Local time: 18:00 19 Nov 2007
Location: Lukla
Altitude: 2800m
Weather: Sunny all day

Hi its Cassra here. Another 8 hour trekking day ( the 4th one in as many days ) brought us back to Lukla, where we started our trek 20 days ago. Again we had a beautiful sunny warm day.

Mila's Tea House
On the way here we stopped over in Benka, where Mila, one of our guides has a tea house and lives with his wife and his 14 month old baby boy. We had a cup of tea and cooed with the baby for a while.

So many Trekkers still going up
What was quite astonishing to all of us, was how busy the route was. Many more trekkers were still going up the route than down it. Amongst them 100 of people about to attempt the Everest Marathon. We thought the trekking season was at its end , but obviously we were wrong.
Lunch was half way in Phakding and then it was a solid 2 hour uphill walk to Lukla, to our very busy and buzzing lodge.

In Lukla
Once there we allowed ourselves and the guides our first beer in 20 days, sitting outside our rooms in a little garden, having a bit of a laugh with the guides and our yak driver, thinking back about many odd and funny moments of this adventure.
Now kind of at its end, looking back we can say that we had a good amount of luck with the weather and how smoothly everything worked out. We achieved all that we set out to do, and lots more. I will write more about this once I'm back home.
As I'm writing this we are sitting around a small dinning table in the lodge and for once the guides and the Yak driver have joined us. Some of us ( against my advice ) have ordered a bottle of red wine.....by the taste of it Ozzy wine doesn't travel well to 2800 meters.
Tomorrow we will ( weather permitting ) flight back to Kathmandu. We have a few spare days, due to our plans working out so well. Some of the boys are interested of arranging some wild white water rafting. We will know more about this once we are in KTM

That’s all for now
Cheers from Lukla

Cas

Your Messages

Thank you all for your kind and lovely messages. I can't tell you how much fun we have reading them all and how much we appreciate everyone of them while we are so far away from all of you.
See you all soon
Cas

To Big Brother Geoff,
Didn't realise you'd actually be reading and following our progress..... Hope you had great b'day a couple of weeks ago. BTW, end of our trip and Pauly B and I trying an Aussie wine here [bushmans], turned out to be expensive and crap...
Darren

Pete,Joan,Catelyn,
Hey guys, great to hear from you. Funny you mention the food thing, but hey, like i say, if you want a body like mine then you have to eat like me... Hehe, yeah, always had the snacks in the pack along the way :) See you at Christmas???
Darren

Hi Mrs C and Mrs G,
most stories your sons tell you about me aren't totally correct. Also, mum doesn’t worry too much about me anymore as she believes every day since my 21st birthday is a bonus ;] .....
Darren

Paul/Roy,
FINALLY you guys will have finished there??? Yay! How exciting! Send me an email with more details. Hope it's all going well. Not sure about this 'me returning to Curragh' part though.....
Darren

Schabasi Boys,
Hey guys, as we'd all agree you're Daddy's a great guy. But, i must apologise, he doesn't look like an OLD yak, but, he does at least look like a hairy baby Yak. BTW, the Sherpa's this afternoon called him a 'Yeti' with his beard!
Darren

Cath(The Designer One)
Hi Cath, I am under no illusion as to the adventurous ride that marrying Erin will provide. This is the reason I have been training with many adventures around the world. As you are a close friend of Erin's I am sure you will agree that she is worth the effort.!!
Look forward to catching up in Melbourne soon.
Kind Regards
Dave Armstrong

Erin Bruhn,
Hi Babe, Thanks for the very thoughtful message. I have been trying to call and chat however we are having trouble getting credit on the Sat phone. I will call from Kathmanu tomorrow. Love and miss you very much.
Dave