Annapurna Base Camp: Our First Trip to Nepal in 2016

In 2016 we were attempting out first trip to Nepal with the Annapurna Base Camp hike with the Poon Hill circuit thrown in for good measure. It was all together a fantastic experience, and one that set the tone for future trips to Nepal.

2016 Hiking group Adventures

Our hikers had another huge two days last weekend, although less eventful and intense than the Blue Mountains weekend! West Head is the highest off-trail mountains in our locality, and even then they’re only half as high as the Blue Mountains. The trails at West Head are also only 6-8km at a time, where you’d be lucky to find one that’s double that in the Blue Mountains.

Having said that, they’re close, they’re beautiful, and it’s nice to only have to lug our camping gear for 3km if we want to pitch a tent overnight in the Basin (which we did!). It was also Kass’s first hike with a pack after multiple knee surgeries. It allowed her the opportunity to go home at any point if she needed it.

We started at 8am at a trail called Towelers Bay. We attempted this trail last year, but had to turn around half way down to the water because of time constraints. This time we made it down to the water’s edge, had a snack (the first of many hot cross buns), then walked back up again. Jen had an opportunity to test out her “she wee”; the results were not positive, and I doubt it will come out again! One the way back up we saw our first wallaby, which enamoured Kass to the point of being unable to walk!

We made it out of the bay in such good time that we immediately crossed the road to do a tiny 1km trail to a rock ledge, where you can see Barrenjoey and West Head lookouts. The terrain was dramatically different from the other side of the road, rocky and baron, with spiky shrubs. We enjoyed the sunshine for a bit, then wandered back to the cars and drove a further 5km up West Head road to the Flint and Steel track.

The Flint and Steel track is only 2km, but quite steep. It comes out at a beautiful secluded beach. Clare and Jen couldn’t resist a swim in their underwear, totally worth the sticky, salty, smelly body afterwards! We saw our first goanna here too! Dave walked down to the beach while we were having lunch, and walked with us for the rest of the day. Mags was struggling mentally the whole way down, as she is afraid of stairs and hills and how they make her feel. She took the opportunity to learn how to cope, and popped up at the top of the trail only slightly out of breath!

We then spent half an hour performing yoga and watering trees while Jade and Kass repacked their bags (Kass was really feeling the pack at this point, so Jade needed to carry some of her gear down to the Basin). Chris met the crew at the top of The Basin track; he delivered Evie and picked up Mags. With Evie also hiking now, the descent into The Basin was slow for Clare, Di, and Dave. Jade took off ahead as she needed to get down as soon as possible with her heavy pack. Jen and Kass took it at their own pace and met the tail-enders at the entrance to the campsite.

We pitched our tents around 3pm; Evie had a swim while everyone else snoozed. Jade spent a good 20 minutes performing as Evie’s “horsey” in the water. We had an early dinner, then took a turn around the picnic area where Evie made friends with a wallaby and numerous other kids by the campfires. Dave hiked out in the afternoon as he has a back injury and he wanted to spend the night in his own bed.

When it got dark we enjoyed a port, thanks to Di, while Evie took off with Di’s “bling” torch and organised a group of teenagers into a game of “duck duck goose”.

Needless to say, we were all in bed when Evie went down around 830pm….

On Sunday, we rose and had a hearty breakfast, packed up, and made the return trip up the hill to West Head road. Chris and Dave met us at the top and did a quick car shuttle to West Head Lookout. Evie took off with her dad, and Dave once again joined us for the day’s hiking.

We took the Mackeral track to Great Mackeral Beach, then picked our way around to Resolute Beach, a tiny little beach with a waterfall and rainforest and a spectacular view of Pittwater! We had a couple of steep climbs before popping out at West Head Lookout, a fitting reward for the morning’s hike!

It was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, with interesting walks, a good amount of downtime, and great company!

Of course, we are doing all this for a HUGE reason, we are off for 10 days of hiking in Nepal in 3 weeks. As a part of our trip, we are raising money for an Australian Charity that is active in Nepal, called Seven Women. You can support our fundraising by purchasing one of their handmade products from our website, or coming on a hike with us: https://wordpress-149281-3588507.cloudwaysapps.com/shop

Looking forward to our trip!!

