I'm appalled to see it has been 3 months since I've done any Basecamp Dreaming. I'd like to say that we've been too busy with our preparations to write about it. Unfortunately that's not the case.
The weeks have marched by us seemingly at double time. In early August we went up to the Sunshine Coast to thaw out for a week. That was wonderful and we took the opportunity to stop off in Melbourne to catch an AFL match at the G.
We returned to chilly Launceston and within a day or two I came down with a cold which Damien and then the girls caught too. Between the lot of us we were laid low for a full month. The last thing we thought about during our confinement was preparations for Base Camp. We could barely get ourselves out of bed let alone out into the chilly great outdoors.
Then along came the September school holidays followed by the never-ending 40th birthday celebrations - by which time our health had improved.
One thing we realised is that the best preparation we can have is to arrive in Nepal in good health. It's near impossible to undertake a serious hike when you can't breathe. And as the air gets thinner, it gets much harder. So as great as it would be to be in peak physical form when we arrive over there, we'll happily settle for arriving in good health. That's our focus for now. And we're fitting in short hikes around Cataract Gorge a couple of times a week while we're recovering. We're so lucky to have a beautiful (and challenging) hiking track right outside our front door.
We have less than 4 weeks to go before we depart - we'll be on the plane before we know it. I hope that when we're over there and life is lived at a walking pace, that everything slows down and we can make this experience of a lifetime last.
The weeks have marched by us seemingly at double time. In early August we went up to the Sunshine Coast to thaw out for a week. That was wonderful and we took the opportunity to stop off in Melbourne to catch an AFL match at the G.
We returned to chilly Launceston and within a day or two I came down with a cold which Damien and then the girls caught too. Between the lot of us we were laid low for a full month. The last thing we thought about during our confinement was preparations for Base Camp. We could barely get ourselves out of bed let alone out into the chilly great outdoors.
Then along came the September school holidays followed by the never-ending 40th birthday celebrations - by which time our health had improved.
One thing we realised is that the best preparation we can have is to arrive in Nepal in good health. It's near impossible to undertake a serious hike when you can't breathe. And as the air gets thinner, it gets much harder. So as great as it would be to be in peak physical form when we arrive over there, we'll happily settle for arriving in good health. That's our focus for now. And we're fitting in short hikes around Cataract Gorge a couple of times a week while we're recovering. We're so lucky to have a beautiful (and challenging) hiking track right outside our front door.
We have less than 4 weeks to go before we depart - we'll be on the plane before we know it. I hope that when we're over there and life is lived at a walking pace, that everything slows down and we can make this experience of a lifetime last.