Indoor Rock Climbing

We had been hearing Phuong talk about her rock climbing for a while so finally we all got together one weekend and went to see what all the fuss was about. We went to the Nunawading branch of the Hard Rock franchise. After learning the safety procedures on how to properly clip in when climbing and belaying (the person with the hold of the rope at the bottom to catch a climber that falls), we went off to the smaller walls to practise what we had learnt. We were all a bit hesitant at first but once we got going, it was so much fun. When we had mastered the small walls, off we went to tackle the big ones, probably a good 10 metres high at least. There were varying degrees of difficulty, with some walls that really hung out so far only the advanced climbers could do them. After a few tiring but fun hours, we had managed to really test ourselves and everyone vowed to get fitter so we could do the harder walls.

Travel Abroad - Britt Lapthorne's Tragedy

Travel abroad, especially alone, is many young person's dream. It's the chance to learn things by yourself and have new adventures. However, Britt's Lapthorne's tragedy is a sobering reminder that travellingn overseas is not always fun and games.

With new places obviously comes new dangers. Everything is unknown. Here you are, all alone, usually with a very bad grasp of the language and culture. You may offend someone without even knowing it, and you can never guess how other people will react. An account by Tracee Hutchinson of her own travels paints a scary picture for a lone traveller. At one stage, Tracee had guns pointed at her for wandering down the wrong street. If she was unlucky, who knows what may have happened.

It hasn't been confirmed that Britt's death is due to suspicious circumstances yet, but I think it would be unlikely that she would go travelling only to commit suicide. Her story is the classic nightmare of a young person travelling overseas who may have been the victim of some pychopath. Movies like Hostel and especially Wolf Creek play on this fear within all of us about encountering trouble abroad. Wolf Creek scared the heck out of me because it was so chillingly real. It was based on a real life story and the fact that I knew it could happen really sent chills down my spine.

I hope they find out who, if anyone, killed Britt and give them the appropriate punishment. It would be sad to think that we can't travel to foreign lands to explore and not feel safe.