Final Days of Hiking Group

Last Saturday marked the final days of our hiking group. It was our last off-trail hike, this week is our last week of training, and this Saturday’s session is our final hike all together!

It has crept up on us but thankfully we are all in good shape!

We went to Belrose for our final off-trail training session. In the 3 years that we have been running our hiking group, none of us have ever done this particular trail. We had marked early exits (in case it took longer than expected) and extra legs (in case it was shorter!). The latter was true and there were a few people who attempted to “negotiate” the extra sections!

The trail was mainly fire roads, until the end where we had to climb out along a steep single trail. This part was magical as we followed a little stream that was lined with ferns and vivid green moss.

After the climb, we had about 1km of foot-path trudging to get back to our cars. Poor ol’ Mags did this section barefoot as her boots made her feet burn on the asphalt. We then went searching for an open cafe, to take Dave out for his birthday lunch!

For our final week’s training, we have been asked to find our “nemesis”; the hill that continues to beat us. Then we are going to do repeats of it! We are also going to hike every day for as long as possible, before a blissful week off next week!

If you’d like to join us for our final hike, we are meeting at the studio at 830am on Saturday morning. We will be doing a tough hike with lots of stairs, and it is expected to take around 3 hours.

Please support our efforts by purchasing a seven women product from our shop https://wordpress-149281-3588507.cloudwaysapps.com/shop. These products are hand made by disadvantaged Nepali women, and in turn support them by provide employment. They use the money they earn to put themselves through numeracy and literacy classes, and take their skills back to their villages where they teach women and girls that they perceive as worse off than they are. It is truly a “pay it forward” style system that is having far-reaching results. You can read more here: http://sevenwomen.org

Hiking Group Celebration

This weekend we wrapped up hiking group 2016 with a repeat of our original 6 hills in 6K hike, plus long reef. The course is designed to be a test of our legs and lunges, and I am pleased to say that everyone managed just fine!

[above photos: we took a “summit pic” at the top of very hill. From left to right; fresh at the start, top of Lindley Ave, top of Clark St, & top of Wetherill St stairs.]

We had a full turn-out minus a couple that were away, which is pretty good considering we also had a hiking group 2016 dinner the night before! In addition, many of us were sore from a full week of training. Mags in particular had trained a full 3 days on sore legs leading up to this hike.

[From left to right; top of Park St, Ramsey St, Alexander St, and Long Reef]

The course takes us down Veterans and Nioka, up the set of stairs to Lindley Ave, down again, up Clark st hill, down again, up Wetherill St, down again, up Park, then down, up Ramsey, down, and up Alexander (then down again!). From here we had a quick break with our Food To Nourish balls – who have sponsored our trip – before completing a loop around long reef, returning up Suffolk Ave stairs then Plateau Rd. It is 11-12K total, about 8K of which is either up or down stairs or steep hills.

After this we had a little picnic in the IntoYou courtyard, a sort-of Hiking Group 2016 wrap party!! We had cider and low-carb beer, Trish’s fresh bruchetta, carrots and hommus. It was very plesent and relaxing and we took the opportunity to nut out a few details for our trip to Nepal on Saturday.

A reminder that we are doing this to raise money for disadvantaged Nepali women. In a society where the disabled are shunned as “bad karma”, and women are undervalued, a disabled women has little to no chance of a decent quality of life. Seven Women train these women in a variety of skills such as felt making, crocheting, etc, then employs them by purchasing their products for sale in Australia and online. The women then use their income to put themselves through numeracy and literacy classes (provided by Seven Women charity), and take what they learned home to teach women they perceive as “worse off”. You can read more about them on their website: http://sevenwomen.org . Seven women will be opening chapters in Indigenous Australia and Africa this year. You can help by purchasing their products from our shop: https://wordpress-149281-3588507.cloudwaysapps.com/shop .

