Mayday Holiday Weekend.

To Maleny to the 'Wood Expo' - a biennial event. It was very woody.

The rockery looking better. Even in our winter - things still keep growing1

Planted a 'Liquid Amber' - Liquidambar styraciflua - which is deciduous and will look great with our row of maples. In a few years the autumn colours will be a bit special.

New Zealand. Day 6. Thur. 3rd April. Aspiring Hut to Wanaka & Queenstown..

A pre-dawn start for the 2 hour walk to the road and our trip back to Wanaka.
Loking back at Bevan Col.After a massive coffee hit I got the bus down to Queenstown before my Saturday flight back to Brisbane. A beautiful place Queenstown. Very like the English Lake District.

New Zealand. Day 5. Wed. 2nd April. Scott's Bivvy to Aspiring Hut.

Overnight the rain stopped and it became freezing. In the morning the rivers had gone down enough to let us pass and we headed off down the valley for the 5 hour walk to Aspiring Hut.The stone built hut had a wood burning stove and mattresses. Luxury!
It also had a fabulous view of Mt. Aspiring and the north-west ridge. A comfortable night ensued.

New Zealand. Day 4.Tue. 1st April. Scott's Bivvy.

A damp but comfortable night. In the morning all the rivers were even higher and we were going nowhere.
We had plenty of food and water was literally running through our cave. We settled in for the day.
Luckily I had a good book to read - 'Mountains of the Mind' by Robert MacFarlane.

New Zealand. Day 3. Monday 31st Mar.

Simon & I get kitted up and about to board the helicopter.

The landing zone, just below Bevan Col.

As soon as the chopper left we were hit by gale force winds and snow. The weather system had arrived early. Simon knew there was no way we could make the 3 hour trip across the glacier in white-out conditions.
No choice but to head down.
He belayed me down about 5 pitches then we had a 100 ft. abseil down to the rapidly rising river in the valley.


However, NOT the end of our problems. We were surrounded by huge waterfalls and the streams were treacherous. We got across a couple of torrents only with extreme difficulty. Simon knew of a cave called 'Scott's Bivvy' but he'd never stayed there. We had no choice.

New Zealand. Day 2. Sunday 30th Mar. Wanaka.

A beautiful day in Wanaka.
I'd spoken to the team at 'Aspiring Guides'
Aspiring Guides
and Simon, who was taking me up the hill, had looked at the weather forecast. A front was coming through and we had a window Monday morning. We'd fly up to Bevan Col. Cross the glacier to Colin Todd Hut and wait out the storm over Tuesday. Ascent day Wednesday. Walk out Thursday & Friday. Good plan!

New Zealand. Day 1. Sat.29th Mar. Queenstown to Wanaka

The quest to climb Mt. Aspiring in the Southern Alps.

Queenstown below. Airport at the end of the lake.

Paula's Birthday. Thur. 27th March.

The lovely wife has another birthday.
Being a busy weekday she was quite happy with a couple of glasses of Bollinger and a little packet of earrings from Tiffany's!

Bring me a Shrubbery!

After looking at it for a long time, Paula & I eventually finished the rockery (ok. Not really a 'shrubbery') at Chartwell.

OUCH!!! Tue.18th March.

Tuesday evening George was asked to make up the numbers for Brady's Indoor Soccer Team.
After a collision he fell on his elbow - posterior dislocation, fractured head of radius and a chip off the anterior surface of the ulna.

This would have to hurt!

He had it popped back at the Wesley Emergency Centre and the next day had a CT scan.
It's a 'backslab' for only a week then gentle mobilisation.

NEW SHOES!

For my trip to NZ in 2 weeks time I've made the major investment of a pair of plastic climbing boots. Wish I'd had them in Tibet.















I got them at a shop in Brisbane called 'K2' and was sold them by a Nepalese called Pasang who has lived in Brisbane for 13 years. He was born in Thame in the Khumbu and grew up with Tashi Tenzing in Darjeeling. Tashi, Tenzing Norgay's grandson, now lives in Sydney. Naturally I had to wear them at home all evening.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADELEINE. 18 Today

My daughter Madeleine (no. 2 child) is 18 years old today. She is celebrating in Kathmandu with her friends there and I'm looking forward to seeing her in London at the end of May. - A few photographs;

The house at Maleny.

Got back from my grass cutting trip to our Maleny house. After the recent rain everything is growing like Jack's beanstalk - overnight changes! All our trees are growing quickly and so are the weeds. Spent the morning weeding - but it was 32° at 9.00 am! It hit 41° this afternoon.
Anyway, came across this Paperwasp's nest and our 'Swamp Bloodwood' is in flower.

