Hi everyone! first of all... SORRY!!! I haven't been able to get onto a funcitoning computer for weeks!! So I'm gunna have to bullet point a tad in this - otherwise it would end up being a never ending essay of randon stuff! :P

Also - thankyou everyone for all the comments! - it's wicked to hear from you and i swear its keeping me from home sickness :)

Anyway... back to travel stuff... Right now, Im writing after just having come down from Mt. Kilimanjaro!!!!!!!! A massive sigh, followed closely by a huge F**K!!!! pretty much sums up the whole Kili experience. But i'll get to that - lets do this cronologically :P

• Okay - after my 2 week volunteer stint in Nakuru, I few from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania where I started my 11 day trip through Tanzania all the way back to Nairobi overland. I arrived in Dar on the 21st of March and within second of getting off the plane - I was sweating! The Humidity there was absolutely insane to say the least - Just thinking about moving produces buckets!! I had a quick taxi ride from the airport of the Kipepeo beack resort where I met the rest of my group - all of whom were legend - an even mix of auzzies and brtits :) I was asked on the way there by the taxi man if I was married - which i found a tad weird as the first thing he said - which later made sense as Kipepeo is a favourite for honeymooners!! Too right as well!!! - it was awesome!! - I had a little beach 'Bunda' to myself - the floor was white sand, and the sound of waves literally sent me to sleep - Mzuri! (Perfect)
• The next day:- ZANZIBARRRRRRRRRR!!! haha!!!! shiiiiiiiit... i swear... the epitomy of paradise! The photo for this entry is of the coast of zanzibar - it's not mine - but i have so many similar and better - tho i say so myself :P The water was 29 degrees C! After playing a wicked game of beach volleyball, we hit the sea for a 3 hours stint of ultimate water frizbee!! i CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO EXPRESS HOW AMAZING IT WAS! And I haven't spoken about stone town (capital) and it's food market where we had dinner, and the spice tour we went on where we had raw cinnemon of the tree and I discovered my favourite fruit!!: Custard Apple! :D LUUUUUUUSH! I'm just so cross m#with myself for getting absolutely, truly and horribly ruined by the sun on that first day :( It was the worst I've been burned ever - and that's saying something - as you know Dan! I could barely move, couldnt sleep, couldnt shower - blistered all over my back :( I learned my lesson.
• From zanzibar - we crossed to the mainland and travelled almost directly to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro National Parks. I Have some class photos, and illlet them do the talking, as soon as I can get them uploaded! WE SAW CHEETAHS!!!! 3!!! :D
• After that, and some wicked trucking and drunken times, and finding chameleons and random shizz like that, we made it to Nariobi - where I split for a night at a stupidly expensive hotel - which gave me an awesomely amazing breakfast. In the morning I met with one other guy who would be with me on my Kili trip and then left the hotel - to travel along the 8 hour bumpy road back to Arusha/Moshi in Tanzania where the trip would begin.
• On the 3rd of April - We started the hike. Stage 1 = Rain Forest! Like something out of indiana jones or Tarzan, it was dense forest with clumbus monkeys drating from branch to branch! :D It took us 3 days from the start, at Marangu Gate to the Top at UHURU PEAK 5895m staying in little mountain huts. Im gunna skip the rest and just describe what the final leg was like - we woke at Kibo hut at 12am midnight after having 5 hours (or not) sleep to begin our 1100m climb to the peak in the dark to arrive for sunrise! It was painfully slow - watching the person in front's feet pigeon step as we zig-zagged up this dangerously steep scree slope to Gilman's Point which was at 5681m. We couldn't stop for any longer than 5 mins at a time because of the cold, and by this time - i could even drink, as the water in my camelback had frozen solid in the tube! Up to this point I had been completely unaffected by altitude sickness - but the fatigue got to me - I had a nasty head ache and I got out of breath everytime I tried to drink - thankfully, the walking stick that I had found on day 2 of the climb (that is now names, and has engraved on the side 'RAFIKI' which means 'friend' in swhaili) worked it's wonders, and I reached the peak at 6:30am on the 6th of April, Perfect timing for the sunrise! Just the sight of that sign up ahead to mark the peak threw all of my pains away! No Joke!! Headache just vanished! I could the final steps to the peak on video! - It will be up soon! My facebooks profile picture is of my at the peak - get someone to show you mum/dad! :) One of the best experiences of my life :D I'll never forget it - ever....

Kili Killed me - but it didn't beat me! :D

P.S. I fly to Bankok on the 10th of April

P.P.S. I'm still very much alive!

xXx