DID ROB BLAKERS climb trees as a child? He says no. Well…
Growing up in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory: “We had a reserve out the back of our place, and we had cubby houses up in trees, with nailed-in planks as ladders. There were several trees that lent themselves to these grandiose cubbies we built up there,” he says.
But according to Rob, that wasn’t real climbing.
Three years ago, Rob Blakers, then aged 62, decided to learn how to climb trees properly, specifically the tall, straight Tasmanian blue gum. There’s a big community of tree-climbers in Tasmania, some of whom he knew, and they were happy to help.
It’s a highly technical business, really – no mad clambering and hoping for the best. Rob learnt to use ropes and a harness and how to climb up and to move about, 15–25m in the air, standing on branches while looking for a comfortable nook to nestle into – a place to feel secure, be it rain or shine. A truer sense of security comes from checking and rechecking your procedures (as a pilot does before take-off), because to fail, and to fall, is to die. All of this he took to heart and mind. And so for the past
