Gumtree - Australia's Craigslist

Gumtree is Australia's Craigslist. The 'I have everything you want and some things you never wanted to know about' website. I (Carrie) really enjoy spending my free time time looking at Gumtree ads. You never know what you will find. My favorite is the 'freebies' section.

Here are examples of how Gumtree differs from the Craigslist I am used to.

Come and get your horse manure! 

10 free alpacas.

In case you didn't catch that, let me say it again. Free horse manure and 10, count them, 10 free alpacas! Here is the link in case you are seriously interested. I wish I could take on 10 alpacas.

Indoor Climbing Adventures

Please ignore the sweat stains.

No matter what our shirts say, John and I are not climbing professionals! We just enjoy the heck out of climbing and want to meet more like-minded people. There are a number of climbing gyms in the Sydney area. Every year they get together and put on a series of climbing competitions call the Tour de Corde.

http://www.pulseclimbing.com.au/?ai1ec_event=tour-de-corde-2&instance_id= 

There are two gyms that John and I frequent - Climb Oz in Blacktown and The Edge in Castle Hill. Last week the owner of Climb Oz mentioned this contest to us and asked if we were interested in participating. We wanted to meet new people, plus the weather called for storms all weekend, so we said yes. In an effort to create camaraderie between gyms and have fun, this competition was created. There are five rounds, each one at a different gym around the city. So, John and I said what the heck and decided to attend the first of these. We joined the team Climb Oz, got t-shirts and had a great time.

Here are some photos from the day.

During the two hour competition, we all had to keep track of which routes we completed. Afterwards, everyone had to add up their score. It was surprisingly difficult to exercise my brain when my body was so tired!

Here is a view of everyone hanging out before the award ceremony. 

We had a great time, met some fun people and learned a bunch by watching the great climbers attack crazy routes without breaking a sweat.

The Climb Oz team.

Links to the Sydney Climbing Gyms:
Climb Oz - Blacktown, NSW - Awesome because it is with in walking distance of the train. They also just installed a large outdoor bouldering wall.
The Edge - Castle Hill, NSW - Decent lead climbing and fun atmosphere. Don't go here to boulder, they have a really small bouldering section that gets cramped.
Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym - Villawood, NSW - This place is huge and looks fabulous for lead climbing.
Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym - St. Peters, NSW - We haven't been here, but supposedly it is the biggest gym in Sydney.
The Rock House - Brookvale, NSW - We haven't been here yet and haven't heard much about it.