MAKING HISTORY :)

4 days...

So in November I went and climbed Kilimanjaro. Traversed it. 4 days later I was off the mountain eating a pepper steak with chips... All photos by Calypso Paoli my expedition photographer who became the first New Caledonian woman to traverse the mountain. We set the world female traverse speed record...

Don't STOP, Never GIVE UP...

There I was, one step away and as Mike Roberts put his 

hand out to help me step that last little step I could no 

longer stop the tears. I was 5642 mtrs in the air, I was at 

the roof top of Europe and as I looked out at the earths 

curvature  I could not think of a moment in my life when I 

had felt more of a victor. 

I had done it, I had risked everything, I had put myself in 

the position where failure was more probable than success 

and I had made it. You see, i've wanted to stand on 

mountain tops since I was a little girl but somewhere 

along the way I had let the dream go, until one day when 

I woke up and decided I was going to go for it. So there I 

was just standing on the roof top of Europe with an 

Everest legend Mike Roberts and Guy Munnoch the head 

of Zurich group. 

It's a beautiful feeling to achieve a dream. It makes you 

hungry for more because nothing tastes so good as doing 

what somebody said you couldn't do. Standing up and 

telling yourself I will not let the opportunity of failure 

stop me from doing something that I truly absolutely 

dream of doing. So when I decide to traverse the highest 

peak in Africa in just four days and people say it's 

impossible given my size, I won't have the endurance. 

What do I do these days? I take a photographer along for 

the ride. That is what this journey is about. That's why I'm 

willing to take aim at one of the greatest sporting feats in 

the world, put my hand up and say that I want to be the 

fastest woman to do it. I want to be the youngest New 

Zealand woman to stand on top of Everest. I want to be 

the first woman of Maori descendant to take the roof top 

of the world. This journey is not only for me and every 

person I love. This journey is for every single person who 

has had a dream and surrendered it to the voice of doubt. 

Take your dream back, chase it down, dare to be 

extraordinary. Dare to live your dreams, there is nothing 

more magical and there is no greater gift you can give to 

the world.

Remarks Training (with AC) Easter 2011

Some snaps from my first technical summit about 10 months ago Single and Double cone the Remarkables in Queenstown, with Tim one of the many seriously good folks at Adventure Consultants... First time in a real harness and pack carrying...

February 5th 2011

On this day 1 year ago on GPS one of my families boats in Tutukaka, Northland with one of my best friends Annabel Anderson and another good friend Cam Farrell we were talking about goals for the year and things we always wanted to do. I bought up Everest and said I would like to make a special trip to base camp as I probably wouldn't ever have time to climb it. Less than 3 weeks later I quit work and started my mountain journey...

Something Cam had said weighed on my mind, we had been talking about what mattered in life. You have to do what you love, you have to push yourself, you have to be brave enough to live your dreams. No excuses, you want it... GO GET IT! In the middle of our talk we got a Blue Marlin strike, it was a biggie and we hauled it up to the boa where it got off the hook... I have learnt over the past year that Cam was correct "If you can haul a Blue Marlin 4 times your size up to a boat, there aint much you can't do girly."

Belles one of my dearest friends has been a huge support on this journey both she and Cam are two people unafraid to chase down their dreams. Belles is the current world No.2 and European No.1 for Stand Up Paddle Boarding and Cam is one of the most hardcore big wave, big adventure people around... Some of the stuff he drops into makes Everest look like a walk in the park.

Elbrus Gear... TOP 5

My 5 favorite pieces of gear on Elbrus:

1) My PINK Adidas 3 in Terrex Jacket Gore Tex. Probably the light of its kind with a primaloft jacket insert o it's like a two for 1. The gore tex is so light it's super breathable and the primaloft insert has become one of my favorite layers on the mountain (more on that later). The hood features a stiff brim and zips right up over the nose which was perfect for the snow storm we got caught in n the way to the summt.

2) My pink SONY cybershot. Absolute god send shock proof, water proof and most importantly freeze proof!! If you;re going to the limit this is the pocket rocket to come along for the ride. Super light, easy to use with gloves on, battery life that just keeps going and going... Oh and did I mention it shoots in 3D? (I'm holding it in the photo at the summit with Guy Munnoch).

3) Black Diamond poles. Black Diamond make seriously the most sturdy poles you can find, they wont let you down. I've recently been invited to be a Black Diamond ambassador so I look forward to bringing you lots of gear reviews! The poles I used on Elbrus were the Trail Trekking Pole 2011

4) Marmot Col Membrain sleeping bag! There is nothing else I want to sleep in on a mountain and I'm not just saying that because I'm an ambassador for this bag.

5) GU Chomps. I'm an addict and I had to seriously contain myself on Elbrus to save some for Summit day. YUMMY and so much better than the yucky gels. GU is leading the way and they taste seriously good!

    

Moscow August 8th 2011

After hauling ourselves back to Moscow, 5hrs sleep, a visit to get stitches in my knee and breakfast with Ana before she flew to St Petersburg. Zlatko and I visited St Basils and had a feast of cake on Red Square... 

Smuggling Skills

Ana (my mentor) and I managed to get up to some good humored mischief on an internal flight in Russia... Here's a wee video of one of our (or my) escapades... 

Click Here 2 View...

More from Russia...

Here we go.. Better late than never.. Thought I had better finish off Russia before I started telling you about Kilimanjaro...

Recently I was talking to a friend of mine about my ridiculous fascination with supermarkets. It's one of the first things I do when I arrive in a new city/country check out the supermarket! When I lived in Dubai when I got homesick I would head to the supermarket where you literally shop for meat by country. I would go buy myself some good NZ steak, just seeing New Zealand Eye Fillet on the purchase docket used to make me feel good, in-fact sometimes I would go on an entire NZ binge of various items and come home with it all much to the amusement of my Canadian flatmate. I didn't find anything labelled NZ in Russia but heres some pics of the supermarket in Moscow I visited... Enjoy!

Aside from looking totally suspect wandering around a russian supermarket a stones throw from Red Square in Moscow, the strangest thing I came across was the fish... They didn't look all that healthy not exactly a red snapper caught off the back of the boat!