Our first Camp

Beaker adding for Donna Down due to limited internet coverage:

Arrived at our camp safely. Now at 3000 metres. Couple of the trekkers were sick but everyone OK now they are in camp.

Our Porters had our tents set up and hot tea and coffee with popcorn waiting for us. Mary and I are sharing a tent (thank goodness) as we can help each other in and out!! The sleeping bags are really cosy.

Hopefully will have more internet access higher up the mountain.

Donna. xx

Day 1 of the Climb

Oh my goodness the day has finally arrived.

We are all sitting in the lobby of our hotel waiting for our guide and the bus to come. Everyone is excited and nervous. We are all keen just to get going now.

We will have about an hour and a half bus trip to reach the Gate where the climb will start. That is where we will meet the rest of our porters, fill our water bottles and get our packed lunch for the day. Who knows what lies ahead of us?

Stay tuned!

Hugs,

Donna.

A Whole New Day

Morning everyone,

It is 10.10 a.m. here in beautiful Arusha. We all got a fantastic night's sleep - fatigue definately kicked in, and we have all shared a wonderful breakfast. Everyone looks really refreshed this morning and are excited, but also a little scared about what lies ahead.

Our guide Sylvano is meeting us here at the Motel at 11.00 a.m. for our trip briefing and hopefully with Linda's lost luggage!! Even if they don't locate Linda's luggage, between the lot of us we will all share our gear around with her and will just have to purchase some boots for her in town today - but it will all work out, and she is staying very calm about the whole thing (on the outside at least).

After our briefing today we are going to head into the Masai Markets for a bit of a look around and basically just take it very easy today to prepare for what lies ahead first thing tomorrow.

If all goes well, I will be blogging tomorrow from the mountain (oh my goodness).

Luv to you all at home,

Donna.

We FINALLY made it !

It is 10.05 a.m. on Saturday morning and I tried to post this blog last night, but unfortunately I was having trouble with the blog. That has all been sorted now, so here is what it should have said:-

Well it's 9.05 p.m. and we have just reached our hotel room here in Kilimanjaro. We left home 36 hours ago!! Everyone is really exhausted but in great spirits. We had several issues along the way including Ashley not being able to board the plane in Nairobi due to a stuff up with the tickets. It was a bit of touch and go there for a while, but after much negotiation (and a sit in by the other 13 trekkers refusing to get on the plane without her) she finally made it on the plane with 5 mins to spare.

We were met at Kilimanjaro International Airport by Katie from Chessell Adventures and Sylvano who is in charge of us while we are here. Linda's luggage has gone missing and we are hoping that will show up tomorrow morning (fingers crossed).

The trip to our Motel was scary. There seems to be NO road rules at all and no speed limits!!

It's off to bed now for us - FINALLY.

Hugs,

Donna.

Dubai Arrival

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know back home know that we have arrived safely at Dubai Airport after 16 hours on the plane.

Even though we booked as a group, when we got on the plane in Sydney we were spread out all over the plane, which was a shame. I was stuck in the middle of two French women who didn't speak a word of English. Can you imagine, I almost went stir crazy when I couldn't talk to anyone for that long!! We are all good, just a bit weary.

We have had several hours here in the Airport and now we are about to get on the next 5 hour flight to Kilimanjaro.

Talk to you soon.

Donna.

Welcome to our Blog

Hi Everyone and welcome to the Climb 4 Kids .... Kilimanjaro blog.

On Thursday, 26th August 2010 myself and 13 other very special people are leaving Australia bound for Tanzania in Africa to attempt to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in an effort to raise some much needed funds and lots of awareness for the kids and families of Camp Quality.

Mt. Kilimanjaro is the world's highest free standing, snow-covered equatorial mountain.

Camp Quality receives no Government funding and so the Trekkers are endeavouring to raise $80,000.00.

Of course there are lots of "easier" ways of raising money but the Trekkers really wanted to do something different that would encourage people to stop and think. As Volunteers and Friends of Camp Quality they see first hand how brave our special kids are and how they look every challenge they are faced with straight in the eye and keep pushing on. So, when I was approached by one of our Camp Quality mums who wanted to do something in memory of her son who had recently passed away, and to raise awareness for for what Camp Quality does, the idea of Climb 4 Kids ... Kilimanjaro eventuated.

These Trekkers are a powerful team of dedicated and caring people ready to help us achieve our goal. All are completely committed to this wonderful cause and all are each paying their own way to Africa.

They have spent months training and fundraising and now their time has come.

Please log into our blog each day and follow our journey as we tackle the big challenge ahead of us.

So, until "D Day" on the 26th,

Bye for now
DONNA Down xx