Big thanks to everyone who participated, for being such good company! And a special mention to Trish for helping cater our little party.

Next time you read this we will be on our way to Nepal!

Early Adventures in Kuala Lumpur

Our hiking group has been in transit now since around 5pm on Saturday afternoon.

Packing was our first drama; “you’ve got to carry that, you know” became the catch cry of many of our helpers in the packing process!

We had an overnight flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur, and had arranged accommodation in the airport since our arrival was at 4.10am. We had a 16hr layover, but would be allowed out of the airport.

Unfortunately , half of us had unwittingly booked sleeping pods in an entirely different airport. This meant we had to clear customs, travel 10 minutes to K2, then clear security before finding a bed. Then we would have to do the whole lot in reverse in 3hrs to meet with the group and had into KL. This was not clear when we booked our pods, and so we decided to crash at the hotel in our airport instead.

Our rooms were perfect, and we crashed for about 3hrs. We meet in the lobby at 9am and made a slow 2 hr journey into the city. Everything seemed to take forever; finding lockers, getting cash, finding a train, & stopping for breakfast are serious projects for a group of 9!

However, we did not get lost, and successfully made our way to the Sri Mahamariamman temple in time to witness part of a Hindu wedding. The temple itself is 400 years old and seeing it was made so much richer by the costumes of the wedding party and guests.

We then walked through the Sentral Market, had a quick bite to eat, and caught a glimpse of a very old mosque. We met our tour guide right on time in exactly the right spot. He took us to Little India and then to the Bath Caves. We climbed 200 step stairs and avoided being mugged by the monkeys. We then watched Batik silks being made before being delivered back to the airport.

Everyone is weary and looking forward to bed tonight!

Remember that we are not doing this just for ourselves, but trying to raise money for an Australian charity that is making a huge difference to women in Nepal. Please help us by purchasing one of their products from our shop https://wordpress-149281-3588507.cloudwaysapps.com/shop

Another Day Another Airport

We spent a night in Kathmandu after the longest day ever. We met Mary I  the hotel lobby, a bubbly New York woman who is joining us on our trek. We hit our beds at midnight, and were pretty much comatose until 6 am, when Karyn and I woke simultaneously. 

We decided to go looking for an ATM, and wandered the streets gaping at the locals who had long ago started their day. We found an ATM on our way back to the hotel. We started our attempt to withdraw money when a disembodied voice said “no money” from somewhere in the bowels of the building. The ATM was indeed empty, and so we made our way to breakfast empty handed.

We were at the domestic airport at 9am for a 930am flight, and informed that they were behind because fog in  Pokhara was making it impossible to land. We waited for 6 hours for a 25min flight, before deciding to cut our losses and get a 6hr bus instead.

The bus follows a windy highway that connects east and west Nepal. Unfortunately, it’s the only one, and onay 1 lane each way. It’s only 200 km, but impossible to get over 20km/hr. We got caught in a traffic jam, where a truck had lost its wheel and axle, and traffic on both sides had crossed onto the wrong side of the road in order to push through and overtake. They created a gridlock , and our guide had to hop out and sort them out to get through. We were lucky to escape when we did, as even then the road was backed up for kilometres with more cars coming over the wrong side and getting stuck.

We made it into Pokhara last night, saddle sore but relieved to get hiking today!

 
Day 1 – Annapurna Base Camp

This post is over a week late, because the wifi is extremely slow, when there is some to be found!

Drove to village.
Finally started hiking and did 30min
Stopped for lunch, which took 2hrs.
There was doubt that we would make it before dark to Ghandruk, so we sent half the crew ahead in a jeep, and the other half powered as fast as they could.

The jeep crew reported that drive was hairy, with tight squeezes past other vehicles. They then hiked 6k directly upwards, our guide described it as “vertical stairs”. The staircase meanders through little villages and farms with spectacular views.

The jeep crew was passed by 2 donkey trains. They saw men carrying beds up the stairs on their heads. Karyn sang to Mags “I love to go a wandering” . Dave got accosted by a 6 yo who thought his wet ones were lollies. She patted him down and was very disappointed to find wet wipes.

