It was amazing up there. The Annapurna’s are really something. Early morning views were the most spectacular, as cloud rolled in most days by about 10 or 11am. It made for perfect hiking weather with the cloud cover in the middle of the day. The diverse flora was also incredible. One day hiking in sub-tropical forest and the next in alpine vegetation! The porters are absolutely awesome. This is disciplining the mind at it’s best! I’m glad to say we did not employ the help of a porter to carry our bits along the trek (though it seemed most others did), [View Full Entry]

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It’s pretty strange because in Nepal they do book swapping. You hand in a book and you get some credit to buy another book at the shop. You still have to pay a bit of money for a book but it’s not too much. It’s hard to hand over a book that I’ve just read and really liked but I get to read more books!! We just did a really big trek up in the Himalayas. Annapurna Base Camp was awesome and the hot springs on the way down helped your legs feel good again! Tomorrow I’m going rafting with Dad! [View Full Entry]

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I got some cool presents for my birthday. My favourite was the strawberry bubble gum. I nearly ate the whole roll in one day! I can blow little bubbles now! Mum and Dad and Aiden also gave me a singing bowl with an OM inside, a necklace which I’m wearing now, a chocolate hiking bar and a Tibetan bracelet. Everyone on the whole trail knew it was my birthday and gave me some sweets and sang me Happy Birthday songs! Mum ordered me a cake. Can you believe that?! A chocolate cake up in the mountains?! It was a really rich [View Full Entry]

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I asked the people in the restaurant in Kathmanda, “do you have juice?” They said they did. They even said they had “Real Juice!” When it came, it was fake juice. It was fake mango juice! It was really yummy though!! I went out the front of the restaurant and made a friend. He had a sewing shop. I thought it was a bit weird that someone with a sewing shop didn’t have any scissors. I needed some scissors to finish making a transformer out of the ‘real juice’ box. Mum suggested I take the box to the man. Maybe he [View Full Entry]

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Our plane from Beijing took us to Abu Dhabi. It meant over-nighting in the airport there which is a pretty big set up. It was our first time flying with Etihad. The food was excellent and the boys gave the in-flight entertainment a 10/10. Our morning flight to Kathmandu was detoured to Bangladesh due to bad weather. We re-fueled and were soon on our way back to Kathmandu. The Kathmandu Garden Hotel was very accommodating to the very late arrival of our plane and duly arrived to greet us. The taxis were similar to those in India with small boots and [View Full Entry]

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It has been another wonderful visit to China… we’ve certainly experienced some exceptional hospitality from our friends here. After teary farewells to parents in southern China, we trained to Jinhua, the city we once studied in. The locals, including our friends that work at the University, the bike repair-man (Callum’s new best friend since he daily requires work on his bike!), the international phone-card man, the fruit and street-food sellers, all appreciate our yearly visits. We enjoyed many afternoon swims with friends in big reservoirs in the country areas out from the [View Full Entry]

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After several days in busy Hong Kong, meeting up with Mum and Dad and securing the seemingly elusive yet very necessary visas for China, we took a train across the border. Shenzhen was alive with business deals. The barbed wire was only on one side of the border. It reminded me of the stories some of our friends in Hong Kong told about swimming to refuge many years earlier. Shenzhen’s prices were very good in comparison with Hong Kong. We trained to Guilin and loitered under a tree while eating some street breakfast and deciding where to stay. We agreed on [View Full Entry]

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Thank you for the wonderful hospitality shown to us while back in Australia. It’s been far too fleeting once again, though I did have a wonderful time in Perth with family, friends and prac time at the Uni. Now back in Kuranda, I’m getting more than my fair share of attention biking around town with a trailer that has become Cal’s roller-coaster and good entertainment for the locals! Though we are still keen to be moving at this point in our lives, it’s a grand thing to know you have really found somewhere amazing to be happy living in the future! [View Full Entry]

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Aiden has a couple of boils on his legs and is louder than a firetruck in excruciating pain with them. We now have the magic cream so are hoping they heal quickly! Cal has had a heat rash for a while now though it's becoming quite itchy and uncomfortable as the heat increases. The diagnosis is that we move up to the top floor of the accommodation building where there is air conditioning. My research tells me the sweat glands in children are not very developed which explains why he has trouble getting the heat out more than the rest of [View Full Entry]

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Now I am running the kitchen here at the Ashram. We have about 25 people though sometimes this fluctuates. I’m learning about some different vegetables, lots of new Hindi vocabulary and some Indian cooking. Also how to use an abundance of milk that we get from the Ashram cows. During the day we churn the yoghurt to make butter which is then heated to get the ghee. When the milk separates we keep the other part for drinking (charge). It is a refreshing drink on hot days. The Indians add some jeera to it. We also often make cheese, lassi and [View Full Entry]

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