And we did it!

Jambo!  Here's the Kilimanjaro wrap-up everyone!

Air travel

No probs with our flight from Melbourne - Bangkok on the 18th, however when we arrived at Bangkok we were told our Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi was not happening.  So the airline put us up in the Novotel for the night, which in the end wasn't too bad.  Me and Anton tootled off for a foot massage the next day but we had to fly to Delhi and then Nairobi.  This whole fiasco added about 16 hours to our travel time.  This meant when we finally arrived at Kilimanjaro airport it was a day later than we had planned and we were rather tired!  However it did mean we had had ample opportunity to get to know everyone on team Amnesty!

Day One

We were bussed from Kilimanjaro airport to a hotel in Moshi where we had an hour to shower, and scoff down some lunch before boarding the bus again to take us to the start of our trek up the mountain via the Rongai route.  Thankfully this first day walk was only 3 - 4 hours.  It would have been great to have a night's sleep in a hotel as per our original plans but them's the breaks!

Crew effortlessly packing our gear onto the roof of the bus at Kilimanjaro airport

Kiddies on the track!

We walked through pine forest and a bit of rainforest, encountering some cute kids on the way.  Saw the tail end of a Colobus monkey too (just the tai end mind you)  Got into camp just as it was getting dark.  The amazing porters had run ahead with our gear and tents and everything was set up ready to go for dinner.  Amazing!

Day Two

This was the view from our campsite the next morning, Kilimanjaro rising out of the background somewhat forebodingly!  Every morning the weather was picture perfect like this.

One the the tents, a couple of crew members and Kili in the background

Breakfast table, yes someone bought Vegemite (I'm a Marmite girl though)

Today was a 7-9 our trek out of the rainforest into a more scrubby / alpine environment.  We had lunch in this cave:  

Near the end of the day I was beginning to feel the effects of altitude sickness.  My vision started to cloud over, and I found myself trying to tear off my hot layers of merino and jackets while dry reaching by the side of the track.  It all came on quite quickly and scared me quite a bit as my general fitness level felt fine and I had no control over how my body was reacting to the altitude.  I had a bit of a breakdown but one of our amazing guides DJ took my pack and jacket for me and told me 'Hakuna Matata' and I made it to camp a couple of hours later.  I spoke to our Tanzanian doctor (Dr Jeffet who was to become known as 'Jazzy Jeff') who was to come with us all the way to the summit and he suggested I start on the Diamox for altitude sickness the next morning at breakfast.  I forced down my dinner that night but it was very very hard as I was feeling so sick I didn't want to eat a thing.  I had been warned this might happen though so I ate as much as I could force down.

Day Three

Started on the Diamox this morning.  Half a pill at morning and half at evening.  Today was a 5-7 hour trek to Mawenzi peak.  I was feeling a lot better today and had my appetite back, and it was great to get to know the others in the group a bit better.  On arriving in to camp at Mawenzi I was blown away by the amazing sight of both the peak and the green 'tarn' beside which we camped.  It was noticeably colder up at this height.

Mawenzi Tarn

It was so cold in fact, that when I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, the bucket of water we use to flush it with had frozen solid.  This was a LARGE bucket and so it took me a few minutes to work out what was going on when I picked it up and tipped it and nothing came out!  haha

Mawenzi Peak

Our camp at Mawenzi Peak

Day Four 

We stayed at Mawenzi Peak Camp for 2 nights.  This is so we could acclimatize before our summit attempt.  We went on a walk up a ridge beside the peak for an acclimatization walk.  This also afforded us an unimpeded view of Kilimanjaro's Kibo peak, and boy it looked high!!

The team hanging on the ridge

On our acclimatization walk, Kibo peak in the background looking foreboding!

Day Five

We set off early for Kibo camp which is where we would base ourselves before our summit attempt.  This was a 6- 7 hour walk directly towards Kili across a lunar-esque landscape.  We also passed the wreckage of a small plane which had crashed about 2 years ago carrying some Italian tourists.  Quite a sobering sight.

