I thought I would write a quick update before heading off to the airport. I’m off to Ireland again tonight to spend Christmas with some friends.

I’m sitting at my desk trying to wrap everything up for the year and get everything sorted for the start of 2009 which is looking to be another busy year. I spoke at several events this week all over England and spent yesterday as SANTA!!!

Monday I was down in Dorset in the south of the country for 2 events one which was a community lecture about my expeditions. I had 80 people from the local area come to the presentation which was fantastic. I was put up in this great little country pub in the village and the local’s really looked after me.

This trip has been amazing for a number of reasons one of which is it enabled me to travel to some great little places around the UK. Places that I would never have got to and I have met some very special people.

Wednesday night I was back in London speaking at an awards dinner for a group of A level students again it was a fantastic night and a privilege to be part of an evening celebrating young peoples success.

Wednesday I received a call from a friend to see if I could help out with a great organisation called Kids Company. This charity organisation provides practical, emotional and educational support to vulnerable inner-city children and young people and yesterday I was asked to play Santa at a small school in East London. We had 6 classes of 5 and 6 year olds come in and celebrate Christmas with us and there was a special visit from the man in the red suit. It was with out a doubt a very special day and it’s amazing how good you feel after giving just a little bit back.

Its been a memorable 2008 and I wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas.

I have had some pretty interesting meeting’s in and around central London over the last week and I have met with a variety of people from a wide range of industries. The meetings have been in relation to potential speaking engagements for the end of this year and the beginning of the new year. 

I have found it extremely positive to see that at a time of a “economic crisis” that senior manages still see the need and importance to engage and motivate staff on all levels. When many would expect to see heads buried in the sand, the very opposite seems to be happening with people stepping up to the plate and having the courage to lead in a time of adversity.

The analogies with this type of leadership and adventure are clear and obvious and I have cast my mind back to some of the leaders of my early expeditions. It was their strength and guidance in time’s of crisis and pressure which inevitably saw our teams succeed.

It’s this rising to the challenge and never say die attitude which has a positive flow on effect to all those around thus creating much needed drive.

I look forward to being part of this process.     

The madness has continued over the last few days and I can’t get over just how busy things are…but no complaints here. I spoke at the LETG conference just outside of Birmingham on Friday morning which I thoroughly enjoyed, its always a bit of a buzz speaking to an international audience and it keeps me on my toes.

Today I have just got back from an early morning venture up to Hertfordshire about 30 miles out of London to speak at school leadership day. I know that a lot of speakers agree with me when I say how great it is to speak to young people their enthusiasm and energy always leaves me with a smile on my face and I will be heading back to the school in December to be a guest at their awards night.

The speaking enquiries are still rolling in and I have some interesting bookings coming up which will see me crisscrossing the country and getting to some parts of the UK that I would never have seen, I’m really excited. I have also had an enquiry to speak at a conference in Africa in January so fingers crossed for that one.

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’m sitting writing this post in Cape Tribulation in the middle of the majestic Daintree rainforest  in far North Queensland. I’m up here at this amazing hostel built right in the rain forest. My room is only a wooden frame with the walls and ceiling made of a tarp like material, which means I can lay on my bed at night and listen to the rainforest come alive with all types of wonderful animals. Its a very peaceful and beautiful place.

Yesterday we had an incredible day as we made our way up from Cairns. We stopped about 90min north of Cairns to spend the day with an Aboriginal family to learn about their traditional customs and rituals. These people still live pretty much off the land and soon after arriving we were in the middle of the mangroves knee deep in water with a spear in my hand hunting lunch. It was incredible to see how accurate my new friends were as they speared mud crab after mud crab, I on the other hand need a few more practise shots.

As we were making our way in from the water I saw a sudden movement only 4 meters away I turned quickly to see a fin sliding across the water towards us. I immediately panicked as the 2 meter  bronze whaler shark hovered near by. I started to run the other way as my friends started to move towards the shark. They then said the words I think you never want to hear while meters away from a shark….”it’s too big to spear”. As you can imagine this only made me move quicker to their amusement. We left the shark behind and made our way back through the mangroves for a well deserved lunch, along the way we picked up 15 mangrove mussels the size of my hand and went back to cook it all up. Over lunch I heard the dreaming stories of their people and they spoke of how the traditional customs still have such relevance today. I bid them farewell and continued North.

We are volunteering in the rain forest for the next 2 days, planting trees and removing noxious weed that is threatening the local flora. Thursday I leave here for Cairns and then fly to Melbourne to speak for PricewaterhouseCoopers at a luncheon on Friday. I’ll be in Melbourne over the weekend as I am speaking at the convention center on Monday at the Step to the Future youth forum. Tuesday ill be back in Sydney and later in the week I’m again speaking for PricewaterhouseCoopers and then for the Australian Israel Chamber of Commerce before heading back to Victoria for a few more speaking engagements.

Every now and then you have one of those really special moments where everything just seems to fall into place and your own little universe seems  just perfect and on Sunday evening I had one of those moments.

I was booked to speak for a group of Americans on Sunday who are out here for 3 weeks on an adventure holiday. We discussed where would be the best location for me to present and we decided that if the weather was right we would look at an outdoor venue. Sydney did not let us down and it turned on one of those classic warm winter days. I had spent the day with the group walking around the harbour fore shore and as the sun set over the Harbour Bridge I spoke to the group as they sat at Mrs Macquaries chair.

I guess I often take for granted this beautiful city I call home, however Sunday night certinaly made me realise just what an amazing place Sydney is!!