Thur. 21st February.Deva Premal Concert.

To Brisbane City Hall to see and hear 'Deva Premal & Miten' - 'Spiritual musicians'.
She is German and has a beautiful voice. He is English and was a backing musician for some big name bands in the 60s & 70s. Between them they interpret ancient Hindu & Buddhist mantras and produce a distinctive pleasant & relaxing sound.

There were 400 people at the concert - more hippies than anywhere outside of Byron Bay! A lot of people looking like Neil out of the 'Young Ones' but even some real young ones.

Wed. 20th February. A visit from Hugh.

Hugh, who was with us on the Tibet trip in September, was in Australia for a week seeing his son on the Gold Coast. He & his wife Margaret came up to Brisbane for lunch on Wednesday. (we may have overdone the garlic on the garlic prawns!)
It was good to see him. He is an example of how to simply keep going - age is no barrier to trekking, travel or any other ambition we may have.
I hope to be having a beer with him & Phil in Lancaster in a few months time.

The next trip.

I'm off to New Zealand in 6 weeks time to do a bit of climbing.
The target is Mt. Aspiring on South Island near Queenstown.
This is a very pointy mountain of 3,033 m. (9,950 ft). We fly up onto the glacier by helicopter and take it from there.
Plenty of pictures will be posted.
Click here to see a bit more about Mt. Aspiring. Or the company I'm going with.

Unlucky!

This summer has brought an end to our 7 year drought with some serious flooding in Queensland.
This girl was unlucky enough to be run over by a motor boat at a place 700 km. inland!
It could, of course, have been much more serious if it were her head, chest or abdomen that had been hit.

AUSTRALIA DAY Today.

Yes, 220 years since the First Fleet, laden with English convicts, sailed into Sydney Harbour.

Paula & I were out last evening to a restaurant in the Valley called 'Belle Epoque' - a superb French restaurant.

Had oysters, escargots, salmon, creme brulee, champagne and Absinthe!

A marvellous contraption for preparing it - picture below.

SOME DAYS ARE JUST SURREAL!

What a weird day.
I awoke on a high because I'd just (yesterday) arranged my next climbing trip (New Zealand) but better still it's OUR 9th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY.
THEN I heard that Heath Ledger was found dead at the age of 28.

THEN we had a call from Nicola to say that her boyfriend's Mum had had a HEART TRANSPLANT this morning!

It was almost pleasant to get to work and do a gynaecology list.

I was very thankful to be sitting having a glass or two of Pinot Grigio with the lovely Paula this evening and knowing that the stock market was on the mend.

PS. Madeleine has been in Kathmandu for 2 weeks and is enjoying the shopping.

It's the little things that count.

So, after nearly 3 years I got round to putting up the 'St. Pancras Fixture' toilet-roll holder in the hall 'loo' at the Maleny house. This involved creating a specially painted backing board and purchasing a 'stud finder' so it wouldn't fall off with the first couple of sheets.

9th January. GOODBYE MADELEINE.

Madeleine's off on her Gap Year.

We had lunch at the gallery after the Warhol Exhibition then home to pack.


Off to the airport this evening, she left at midnight for Kathmandu. She'll spend 2 months doing volunteer work in an orphanage there before going on to England for a year.

9th January. Andy Warhol Exhibition.

Only 10 days into it and 2008 is turning out to be a busy year.
Today we were off to the new GoMA - the Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art - to see a major Andy Warhol Exhibition.

It was a lot better than I thought it might be. I especially enjoyed all the Campbell's soup and the Marilyn Monroe series. His pictures of Mao Tse Tung and Mick Jagger were also excellent.

First NEW TOY of 2008!

Popped into town to get a small stereo system and was pulled - as if by a black hole - into the Bang & Olufsen store in Fortitude Valley. Walked out 20 minutes later with a Dark Grey 'BeoSound 1' system.
It Sounds Great!

Nicola's 20th Birthday. 2nd January 2008

So my eldest offspring, Nicola, has turned 20.
She's just finished her first year of a nursing degree and seems to be enjoying herself.
The whole family, plus her boyfriend Brady, popped into the city for dinner by way of celebration.


(Planning to get that video screen removed from my head quite soon,)

Last Day of 2007

We were up at Chartwell, our house at Maleny. The drought clearly had come to an end with 190 mm. - nearly 8 inches - of rain in less than a week. I spent a few hours out in the garden digging drainage channels to stop the erosion.
All the fire-work displays on the Sunshine Coast & Gold Coast were cancelled because of strong winds and rain.