That's the badger!

A porter and some of the team on the way to Kibo camp

We arrived at Kibo campsite and had some lunch.  Kibo is a really busy campsite as it's where almost everyone starts their summit attempt from (including people hiking other routes rather than our Rongai route)  So a few routes converge here.  We had a sleep after lunch and then got up for dinner.  Back to sleep after dinner and then up at 11.00pm.  Put all of our clothes on ready for the summit.  My list of clothing and other gear was as follows:

-light merino singlet

-long sleeve 100 weight merino top

-short sleeve heavier weight merino top

-long sleeve hooded 320 weight merino top

-500 weight duck down jacket with hood

-gore-tex jacket (borrowed from my friend Saki)

-merino liner gloves

-fleece gloves

-ski gloves

-100 weight merino long-johns

-250 weight merino long-johns
-polar fleece pants (very cool - found in an op shop with skull prints all over them!)

-waterproof pants

-gaiters (borrowed from my friend Saki)

-merino hat

-wool hat

-polar fleece hat (in the shape of a leopard's head with ear flaps for extra warmth!)

-wicking socks

-merino liner socks

-heavy weight merino trekking socks
-cotton tiger print scarf
-woolen rainbow scarf

-3 litre camel pack filled with electrolytes

-Protein bars

-1 litre Sigg bottle filled with electrolytes

-camera

-headlamp

-torch

And the nerdy but essential walking poles.  We filled up our camel packs with electrolytes and I also filled up my 1litre Sigg bottle, insulated with two pairs of merino socks to stop it from freezing.  Apparently using electrolytes instead of pure water slows down the freezing process too.

After a cup of tea, we started our long slow trek to the summit at 11.30pm.  We all walked single file in the dark up the scree switchback track with our headlamps illuminating the person's shoes in front of us.  The track was very very busy so we could only walk single file.  Looking up and below, all you could see was lines of headlamps.  After about 2 hours of walking, we stopped in a cave for a heavenly cup of tea (perhaps the best cup of tea I have ever had)  By this stage my fingers and toes were freezing.  My polar-fleece gloves wouldn't fit between my merino and my ski gloves even though back in Melbourne when I tried them on, they all fit.  I was also wishing I had worn another pair of merino socks.  Our team leader from Inspired Nadia, spent a good 10 mins helping me cycle my legs while lying on my back to try to warm my toes up.  It did help a bit.  Then Anton popped up with some hand-warmers for my gloves that had generously been donated by another member of our team Katie.  Before we knew it we were back on the slow going trail to the top.  There was a time of about an hour where I had to stop about every 2 or 3 steps because it was single file.  That was quite frustrating at the time, not because I was rearing with energy but more because I wanted to keep moving so that I would stay warm.  

Day Six

After what seemed like hours, an orange light slowly seeped into the night sky on the horizon.  By this time, my electrolytes in my camel pack had long since frozen.  We knew we must be near the top at this stage and our breathing was becoming increasingly rapid and difficult.  Near the top the walking turned into clambering over enormous boulders which made it much harder.  We could hear our guides whistle and the nattering of Nadia as we reached Gilman's Point just as we thought our lungs would burst.  The dawn was quickly overshadowed by cloud, so no amazing dawn views were to be had.  The joy at reaching Gilman's was soon tempered the realisation that we had another 2 hours to walk to get to the summit at Uhuru peak.  

After not much deliberation, we set off again.  I didn't climb Kili to only get to Gilman's, it's all about Uhuru.

