Adventures

One Big Adventure

Published March 2020 by Emma. Updated October 2021.

Turns out now, we’re all on one big adventure together.

By some strange coincidence the challenge of navigating your way through a global pandemic has remarkable similarities to going on an adventure. We can apply some of the strategies we use on a ‘normal’ adventure, like trekking, to help us succeed on this one.

Firstly, you might ask, what on earth are the similarities with trekking? Let’s look at the stages of an Adventure Project, as we like to call it…

THINK

Be careful what you wish for! Perhaps this year you’ve been thinking about doing something different – to see what you’re capable of or to get some new perspectives on life.

Then a new challenge presents itself. OK, in terms of a trek you do have some choice, but either way – you think about it, you learn a bit more and then tackle it head on.

PREPARE

Then there’s the “oh sh*t” moment. What on earth have I signed up for, or in the case of a pandemic – what on earth are we facing? We can’t assume it’s a walk in the park – we need to prepare ourselves!

have we got enough gear or supplies?
are we fit and healthy enough, and how do we stay that way?
have we got the mental toughness to see it through? There will be uncertainty, hardships, emotions

Trekking and travelling to Nepal despite the Coronavirus

GO

Your adventure is underway. You’re going to experience new things. Your world is turned upside down. If we liken it to a Himalayan trek …

you’re focussed on the basics of survival – food, sleep, and getting through each day. Maszlo’s Hierarchy of Needs comes into play – the basics are important before anything else
you’re sharply aware of good hygiene and staying healthy
your priorities come into clear focus – what’s important and what’s not. In some ways, life gets more simple
in isolation, you make the most of what you’ve got with you
you appreciate the small things – a smile, a pretty flower
while the big things give you perspective, whether they’re mountains or the threat of a virus
you feel more connected with nature – the world around you is more in focus
everyone’s in it together and we all have to pitch in and help

REFLECT

At the end of your adventure you need time to recover. You come away with some new insights – what did you learn about yourself and about others? What would you do differently next time?

One thing leads to another. As this project finishes, what will you do next? What new opportunities have appeared?

CONCLUSION

Yes you can succeed in this adventure. It takes some time to work out what it means for you, how you’ll prepare and how you’ll cope. But we’re all in this together and we all have something to offer.

In the meantime, read our post on What Happens When Your Plans Go Out the Window. and play Adventure Bingo: Things To Do While You’re Waiting For Your Next Adventure. You might also like our other resources on self-discovery. Or this article we found that compares Living With/Through the Pandemic to Climbing Everest.

Oman: Where the ocean meets the sky

Published February 2020 by Trevor. Updated February 2021.

In this post:

Introduction

The following is a useful insight into Oman, which you won’t read in any guidebooks!

I first visited the Sultanate of Oman (Oman) on business during the late 90’s through to the early 2000’s. Of all the places that I have worked in the Gulf, Oman always stood out for me as being the most fascinating and welcoming to a foreigner.

Corniche in Muscat — Driving along the Corniche, Muscat

Its ruler for some 25 years, Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said, recently passed away. So, I thought it was an opportune time to reflect on my time there and key observations.

In Oman, I had the opportunity to do business with the Government and local businesses as well as meet some influential people. Being a foreigner in Oman, I was lucky to be taken under the wing of an important local. He taught me much about the people, trading history and culture. He also encouraged me to explore the ‘interior’ of the country – which I dutifully did.

It’s fair to say much has changed since I was last in Oman. But the people, its rich history, divergent culture and landscape haven’t.

About Oman

So, what is it about the people, history and culture of Oman that still fascinates me to this day and makes it stand out from the rest of its Arabian Gulf neighbours?

Omani items on display in Jibreen Castle

The Sultanate of Oman long served as a hub on the Indian Ocean trade routes, and it has ancient ties that reach from Pakistan to the island of Zanzibar. Today, Oman is one of the wealthiest nations on Earth, despite not having extensive oil reserves.

In 1498, the Portuguese discovered Oman and you can see their influence in some of the architecture.

Muttrah Fort in Muscat, built by the Portuguese in the 1580s

The people of Oman are very distinctive, in both dress and character as opposed to other Arabs across the Gulf. In fact, I would argue that Omanis are the most friendliest and laid back of all the other Arabs I encountered in my years working in the Gulf.

I was told that Omanis don’t consider themselves officially as ‘Arabs’. Oman, while it’s officially part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), has more in common with Pakistan, Iran and India given it’s historic trading connections. As an example, most Omanis can speak fluent Hindi, Urdu and English.

Oman is also considered as the ‘honest’ broker’. By that, I mean they often find themselves brokering peace or facilitating meetings between other Arabic countries – even Israel in the past.

