On the 7th of September 2007 at 5,892 metres, I summated Mount Kilimanjaro with a small group of friends. Raising just over £12,000 for the Amani Children’s Home in Moshi, Tanzania. It was an amazing experience especially spending some time in the home.

From January to July 2007 I trained to cycle the South Downs Randonnée. The South Downs Randonnée is a long distance bike ride, 100 miles, and is a significant test of endurance as over the drooling 100 miles you also have over 10,000 feet of climbing! I would not recommend this unless you are an experienced off-road biker, but if you are you will absolutely love this challenge.
The Randonnée route travels the full distance of the South Downs Way. It starts at Winchester, Hampshire and finishes in Eastbourne, Sussex. I raised just over £2000 for the Foundation of Infant Death.

I’m still deciding on what adventure I should take next? For the last while I’ve been thinking about climbing Mount Cho Oyo, but this is just too expensive for me at the moment.

Secondly walking the Bering Straight, after reading of several people having issues with entering Russia without going through border patrol such as Karl Bushby who was arrested.

Canoeing the Amazon would be great, but I don’t think I could afford to take enough time off to canoe 4,345 miles. So I would have to downscale it and canoe the Huallaga River which is a more modest 680 miles.

These all sound great, but I’m not living in Australia which make them considerably more expensive to do. So I’m now thinking of something easier to plan and undertake, something like the Kokoda track would be great. But is too short for a real adventure, as it could be hiked in 3 days, it’s 60 miles long.

I’m still thinking the Kokoda Track/Trail would be great to do. It’s a single-file foot way which runs 60 miles through the Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea.

The Kokoda track starts at Owers Corner and then crosses rugged and isolated terrain, rising to a height of 2,190 metres and only passable on foot, and then along to the small village of Kokoda.

If anyone out there is reading this who has walked this I would love to hear from you.

Due to my work I have to regularly get taxis around Sydney, and I have yet once to actually make it to my destination without any difficulties. Do I just take it for granted that I’m used to taxi drivers who know where they are going? Maybe it’s my British accent that encourages certain taxi drivers to decide to take me on a ‘tourist’ route to get to a meeting? Or perhaps, they genuinely really have no idea on how to get around the city.

Getting lost, not turning up, turning up late, taking the wrong route, refusing to take you, charging for unnecessary tolls, ignoring the directions you give them and most frustratingly refusing to use their GPS when they don’t know where they are going, I am getting used to, and slowly, very slowly accepting. As I have now learned to just relax a little and without being rude still be assertive enough to refuse to pay the full fare. I’ve never had a problem with the driver for doing this. I have received a couple of honest excuses now when drivers have taken the wrong route, most recently after being picked up from our flat and taken the longest possible route to the Sydney Opera House, I was told “Sorry, I thought you were a tourist”.

Now there are many other websites even authoritive newspaper websites which complain about Sydney taxi drivers. But, what has really, really pissed me off to write this post is the dangerous driving I have encountered. Yesterday I had to tell a driver to stop the car, after he was undertaking and breaking the speed limit to jump a set of lights.

Today I have had a taxi driver refuse to get off his mobile phone whilst struggling to keep the car in the same lane when driving. I had asked him several times to get off the phone to which he ignored me, to later laugh and explain that it isn’t dangerous as he knows where the camera are! I mean WTF! I don’t care if he knows where the cameras are, he was driving dangerously and was drifting lanes.

His taxi number was T2113, and his driver number GR4749. So if anyone from the government happens to read this post, I highly recommend that his plates are removed.

I’m shocked that I’m almost 29 and I still couldn’t resist buying this R/C Wall-E Toy. This little Disney/Pixars U-Control Wall-E is fantasitc and my little sister is going to love it! As much as I do, I can’t take it to Australia.

It’s in a perfect location, on the border between Brighton and Hove, 4 minutes to the beach, 5 minutes to Waitrose, 3 minutes to Tesco and 15 minutes to Brighton Station. Kitchen is complete with cooker, washer/dryer, separate fridge & freezer.

You can see more details on the Rightmove website:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-21110962.html and Gumtree.

