thewills'wanderings

As part of celebrating Adventure Specialties 25th anniversary trekking and climbing in Nepal was a perfect choice for a celebration. What was even better was that with a bit of juggling around we could fit it in to our world trip plans.

Tim, Lyndsay and Mark wanted to attempt a high peak so it was decided that trekking in the Langtang Valley for all of us with some high peaks for the “real” climbers would be a good option. We employed Sherpa Adventures to arrange it for us, which went right against our good old kiwi do-it-yourself style. We are sure are glad we did though, it was great having everything arranged for us.

Heading off from Kathmandu, we had the 12 of us, 5 porters and Hari our absolutely wonderful ,hero guide who now feels like part of the family. We had a private bus to get us to the start of our trek. The bus ride was a gruelling 10 hour trip on a very hairy, scary, dirt, rocky, road high up in the mountains where there seems to be only room for one vehicle but the drivers seem to be able to deal with on-coming traffic. For me the bus ride there and back was by far the hardest, scariest part of travel so far, Now that I’m back, safe and sound, I can look back on it without breaking out in a cold sweat. As you can imagine Tim loved it.(very sick man!)

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Just thought I’d say a quick hi to everyone and let you know that we’ll be out of contact for about 20 days. We’ve just returned from our trip to Haibung, a remote village north of Kathmandu. We spent a night at the headquartrers of Share and Care Nepal(who are supported by Tear Fund NZ), learning about what they do and how we could help. We then went by jeep to a village they work with, where we painted their school, played games with the kids from the village and just hung out. It was an awesome time, very challenging in many ways. It was a shock to see how poor the people were and the tragic state of the school, but so cool to contribute something. We have some great photos which we’ll post when we get back from our trek. We’re leaving tomorrow for the Langtang Valley, (a long, slow bus ride). We have our own bus and driver, which will be far better than the public bus. We’ll also take with us our 6 porters, which is going to feel very weird! Last week we met Darma Sherpa who will be the climbing guide for the climb that Tim, Lyndsay and Mark will do. He brought his 2 children with him to meet us at our hotel which the girls enjoyed. It was amazing to find out that he was educated at a school that Edmund Hillary set up here in Nepal!

Anyway, it’s after midnight and I have to get up in 5 hours so I must dash.

By the way, thanks for all the birthday wishes. I had a pretty amazing birthday. It was our last night in the village and the workers there put on a big Nepali dinner which included 2 chickens which Tim and Mark took great joy in killing. I’ll try to stop Tim posting photos of that!

What an amazing few days we have had here in Kathmandu. Chaotic is probably the first word that comes to mind along with vibrant, filthy, stinky and fascinating.

Flying into Kathmandu from Bangkok on Nepal Airlines was certainly different from the plane travel we’ve done recently. It was an older plane,(which I tried not to think about) with none of the in flight entertainment that we’ve been spoilt with lately. The great thing about the flight though was that it was really empty so we could move around, change seats and lie down for a sleep.

As we flew into Kathmandu our eyes were wide with amazement as the plane got ready to land. The old dusty roads and derelict buildings were a stark contrast to Bangkok which very soon began to look very developed and civilised in comparison.
We entered the airport building which was quite deserted and proceeded to the visa desk. It was all quite intimidating especially as we’d accidentally packed our passport photos in the checked luggage and we needed them for our application. There was lots of loud talking between officials and then they told us that for a 30 day visa it would cost $40US each but because we’re in Nepal for 35 days we would need a 90 day visa and that would cost $100US! We decided to go for the 30 day visa and try to get an extension which is cheaper. It’s so hard to get the right information before you arrive. There seems to be lots of corruption and any way they can get more money out of you they will certainly try.

Anyway, we got through and headed to the baggage claim area only to be greeted by 4 official looking guys who were picking up all our gear and pushing it away for us. Us being very naive thought they were being nice and were all smiles until we realised they were all after our money and they were arguing between themselves over who’ll get the tip. We handed them a few US dollars for pushing our trolleys about 200 metres and learnt our first lesson about travelling in Nepal.