The hike group walked the road that the jeep crew drove, as fast as they could. We made great time and finished the road in an hour when it should have taken 2hrs. We then embarked on the 6k of stairs after the other guys.

We broke our new friend, Mary, about 4k up the road. She never gave up and we made sure to stop at regular intervals to feed her. Our guide (we took a spare, Sarot) took her bag for parts.

Chris will be happy to hear that I have introduced the group to the Dog game. The game goes like this; when you see a dog, you have to exclaim “Dog”. Each dog can only be called once, and the person who has the most points at the end of the day wins. Jade won with 4 dogs, and she takes home ever lasting glory.

A highlight of today was Jade entering our hostel, whooping and hollering, only to startle the occupants and realize that it was the wrong one.

It’s Nepali New Years Eve tonight. We have seen lots of schoolboys playing drums and brass instruments.

We are staying tonight in a village called Ghandruk. It’s 450 years old, and tomorrow we get to have a wander around it. Nepal has 123 different languages, and hundreds of dialects within them. The group that lives here speaks a language that our guides and porters cannot understand.

There was an after shock in Nepal the day before we arrived. It was not very strong but it is a good reminder that Nepal needs our support. If you can’t come here, seven women are our charity of choice. They are Australian, and actively provide earthquake relief, skills training, education, and employment for disadvantaged women in Nepal. We are selling their products to raise money, you can still buy them from our website. https://wordpress-149281-3588507.cloudwaysapps.com/shop

Day 2 Annapurna Base Camp

We woke up to the news that Di had contracted gastro in the night. She had been up at 11pm, 1 am,  and 3am. We filled her with stoppers and antibiotics, and she managed to get on the trails with us. We now call her “squirt” for short.

Mary has an aussie nickname, Mez, and has been completely absorbed by our group.

We started the day with a quick jaunt through the old town of Ghandruk. We saw whole families that had been living this way for centuries.

The day was up one hill, down another, up an even bigger hill, then flat for a bit with a few more stairs at the end.

We went over two swinging bridges and somewhere between them we created a hiking song. To the tune of “My Highland Goat”:

“My hiking group,
Was feeling fine,
We hiked up stairs,
All of the time,

We went to Nepal,
Got the shock of our life,
My hiking group,
Was in some strife,

We sucked it up,
And passed the test,
My hiking group,
They are the best!”

We are quite proud of it…

During the day, poor old Dave got what Di has. He had to walk for hours up hill fighting nausea. He has been named “Trots” for the time being.

Kass is going great with her knees, and Mags is learning how to pace herself, which ironically makes her faster! We call her “Grandma” because that’s how fast she needs to go, slow enough to facebook and walk at the same time.

We were at the top of the second mountain when the thunder clouds rolled in. We were still in shorts and t shirt s, and just popped on rain coats over the top. Our porters put little blue tarps over their loads, and then we were back on our way.

Exactly as we took off again, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees and it got dark. The it started hailing. We had about an hour to walk in snow,  wind, thunder, lightening, and shorts and t shirt s.

The view at our lodge tonight made it worthwhile. The sky cleared briefly and we had views of snow capped mountains, and lines of mountain ranges.

We are now settled in (and rugged up), anticipating a stormy night. The good news is that it is likely to be a clear day tomorrow, and we are super excited to see the ranges.

Day 3 ABC Chamrong to Dovan

Today we woke up to astonishing views and blue skies, which lasted precisely 10 minutes before fog crept over the mountains. We left an hour earlier than usual, in an attempt to avoid the storms that inundated us the day before.

We started with over an hour of down stairs, where we were passed by trains of donkeys and buffalo. We crossed a suspension bridge, bigger than any that we have crossed previously. We then climbed for over 2 hours until we came to a little village for morning tea.

During the climb we had to pick our way through a herd of resting goats and sheep. Mags, Dave, and Kass were lucky enough to see some big monkeys with black faces and white fur.

