19th June. Two more 'lists' to go!

Only 2 more operating sessions, tomorow & thurs., then we are off to Vietnam.
Hanoi, Ha Long Bay & Saigon on the agenda. Beer & roadkill on the menu.
I'll post pictures on our return.

Toodle-pip!

13th June. The Dalai Lama at Australia Zoo

A beautiful but cold morning and I drove the 8 minutes down the hill from our house to 'Australia Zoo'.
The Dalai Lama was to give a talk at 9.30.
He was introduced by Terri Irwin - who spoke very well - and who was accompanied by Bindi & Bob.
The man himself came into the auditorium - the open air 'Crocoseum' and captivated his audience for the next hour.
He was enigmatic, charming, witty and profound. An incredible presence. His words were mesmerising.
I was impressed to simply be seeing this individual of truly historic importance. I knew his story so well - from his books and from the film-biography 'Kundun'. I'd seen his rooms in Lhasa at both the Potala and the Norbulingka and could imagine the upheaval of leaving there to become a refugee. Yet this man bears no malice and carries no bitterness. What an example.
I managed to get some great photos - the new zoom lens for the Canon Eos performing well.



Terri, Bob & Bindi, plus koala, came to say goodbye and were presented with ceremonial khatas.

There were only 3000 people allowed at the Aus. Zoo talk (The auditorium there takes 5000). In the afternoon His Holiness spoke in Brisbane to an audience of 15,000!
Apparently he meets the Prime Minister, John Howard, in the next couple of days, and the Chinese are most unimpressed.

9th June. What's in a name?

I'm not sure whether to feel amazed, disturbed, behind the times, flabbergasted or just bemused. Yesterday I read in the Brisbane 'Courier Mail' (so it must be true) that by the end of the year 'Mohammed' will become the most popular name for new-born boys in the UK! Apparently, it is currently 2nd to 'Jack'.

When names for my kids were being considered, just before they were born, the 1986 edition of 'The Guinness book of Names' reliably informed me that the top 10 boys names for 1985 were;
Christopher, Matthew, David, James, Daniel, Andrew, Steven, Michael, Mark, Paul.

1900 was a splendid time with the top 10 being;
William, John, George, Thomas, Charles, Frederick, Arthur, James, Albert, Ernest.

Ah! Those were the days my boy!

The training so far.

Walking is with a 5 kg. (11 lb.) dumbell in each hand or a backpack when 'bushwalking'.
Running is around the local biketracks, usually at 5.30 am..
March I did 47 km walking, 36 km. running - Total 83 km.
April I did 28 km. walking, 58.5 km. running - Total 86.5 km.
May I did 105 km. walking, 50 km. running - Total 155 km.

Must try harder in June.

31st May - No Picnic on Mt. Barney

Mt. Barney. 1354 m. - 4442 ft. (36 ft. higher than Ben Nevis!)

So, I had a free day and decided to attempt Mt. Barney on the Queensland/New South Wales border - about 120 km. from Brisbane.
I set off at 4.30 am and started walking at 6.30. It was cold and with low cloud - and we're in the middle of a drought! I was hoping the cloud would clear by mid morning.

A couple of hours walking/scrambling up the South Ridge brought me to the cloud level and then it got a bit unpleasant. There is no defined track. I got wet and cold. The rocks were as slippery as a really slippery thing and I was the only person on a mountain notorious for people getting lost & rescued. Time to go down. THEN I got lost. Ended up on the wrong ridge. The ridge I wanted to be on needed wings to get to. In fact it just meant retracing my tracks for about an hour and regaining the apology for a trail. Got back to the car about 2.00 pm somewhat bedraggled.
Anyway, it was great exercise & fresh air. Another 13 km and about 3000 ft. of 'uphill' for the training.

This is the view of Mount Lindsey from high up the South Ridge.