19th Oct. BHUTAN at last.

Our Druk Airlines plane at Paro Airport - Paro Dzong in the background.

The 31 yr. old Bhutanese King, Namgyal Wangchuk, had married 22 yr. old Jetsun Pema on the 13th - less than a week before.

The newly weds were in Paro that day receiving gifts from the people. The town was closed to traffic and the population decked out in their best outfits. Sadly, but correctly, we foreigners weren't allowed in to the ceremony.

In the afternoon our guide took us on an hour's walk up to a pass at about 3,600 m. to get an initial whiff of low oxygen. Beautiful vertical prayer flags.

18th Oct. False Alarm

Exciting day - off to the airport for the flight to Paro in Bhutan.

Flight delayed but left in the afternoon. Good view of the mountains - this being Everest.

Suddenly flight turned around. It was getting too dark to land in Bhutan. Druk Airlines put us up for the night at the Hotel Annapurna back in Kathmandu - with a 4.30 am start to follow!

To KATHMANDU. 16th & 17th Oct.

To Kathmandu to start the trip to BHUTAN with the Boningtons.

Stayed at the fabulous Dwarika's Hotel - http://www.dwarikas.com/ - but into Thamel to have lunch with Sir Chris, Joe and Ratchna - Pertemba's grand-daughter.

Fellow trekkers arrived during the day hence the after dinner trip to Sam's Bar in Thamel with the Bennets. Here - Robert, Kevin, Joe & me - on the tequila at this stage.

AUSTRALIAN HIMALAYAN FOUNDATION Sydney dinner

Friday 7th October.

Sir Chris Bonington in Sydney to give the Edmund Hillary Memorial Lecture.

Joined by the Annapurna Crew from last year - Jeremy, myself, Sir Chris, Joe & David in front.
Also joined by Dick Smith.

A great evening.

Sat. 1st October PARKLIFE Brisbane

STRANGE TALK - clearly

KIMBRA - brilliant.

LITTLE DRAGON - very good indeed.

The NAKED AND FAMOUS.

EXAMPLE. Best act since I saw PLAN B last year.

SEBASTIEN TELLIER. Very cool French dude.

THE STREETS - tedious mediocre pretend poetry.

GOSSIP - gotta love Beth.

LYKKE LI. Great show to end the day.

Music in Brissie.

Seems like there's a lot of good music around at the moment. Enjoying the new albums from David Guetta, Gotye, Kimbra, Howling Bells, Jezabels as well as more obscure stuff - check out Owl Eyes and Sa Dingding. However, I had to get onto some overseas website to get the new Kasabian album, Velociraptor, which on first listening sounds like another winner. Enjoy.

PARKLIFE concert on 1st October. http://www.parklife.com.au/artists

Sydney ASA meeting.

To Sydney to the Australian Society of Anaesthetists National Scientific Congress.

I gave a 50 minute talk entitled 'High Altitude Medicine and Physiology. The perils of getting high.'

It seemed to go down rather well so will keep it up to date and keep spreading the word - it's about Genetics and HIF 1 alpha!

Paula

My wife had quite a large operation done last week. She is home and well on the road to recovery. I've put her onto a chocolate and chips diet so she doesn't fade away.

She has been impressively strong about the whole thing. That's my girl!

New Toy! - GPS

With a few treks lined up it was time to get a proper GPS.

This one will collect data which can then be overlaid onto a Google Earth map.

This is my morning run;

Thu. 28th July. Skiing at Coronet Peak.

Picked up the gear and got the bus up to Coronet Peak.

Brady had never been on skis before and he did incredibly well;

Then, sadly, on the Friday we left NZ.

Wed. 27th July. To Queenstown

In the evening - to the opening night of the 'Below Zero Ice Bar' - and I was the first customer.

Everything was ice - even the glasses we drank the cocktails out of.

After an hour there it was off to Pog Mahone's Irish bar for a pint and a Steak & Guinness pie.

Tue. 24th July. Back to Wanaka.

The weather was closing in so a morning flight back to Wanaka.

Lunch by the Lake.
Then an evening curry with Kingfisher beers.

Mon. 25th July. 3rd day's climbing.

A snowy & windy day - selftimer shot.

The waterfalls were beautiful and challenging.
We managed to get a few bits of video, but the fingers went numb doing it.

Then the long walk back up to the Hut - but a fabulous sunset.

Sun. 24th July. Brady's 25th Birthday.

Another great day's climbing - some signs of improvement from everyone.

As it was Brady's birthday we had the Moet out of plastic mugs back in the hut.
It looks cosy but was well below zero.
He even got birthday candles stuck in his dessert.

Sat.23rd July. Flew up to Black Peak.

From Queenstown to Wanaka the previous day then a morning flight up to Black Peak Hut.

The other members of the party - Nicolette, Brady and our Instructor, Tim.
Climbing began right away and it was very cold but hugely exhiliarating.
First, just choose some frozen waterfalls.

ICE CLIMBING

Off to Queenstown in New Zealand first thing in the morning then on to Wanaka.

Going with Brady, Nicola's boyfriend. We are staying in a hut at Black Peak and doing a 4 day course learning how to climb frozen waterfalls.

We then have a couple of days back in Queenstown so hope to get in a full day's skiing at Coronet Peak.

Photos to follow. Toodle-pip!

Sat. 2nd July AUSTRALIA ZOO

Sophie Goodall staying with us on her way back to the UK.

Popped up to Australia Zoo and Maleny for the day with Madeleine.

You get really close to the crocs!

Lots of little roos in pouches.
Bindi Irwin turned 13 and is now allowed to feed the crocs - her mum, Terri, standing well back.
There's a bronze of the family as a memorial to Steve.