Day 1 - Kathmandu to Lukla

Our flight was meant to leave Kathmandu at 8.30am but was delayed until 11.30am! Some of the boys slept on benches while the rest of us talked. The flight to Lukla took about 25 minutes and the views of the Himalayas were were spectacular! A bit of turbulance on arrival, but otherwise an interesting flight! It was a near vertical descent into Lukla airport, on an incredibly short runway - hair raising and exciting!

We started our hike around 2pm. It was pretty easy going as it was mainly downhill to Phakding. It was only a 3 hour walk, but already some of us in the group were puffed! We checked into our hotel and were happy to see that the porters had already dropped off our bags! I think they will be the real heroes by the end of this trek!

Was surreal looking out our hotel window and seeing white mountain peaks peering down at you! We all hit the bed early as we were incredibly tired...dreaming of mountains I think!

2 days to go!

The whole team has arrived, and we had our first briefing/get to know each other meeting over wood fired pizza last night. But before that everyone had a grand time buying last minute trekking gear that was needed. It was a bit of a hustle with everyone grabbing things and trying them on, but it made the whole trek seem more realistic. Simon, ADRA Nepal's Country Director and Bidya, ADRA Nepal's Programs Director came along to the dinner and gave us some encouraging words and also told us more about the project we are fundraising for. We were given our official 'Move Mountains' t-shirt and cap for the trek which was pretty cool. Everyone was fairly tired so it was a quick meet and greet! Here are some pictures...

16 days to go!

The team's flights are all booked to Nepal, backpacks and boots are being bought and hills are being walked up in preparation for our trek to Everest Base Camp. This next week we'll be preparing a visit to some of the woman's groups that ADRA Nepal is currently training with leadership skills, who have shown outstanding commitment to their communities by fixing up roads and bridges and fundraising money for health check ups. We will visit these communities to create a video to send people in Australia so they can see what we are fundraising for.

Our websites have been set up and the money is coming in. So far we have about $1000 that some very kind people have donated to our cause. If you would like to donate, please visit one of our colourful team member sites below:

http://www.everydayhero.com.au/beryl_hartmann
http://www.everydayhero.com.au/calvchuang
http://www.everydayhero.com.au/jared_martin
http://www.everydayhero.com.au/james_carson
http://www.everydayhero.com.au/aaronbmovemountains
http://www.everydayhero.com.au/jody_lawson
http://www.everydayhero.com.au/james_crabtree
http://www.everydayhero.com.au/desiree_lawson
http://www.everydayhero.com.au/anneandphilmorton

Follow our blog to keep updated as we prepare and then real updates as it happens while we're on the trek!

Beryl