We were picked up by 2 guys from the guesthouse in a rickety old minivan and proceeded to drive the 7km to our guesthouse in Thamel, the touristy part of town. What a ride that was! It was about 7pm at night and dark, even darker because the power goes off in parts of town from about 3pm to 9pm. Apparently, Kathmandu doesn’t have enough power for the whole city so it’s shared out at different times of the day. Quite a good idea really, maybe Auckland could try that? The hotels have back up generators but only minimal lighting. As we drove through the pot-holed dusty streets, crowded with people cooking on fires, children squatting down in the filth, the odd cow and goat and cars and motorbikes darting in and out of everything, we were blown away. Even though we knew it would be like that, actually seeing it is a different thing. Michaella was sitting next to me and I could see the amazement on her face. She was just staring , wide-eyed and saying “Wow,wow this is so interesting!” Charlotte was just chatting away as usual, pointing things out in a very matter of fact way. Maddie was in the back saying “I’m so tired I just want to go to sleep” and I couldn’t actually see Ashleigh but she was definitely blown away.

So we arrived at the Tibet Guesthouse which is really nice and moved into our two rooms opposite each other , one with 4 beds that looks like a boarding school dorm and our double room opposite. We spent the next day getting familiar with dodging motorbikes , cars and rickshaws as we scoured the shops that surround our guesthouse. It’s a very bizarre place, so many dirt poor people mingled with backpackers and aged western hippies who looked like they came here in the 70’s, said yes to all the offers of cannibas that you get all the time, and never left. You can buy just about anything and if you’re prepared to haggle, things are pretty cheap but all knock-offs of the real stuff. Every second shop sells climbing and trekking gear and we’ve spent quite a bit time looking at that stuff and deciding what we need for our trek. The shop owners are all getting to know us now and it’s hard to get past them in the street. We’re realising that we are quite recognisable with four girls. I guess we don’t quite look like the regular backpackers that are everywhere.

Charlotte has easily moved from greeting everyone that walks past with Sawadee-ka, the Thai greeting to Namaste(the Nepali greeting). Poor Charlotte has had a horrible ear infection which has made her quite miserable. Luckily we had the contact of a NZ pharmacist who arranged our accommodation and he told us how to go about getting antibiotics. It was actually very easy, you can buy anything you like over the counter for next to nothing. The eardrops which cost about $12 in NZ cost 50c and the amoxycilin cost about $1. It was good having a pharmacist to point us in the right direction though. Charlotte is now looking a lot brighter which is a relief before we head out of Kathmandu. We’re going to buy up on lots of medical supplies before we leave just in case.

Yesterday Lyndsay, Glenda,Tim,Nick and Mark and Diana arrived which was so exciting! It was so nice to meet up here and get ready for the next stage of the trip. They were all exhausted after a long flight with on overnight transit in Singapore airport but we all went out and ate together which was fun. Most of us ate Tibetan fried momo(spicy bread dumplings) which were great. Michaella is a legend with the hot food!

Today we set off on a mission to find the immigration department so we could extend our visa. Tim thought that we could easily walk (hehe!). We took a few turns away from the area we’re staying and we were in a very different kind of area without people trying to sell us something, just people going about their lives, selling veges, walking kids to school, driving their 3 children to school on one motorbike etc. (who needs a people mover?) It was very interesting but we failed in our mission to find the immigration department. We were standing studying our map when we heard an Aussie voice say, “Are you lost?” He’s lived here for 10 years and told us there was no way we could walk there so we went back to our guesthouse and got a taxi!

We managed to sort out the visas quite easily but we had to go back a few hours later to get our passports. It didn’t feel quite right leaving our passports but you’ve just got to play the game and Tim has gone back now, by himself to get them.

The day after tomorrow we’re all getting picked up in jeeps and taken to the headquarters of the share and care mission. We don’t actually know too much detail about what we’ll be doing but we’ll be 3 hours from Kathmandu in a remote village helping out in some way. From there we’ll be heading to the Langtang Valley to start our trek and we’ll be there until May 22nd. Obviously we won’t have internet so the blog will be even quieter than usual!

We’re now really looking forward to getting out of Kathmandu. The air is so bad, that even after a day here I felt my breathing was affected. The sad thing is to see all these people who live constantly in the dirt, breathing this air. They don’t have a comfortable guesthouse to retreat to. Very sobering.