As we started down the track to the summit, an icy blast hit us from the right.  We realised we were walking around the crater rim with a sheer galatial drop to our right.  The wind was intensely cold.  We had been warned it would be between -15 and -25 degrees at the top.  Hard to fathom when you've never been in those temperatures before, but I could now believe the wind chill alone made it that cold.  I tried to move my scarfs up to cover my nose and mouth, but my hands were clumsy with cold and hampered by my ski gloves and I didn't dare take them off for fear of freezing my fingers off.  The trek to the summit seemed to take an eternity.  We were breathing rapidly and every step was an immense effort.  We walked on into a bleaker and bleaker landscape, the icy wind now whipping at us from both sides, where 2 huge glaciers spread out around us.  I leaned on my poles and cried.   My whole body ached, I felt sick, I was absolutely freezing and I felt like my lungs were about to explode.  Anton urged me on.  I knew I couldn't give up, I had to make it to that god-damned sign!!  No way was I going to give up.  After a while, the snow and ice on either side of me started to bleed a bright intense pink colour.  I said to Anton 'the snow is turning pink'  The altitude was screwing with me.  I struggled and struggled, with Anton ahead of me, looking back and watching me blubbering like a baby, although I knew he was feeling it just as much as me.  Occasionally a person who looked like they'd just stepped out of a Mountain Designs catalogue would mosey on past us on their way back from the summit.  'Not long to go now' they'd say cheerily.  Why did they look so normal and happy when I was at the absolute end of my tether and having a breakdown?  Perhaps that was the altitude messing with me too.  Finally finally we heard voices, and saw 4 of our team ahead, at the sign!  Nadia, Bruno, Tracey and Anna.  When I saw them and our guides, I again broke down, it was amazing to see them.  Nadia was worried about me.  Apparently my lips were blue.  After Anton had wiped the frozen tears and snot from my face, I tried out the best smile I could fathom as we sat down in front of the sign for our photo.  We had done it.

Anton consoling me at the summit

Apparently the 'high' you get from reaching the summit should have you skipping back down the summit track feeling as light as air.  Not so.  The way back was struggle-town also, and especially when a slight hill or rock presented itself to be climbed over.  I had to stop and pysche myself up at those bits.  After reaching Gilman's, and clambering back down the large rocks, the scree slopes were fantastic, as you could sort of ski down them without too much effort.  It was all downhill from there (in a GOOD way)   The view back across the plateau to Mawenzi peak was amazing and now we saw everything in the light of day, we couldn't quite believe we'd actually climbed up that whole way.

Anton on his way back down the scree

We hit Kibo camp at around 11.15am.  Time for a short chelax in our tents, then lunch, then off we went on a 4-5 hour walk to Horombo camp.  No rest for the wicked!  It turned out that out of 18 of us, only 11 had summited, with a few suffering from pretty bad altitude sickness, and the rest unable to gather enough strength to make it higher than Gilman's Point.  Thankfully the walk to Hormobo was a leisurely downhill walk.  

Mawenzi with crazy tree

Day Seven 

I think we all slept like logs at Horombo.  Our tent was on a slight slope, so I woke up in the morning all bunched up in the foetal position at the bottom of my sleeping mat!  Up at 6am for breakfast as usual.  But before we set off on our final day of walking, we were treated to two songs and dances from the 70 strong crew of porters, guides, cooks and camp personnel that had helped to make our trip achievable.  It was amazing.

  

After watching that dance, we all joined in with the next song and dance which was the Hakuna Matata dance (not the song from the Lion King but Hakuna Matata nonetheless)  After 2 mins we were pooped out as we were still at 3000m + so it doesn't take long to get tired when you're jumping around!  We handed out our tips and said our goodbyes to the amazing crew.

Anton, one of our guides 'DJ' and me at Horombo

Our final day's walk took us through the rainforest, and rain it did.  We had our Gore-tex gear though so it was fine.  The rainforest was lovely and mossy and lush, with incredible light green lichen hanging from the trees.   

Lichen hanging from the trees

The end!!

After making it back, we stopped off at a shop by the side of the road and indulged in some well earned  cold Kilimanjaro beer, (mine and Anton's first drink in almost 2 months)  Delicious!  We have also shared this whole experience with a bunch of fabulous people and I want to thank Inspired Adventures and Rift Valley Tours for making it magical.