Oman mountains and sky — The mountain and seascapes are stunning

While Oman’s economic prosperity has hinged on oil revenues, much has been done to diversify its economy. Tourism plays a big part in this. Some of the best diving and cultural sites in the world can be found in Oman. It’s also a unique location for rock climbing.

Being in close proximity to the likes of the United Arab Emirates, by both road and air, lends itself to both expats and locals visiting both countries on a frequent basis – even just for a weekend.

Top places to visit

Muscat – the capital of Oman, is home to forts, palaces, museums and markets. While you can’t visit the interior of the Qasr Al Alam Royal Palace, you can head to the harbour to get a close view of the amazing structure.

Nizwa Fort – built in the 17th century, it’s a large castle located in Nizwa. Some parts of this historic fort date all the way back to the ninth century.
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque – built in 2001, non-Muslim’s can visit this breathtaking Mosque on most mornings, except Friday. It features an enormous crystal chandelier and marble wall panels.

Other historic forts – Al Rustaq Fort and Nakhal Fort. They are much older, dating back to the 13th century and pre-Islamic times with very few visitors.

Al Bustan Hotel — Al Bustan Palace Hotel

Muttrah Souq – located very close to Muscat, this Souq is a traditional market located on the Muttrah Corniche. It consists of several small shops that sell Omani products such as colourful fabric, traditional clothes, silver and gold jewellery, plus souvenirs.
You can find more on tourism in Oman on their official website

A book that I would recommend reading, ‘Don’t They Know It’s Friday’, written by Jeremy Williams’. This book helped me immensely in conducting business and successfully gaining the trust of the local Arabs across the Gulf.

Tibet: A journey through the past

Published October 2019 by Trevor. Updated May 2025.

In this post:

Introduction – Tibet journey

Tashi Dele! “Hello, Welcome!”. Our journey through Tibet had started. In the forgotten kingdom of Tibet, much has changed since China took control in 1950. Fast forward nearly 70 years and Tibet is still changing – very rapidly I might add. For the better? Well, that depends on your perspective in terms of how you perceive change.

We visited Tibet to enable us to trek up to Cho Oyu Advance Base Camp with a climbing expedition. Coupled with a visit to Shishapangma Base Camp (North side) plus Everest Base Camp (North).

This was always going to be a ‘trek’ with a difference. Firstly, given the vast distances we had to cover (some 1,400km/869mi), driving was always going to form a large chunk of our trip. As for trekking, well unfortunately this time around it had to play second fiddle. Getting up and over several 5,000m passes certainly helped with the new and improved roads, making for easy access to the interior all of which was a blessing.

The Tibetans are getting on with their lives the best way they can, though are very limited to the type of jobs they can apply for, type of vehicles they can own and are not allowed to travel outside of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). We must have encountered some 30 police or other check points along the way for locals and tourists alike. But hey, the Tibetans can still dance and have some fun as we discovered first hand in Lhasa.

Lhasa

Flying into Lhasa has a certain charm about it, even at 3,700m / 12139ft. Lhasa still maintains a vibrant culture and the food is great. Having a cup of tea at a local tea house with local Tibetans was a real bonus.

Potala Palace, rebuilt in the 17th century, was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959 and has been a museum since then. Now a world heritage site, its now a bit of a tourist trap. Most if not all of the historical artefacts have been moved back to Beijing for ‘restoration purposes’. Plus, many of the old rooms have been closed to visitors so you are only permitted to wander around inside as the authorities wish.

Dancing in Lhasa — Locals dancing in Lhasa

With hordes of tourists lining up to go in (and this wasn’t even peak season), we chose to walk around the outside as the local Tibetans do on a daily basis. We recommend this! Find where they are dancing and join in. And for good measure, go and exercise with them. You are guaranteed lots of laughs and enjoyment.

Exercising in Lhasa — Exercising with the locals in Lhasa

Shigatse

From Lhasa we drove to Shigatse, the second-largest city in Tibet. Here, we visited the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, founded in 1447 by the first Dalai Lama. We were very lucky on the day we visited that the monks were celebrating the end of a prayer cycle. They paraded through the monastery grounds with a great fanfare of Tibetan ceremonial horns and crashing cymbals.

Mt Everest (Chomolungma) Base Camp – North Side (5,200m/17,060ft)

Having trekked to Mt Everest on the South side in Nepal, I have to say I was blown away when I saw Chomolungma from the North side. My first reaction was ‘she’s huge’! My second reaction was how beautiful she looked, even from some 19km away. Having had some friends climb her back in the spring season earlier in the year brought it all home. Being totally exposed to the weather on the North side, it would have been one tough climb!