Very bright open plan living room, traditional sash windows. L-Shaped sofa bed. Very large bedroom, with massive fitted wardrobes. The bathroom has an awesome illuminated mirror cabinet not shown and a powerful thermostatic controlled shower. Click on photos to enlarge.

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My blog is streaming the lower quality video you can go to YouTube to view the high quality video.

Well after completing my accelerated free fall course with Sydney Skydivers on 12/01/2005, here is the video of my first solo skydive.
Skydiving is most definitely the most exhilarating hobby I have had, unfortunately I haven’t been able to skydive in the UK since getting home. This isn’t down to the price of skydiving as it’s not so expensive, it’s just that the nearest drop zone to me is a two hour drive. So the time that I add petrol to that days jumping makes it an extremely expensive day out.

However I guarantee it won’t be long before I’m back skydiving again, it’s just annoying that I have left it so long, as I’m going to have to do a bit of training before I’m allowed to jump again. That in its self is a good thing judging by my current injuries!

I had seriously considered applying for it, and a friend of mine who works for a TV production company offered to help. But have decided today that I am not going to. I am sure there are going to be another 10,000 people out there who have a considerable amount of time available to invest into their application which I just don’t have.

Anyway I’ve already been to the Whitsunday Islands and thinking about it, I would probably get a little bored after 6 months.

If you want to apply check out the following site http://www.islandreefjob.com/

Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going. – Paul Theroux

Australia – Cairns, Townsville, Mt Isa, Alice Springs, Darwin, Broome, Port Hedland, Tom Price, Exmouth, Coral Bay, Carnarvon, Monkey Mia, Geraldton, Lancelin, Perth, Freemantle, Bunberry, Margaret River, Albany, Esperence, Port Ausgusta, Adelaide, Grampians, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Port Macquarie, Tweed Heads, Noosa Heads, Torquay, Bunderburg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Port Douglas
America – Miami, Orlando, Kissimee, San Jose, San Francisco
Brussels – Belgium
Cyprus – Ayia Napa, Pathos
Czech Republic – Prague, Svoboda Nad Upou, Pec pod Snezkou
Dominican Republic –
Egypt – Hurgharda, Luxor
France – Paris, Serre Chevalier
Germany – Munchengladbach, Dusseldorf, Berlin
Greece – Corfu – Kavos
Italy – Venice
Netherlands – Amsterdam, Scheveningen, Kinderdijk
Norway – Oslow
Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Langkawi, Palau
Maldives – Paradise Island
Malta – Malta, Goza
Poland – Krakow, Wroclaw, Tychy, Kolo, Warszawa
Romania – Bucharest, Translyvania
Singapore – Not much to put here
Spain – Costa del Sol, Barcelona
Tanzania – Moshi, Killimanjaro
Thailand – Koh Phi Phi, Bangkok, Khon Khan, Satun, Koh Phi Phi, Phuket, Krabi, Kata
Turkey – Alanya

On one side it could be seen as terrible but to me it’s been one of the best years ever.

I’m sat here typing with a broken scaphiod in my right hand with my arm in cast after breaking my wrist in a bizarre and freak snowboarding accident in Milton Keynes. YES before my actual snowboarding holiday!

I’ve worn out my knees and have had to have anthroscopy in my right knee and a lateral release, which allowed me to wear amazing paper pants and involved the cutting of around 6 inches of tissue around my knee. With physiotherapy still ongoing. I’m so looking forward to having the next one done. I’ve had my zygoma broken whilst being on the end of a punch from Gary at karate and another broken nose from getting my face squashed by Casey in BJJ. Whilst with the consultant at Brighton hospital viewing the x-ray of my face to check that my zygoma had healed properly he was more concerned about the top of my right eye socket as it appears that I broke that too. Not sure how as I don’t especially remember being hit there? (I’m still trying to get a copy of my x-ray, it amazing to see an x-ray of your own head!)