1, 2 and 3 days hikes in the Dandenongs

Oooookay so it's been a bit of a while since I posted anything on here, so it's about time I do, before I forget everything that's been happening.

1 day hike - Saturday 26th June

Grabbing a day to head out to the Dandenongs where we could (around my working sort of crazy hours during Radiothon at my work) we headed out early on the train.  Walked up the 1000 steps because the other tracks were closed.  We made it to the Mt Dandenong Tourist Road, and crossed over into Sherbrooke Forest.  After a few minutes on a track running next to the road, we saw some lyrebirds off the track scratching around in the undergrowth.  We could see they were quite large birds with long white tail feathers and we were also lucky enough to hear it's amazing song as it cycled through about 7 different bird calls.

Here's a video about the lyrebird from my favourite conservationist David Attenborough:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y

They really do need to be heard to be believed and we heard at least one lyrebird on each of the following walks we went on in the Dandenongs, so they are not that hard to find!  After a couple of hours we headed back, making it a 5 hours walk altogether back down the 1000 steps to the train at Upper Ferntree Gully.

2 day hike - Saturday 30h of June and Sunday 1st July

Last weekend we decided we should do a 2 day hike in the Dandenongs.  Because it takes about 2hrs one way by public transport from Rezza to Upper Ferntree Gully we decided to make the most of our time, we should book a self contained house / unit in Olinda or Sassafras for Saturday night.  Surprisingly enough the area is very popular even in Winter (perhaps because of school holidays?) but we managed to find an OK looking place to book in Olinda for $160 a night.

Here's a map of the area anyways so you know what I'm on about:

https://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=olinda,+vic&hl=en&ll=-37.853712,145.364571&spn=0.069803,0.154324&hnear=Olinda+Victoria&gl=au&t=m&z=13

So we were up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and trained it out to Ferntree.  We walked up the 1000 steps this time because the Lyrebird and Bellview tracks were closed for some reason.  Stopped for a cup of tea at One Tree Hill Picnic Ground at the top.  In a stroke of genius we recently purchased a thermos from Kathmandu and it has been so great to have hot cups of tea on our walks!  We then headed for Olinda via Sassafras (where a downpour allowed me to try out my newly purchased waterproof pants and gore-tex jacket borrowed from Saki), and after a few wrong turns (damn you confusing trails and maps!) We made it to Olinda 5 hours later.

Here's an 'action shot' of Anton in his new gore-tex jacket pretending to ford a stream:

We had dinner at the local pub (nothing to write home about) and crashed out in our accommodation at around 8.30pm (also nothing special...although it was toasty warm and the bed was comfy enough for a good nights slumber)

Up early and away by around 9am, we headed off to Mt Dandenong.  There was almost no one around when we reached the top, and the day being pretty cold and foggy didn't make for amazing views, but we had a cup of tea and a museli bar and set off back to Upper Ferntree Gully.  The weather turned even more cold and wet and the clouds rolled in.  Here are some pics:

Toadstools at the base of a tree 

Anton making his way up the muddy track 

We dubbed this 'the infinity pool'

After 7 hours walking, we stumbled back down the 1000 steps and onto the train back to Rezza.  Out biggest walk yet!  And it really was a mission, especially given the weather!

3 day hike - Saturday 7th - Monday 9th July

So, this weekend just gone, we decided to utilise my Monday RDO and Anton took that day off work do as we could do 3 days in the Dandenongs.  Initially we were thinking of either heading out to the Grampians, or Halls Gap to climb Feathertop / Bogong, but the public transport options were few and far between, the travel about 5 hours each way, and we would be traipsing up snow covered mountains which we're not sure we're entirely equipped for.  So we decided the Dandenongs was the easiest option.  And it's such a vast national park it's not as if we were likely to run out of tracks.  

