On the topic of accidents and almost-accidents at Arapiles, I had a sobering experience that same day.  We were climbing with a Canadian guy who, like me, had turned up at the Natimuk hostel; there were three of us, so we put him in the middle, Keith led, and I cleaned for the day. At the top of the first climb, this guy managed to rig his ATC/biner from his gear loop.  I had been keeping an eye on him till then, and with luck would have caught it before he went off anchor, but fortunately another team waiting to use the chains caught it first.  To top it all off, he had untucked his (long) shirt.  I hate to think what would have happened if they hadn't been looking and then I had somehow forgotten to check.  Or if we had put him on third.  He would have blithely sailed into a 25-meter rap on his gear loop.

Guess the moral is, check your partners, check your partners, check your partners!  I'm still a beginner myself as far as outdoor climbing goes, but I'm pretty damn cautious, and that's made me even more cautious.

                   - Brett