Anyway, I must go and bring in my few bits of washing that are dangling from our window on coat hangers. I’ve just noticed that a t-shirt has dropped down below onto another roof. Bummer, it was mine too! I don’t think I’m game enough to try to retrieve it.

These are Charlotte’s words for the Thai women usually around 50 years of age who spot her in the crowd scream with excitement and then lunge at her and pinch her cute little arms. I think we might call it assault back in NZ. I just keep reassuring her that they’re just being friendly, but inside I’m thinking, “Stop, leave my baby alone!”

Our first day out walking near our guesthouse was quite an experience. Because we’re not right in the centre of Bangkok there don’t seem to be any other foreigners around and we really are quite the local attraction. I think the whole tribe of girls is what amuses people. The big girls are just relieved to have Charlotte as the main pinching target. When I say pinching I really do mean quite firm pinching, not just patting. I wonder if they pinch cute Thai children. I have thought about trying it myself but I don’t want to risk getting into trouble. After the first day, Charlotte was a bit traumatised and Tim carried her on his shoulders quite a lot. She was very happy up there away from the “pinchy people”. I’m sure we do look quite a sight trundling along with our bright red, sweaty faces and bodies. It’s amazing that the Thai people don’t look hot at all in 38 degrees!

On our second day we decided to head to a water park to try and cool off. The water was luke warm so it was hard to feel very refreshed for long. There were loads of cool pools and slides including a huge wave pool . On one long fast slide I thought Tim was going to seriously injure himself. He got so air born that he almost didn’t land back in the slide slot. I don’t think they make them for smaller body frames than his! Although it was very western type attraction it certainly was a cultural experience. The contrast s of Thailand become obvious when you compare the wealthy Thais at the water park and the locals around our guesthouse living on the stinky canals with dirt floors.

Yesterday we took a long taxi ride to the floating markets where we went on a boat through the markets. It was lots of fun and very fascinating but a bit more touristy than we were expecting. There were foreigners everywhere so lucky for Charlotte she had a day free of pinching! We actually had a taxi driver for the whole day which felt very weird, but he waited for us at the markets and then we asked to go a shopping mall so he dropped us there for 2 hours. It was quite an upmarket mall, with most things being either the same price or more expensive than NZ. The top floor of the building was a kid’s area with all sorts of over the top kid’s stuff you could imagine, including pools and water slides! It was nice to have a break from the relentless heat.

The girls have coped well with our little taste of Thailand. I think the heat has been the hardest thing and we’ve been very glad to have air-con in the guesthouse and a pool to cool off in. The guesthouse has been awesome, a real family feel, with people bending over backwards to help us. We’ve been eating yummy Thai food here at the guesthouse except for some of the least adventurous members who have had a bit of fried chicken and chips(grrh!)

So, after 4 nights in Thailand we are about to fly out to Nepal. (heading to the airport in about an hour)We’re very excited! We’ve all finally adjusted to the time change after a few 4.30am wake-ups and grumpy days and are looking forward to meeting up with the AdSpecs guys and starting our Nepal adventure.

We’re thinking of you all with your nice cool autumn temperatures!We’ll add photos when we get to Kathmandu.

Well, here we are in Bangkok. After a slightly stressful few days leading up to our departure, we arrived here at about 11.30pm on Thursday night.

For those of you who didn’t hear about our last minute troubles, I’ll fill you in.

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After a hectic few days in Sydney we headed for the hills and stayed put there for 5 days. After sleeping in only sheets for the past 6 weeks we were shocked to find that we were cold at night. So we stopped at Blaxland, a little town in the Blue Mountains and bought sleeping bags in the local op shop.