We found a place in Olinda at $225 a night, pretty much the only place available so we didn't really have a choice.  Oh well, it was well worth it in the end, with free range bacon and sausages, eggs laid by the resident hens that you could visit, coffee, juice, homemade bread, handmade chocolates, and a fire!  Can't complain :)

Anyhoo, on Saturday we trained it out as usual to Upper Ferntree Gully, walked up the Bellview track (now opened) and all the way to Mt Dandenong, then back to Olinda!  About 24kms and took us 7 hours (mostly uphill)  A huge mission of a day but the weather was glorious which made it all worth it. The top of Mt Dandenong was PACKED with families, a huge change from the weekend before!  Here are some pics of the trip:

Anton not far from the summit of Mt Dandenong

Yes that gathering of fuzzy skyscrapers is Melbourne with Port Phillip Bay to the left

Our shadows in all of our gear as the sun goes down

After 7 hours, we made it back to Olinda as it was getting dark.  After getting settled into our accommodation we somehow managed to rustled up enough strength to stumble down the hill to a pizza restaurant called The Ivy.  The pizzas were mammoth and woodfired and absolutely delicious!  We even added a bowl of chips and called it 'carbo loading' for the next day!

The next day we were up early, and after a hearty eggy breakfast, headed east to the large north eastern block of the Dandenongs.  Here's Anton lacing up his boots in the morning outside our studio:

The real walk began when we reached the 'R J Hamer Forest Aboretum' which at the top, granted us some amazing views north:

View from the top of the R J Hamer Forest Aberetum.  The trees have an amazing pink tinge to the at their tops.

Forest pond complete with duckies!

We headed down, down, down, all the time knowing at some stage today we would be headed back up, up up!  The arboretum really is quite amazing with mass planting of exotic trees from all over the world.  One of my favourites was this one:

This is a 'Himalayan Cedar' if I remember rightly!

I can't remember what these ones were called, but I was surprised they were still putting on such an 'Autumn glow' considering I would call it mid Winter right now.  This photo hardly captures the morning beauty of it:

After stopping for a break at Eagle's Nest Picnic Ground, we headed north along the fence-line of the Silvan Reservoir which is one of Melbourne's water catchment areas.  Finally we came to Silvan Reservoir Park, however the gates were closed with a note saying that the rangers were on strike so the park was closed.  We were pretty disappointed because we really wanted to see the reservoir.  We soon noticed though that a family were wandering around inside.  They came up to the gate, and one by one struggled through a hole in the wire fence next to the gate that we hadn't noticed.  Oh well, if it's good enough for them!?  So we posted our packs through the hole and then struggled through after.  It was well worth the effort.  We were rewarded with stunning views of the reservoir and a very friendly kookaburra made friends with us while we were having our lunch!

The Rezza!

The dam wall with crazy tree

'Gazza' the friendly kookaburra

Meeting Gary the kookaburra was def the highlight of the day, they're such cool looking birds.  After lunch with Gazza we headed north up the Olinda Creek Track.  We really would have liked to have made it to Mt Evelyn, but at about 1pm we decided we should probably turn back as it had taken us 4 hours to get to this point and we didn't really want to  be arriving back at Olinda in the dark.  We headed back up the steep trails (the toughest being the 'Black Hole Track')  We heard a very loud lyrebird right next to the track on the way back up and spent a good few minutes just standing still listening to the magical song.  I could never get sick of listening to it.  To tackle the final hills I grabbed a walking stick from the bush to help me, and an energy bar also helped us reach the top.  It ended up being a 6 hour trek and we had takeaway pizzas from The Ivy again, partly because they were delish and partly because we were feeling lazy after such a hard out day.  Mine was smothered in porcini mushrooms and about 3 different cheeses and truffle oil.  We earned it.  Haha

