Australia

The Western Arthur Range lies in South-West National park, in south-west Tasmania, and is one of the most dramatic mountain ridges in the whole of Australia. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is known for its glaciated landscapes, jagged quartzite crags, spectacular lakes (approximately 30 of them, and along with the peaks and ridges, were named after celestial objects), unpredictable and violent

Mountain Quarry is located in Greenmount National Park and is one of the most well-developed outdoor sports climbing crags within Perth's vicinity. There are numerous bolted routes spread out over several walls. There are also a few trad routes located here. There is a combination-locked gate that leads from the carpark into the quarry. The code for the combination lock can be obtained from the Department of

The group set off at 08:30 the next morning, heading northwards and crossing the river back and forth by hopping across rock fields. On one occasion (approximately 2 kilometres in), we had to trackback a little and rock hop across to a small peninsular in the middle of the river. The bush became very dense here and we were forced to bush bash for a while trying to find a point where the rocks continued to the other

The group had decided to split into two groups of two to tackle this particular section of the gorge - one group was to continue along the Z-Bend section of the gorge with floatpacks (as there was no way to continue walking along the ledges along this section), whereas the other group was to walk to the next food drop and rejoin the other two at 4-Ways. I decided to take the 'dry route' and head inland

It was a beautiful morning when we broke camp, with clear skies, and an absolutely still, mirror-like river. It felt a little chilly at first since the river still lay deep in the gorge's shadow, but I didn't really notice it too much with the delightful twittering and the chirping of the birds that surrounded me. The Sun left the gorge basking in its warm radiance as it rose higher in the sky, dispelling any chills that still remained

We set off at 09:10 that morning and quickly found that we were forced to backtrack a little in order to cross the river, as the riverbank up ahead proved to be impassable. The backtrack was just a short walk along the sandy bank, and with a little rock hopping, we safely found ourselves on the other side. We discovered that a lot of the River Red Gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) on this side of the bank had large dug-up