We set up camp in the caravan park in Katoomba, where Tim spent hours with his nose in the Blue Mountain rock-climbing guide planning our adventures. He investigated all the possibilities, including him finding a climbing partner and going off for the day, which would have been great. He inquired at one of the climbing shops about finding someone to climb a 7 pitch classic climb with in the area. It was very amusing when he was given “Nadia’s” phone number. He joked about how he was going off to climb with this exotic European climbing chick. He phoned her and she was just a regular old Aussie Sheila who couldn’t fit in a climb while we were there. Never mind, as it worked out he took Michaella on a big climb and she was fantastic. It’s so nice to have these adventurous girls up for anything. Already they are far more gutsy than I ever was!We spent a couple of days all together at Mt York, a popular climbing crag. The girls loved climbing on real rock and did so well. Charlotte fossicked around the bottom and did her own little climbing of the little boulders around the place. It was awesome to be at the stage where we can all go out on a day’s adventure. Even though I’ve never been a serious rock-climber I did attempt to crawl up a climb(well half of it anyway) but I’m loving seeing the girl’s develop their skills. There’s nothing like reliving your youth through your children!

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Well not exactly. We felt like we were in the outback but we were only about 300 kms inland. It put it in perspective when we met a couple travelling who said they didn’t live far from here, just 500 miles inland from where we were! Australians really do seem to have a different perspective on distance. It has made us see how tiny our little island is.

I must admit I felt a bit nervous leaving the coast. I love the beach and it’s hard to leave warm water and white sandy beaches and head for colder weather, more bugs and flies and other unknowns. But, Im so glad we did. From the Blue Mountains we took the inland road as we headed back towards Brisbane. We stayed at one caravan park but for 3 nights we stayed at free camping spots and they were awesome. We passed through lots of little derelict towns as well as ones with innumerable beautiful old churches. We spent a morning at a Pioneer Museum in Gulgong and all learnt heaps about the early settlement of inland Australia. I really have learnt so much about Australian history and as part of the girl’s schoolwork they’re being forced to as well! It’s not so hard teaching the girl’s stuff when you’re learning it with them!The last week in the caravan has been awesome. The highlights have been meeting people on the road and camping near them and learning more about Australia through chatting to them . We met a couple who moved here from NZ in the 1970’s with their children. Now, in their late sixties, they’re travelling around in their little combi van. We met them at a lookout and ended up camping at the same spot that night. They came over for a drink and we got to know them a bit. It’s nice getting these little snapshots of people’s lives.

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Yes that’s what it’s called , the Family Funday Sunday Pass for unlimited travel on trains, buses and ferries in Sydney for the day. Guess how much for?………..$2.50 each! What a bargain! A big surprise in an expensive city like Sydney.

We spent the day exploring Sydney starting at the Rocks , wandering over to the Opera House and then catching the ferry over to Manly where we battled the crowds to check out the beach. It was good to have a day on foot using public transport and get the feel for being real tourists. I loved the hustle and bustle but Tim doesn’t like cities and was a bit……well……grumpy. He perked up later on when we got the bus to China Town and got the Asia feel at Paddy’s Market. The girls really enjoyed it too, and asked us, “Is this what Asia will be like?”

By the end of the day we were all exhausted and actually cold, yes cold! It had started raining at Manly and by the time we got to China Town it was pouring. We were all in shorts, t-shirts and jandals and were slipping and sliding all over the place. We were relieved to actually find the right bus and train to get us to our station where our car was parked. On Monday we decided to head to Bondi. The girls have been watching Bondi rescue here, (not sure if they have it in NZ??) so we thought we really need to get there and check it out. The shark attack a couple of weeks ago where a surfer got his hand munched , only added to the intrigue. Because it was a Monday, it was really quiet, no Paris Hilton sunning herself, but still quite a cool beach. It was a bit cool and only the girls swam, the male of the group felt a bit chilly and didn’t swim.

There was a bit of a drama involving road tolls in Sydney. What a nightmare! Off we went on our day out on Monday which involved driving over the Harbour Bridge. We knew it was a toll road and were all ready with cash to pay the toll. But no, from January 27^th there is no cash toll booth, you have to get an e-pass. So as we drove through what once was a toll booth we read the sign YOU HAVE 48 HOURS TO PAY, PLEASE PHONE 13500. We thought that would be fine, we’d phone and all would be good, but after phoning on our mobile and not getting through and spending $5 on cell phone charges we were not impressed. We asked at our caravan park who were also perplexed about the system but eventually got through on the phone to them and told us we had to register on-line to get an e-pass so that we could pay. What a hassle! We were quite relieved to head out of Sydney on Tuesday. I enjoyed Sydney but driving in any big city that you don’t know, especially with a caravan is definitely stressful! Tim couldn’t get out of Sydney fast enough.

