Music and Mayhem!

What a crazy couple of days! Had one last day of bouldering at the Kindergarten with Saxon before he headed home to Sydney today. Last night we headed over to Halls Gap to meet up with Rhys and Courtney to hang at the Open Mic night and the Mountain Grand where I got up and played / sang a few tunes for the first time since coming back to Oz, and it went down well which was great. Super fun bar with a super fun local crowd of musicians. 
Then on the late night drive home to Mt Zero I blew a fan belt on my van and broke down on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere at 12:30am. Within 5 minutes a couple of young guys drove along and stopped and it turned out one of their fathers was a tow truck driver / mechanic who live down the road. He turned up, got the car running and didn't even want me to pay him (I managed to get $20 in his pocket, but that's it. I drove cautiously to Stawell, slept there till morning and went to a repair shop who fixed me up in about 20 minutes and I was back on the road. Felling pretty darn lucky right now! 

Now studying in the Horsham library and then off to Araps this afternoon for some trad climbing for a few days. 
Life's pretty darn awesome sometimes 

Saxon warming up at The Kindergarten, Grampians.

Saxon warming up at The Kindergarten, Grampians.

Tasty Treats...

What a roller coaster ride being back in Australia is proving to be. With a seemingly endless amount of study, climbing, training, travelling, competing, festivals, new friends, old friends and more boulders than you could poke a stick at!
It has definitely turned into a return to the small stones. With all the new potential out at North Black Range, who could blame me? Endless granite first ascents only 40 minutes form my house.. . it's hard to resist!
After a small scare with a shoulder injury aside I have been mainly bouldering now for several months, and it's been fun!
I spent considerable time doing a new free guidebook to North Black Range including all of the new, partially developed sectors, and then we had ourselves a little bouldering festival! close to, or maybe just over, 100 people came over the 2 days and lots of new problems were scrubbed up and then taken down. The bouldering psyched in Canberra is high now and I couldn't be happier with the results  :)
Right now I am taking a little sabbatical from the capital to escape down to my other favourite place in Australia - The Grampians! Hanging out here with a bunch pf good folk, bouldering every day with my old buddy Saxon. Good times all round. I'm on a little mission to climb just as many boulders as I an for a week or two to get used to the style again and really get my bouldering head back on, then some projects will be in order!
Here's some photos from North Black and from the Grampians. I'll do my best to get in here with more updates soon. And don't forget to go check out all our new holds available at www.fortisclimbing.com !!!
Also, to see more regular photos, etc of what I'm up to, check my Instagram feed at @duncanbrown1980

Some shots from North Black Range...

Lazar on 'Attack Of The Shortness'

Marty on Laidback Luke'

Me on the first ascent of 'Two Pad Cheetah'

Some shots from the Grampians...

James Kassay on 'Annagramma'

Me on 'Master Bates'

Me on 'Master Bates'

Claire Langmore on 'Annagramma'

Aiden on 'Palm Beach'

James Kassay on 'American Pie'

My Goal Zero kit charging at the crag - I love living the solar life!

Van Life