We left the studio at around 9am again the next morning, and grabbed a coffee in Olinda.  The weather was supposed to be rainy and horrid but it was pretty good actually.  Walked to Sassafras, then on to the Sherbrooke Forest again.  This time we took a different track, and we saw a lyrebird again hopping through the undergrowth.  We also saw a wallaby hopping away through the bush.  the tracks thorough the Sherbrooke are lovely and narrow and damp and mossy.  We would have walked for a lot longer in this area but I needed to go to the bathroom and after taking a detour specially to the O'Donohue Picnic Ground for this reason, we found they were locked  :(  We think this is probably also because of the rangers strike as we encountered a similar problem the day before.  It's pretty frustrating to have to cut your walk short because you have to go to the loo, but that's mainly the reason we found ourselves back at the Belgrave train station after only 3 hours of walking.  Oh well, Failleu should just give them their pay-rise in my opinion.  On the bright side, at least we got home with plenty of time to update this blog, eat some tea and get organised for the working week ahead.  We plan to come out to the Sherbrooke forest again next Saturday as a final Kilimanjaro training last hurrah!  Not long to go now...eeek!  However on a high note, I do think our legs are feeling stronger and now that we have done some mega walks with quite a lot of uphills we are feeling better about the whole thing.  

Here are a few more pics from over the last 3 days:

Anton next to an enormous mountain ash (eucalyptus) that had fallen over

Me on mossy seat (yes my bum did get wet if you're wondering)

Bark peeling off a eucalyptus

Anton in Sherbrooke

 We were hoping to see Robin Hood and his merry men, but they didn't appear unforch.  However Anton can be the resident 'Man in Tights' as he can be seen here in his merino long-johns, haha!

Until final pre-Kilimanjaro update next week, hope you enjoyed the read!

Helen

4 weeks to go!

Well it has been a while since I updated this blog and A LOT has happened since my last post so here goes:


It became obvious with a few weeks to go until the travel component of our total was due ($5K) that we would not be able to fundraise the $5K to cover that part of our target.  Ideally we would have liked to have fundraised $10K each to cover both the travel component AND the Amnesty component but it was just not going to happen.  So we bit the bullet and paid for the travel part ourselves.  


Since then we have managed to reach the $5K target for Amnesty so that is the main thing.  This was helped along with a very successful ASCENT silent art auction held at Conduit Arts: http://conduitarts.org/ on Thursday 31 May.  My good friend Teleesh (2nd in charge of the Real Hot Bitches) sourced around 30 incredible contemporary artworks from her friends in Melbourne's art world and I sourced a few from NZ.  We hung all the work on Wednesday and Thursday with the help of Felicity, Cindy and also the gallery owners Leo and Marie.  The night was fuelled by mulled red wine and beer (with Cindy and Anton manning the bar) and we had a great turn out.  Here are some pics:

Cindy and Felicity using the spirit level app on Felicity's phone

Teleesh striking a pose

First attendees

And it's happening!

So all in all it was a great success, raising over $2K!  

We also did 2 weekends straight of sausage sizzling at Smith Street Woolworths.  Being a vegetarian, I was put on onion chopping duty which I thought would entail me standing around with stinging eyes and tears running down my face.  Not so, turns out after the first couple of onions it's plain sailing.  Two weekends in a row was more than enough for us, but we did raise about $1.5K all up!  A good result.  Here's Anton nerding out at the sausage stand:

We also held our final quiz night last week and drew the Monster Raffle!  So apart from one final 'Bitching for a Cause' tomorrow night, all of our fundraising is done and dusted which is a mighty relief!  We plan to throw a party for all of our mates that have helped us out and supported us over the past few months when we return from Kilimanjaro.

Radiothon began at my work last week so I have been working longer hours than normal.  Despite not having had a drink since May (Anton and I are doing a 'No Goon June - Dry July combo') I still managed to get sick after day 6 at work.  Total bummer, especially after being so good taking zinc, iron, and vitamin C, exercising daily, and not drinking.  But there's not a lot you can do when your body has other ideas.  I wonder how many other people on our trip have been laid up sick with 4 weeks to go.  Hoping to be better by Saturday so as we can get some training in the Dandenongs in!!

