"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead." --- Louisa May Alcott

These words have been etched in my mind since I first read them on a 21st birthday card from my parents more than ten years ago. I was getting ready to leave Australia on a two-year working holiday visa for the United Kingdom and they seemed to perfectly encapsulate my mood at the time - the sense of infinite potential I felt as I left Australia’s shores for a world of discovery and exploration. In one way or the other, these words have guided my life ever since.

My reasons for leaving Australia were very clear in my mind, and it had nothing to do with working in the U.K. I wanted to go to the mountains of Nepal and India. Yet after a very selfless suggestion from my mum to extend the trip to more than just a quick dash overseas, I arranged a working holiday visa for the U.K, realising that after saving some pounds I would be able to stay in the mountains of Asia even longer.

Before I left Australia I had became intrigued with the word ‘responsibility’. Looking at it more closely, I considered how it actually contained two words: ‘response’ and ‘ability’. This led to the realisation, simply put, that I had the response ability for my own life. How would I live my life? What direction would it take? How would I respond to the challenges that life would throw my way? All this was in my hands, I realised. I have the ability to respond to life, and therefore shape my life, how I choose. I felt inspired by this simple realisation. It was up to me whether or not I turned my dreams into reality. That was about eleven years ago, but the importance of that message is as relevant to me now as it was then.

"Adventure is a commitment made by the entire being and can search our depths to bring out the best, most human qualities which remain is us. When the pack of cards has not been rigged so we win every time, then the game is real and we find surprise, imagination, enthusiasm to succeed, and the possibility of failure. Adventure."    --- Walter Bonatti

Much of my childhood (and certainly my fondest memories) was spent in the outdoors and this instilled in me a passion for adventure and discovery. It also gave me a sense of the freedom that is such an integral part of genuine adventure. I soon discovered that it was when climbing – over and on anything I could – that I experienced the strongest sense of adventure and freedom.

Growing up in the Adelaide hills we had a huge pine tree in our backyard, and I would climb it almost everyday. Even when I was inside I would find something to climb. Standing in the middle of my Grandma’s hallway, I would stretch my young legs as wide as possible and inch my way up the walls until I could not go any higher. I would stay up there for as long as I could, and look below as my family would walk underneath the bridge created by my legs. Pine trees and hallways soon evolved into scrambling up rocky ridges in the Flinders Ranges and climbing cliffs on the Eyre Peninsula and before long the Himalayas beckoned.   

I thrive in the unique mental and physical challenges that trekking and climbing in the mountains present. How I deal with every situation in the mountains is an expression of who I am and it reflects my life away from the mountains. One becomes a learning lesson for the other. With every new mountain adventure, this understanding becomes clearer. Going into the mountains becomes more than just about the mountains, they have become a metaphor for my life.

The great mountain ranges of the world – the adventures, challenges and freedom they embody – are where my dreams lie. The human spirit is most alive when following our dreams. I know that I am very fortunate to be doing so. No matter where we come from and what our dreams are, I believe we can and must try to head towards them. Many inspiring (and far less privileged) people have taught me this throughout my life.

Mountains – and especially the Himalayas – symbolise for me the power of the human dream to climb far higher than we generally dare to believe we can. While I sometimes question where my dreams will take me, I am certain it is a place I want to discover.