So, here we are now in Katoomba, the heart of the Blue Mountains! Ahhhhh!(that is, deep sigh of relief) It is nice to be out of the city. photos coming soon.

We loved this place. I don’t know how many times Tim said he would love to live here. It’s a smallish town but still with all the shops and amenities. The beaches were incredible. Our timeshare was at Elizabeth Beach which was a beautiful beach with the clearest water ever. Tim and the girls spent a lot of time trying to improve their surfing and they really are getting better! Not quite ready for the BIG waves(Tim) but definitely improving. Tim’s getting really good at doing what all surfers do well and that is sitting out the back looking cool, occasionally chatting with other surfers. One day he spent some time out the back with the local high school girls, who spend one day a week surfing. I have to say their skills put the old boy to shame!

Another day, not sure what one because we find it hard to keep track of days, we went for a drive to check out the Seal Rocks, another mind-blowingly beautiful beach and came across a 4WD track leading down to a beach. Tim ummed and arrghed about going down it as the sand was really soft and it looked very dodgy, but as you’ve probably guessed, we did it and……yes we got stuck. No-one on the beach to save us, just us and the prospect of having to walk to get someone to tow us. Well after lots of attempts Tim let air out of the tyres and we just made it. Tim LOVED it and had all the girls chanting, “Who’s the man, who’s the man?””I’m the man, I’m the man!” It was lots of fun, especially because we got out. If we didn’t I would have been grumpy and telling Tim how foolish he had been for going down in the first place!

A huge highlight of the week was meeting an Aussie family on the beach. Well, actually Charlotte did. We were sitting on the beach and I noticed a little boy about Charlotte’s age playing near us. I suggested she go and play with him. Of course being the social butterfly that she is, she was off in a flash. They played and played and I eventually got speaking to his Mum. They have recently moved to Forster from Melbourne and have 4 boys similar in age to our girls. They were really friendly and invited us to their house for a BBQ. We had a great night getting to know them. At first the kids were all really quiet with each other, you know that girl and boy thing, but after dinner we looked upstairs to the playroom where they all were and we could see(and hear!)our girls doing the haka to the boys. Very cool, you go girls! They were having lots of fun teasing each other about their accents and just hanging out. It was nice for the girls, to have some other kids to hang out with. It’s become a bit of a standard joke now that whenever we see other kids in the campground , Tim and I say, “there’s some kids, why don’t you go and play?”It works with Charlotte, but the others just look at us and say, ”Hey, look Mum and Dad, there’s some adults, why don’t you go and talk?”

So, on Friday we loaded up the caravan again and hit the road, bound for Sydney. We spent a night just north of Sydney and this was the first time we’ve had to pull out our sweatshirts. It actually felt a bit cold! Quite nice for a change.

After a successful navigation into Sydney, free of domestic disputes, we set up camp on Saturday in Lane Cove Tourist Park about 10kms from Sydney CBD in a really nice national park campground. We decided to spend 3 nights there to catch the main Sydney sights. Sydney highlights coming soon. We promise, no more gorgoeus white sandy beach photos for a while!!

Well I have finally succumbed to this blog thing and have decided it’s about time to give it some testosterone input! My impressions of Australia are not quite what I was led to believe from my darling wife. She was psyching me up for being attacked by all sorts of creepy crawlies and I thought that camping would require someone on century duty fending off the wild beasts. Unfortunately it hasn’t been quite that exciting but I haven’t really been disappointed with the wild life encounters. What has been a bit off putting though is having screaming and hysterical females telling me not to go any closer, get out of the water and don’t touch it!!! We have seen some very large spiders but they have been pretty dopy (must be the Australian blood) and when I throw flies and bugs into their webs-they don’t care!! I have managed to bash a few cane toads though and today caught a few fish(more like a cross between a sprat and a frog) with the girls. By the way the Australians don’t think it’s funny when I joke about clubbing possums and I’m still on the lookout for a koala- I reckon the skin would make a great hat. Some cool animals I have seen are all the lizards including a giant goanna, bats, lots of interesting birds and weird fish.

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