Australia. Since I first joined I have pretty much been asking people to take me rock climbing outdoors. It was one of my goals of something that I really wanted to do while here. In fact, it might not be my best quality but some may have used the word nagged or begged when I talked to people at the climbing wall. Either way, I got it, because yesterday I went outdoor climbing with some friends. They took me to this magical place called Kangaroo Point.
Most outdoor climbing I have seen or been to before has usually been in parks or mountains or some kind of wilderness. However, Kangaroo Point is a little different. Instead of driving towards the wilderness, we drove straight to the metropolis of Brisbane. Right in the heart of it next to the river sits an area with cliff faces for climbing. The legend goes that the river bank used to be a site for a large community of climbing Kangaroos. But then since they were rather rubbish at belaying skills they died out from lack of ropes and harnesses. Thus the city of Brisbane had the park named after them in their memory and to remind climbers of the importance of safety first. Nonetheless it is pretty cool to be climbing cliffs with the city skyline and river right behind you.
So you might be wondering how in the world would Kangaroo Point bite back, when it is in fact just a park. Well you see that would have to do with the story of my second ascent. We had just set up this climb and it happens to be right in the middle of a few trees growing right beside the cliffs. Rather picturesque actually. So I tie myself into the rope and begin to climb. It is not too difficult just have to put one foot in front of the other and it goes rather smoothly. I did have to avoid the smallish tree to the right of me, but I tried hard not the bother it. I made it to the top and was being lowered back down, when apparently the tree had decided that I was not being kind enough on my way up. I try to go gently past it when it grabs hold of me. I find myself completely engulfed by branches, leaves, and a rather ferocious stump of a branch. Before I continue, it is important that you know proper climbing wardrobe. For women, it is both socially acceptable and extremely comforting to wear leggings as pants with you harness as you climb. Not only does it feel like you are wearing pajamas, but it allows for so much more flexibility than normal pants. Another option could have been shorts, since it was rather hot that day. However, I find that women’s shorts tend to be a bit too short to comfortably protect you from the rug burn of the harness and not quite flexible enough to do all the stretching that is necessary in climbing. So my choice that day was my favorite pair of black three quarters length leggings. They has some smallish holes in them from constant use over the past two years. None of them bigger than a dime and all in the knee region. So now back the vengeful tree, I with my leggings are completely engulfed by the tree. I try to let my friend, the belayer, know to slow down. It was too late. I look up and see a large portion of my leggings in the tree near my head height and the rest still on my legs at least a foot lower. The tree had ripped my leggings.
I make some sort of noise and everyone is afraid that I am hurt. But as the look up they realize, nope not hurt, just a rather inappropriate amount of sick showing. The belayer looks down and promises she isn’t looking while I do my best to cover up with what is left of my leggings. I am safely on the ground with my bare butt check on the rock while the other friends look over to see what has happened. As I am both laughing and trying not to cringe I ask them to bring over my bag. All I can say is thank God I brought some gym shorts to change into afterword. I slipped them over the now gaping leggings and put my harness back on and continued to climb. It was still one of the best days with friends climbing all day long, even though I, in true Kristin fashion, had to make the day a bit more memorable.
I would also like to warn people who want to climb at Kangaroo point, that the tree is probably very tired of being climbed over all the time and will bite back if not left alone. So that is the story of how Kangaroo Point bites back.
-Kristin