Everest from the North side - a must-do part of your Tibet journey — Mt Everest from the North side

Base camp (5,200m) was marked with a plaque. Obviously some people hadn’t properly acclimatised, judging by the numerous people around us suffering breathing difficulties. So much so, some were sucking air from a small oxygen canister! Is it a tourist trap? Probably. Is it overrun with local tourists just to tick off a bucket list item and take the obligatory photo? Absolutely. A great example of this was that the majority of people were bussed up and back from Tingri, some 6-8 hours return, making for a long return trip. Instead, we stayed up at Rongbuk, and were rewarded the next morning with some great views. Nevertheless it is still worth making this stop on your Tibet journey.

Cho Oyu Advance Base Camp (5,800m/19,028ft)

Wow! Not only did we see Cho Oyu (the ‘turquoise goddess’) close up and personal, we also trekked up to ABC with a climbing expedition. Reaching an altitude of some 5,800m, this was definitely not for the faint hearted. Coupled with the weather, the landscape up high was very stark, consisting of a rocky and snowy terrain.

Higher up, the climbers were stopped in their tracks above Camp 1 (around 6,000m). Deep snow hindered their progress and acclimatisation rotations on the mountain. On top of that, we were all informed that everyone had to exit Tibet by 1 October due to China’s 70th anniversary celebrations. This added considerable angst to the climbing party’s summit schedule. The professionalism of sherpas and climbers prevailed, combined with Climbalaya’s excellent logistics and planning. As a result, successful summits were achieved. This included one climber who planned to ski down from the summit!

Nangpa La Glacier near Cho Oyu — The trail to Cho Oyu Advance Base Camp

You can read more about our trek to Cho Oyu Advance Base Camp here which we did as part of our Project Base8000.

Shishapangma Signpost — Shishapangma base camp

Shishapangma (North) Base Camp (5,157m/16,919ft)

We never thought we would make it! The Chinese had officially closed the mountain to all climbers for the season. Plus the reluctance of our Tibetan driver to almost refuse to drive the some 20kms along a very rocky and bumpy gravel road from where the bitumen road ended. We were then chased down by the ‘park custodian’ who cut us off in our tracks, gesturing and demanding some 1,000 Chinese yuan for our right of passage. ‘But it’s normally free to drive to base camp’, we protested – obviously not on this day it wasn’t.

So, after all that, the easy part we discovered was the drive back to the Tibet/Nepal border, overnighting in Kyirong. Crossing over into Nepal the next morning however, was different. We had to navigate some 6 military check posts plus numerous landslides cutting off the road. Reaching Kathmandu some 9 hours later, tasting our first cold beer and experiencing the first hot shower in 2 weeks – all went down very nicely indeed.

You can read more about our trek to Shishapangma Base Camp here which we did as part of our Project Base8000.

Onwards and upwards!

Trevor

Watch the video of our journey through Tibet

Insights

Border crossing: The Kyirong Border Crossing is the main crossing between Tibet, China and Nepal. Opening hours are usually 9.30am-2.30pm.
The road from the Tibet border to Kathmandu is very rough, with a journey time of 7-8 hours. Much longer during the rainy monsoon season.
All foreign travellers must be on an organised tour to visit Tibet.
Getting to Tibet is not difficult as long as you use a reputable travel agency.

Any travel agency you use, either in Kathmandu or based in Tibet, will take care of all travel arrangements for you inside Tibet including organising your visa and permit (you need both).
As China only has one time zone, Tibet is 2 1/4 hours ahead of Kathmandu. This means the sun rose very late around 7:30am!
Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram plus all Google applications are blocked. If you install a VPN on your phone before arriving in Tibet then it’s possible to access these apps. However this only seems only to work if you’re using mobile data, not wifi. You can’t install VPNs once in Tibet.

Tromso, Norway: Above the Arctic Circle

Published February 2019 by Trevor. Updated February 2021.

In this post:

Northern Lights
Dog Sledding with Alaskan Huskies
Snowshoe Trekking
Insights

Tromso, being above the Arctic Circle, is often referred to as ‘Paris of the North’ due to its lively atmosphere. Tromso is the world’s most northern university town and the largest city in the Nordic countries north of the Arctic Circle. The city lies between the sharp craggy peaks of the Lyngen Alps and combines wild scenery with urban life.

Tromso - a winter wonderland — Tromso from the top of the cable car – a winter wonderland!

Arctic GPS — GPS – Very far North above the Arctic Circle

Northern Lights

It’s a common myth that being above the Arctic Circle, you chase the Northern Lights – not true! The Northern Lights are always there, especially in winter, but you need a dark and clear cloudless night to see them. What I didn’t know, is all those lovely photos you see are are in actual fact viewed through an SLR camera with a long exposure and not with the naked eye. Lucky for us, we had one! Apparently, if you also have an iPhone, there is an App for that as well. Anyway, I digress. The greatest chance and frequency to view the Northern lights in winter is between the hours of 6pm-2am.

