who needs a stairmaster?! ;-)

i'm a little behind in my blogging again however i have kept my promise to do something touristy for both november and december ;-) 

in november, a group of 12 hiked to victoria's highest peak, a lovely gem called mt. bogong over a weekend.  it wasn't a particularly long hike (only 13km) but it was an incessant uphill climb!!  it was truly like being on the stairmaster for about 4 hours with little to no respite, just the constant burning of the calves and quads as we slowly ascented.  the views were pretty nice from the top and then we crossed over the mountain range, dropping down into a small valley which was to be our home for the night!!  it was freezing cold at 1986m above sea level, particularly with the wind and rain and hail but we snuggled into our tents/sleeping bags and listened to it beating down around 9pm!!  it was still raining the next morning and beyond foggy to the point where we almost managed to miss the trail downwards.  stairmaster in reverse for another 4hrs due to the slippery path and difficulty seeing and we were at the bottom. exhausted but proud of our efforts :-) 

amazingly, i had little time to settle in after returning from india before the silly season started!!  almost instantly, i seemed to be immersed in holiday parties or drinks interspersed with people wanting to catch up and hear how india went!!  i managed to eat and drink my way through the month of december, gaining who knows how much weight...  it was a lovely month filled with much hustle and bustle and truly, i needed the holidays to catch up on some sleep, etc...

hugs to all back home!!
s

p.s. i've kept 600 photos from india but have posted my 64 most favourite photos for your viewing pleasure at http://www.flickr.com/photos/decouvert2001/sets/72157623226264224/.  happy viewing!!  i decided that's more than enough for most folks to look at so i don't think i'll post any on shutterbug this time around...