I have just had a blood test for Helicobacter Pylori as it now appears that I have been eating human fecal matter. Ever since returning home from travelling Asia I have been unable to eat bread due to servere indegestion which temporailly stops me from breathing from the pain. After numerous trips to my doctor Dr Rogers and the pain becoming more frequent he believes that I have this strange coil shaped bacteria living in my stomach

… and with thanks to the Wikipedia:

Helicobacter pylori is a gram-negative, microaerophilic bacterium that inhabits various areas of the stomach and duodenum. It causes a chronic low-level inflammation of the stomach lining and is strongly linked to the development of duodenal and gastric ulcers and stomach cancer.

… and again:

Person-to-person transmission by either the oral-oral or fecal-oral route is most likely.[3] Consistent with these transmission routes, the bacteria have been isolated from feces, saliva and dental plaque of some infected people.[3] Transmission occurs mainly within families in developed nations yet can also be acquired from the community in developing countries.[64] H. pylori may also be transmitted orally by means of fecal matter through the ingestion of waste-tainted water, so a hygienic environment could help decrease the risk of H. pylori infection.[3]

Even with all this I’ve still had an amazing year with trips to 10 countries, meeting Dorota, an amazing girl who also shares my passion of travelling, scuba diving, adventure and knowledge with which I went to the last 8 countries with:

Norway – Oslow
Romania – Bucharest, Translyvania

Turkey – Alanya
Netherlands (x18) – Amsterdam, Scheveningen, Kinderdijk + many more places I can’t think of right now
Brussels (x3)- Belgium
France – Paris
Egypt – Hurgharda, Luxor
Czech Republic (x2) – Prague, Svoboda Nad Upou, Pec pod Snezkou
Poland (x2) – Krakow, Wroclaw, Tychy, Kolo, Warszawa
Germany – Berlin

So for 2009 I will try my upmost not to eat developing world feces and hope that I don’t get stomach cancer. We have booked a trip to Venice, have one planned for Sydney and not sure what else as yet. Ideas on a post card.

Bring on 2009!

Unfortutely it can’t be too active, well by that I mean I can’t do any repetitive knee movements (well not for the next 6 months). I injured my knee training for the South Downs Randonnee in 2007 and I ended up having to have a lateral release, real life example here. I’ve had to have one operation and am waiting on the other now, with a 12 month recovery period. Anyway the South Downs Randonnee is a 100 mile mountain bike ride from Winchester to Eastbourne across the south downs way and has to be finished in around 12 hours.

My second big event was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa which was simple amazing. It is just short of 6000m and took 7 days to complete the climb. I’m one of the above in the photo, that was an additional bet for a few additional pounds.

But now I am stuck for what to do? So far I have thought of maybe climbing Mount Cho Oyo, or infact summiting any mountain naked, walking the Bering Straight, or canoeing the Amazon, your ideas and suggestions below please.

Anyway about the camera it shoots full HD 1080p, records onto memory card so I don’t have to worry about damaging tapes and moving parts, meaning I can just throw it in my backpack without any care in the world. AND most of all it’s TINY!

The only drawbacks with the camera are firstly the fact that you need to be around 4m away from a person to get a full framed shot (this is the same problem with all compact camcorders) and you are lucky if the battery lasts an hour. So I have also ordered the Canon TL-H37 Wide converter (MVX150i) which will enable this distance to be almost halved, and of course the Double Capacity Canon BP-819 battery. Don’t be fooled by the cheap alternatives on Amazon as the majority of these are 1400mah and not 1780mah the same as the genuine one, AND you won’t be able to charge it on the camera but they are a quarter of the price.

Anyway in the meantime before I update this post there is a great review over at Trusted Reviews on the Canon HF10.

**** EDIT ****

Well after some use my first impressions are the same, it’s fantastic.

It’s TINY
Amazing image quality
Has great image stabilisation
Has manual controls including exposure, perfect for my dive filming
Uses standard 37mm filters
Uses readily available SDHC flash cards (Min. Cat 4)
Has mini hotshoe and mic/headphone jacks

However there are a few issues you should be aware of:

Standard battery life is very short so expect between 50-60 minutes of video
There’s no viewfinder, only the LCD screen
Built-in microphone is very susceptible to wind noise, like all camcorders!
No firewire