I grew up in South Australia, which, as I like to point out, is the driest state in the driest continent in the world. Summers were hot and dry, winters were not so hot, but still dry. Despite (or maybe because of) this, I developed a love of sport, the outdoors and adventure at an early age.

My school years were spent like most other young South Australians, playing cricket and football, and watching cricket and football on the television. Weekends were often spent sailing at Goolwa with my dad and school holidays usually meant camping with a large group of family friends somewhere in South Australia.

After finishing high school in 1992, rather than immediately going to university and following the well trodden path, I embarked upon a journey that is now in its fifteenth year and shows no sign of ending. Before commencing my undergraduate studies in 2000, I experienced life as a soldier in the Australian army, a support worker for young adults with severe physical disabilities, a gas station attendant working the ‘graveyard’ shift, a dish cleaner in the south of England, a security guard and finance broker (at different times) in London and a carer for an elderly man in Wales, amongst others. I was also fortunate enough to travel through much of Europe and the Middle East.

My first taste of the Himalayas was trekking the Annapurna circuit in 1997. This was such an incredible experience that I immediately started making plans to return. It was also in Nepal in 1997 - actually just before the Annapurna circuit - that I got my first taste of Vipassana, a technique of 'mindfulness' meditation that is traced right back to the Buddha. Vipassana has since been an integral part of my life.

I returned to the Himalayas in February 1999 and during the next nine months I trekked over 700kms and climbed three 6000metre ‘trekking-peaks’ in the Himalayas.

At the end of 1999 I returned to Australia and ultimately decided to move to Canberra to study Asian Studies at A.N.U. One year of my degree was completed in India and it was there that a serendipitous meeting with an American school teacher opened up the possibility of working in the Himalayas.

A couple of years later I was co-leading a rugged five-week program in the Indian Himalayas for American high school students from Lakeside School in Seattle. Although I had become quite familiar with that part of the world, I had no experience as an educator or guide, yet I accepted the offer enthusiastically. At a 1000 year old monastery (Tabo) located near the Tibetan border with India, another serendipitous meeting led to my working as a Program Director for an American company, leading their three month Himalayan Semester. With more experience, I warmed to the role of experiential educator and Himalayan guide and I am now in my second year of guiding for Where There Be Dragons, a Colorado based experiential and outdoor education company. I lead Dragon’s six-week rugged backcountry Indian Himalaya program as well as their three-month Himalayan Studies Semester.