Back on home soil

Last Tuesday I touched down home here in Melbourne. The flight home was very good (Air NZ) and didn't seem as long as I expected. Was 12hrs between LA and Auckland then 4hrs from there with a 1hr stopover there.

It's good to be home in some respects but Ness is still in the US, and I could keep travelling forever. So I'm settling back into the monotonous normality of suburban life, spending 8hrs of each day at work while reminiscing about hiking in high altitude back in Peru. It's a bit surreal being back. I've spent 2 months being in a society vastly different from ours, and in some areas people lived very primitive lives (compared to ours) with no electricity nor telephone, using barter to get by, trading Alpaca wool for food. And even in modern centres like Lima, it's very different to here. But that's what travelling is about. So it's been a bit of adjusting being back, however I have enjoyed it in a lot of ways. In the past 4 days I've made for dinner: lamb shanks, sausages and mashed potato (bangers & mash - with the sausages cooked on the bbq), kangaroo steak and went out for Italian pizza on Lygon St (arguably the Italian centre of Melbourne).

I've kept myself entertained too. I brought back a PS3 Slim from the US (as well as a new snowboard) and on Friday afternoon I bought a new Samsung series 6 32" LCD TV. Spent a late night since watching TV and playing games. I realised it's the first TV I've ever bought. My last one, a 48cm al-cheapo brand TV, was given to my by my parents and I had it for maybe 5 years. I'm not the biggest TV watcher by any means and I'm not really into home cinema (can't be anyway given my room size). I have Need For Speed: Shift, Fight Night Round 4 and Bioshock, all of which I bought in the US (new games are US$60, compared to AU$99-110 here). I can't believe the quality of the graphics these days.

So being back is different also for my own health. I've gone from walking for hours each day (especially while hiking: up to 10hours/day) to sitting on my arse most of the day. I noticed myself losing a bit of weight overseas (how can't I while hiking up mountains for the whole day) so I have been curious to weigh myself and find out just how many kilos of fat I've shed. I went to the gym last night to find out, and to begin a regime to regularly exercise to keep it off. I lost around 4kg which I think is modest, and only because while in Peru/Bolivia/Ecuador, I ate a lot of deep fried junk and chocolate. But I will try to keep it off at least and I might end up losing more (which I want to do).

So where was my favourite place? Well, it's hard to say - I enjoy being almost anywhere (except when I get homesick) but I think if I was to brainstorm a highlight of the trip, it would be doing the 6-day (extended) Inca Trail. It was by far the most difficult and longest hike I've ever done, and one of the most difficult things (not just hike) I've ever undertaken. In one day, we hiked from 3,600m to 5,200m then almost down again. It was something like 6-7hrs up then we walked another 3hrs downhill. Off the top of my head, that's twice the height of Mt Dandenong (here in Melbourne). But the altitude is what really kills. I remember near the top just puffing with all my lung capacity as if I was running uphill but I was walking very slowly with small steps, each step being more difficuly than the last. Ness and Scott did it too. All around us were snow-capped mountains and bright emerald glacial lakes. But looking back, it was so rewarding, an achievement that ranks as the best in my life. I want to go do it again! They say you get out what you put in so maybe that's just it. I will put up photos soon.

Well I have stuff to do. Might continue this later.