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Moonarie.
Having left the boys in the care of my mom and brother, we set off for our third Australia trip in the predawn hours of day one. A quick layover in Auckland and a bit of waiting at Adelaide airport for our rental car to be readied and soon enough we were on the road heading north into the interior of the continent. Despite the long series of fights, we were surprisingly lucid during our 5 hour drive to Hawker, a hamlet with a population of about 200 and the logical basecamp for Moonarie.
Reasonably early start the following morning and a 30ish minute drive to Moonarie; going extra slowly to avoid any collisions with the local fauna. Moonarie is a ~100 meter tall escarpment with the walls forming a cirque. It’s part of a larger formation known as the Wilpena Pound which looks like a meteor crater (but is not) and lies within the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park.
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Pagoda.
The goal for day one was a 4-pitch classic called Pagoda rated Australian 17. A photo of a climber on the second pitch of this route was a big reason for us going there. Looking up from the trailhead, the cliffs look painfully far away. However, the hike up is on a nice climbers’ trail and goes by quickly (about an hour). There’s a sweet backcountry, climbers’ campsite at the base of the walls complete with some cooking hardware and even a water tank.
Pagoda turned out to be as enjoyable as it looked: a scrambly pitch one; a very cool pitch two featuring a rising traverse on and up onto a flake; fun face/crack climbing on pitch 3; and a clean exit pitch. A couple hundred meters of hiking along the flat cliff top brought us to the descent gully and soon enough we were back at the campsite. Given that we did not see a soul since leaving the highway in the morning, we decided to leave our packs at the campsite for next day’s climbing.
Photos
Waiting at Auckland Airport for our Adelaide flight (Nov. 2023).
And waiting at Adelaide Airport for our rental car to be readied (Nov. 2023).
On the drive from the airport in Adelaide to Hawker, South Australia (Nov. 2023).
Australian road train (Nov. 2023).
Quorn, SA. About an hour before Hawker. Looking to pick up some food and booze (Nov. 2023).
Found the latter (Nov. 2023).
More Quorn sights (Nov. 2023).
Nearing Hawker (Nov. 2023).
490 includes the greater Hawker metro area. The city itself is reportedly closer to 200 (Nov. 2023).
Our Airbnb rental in Hawker (Nov. 2023).
The cliffs of Moonarie in the morning (Nov. 2023).
A closer look (Nov. 2023).
Start of the approach to Moonarie (Nov. 2023).
Welcome to Moonarie (Nov. 2023).
Moonarie (Nov. 2023).
Left side of the amphitheater. Pagoda route is in the left third of the photo (Nov. 2023).
Closer look at Pagoda (dead center of photo; Nov. 2023).
Shirley at the climbers’ bivy (Nov. 2023).
Hiking over to the start of Pagoda (having left our packs at the climbers’ camp; Nov. 2023).
Traversing the base of the walls (Nov. 2023).
Starting up Pagoda route (Nov. 2023).
More of the scrambly pitch 1 (Nov. 2023).
Pitch 1 of Pagoda (Nov. 2023).
Views from the first belay (Nov. 2023).
Starting pitch 2 of Pagoda: a flake traverse. Best pitch of the route (Nov. 2023).
Looking back at Shirley from the lead of pitch 2 (Nov. 2023).
At the crux of pitch 2 (Nov. 2023).
In the crux moves of pitch 2 (Nov. 2023).
The views (Nov. 2023).
Shirley starting pitch 2 (Nov. 2023).
A closer look (Nov. 2023).
More views from Pagoda (Nov. 2023).
Pitch 2 (Nov. 2023).
Shirley at the pitch 2 crux (Nov. 2023).
And above the little crux (Nov. 2023).
Shirley at the pitch 2 belay (Nov. 2023).
Leading pitch 3 of Pagoda – the overall crux (Nov. 2023).
Looking back at Shirley from the lead of pitch 3 of Pagoda (Nov. 2023).
A cool dissolution pocket a.k.a. a cave just past the crux on pitch 3 (Nov. 2023).
Higher on pitch 3 (Nov. 2023).
Nearing the third belay (Nov. 2023).
Shirley starting pitch 3 (Nov. 2023).
Shirley on pitch 3 (Nov. 2023).
Views from high on Pagoda route (Nov. 2023).
Nearing the end of pitch 3 (Nov. 2023).
Starting pitch 4 of Pagoda (Nov. 2023).
Views from the top of Pagoda (Nov. 2023).
Shirley topping out on the route (Nov. 2023).
Hiking the top of the escarpment in search of the descent gully (Nov. 2023).
Cairns everywhere but really you just follow the edge of the cliff (Nov. 2023).
Shirley nearing the gully (Nov. 2023).
Starting the descent (Nov. 2023).
Sign marks the spot (Nov. 2023).
Shirley in the gully with the water tank visible (Nov. 2023).
The high camp from the gully (Nov. 2023).
Looking back towards the Pagoda route (Nov. 2023).
Shirley on the hike down (Nov. 2023).
Almost back to the car (Nov. 2023).
Cooking up a storm in our Airbnb rental in Hawker (Nov. 2023).
Go to Moonarie Day Two.
Go back to South And Western Australia Trip.