Area & Style of Climbing
Freycinet Peninsula - Sport and Traditional Climbing
Location
Tasmania, East Coast
Overview
The Freycinet Peninsula is the majority land mass of the Freycinet National Park, which also includes the much smaller Schouten Island, on the eastern coast of Tasmania. The climbing centres around a series of granite batholiths and sea cliffs which give one of the nicest climbing areas on the planet, harboring the fairly secret sport crag of the ‘Star Factory’ and the mid grade trad venue of White Water Wall.
Best Time to Go & Conditions
The area is good all year round, but spring, summer and autumn (September through to May) are your best bets for pleasant climbing conditions. There is always somewhere shady to climb and the locality of the sea and pristine beaches means that if it’s too hot to climb then the day can be better spent remembering why you’re on holiday in the first place. If you’re a hardcore sport climber then primo mid-summer conditions come after 2pm, so you can guiltlessly lie in. That said if you're after the best nick then it may be best to visit in winter, when crisp sunny days with plenty of breeze offer the best possible conditions. Rainfall for the area is below 50mm per month year round so it is unlikely to be an issue; the west coast of Tasmania is a different story altogether.
The Average Man on Astro Boy F8a+
Getting There
Flights to Australia range from £550 to £750 depending on who you go with and the season, Quantas and British Airways are good places to start. Generally it's best to fly to Melbourne and catch the ferry to Davenport (£35ish) or catch a connecting Virgin Blue flight to Hobart (again £35ish) and hire a car (From £130/$270 per week).
Accessibility
Due to Tasmania's small population (half of which lives in the vicinity of Hobart) public transport links to Freycinet are not great, so as pointed out above a hire car is pretty essential. The drive is about 2 hours from Davenport and 2.5 from Hobart. The roads are always quiet, however hitching can be an option as people are actually pretty friendly in Tassie. The A3 road leads to the C302 then look out for signs to Coles Bay.
Accommodation & Provisions
There is a range of accommodation in the area, White Water Wall has its own basic campsite, this is where most climbers stay. The author just slept on the beach as it was so nice, however this probably isn’t possible throughout the holiday season as the rangers may move you on. The area boasts some outstanding hotels too, if your flush enough. There is even a harbor for yachts which marine lovers can charter in Hobart.
The Hazards
Guide Book/s
A general guide for the whole of the Freycinet Peninsula, covering most the areas sufficiently, can be found here - Freycinet Peninsula Online Guides
The same site offers a number of similar guides to the rest of Tassie - Tasmanian Online Guides
Some of the most extensive areas have been converted in to PDF's, including the best topo to the Star Factory created by those in the know - Tasmania PDF Guides
*Note: If anything the stars on these guides are an understatement
There is an actual guidebook to the area - Freycinet Peninsula, A Climber's Guide. Published by the University of Tasmania Climbing Club and the Climbers Club of Tasmania 1995. Although this may be out of print?
Grade Spread & Recommended Routes
The Star Factory at present has only 56 routes and really you need to be climbing at least F7a to get the most out of it.
The Whitewater Wall (Coastal crags) area has 100's of routes which are magnificent however mainly in the easy to mid grades - up to F7a.
Pick of routes at "The Factory" would be Anti Matter F7a, Power to the Percolator F7c+, Simply the Best F7c+, Astroboy F8a+ and The Wizard of Oz F8b+.
At White Water Wall, for me, the stand out routes are No Turn Unstoned F5+ and Baystone Blues F4+.
Gary 'Tassiebrummie' Phillips on Simply the Best F7c+
General Tip/s
If you decide to free-camp in the exquisite public toilet facilities then be aware that they are cleaned at 5 in the morning every day.
Coles Bay has a sumptuous bakery which is more than happy to take your Aussie dollars, it also has some excellent restaurants, more general supplies can be got in Swansea.
If you're camping be aware of possums getting in your food, they may look cute but they are Satan's minions show them no mercy!
White Water Wall
Useful Links
Flights: ebookers.com
Car Hire: carrentals.co.uk
General Aussie news and possibilities of getting a climbing partner: chockstone.org
Tassie’s best climbing website: thesarvo.com
This X-File was authored by 'The Average Man' [pseudonym]
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