“On a Mish” #419 This Time Last Year (Part Two). Te Waipounamu / South Island to Ganesh Himal Charty Trek 2023. Aotearoa New Zealand & Nepal. 26.10.2023. The drive of helping others can get you through some epic ordeals. With a crazy idea in mind and a charity to support, some of this world’s most hardcore humans have achieved almighty goals. While the glory of the quest is celebrated it is not only the person involved who reaps the spoils. There is a more important reason than to just ‘Go on a trek in Nepal’ that makes me focus my time and energy into getting back to a country I love just as much as the one I live in…
The huge bonus of having my parents join me on the mish helped greatly with the pre-game prep. While they worried about themselves getting around the 90-odd km hike, I knew they were easily up to it and wouldn’t be an issue for the team. I, on the other hand, was going to be that client in the guided party who needs extra help at the hard parts, but at this stage I didn’t realise how hard the hard parts were going to be.
After collecting just under a hundred kgs worth of donated clothes and shoes, we set off on an adventure for the ages. Knowing what was coming was coming kept a smile on my face the entire time while we traveled. It takes a long time to get from Aotearoa to Nepal but once you get through the chaos of Tribhuvan International Airport and see a dude with a Heartspace Expeditions sign, the time spent in an airport or plane disappears into the past.
We arrived at night, so it wasn’t until the next morning that my folks got to see Kathmandu in full swing. The sights and sounds of Nepal’s biggest city are a vast difference to what is seen out in pretty much anywhere else in the country. The Kathmandu part of our trips is pretty much the opposite of what we see when the trek gets going.
After a couple of days seeing the iconic landmarks of the capital (along with a sightseeing flight to see Sagarmatha Mt Everest), we drove out of town, and out of the chaos. Climbing out of the dusty valley which holds 6 million people is something I look forward to. I am here to help the people in the less visited villages, and Kathmandu is not one of them. But, with that said, Active Hearts Foundation does run an orphanage in the city and it is by far the best place to visit when there.
A bumpy road took us to our first stop which is the home of the Adhikari Whanau. The family are a reason to go to Nepal as they are awesome ambassadors for the country. To say the Adhikari’s are helpful and caring is a massive understatement as their willingness to help their fellow Nepali people is inspiring and makes every person they lend a hand to better. Along with Mr Daniel Keys (Dan Dai) of Waiuku Aotearoa they are the driving force behind the Active Hearts Charity.
We stayed with the Adhikari Whanau for a few days, and it was on one of those days we attempted to follow a water pipeline that had been installed by the Hearts Team a couple of years ago. Before my injury I flew up the pipeline trail, but on this occasion we / me were forced to turn back. The short hike was a real eye-opener to what was to come once we began the trek itself. That evening as I lay awake in my tent, I had thoughts of ‘can I make it?’ floating around inside my head. It was roughly this time last year that I was wondering just what I had got myself into…
