My body is shutting down after the arduous trials and tribulations I have put it through over the past 3 weeks or so. Firstly the plane travel, on the way over a not inconsiderable travel time of 25+ hours turned into a nightmare from hell and a total travel time of 54+ hours as we were stranded in Singapore because of the absolute incompetence of Swiss Air, who have made no attempt to contact us, let alone offer us some sort of compensation. As such I have decided to play dirty and have let the mad scientist off the leash to do her worst and quite frankly they asked for it! Then I traveled 1200+ kilometres by car all over the countryside and then to top that off another flight from Canberra to Melbourne, when I was sure that the sight of an airplane was going to make me soil my pants. Following all this travel and changing of time zones we had to return to Switzerland via Dubai and although Emirates airlines are excellent we still had 27 hours of travel from Melbourne to Bern.

Secondly the change of temperature has reeked havoc on my poor old man’s body. When we left Bern it was -1 degrees and when we had a day trip into Kuala Lumpur it was 30 degrees and when I docked in Bathurst my arrival was greeted by 38 degree days which found me light headed and incoherent for much of my stay. Then moving onto Melbourne I was treated to the hottest day on record of 46+ degrees which gave the feeling that the weather wanted to impose its will on you, a wall of heat that made even breathing difficult. Three days after this extreme experience we stumbled into Bern on a night of snow and frigid winds of 1 degree, which meant that our bodies were again changing to suit the elements and the 45 degree decrease in temperature. On the bright side I apparently have a nice brown glow!

Thirdly the emotional and mental exhaustion of seeing our loved ones and saying goodbye again, of acknowledging that Australia has many issues, but realising that I love the country, its harshness and extremes, its beaches and it mountains in a way that I didn’t appreciate before I moved half way around the world. I am trying to come to terms with the frivolous nature of my life, jet-setting over the world and complaining about jet-lag when so many people lost what is most precious to them and their loved ones: their lives. If anything, the bush fires have made me love Australia more and I thank it for showing me that life is fragile and precious and that we must celebrate it and also mourn its passing with respect and love. I sincerely hope that all 181+ souls have gone to a better place and that we all learn an important lesson from their passing and that lesson should be different for everyone of us.

Now I am trying to get this old body rested and mentally ready for the trip next Friday to another beautiful part of the world: Canada. My good friend Captain Crazy, if you had ever met him you would understand, is getting married in the snow at the highest town in Canada - Kimberly, BC. So my body can expect about minus 15 degrees temperatures and all sorts of crazy situations. I will give a short synopsis of this wedding: He is Australian, she is Irish, they live in New Zealand and are getting married in Canada, makes sense doesn’t it? It gets better, the ceremony is outside in the snow and I am the best man, I must learn to think before I speak in the future! I am also having two days in Vancouver which is an absolutely beautiful city and I hope to visit Stanley Park, the Vancouver Art gallery and buy lots of maple syrup and walk around saying Eh!

There is an old Arab curse that says may all your wishes come true at once. I am beginning to understand the fiendish nature of that statement.