I was lucky enough on Tuesday night to have a beer with James and Justine who last year became the first people ever to paddle from Australia to NZ, the expedition took 62 days and saw the boys battle some of the harshest conditions on earth. It is truly one absolutely amazing achievement and I was stoked to sit down and have a chat with both of them.

All 3 of us then went to hear a presentation by Andrew Lock. Andrew is with out a doubt Australia’s most accomplished high altitude mountaineer. Andrew spoke about his resent accent of Makalu, the 5th highest mountain on earth at 8470m. This is his13th summit of the worlds 14 8000m peaks and next year he will attempt his 14th and final peak and then throw in his 3rd summit of Everest just for kicks. This in itself is one of the most challenging feats in adventuring but add to this Andrew has done all of it with out the use of supplementary oxygen it makes him almost super human and I was thrilled to hear him speak.

After hearing stories from Justine and James and then to hear Andrew’s amazing story I walked away totally inspired. All 3 of these amazing men are living breathing examples of the endless possibilities of the human spirit.

I’ve been sitting at my computer all day and I just stumbbled accross this photo of me down in Antarctica in 2003. The amazing thing is I don’t think I have ever seen it before. It made me smile as I slowly work my way through a to do list as long as my arm. I remember getting the boat ready for Antarctica with Tony 5 years ago and that list just never seemed to go anywhere. Although not that long my list is still taking quite a while. I find myself waking up in the middle of the night and mentally adding something else to it. Ive spent all day working on my visa for the UK and the constant staring at a computer is giving me a a headache. Well enough of my complaining!!!

The last few weeks have seen me at home for the longest period in time for ages.Which has been great, its let me get all the little things done that were pileing up while I was on the road the last month. I flew down to Adelaide last week to speak for First National Real Estate at their quarterly award day which was great. Yesterday I spoke at Parliament House in Sydney for Retina Australia at a NSW fund raising luncheon. Its great to see work this not for profit organisation is doing to raise funds and bring awareness to Retinitis Pigmentosa, Macular Degeneration and like conditions.

I caught up with my mate Rex Pemberton last week, Rex is the youngest Aussie to climb the 7 Summits. He is now based in LA as a speaker and I will be catching up with him when I’m in LA in Feb. (more…)

A chunk of ice half the size of Manhattan has just broken away fro Ellesmere Island in Canada’s northern Arctic. Another clear indication of the effects of warmer temperatures in the Polar regions