Patience and dedication pays off … lots of patience and dedication! The Northern Lights might be visible only for a few minutes or most of the evening. They may be faint or very bright, they even may be dancing with green colours or even pink depending on the level of solar activity and how clear the sky is. What is never guaranteed however is that you will get to see them on any given night. The best advice is to have a few spare days up your sleeve just in case – and take lots of warm clothes including boots, with temperatures in winter often dropping down to minus 19 degrees C or lower at night depending on the location.

Dog Sledding with Alaskan Huskies

The notes read, ‘being above the Arctic Circle you will enjoy the arctic coastal nature with a fantastic view over Tromso’. No mention that there would be near whiteout conditions with snow blowing in your face from every conceivable angle.

After meeting our driver and team of 12 Alaskan Huskies and much barking, we set off on the exhilarating ride ahead. Tucked under a warm rug on the sled certainly helped to keep warm.

Dog sledding — Our driver and yours truly – off we go!

Having come straight from an Australian summer, it was also a test of human endurance, but not the dogs though. In fact, Alaskan Huskies are bred for their endurance and stamina are renowned for their work ethic in a harsh, windswept snow environment.

They are trained from a young age to be sociable and interact with humans. Consuming some 6,000-8,000 calories a day when working, their diet mostly consists of high protein foods like salmon.

There is a strong interaction between the driver of the sled and the lead dogs, who are the most experienced and understand commands from the driver – in Norwegian of course. Working as a team, they will sense when the driver is not assisting with the sled and slow down or stop right in their tracks.

Snowshoe Trekking

Above the Arctic Circle, this day is was what we call in the business, a ‘bluebird day’. Blessed with perfect weather in twilight conditions, we set off mid morning for a 3 hour hike and explored the surrounding wilderness area situated on Kvaløya Island.

Views back to Tromso on the snow shoeing trail

With views back over Tromso and towards the Fiords, snow crunching below our feet, it was a majestic day.

Snow shoeing — Testing out our mountain winter gear while snow shoeing

Onwards and upwards!

Trevor

Insights

Tromso, being above the Arctic Circle, is situated right in the centre of the Northern Lights zone and is therefore among the best places on earth to observe this phenomenon.
Download the Aurora Forecast app to track the chances of viewing in real time.

Other attractions/activities to do in Tromso:

Arctic Cathedral
Polar Museum
Tromso Gondola lift (Fjellheisen)
Polaria Arctic Aquarium
Mack Brewery
Visittromso.no has further information.
See Authentic Scandinavia for all activities.

Australia: Uluru not just any rock

Published August 2018 by Trevor. Updated December 2019.

In this post:

Getting there
About Uluru
Insights

Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is more than just a rock!

Getting there

The nearest large town is Alice Springs, some 450km and 4 1/2 hours drive away. You can base yourself there and do a day trip there and back, either using your own transport or utilise a tour company and let them do the driving for you. We chose the latter as it was a more relaxed way to travel.

The other way is to incorporate the visit into your itinerary heading south. There are a few places you can stay, either within the park or just outside.

About Uluru

Uluru is a massive sandstone monolith in the heart of the Northern Territory’s arid ‘Red Centre’. It is s acred to indigenous Australians, thought to have started forming around 550 million years ago.

Located within Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, you will also find the 36 red-rock domes of the Kata Tjuta (colloquially “The Olgas”) formation.

Approaching Uluru, the one thing that stands out, aside from it’s sheer size rising out of the ground, is its varied red colours. More so at sunset. Walking around its circumference takes around 3 1/2 hours which is a must if you have the time. It is only then when you look up, that you can see the various rock formations and its sheer beauty.

Approximately 15 minutes away, are the 36 red-rock domes of the Kata Tjuta (“The Olgas”) formation – another beautiful area in its own right.

Uluru is a living cultural landscape. It’s considered sacred to the Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara people. The spirits of the ancestral beings continue to reside in these sacred places making the land a deeply important part of Aboriginal cultural identity.

Onwards and upwards!

Trevor

Insights

Elevation is 863m, and the circumference is 10km.
Uluru is the name in a local Aboriginal language (Arrente), and since the 1980s has been the officially preferred name.

Many people, especially non-Australians, still call it Ayers Rock.
It’s considered to be the world’s largest monolith. A monolith is a large, single block of stone.
This is also an Aboriginal sacred site and Australia’s most famous natural landmark.

The oxidized iron in the sandstone gives the rock its rusty-red colour.
Note: Climbing the sacred site has now been banned (since 26 October, 2019). Prior to this it was discouraged in order to respect the local culture. However many people still climbed the rock which can be dangerous to do. Since record-keeping began, there have been 37 fatalities. On the last day it was open there were queues of people waiting to climb for the last time.