Kathmandu

Well I have arrived safely, trip was pretty good as far as long flights go. Arrived yesterday about lunch time, and the trip from the airport to our hotel gave us our first taste of the colour, smells (good and bad), hustle and bustle, and traffic chaos that seems to work despite itself).
This week is the festival of kites so yesterday, all the locals were out in the best clothes, the mix of vibrant colours was amazing.

Once we settled into our hotel, had a very much need shower and lunch we caught a taxi out to
Putan an area on the outskirts of Kathmandu. We spend the afternoon wandering around the many temples in the centre of town, and through all the narrow lane ways away from the hustle and bustle of the main area. From the tops of the buildings we could see all the children flying their kites. The sky was full of kites swooping and soaring.

Our evening consisted a drink and momo's (dumplings) at the bar on the corner near out hotel. The eyelids got the better of us and it was back to our rooms for a well earned sleep.

To day I am off exploring on my own, bottle of water, suncream and hat in hand. Have spent the morning wandering the stalls of the Tamil area, and perfecting the art of saying"no this is my first day, I am just looking at the moment".

Dday or should I say N (for Nepal Day)!!

It is all a bit unreal at the moment. Bags are packed, and I am off to the airport this afternoon. Firstly a flight to Brisbane then late flight to Singapore and onto Kathmandu. Steve is picking up a late parcel from my sister this morning. Some special high altitude undies!!! The mind boggles!! I imagine they are nice and thick, perhaps a little on the dowdy side, and will keep me warm. Was very hard to focus on the few final tasks at work this morning. Next Blog I hope will be from Nepal (if I have email access).

One More Sleep to Go!!!

One more sleep!!! This week had been a little frantic, finishing off all the bits and pieces at work, chasing up the last minute items to take and packing.A couple more donations have come in. Thank you all very much.

The Australian Himalayan Foundation advised us yesterday that we have almost reached the $4000 mark with out fund raising.

This morning I dropped into the discount bookshop and selected a few of small soft covered books to give to the schools in Nepal while we are there. I guess I won't be posting anything else on this blog for a while. Hopefully I will have access to make a couple of posts while I am away. The main blogs will come when I get arrive back and transfer stories from my diary.

Time to pack

The days are ticking away very quickly. Yesterday I received an email from one of our group members who is already in Kathmandu. She has already begun to explore!! Oh I wish I was there already. It is very hard to keep focused on the task at hand when I know my new adventure is looming up very quickly. On Sunday I pulled out all the bits and pieces that I have been accumulating over the past 12 months for my trip to Nepal. It was always that event in the distant future that was making my purchase for. Now I am actually going to be using them within two weeks. The challenge is now consider the 4 page list of items to take (supplied by World Expeditions) and compact them into the 15kg luggage allowance that we have for the trek.

Spit Bridge-Manly - final predeparture adventure

Last weekend, Julia accompanied me on my last pre-trek adventure. This was the very relaxed half day walk from Spit bridge around the Harbour to Manly. It was beautiful day with temps reaching the low 30's. It was a pleasant way to finish of my pre-trek training.

Over the past 9 months we have managed to circumnavigate almost the complete foreshore of Sydney Harbour and the views still continue to impress me.

On Sunday, I started to pull out all the equipment and clothing that I have purchased (in sales) over the past year in preparation for the trek. Most arrangements seem to be completed, list of things to take drawn up, and now it is time to start packing, keeping in mind that we can only take 15 kilos (including, day pack, sleeping bag) on the trip. (I think I might be slipping a couple of the heavier items into my coat pocket for the weigh in).

WOWOWOWOWO

This week we received the exciting news from The Australian Himalayan Foundation that our combined fund raising efforts had almost reached the $3,000 mark. Great effort!! Thank you to everyone who has contributed!!

In the words of our group leader "WOWOWOWOWO, Well done…………….everyone deserves a big hug for all your efforts……..Lets recognise our Mum’s and aunties as well who collected $2.00 donations as well as all those people who gave at raffles. It is all worth while and adds up…Great stuff….I am really chuffed ……..What a day!!!".

Three weeks to Go!!

Hard to believe, this time in three weeks I will be heading to Nepal!!! I am heading down to Canberra this weekend to catch up with family, chase up a few more donations for the Australian Himalayan Foundation (AHF)and maybe a little cold weather acclimatisation for Nepal.

This week I received an email from the AHF advising that our donations were trickling in (thank you everyone!!). Our group even made the latest version of the AHF's newsletter Yakety Yak. AHF also advised that they have considered our request and changed the online donation amounts to include $25 and $50 as it was pointed out by one of our group members that it was a bit much to expect people to donate $100. Good move on the part of AHF.

If you are still considering making a donation this can be done on line..... or by printing off pdf donation form attached to the web page. Please if you do this can you advise that the donation is for "Climbing to Support Himalayan Education" code no (ECO8DH). Every little bit helps.

My preparation this week has been quiet, though I have managed to walk every morning before work and have made a couple of lunch time laps of Darling Harbour.