New Year's Eve

Having a cold in the summer is just so wrong, it's not fair!

Damn this summer cold!

Blergh 2: Son Of Blergh

So very many boogers.

Blergh

It honestly feels like my entire head is full of boogers. That is also the only explanation for the sheer amount of ick that lands in the tissues when I blow my nose.

Taking It Easy

They had meals too, mine just came first and was by far the most impressive. Giant burger!

Don't worry, their new house isn't a slanty leaning wreck, I just can't draw half built buildings a lot more than all the other things I can't draw.

Evolution

I think this cold is getting worse... Bloody thing...

Postponed Presents

When we were kids putting off opening our presents would have been unthinkable!
At this age though we're willing to wait a day and do it right. With a lot of fuss and fun :-)

Family Festivities

Yay we're not dead!

And no, in-law of my cousin, someone being pregnant isn't the only reason to knit. Some people just like knitting.

Reunited!

You weren't allowed to eat the fruit in Nepal because fruit is largely water and we weren't allowed to drink the local water.
I love you fresh fruit, I love you so much.

Paranoia Fading

We were so very careful when we were away because getting a case of the poops when trekking is bad on several levels.
The level where the poops is terrible in any situation.
The level where they're especially inconvenient when there are hardly any toilets around.
The level where dehydration is a REALLY bad idea when hiking at altitude.
You know, the levels.

Muscle Memory

Come on, body, let's try this one more time. We'll take a step and- *lurch* ARGH!

Footmergency!

The injections were the most painful part of the whole deal. I didn't even feel him fiddling about with the toenail.

Apparently it was caused by either the hiking boots being a touch tight or my having bashed my toe rather than anything that might suggest the ingrown toenail will come back.
Fingers crossed that's the case!

PS. Yay podiatrists!

Nepal Day #18

We landed at Kathmandu airport, met with the people who had brought our luggage from the hotel and packed our bags in the airport carpark before being driven up to departures and having to hustle into the airport.
It was a hell of a day!

Nepal Day #17

The weather needed to be clear at Kathmandu, Lukla AND a pass between the two.
First it was foggy at Kathmandu, and the wind never really settled at Lukla so there were zero flights for the entire day :-/

Nepal Day #16

First couple of days of the trek I might have been huffing and puffing and a little tunnel vision-y to remember what much of the scenery looked like :-P

Nepal Day #15

It was a lovely gesture, I kept reaching up to touch it all the way down the mountain :-)

Nepal Day #14

Don't worry, those dogs didn't have a chance in hell of catching up with that musk deer, it was going like greased lightning.

Nepal Day #13

It was a bit risky having a proper wash if you weren't sure you could get warm in time or dry your hair all the way through. You REALLY didn't want to catch a chill. So it was quick washes in sun-warmed tents with warm water and a cloth or it was no wash.
For days at a time it was no wash. Yep, we were ponky.

Nepal Day #12

You just look up at those mountains and think 'those can't be that big, real mountains aren't that big'.

Nepal Day #11

After he got over his tummy bug, my brother handled the last approach to Base Camp a lot better than Dad and I.
Dad and I are not in quite the shape my brother is and our legs are a little shorter :-P

We did it! We got to Everest Base Camp! ^_^

Nepal Day #10

It was all foggy and ethereal and amazing. Also a bit nippy.

Nepal Day #9

Yep, one week into a two week trek in third world country I get my first ingrown toenail. Yaaaay >:-/
I just slapped a blister pad bandaid on top of it so it wouldn't rub anything and then left it the hell alone so I wasn't tempted to try and 'fix' it with my Swiss army knife.

Nepal Day #8

He hadn't eaten breakfast because he felt sick, then he was actually sick so he was low on fuel and a bit dehydrated and so I did what any good big sister would do: fret, fuss over him and then hire him a mountain pony to carry him to the camp site.
The next day was a rest day so he had time to recover, rehydrate and was able to carry on.

Nepal Day #7

They start with a woven reed basket which is filled with smaller items, then larger items and boxes are balanced and lashed on top. Then the whole kitten kaboodle is carried by placing a strap attached to the basket across their forehead, NOT via shoulder straps.

Nepal Day #6

Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks :-/
Turns out the guy who got airlifted out had asthma and gastro and hadn't been eating enough and was never seen to drink out of his water bottle and was living on chocolate and fanta and was going around in a t-shirt and trying to keep up with some SWAT team guys who were in the same trek group because he was 18 but I STILL DIDN'T NEED TO HEAR THAT JUST NOW!