We shall see.  Have had Sunday and today (Monday) off work so back into it tomorrow and drugged up with some antibiotics and Sudafed.  

Have been stocking up on some essential gear now that the Winter sales for Mountain Designs and Kathmandu have kicked in.  We now own down sleeping bags with thermal liners.  Hopefully they will be warm enough for freezing conditions near the top, but not too warm for Summer camping fun at festies and the like post Kilimanjaro.

That's all for now folks!

Helen

ASCENT and QUIZ Round II

Another trip out to the Dandenongs last Saturday and this time we were pretty determined to get to Sassafras via a different route.  We managed this time to not get lost too badly (some backtracking but not as bad as last time!)  However about 30 mins after stopping for lunch the clouds came rolling in and it started to get a lot colder and started to drizzle.  Given we don't have proper waterproof gear yet, we got out our 'hiking umbrellas' but after a bit of umming and ahhing we decided to turn back.  All up a 4 hour hike (similar to last time)  We have decided we really need to do some hard out 2 day trips up Feathertop or Bogong as we are about than 10 weeks away from the BIG trip (which is pretty scary to think about!!)
Here are some pics from the Dandenong trip anyhoo and the trees are very pretty and Autumny at this time of year.  The pics really don't do the colours justice:

We have quiz night number two coming up this Wednesday at the Fitzroy Bowling Club.  We are hoping to get more people along this time.  We have some great prizes including a $50 voucher from JB Hi Fi, a $50 voucher from Myer, 2 x Grilled vouchers of 2 x burgers and chips and some movie vouchers from Nova Cinema.  It's $15 on the door and there is a pretty good bistro menu available including a lentil burger for those vegos like me!  Old Mout has kindly donated some delicious 750ml bottles of cider to add to our winning team prize this time around, and Huxtable restaurant on Smith St has donated a $100 voucher which will be up for grabs at Quiz III on June 13th.  Thanks Huxtable!

Here's Anton's ace flier:

I am also organising and curating (with an awful lot of help from my friend and fellow Real Hot Bitch Teleesh) a silent art auction at Conduit Arts on Brunswick Street on Thursday 31 May.  We have had some incredible artworks donated by some very talented and very generous artists from both NZ and Melbourne.  Here is the flier designed by yours truly (I am very proud of the scrambled mountains which was actually just a freak Photoshop thing that happened when I flattened the image but I kinda like it cos it makes me look more creative and talented than I actually am):

We have over 25 works donated including work from Tai Snaith, Vexta and Stephen Templer and I am now trying to suss a beer sponsor (easier said than done!!)  Worst comes to worst there will be white wine, mulled red wine and sparkling water.

I really need to make over $1500 from this to reach my target so fingers crossed!  I have been promoting it hard out so we shall see.

Anton got his vaccinations for Africa the other day, $285 and a sore arm later and he is immune from all sorts of diseases including Thypoid and Yellow Fever.  It's my turn next with my appointment booked for Monday.  I am more worried about the hurt to my credit card than the hurt to my arm!!  haha

We have also lined up some sausage sizzling at Smith St Safeway for 3 weekends.  The manager promises we'll make at least $500 a day so we shall see.  It will prob be the first BBQ of it's type which will include vege sausages and I think Anton is secretly keen to get his BBQ on, especially as it's mid May and the next op to BBQ will prob only rear it's head again in another 6 months or more!

Oh yes, and if you have some coinage / cash to spare that you would like to give to a good cause, please do help me reach my $5000.00 target for Amnesty.  Not only will you get a tax deductible receipt, but you will be helping Amnesty International work their magic around the world fighting for people's human rights.

Here's the link, (every cent counts):

http://amnestykilimanjaro2012.gofundraise.com.au/page/helenohoward

That's all folks!
XXX
Helen