When we stopped for tea, Jodi bought all the guides and porters chocolate, which was hard earned and gratefully received. One of our assistant guides, Vikas, picked her a Rhodendron flower to say thanks. The porters were pretty chuffed that someone thought of them.
The next leg of the trail took us through a Rhodendron forest, Nepal’s national flower. It was undulating track which made it much easier for Mags to keep up. During this section it began to sprinkle and our progress was slowed as we stopped to put our rain gear on, then take it off again when we got hot.

It was fully raining by the time we took a late lunch in a village called Bamboo. Mags was both exhausted and elated and had a little tear when she realized she was at her destination.

Our final destination was a short, undulating trail through rainforest and waterfalls, to the tune of thunder, crackling plastic ponchos, and rain. We looked like little elves in our colorful ponchos, waddling along moss-lined trails.

One of our guides,  Vikas, has taught me “dondebah” thank you, “ramro kam” good job,  “ramro mani” good man, and “taparlay gustota” how are you. I am quite proud of myself.

Today was supposed to be the hardest day, but it was also the most scenic so far. The landscape was step, lush, and often breathtaking. Everyone is tired but handling it well. Mags and Jen fell asleep as soon as they got their rooms, and Mary has paid $1.50 for a hot shower.

Only one more sleep until we are at Base Camp (Annapurna, or Everest)

Day 4 & 5 Annapurna Base Camp

Today we got up early, intending on leaving early and avoiding the afternoon storms.
1) we forgot that fact as soon as we got out of bed and ended up leaving at the same time anyway.
2) it didn’t rain today!

The trail started well, with flat bits and downhill,  winding through wheat farms.

We saw lots of little villages and got to cross more swinging bridges. Then we went up up up (and this was all before morning tea).

We stopped after about 20 minutes of stairs, and 3hrs of hiking total. We had tea,  and then we walked upstairs for another hour.

We had a great lunch at a place that overlooked the entire valley. Jade and clare played badminton with another group’s guide, and the rest of the crew relaxed in the sun and enjoyed the peace.

After lunch we embarked on another 2hrs of stair climbing before reaching our lodge.

Jade and clare dropped their bags and went back down the hill to help the guys that were struggling.  On the way we passed Diana who was singing show tunes, much to Mary and Karyn’s chagrin  (because it was all they could do just to breath).

Dave was struggling in particular,  and was very grateful to see jade and hand his bag over.

Jade is still scared of buffalo’s and donkeys.

We have the most spectacular view at our lodge tonight, and it is so great to dry and warm!

Day 9 ABC Tadapani to Ghorepani
This morning when we were getting ready to go, Jen brought up how long her nails were. Dave remarked that his nails were growing too,  because he was too scared to bite his nails with all the guck underneath them!

We all got ready together on a verandah with another fantastic view of the mountains.

After breakfast we headed to the nearest set of stairs and proceeded to head down for half an hour, then up for another half hour. We saw monkeys playing on the rock face on the way up, and rested at the top of a very sheer ledge.

While we waited for everyone, jade took it upon herself to test out the packs that our porters carried everyday. Apart from a slight lean she did very well! Also while we were waiting Di tried to infiltrate the porter’s social circle,  because she was wearing the Hike Nepal uniform. They noticed but it was fun trying!

It was pretty much flat from there to tea, during which Jade lept off the path to avoid a pony, then bolted once she was back on it!!

We then did an hour of uphill to lunch. We were following a crystal clear stream, so clare and jade decided to take a dip. It was very cold, so we kept it short!

We also met some Australian mums traveling with their kids. The kids were being carried on the backs of the porters in baskets.

After lunch we had another hour of stairs, then we followed a ridge line through old Rhododendron forests in full bloom. There was great views in both directions,  and some of the group saw an enormous eagle,  while others had to avoid a herd of goats heading home.

During this section Jade and Clare were passed by a man leading a pony. We were shocked when on each and every step that the pony took, he also farted, for the entire 10 minutes it took to ascend the hill!!