Nepal Day #5

The temperature drop itself doesn't take 10 minutes, the instant the sun slips behind the mountains the temperature flips like someone's pressed a button.

Nepal Day #4

Jopkyo, big fluffy adorable bastards.

Nepal Day #3

Seriously that airstrip is tiny. I've been along driveways that were longer. My mother would have freaked out if she could have seen it.

Nepal Day #2

The Hindu temple complex had dozens of small shrines, a large temple we weren't allowed into as we aren't Hindu, monkeys running about as if they owned the place, and people preparing their deceased loved ones down by the river for the funeral pyres that were being built.

The Buddhist stupa was a lot less active but had more tourists around it, it was a large impressive structure.

Nepal Day #1

People just nudge into traffic, there are no hard and fast rules and no traffic lights, lanes fluctuate.

There is no proper electrical infrastructure, everyone just adds another line any time they hook into things.
So many lines.

Switch

It's incredible how laid back I'm feeling, usually before a trip I feel kind of- Oh there it is...

Packing Panic

WHERE ARE MY GLOVES!? ALL OF MY GLOVES!?

Relaxing Arvo

A lovely way to spend some time, with a delicious result.

Poor Process

Yep, apparently eating too much rich food on a 40 °C day is a one-way ticket to throwing it all up again in the pub car park :-/

What a waste of some really tasty food.

Subterfuge

After I'm gone she can find out and spend the rest of the year telling everyone how I'm going to die, I don't care, I just don't want to be there while she's explaining it.

Perception

No wonder everyone thinks I have a hundred cats.
The dang things shed so much that I remove enough hair to build a life-size Wampa figure before I leave the house and I still have a fine dusting of hair on me :-/

Taking Care Of Business

Little boring tasks I need to get out of the way before I go away.

Good lord do these cats produce a lot of hair. So much freaking hair!

Hardasses

Sorry, America!
If it makes you feel any better we cured all four diseases, saved the world and I'm sure we came back to mop up and offer assistance afterwards*!

Pandemic is fun ^_^


*In the part of the game you don't get to play where you finish fixing stuff after you've won.

Gear And Goop

That thing I may have accidentally drawn to resemble an Eskimo Pie is supposed to be my Dad's wallet.
We spent a fair chunk of cash but I think we're just about good to go now.

Mummas, you imitate your babies as they eat and it is the most a-god-damn-dorable thing ever :-D

Fare Thee Well, Sweet Orthodontist

I kind of miss my braces in an odd way, I liked poking at them with my tongue when I was bored.
As you may be able to tell from this fact, I'm pretty easily amused.

Now I don't have to go back to the orthodontist until my retainer carks it or unless the permanent wire on the back of my bottom teeth cuts loose and starts threatening to stab my mouth up.

Oh, those dealies I've got there holding my mouth open? Plastic retractors that hold your cheeks back so they can see all of your teeth at once.
They make you look frigging ridiculous :-D

It's WHAT Day?!

WHERE THE HELL DID THE REST OF THE YEAR GO!?
HOW IS IT THIS LATE IN NOVEMBER ALREADY!?
HOW IS IT NOVEMBER AT ALL!?

Medicinal

I don't know if it's the texture, the flavour or the knowledge that spraying it out of your mouth and/or nose would be an expensive and annoying bad call but anything that comes from the pharmacy in sachets always has to be chugged down and then held there.

Why Would You Tell Me That?

It seems that telling people you're going to Nepal is like telling people you're pregnant or you're having your wisdom teeth out.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeveryone wants to tell you their friend-of-a-friend horror stories.

Coming Down

The thing bottom right in the pouting panel is supposed to be delicious hot chips. They are surprisingly hard to draw. Well, surprisingly hard for me to draw...

Busy Day

Yep, we took a lot of really dorky photos with those dinosaur statues.
And we don't regret a single one.

Cruisy Day

Exclamation marks!

Things We Learned On The Road Trip

Time to spend three days at Apollo Bay with two of my favourite ladies ^_^

Those chairs were ridiculous. You sat down, thought you'd reached ground zero, let your leg muscles relax and then fell back about another 20 centimetres!

Cabin In The Woods

Love this movie.
So very much.

Carried Away

I might have gotten just a liiiiiiiiiittle bit excited about my weekend away with the girls and started packing Jenna Marbles style.
I think I've got it under control now.

For the record, this is packing Jenna Marbles style.

Shooter

Bad Casey Jones*!


*A.K.A actor Elias Koteas.