Kalymnos, Greece

Well after abit of a hiccup with our airline going bust and us losing our flight tickets, we managed to find ourselves alternative flights for a reasonable price and got ourselves over here to Kalymnos Island in Greece after all.

We left from Gatwick Airport and it was only a 4.5 hr flight to Kos.  From there it was a short taxi ride to the port, a 30min ferry trip over to Kalymnos and another 15min drive to our hotel.

Our hotel is unreal.  This would be one of the first times, that real life is better than the brochures.  It's a simple room with basic kitchen facilities and a bathroom, but the balcony is kickarse.  It's huge for starters and has 360degree views of the mountains and cliffs that we climb on behind us, and the ocean and islands in front of us.  The sun sets each night over the ocean and island which we watch from our balcony.  The sunset is like you see on movies, brilliant red and orange.  Deb's taken photos and they haven't even needed to be touched up.

The climbing is right behind the hotel, about a 15min hike up the hill.  This is even closer than our crags in Sydney.  Everything is within walking distance.  A few years ago all the tour operators pulled out of the island and within a year or two some Europeans came over here and bolted all the cliffs.  Overnight an enormous tourism industry was born.  This place is Mecca for climbers and you don't have to camp!

We climbed the last few days in some easy areas since it's been 5 months since we have touched rock.  The climbing is beautiful limestone although we have just been on slabs so are looking forward to a few overhangs tomorrow.