Ghorepani is a larger village, complete with a pool hall, bar, and book store. It is perched on the end of a ridge with views all round. It has charming stone streets and houses that we enjoyed exploring this afternoon.

Day 10 Annapurna Circuit

Ghorepani to Sadame
This morning we were up at 430am to climb Poon Hill to watch the sunrise. The climb is about an hour,  even though it’s only a little over 1km. We made it after about 45min but it took a solid effort. Poor old Mary had a cold and was dosed up on sudafed. She made it but it was a struggle.

While we were waiting Binod bought us hot chocolate. Did i mention that we all love Binod? It was a great surprise and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

From Poon Hill you can see all the Annapurna range and it was quite spectacular. Afterwards we made fast time back down for breakfast.

Today’s hike was easy until lunch. After lunch on a glorious platform overlooking the mountains we had over 3000 stairs to descend. It was especially rough on our porters who were already sore. 3 out of 5 porters were performing this job for the very first time.

After the stairs we still had a charming village to cross through, and about 3km of road trudging to get to our lodge for the night. Once there we went directly to the river and swam. Even Vikas came in and he doesn’t swim!

It was over 20k today for the crew that saw the sunrise, and 19 for those who didn’t- a long day either way. So Jade bought our porter’s a long neck beer each,  and Clare bought rum, and we settled down for the evening.

Mags was fueled by coke and success and entertained is with a solo dance or two, to the songs on Di’s phone.

Unfortunately we forgot dinner and distracted the boss. Those who were not drinking beer or rum eventually intervened and reminded us that they needed feeding.

All ended well on full bellies and wrapped up in a comfy bed each.

Last day tomorrow,  we are very sad.

Day 11 Annapurna Circuit

It’s our last day of hiking and Vikas is still calling me “Carol”. Not that it matters since I now answer to Carol! And to be fair, we insist on calling Sarus ” Sir-oooos” when it’s pronounced more like “Sorros”.

We had a good night last night. It was such a long day’s hiking that we felt extra-grateful for the porters, and Jade bought them an enormous beer each. With our options limited, Jade and I shared a tiny bottle of rum in order to join everyone else.

We didn’t go crazy, and no one was particularly hung over, but there was definitely some grumpy-bums this morning! We were up and away at 8am after a very modest sleep in, and followed a dusty road for almost an hour to a lovely tea house that over looked the river. We weren’t meeting the bus until 1030am, so hung around there drinking a curious blend of black tea and coffee until it was time to go.

It was another 20 min before we ambled on the first town that we had lunch in on our very first day, then another 10 min back to our staying place at Nayapool.

I confess to feeling rather jaded and superior to all the fresh and clean trekkers coming in the opposite direction. Compared to them we were positively disheveled and filthy; we hadn’t changed our clothes or showered properly in days. As they squeaked along in their sandshoes, shiny hair, and white T shirts, I thought back to our trek and the hail, sleet, mud, and buffalo poo that we’d experienced and mentally shook my head. These newbies were going to discover that “nothing is truly waterproof” and their standards of what is still good to wear will drop dramatically. Sometimes stooping to “definitely can’t wear it” but attempting to cover up the odor with deodorant and perfume (FYI it doesn’t work). And their sandshoes are going to feel like bare feet in the first decent downpour!

But that is what we have learned and for them to find out! We finished with a group hug and a cacophony of high 5’s (something we had indoctrinated into our porters, apparently Nepalese don’t learn to high 5 as babies). We are now en route to Kathmandu for a couple of days of sightseeing and to visit seven women.

If you haven’t already, please head to our website and purchase a Seven Women product. They are skills training disadvantaged women, employing them by purchasing their products, and provide literacy and numeracy lessons to lift them from the cycle of poverty. They’ll be opening chapters in indigenous Australia and Africa later this year.

Also, if Nepal is on your bucket list, come now! Around 60% of Nepalese are unemployed, and they rely heavily on tourism and trekkers to make a living. We have had a fantastic experience with Hike Nepal, who will not just guide your trek, but make all your arrangements from the minute you touch down in Kathmandu.