Earlier this year my movie, “Accidental Climber,” got accepted into the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. It will premiere on July 27 at 10:30 A.M. I couldn’t contain my excitement because I have always wanted to go to Australia. A couple of years ago I almost pulled off a trip, but last minute I had to cancel. This time it is happening, and I will be there to represent my producer and director and answer questions after the showing.
As I was planning this trip I thought, as long as I’m going this far, I might as well add a few other places. So, I have added New Zealand and Japan to my itinerary. I left Sunday, July 14th for Auckland and will spend a little over a week touring both islands. On July 25th I fly to Melbourne for the festival. A couple of days later I will drive to Mt. Kosciuszko to snowshoe to the summit. Remember it is winter down under. I will spend the rest of the week in Sydney, Uluru, and Cairns before flying to Tokyo to meet my daughter Shelly. Together we will spend a few days touring Tokyo. Then we head to Mt. Fuji. After a short night in a hut at the 8th station we will summit at sunrise the next morning – a dream we have both had for a long time. We will complete our week in Japan by going to Hiroshima to pay our respects before coming home on August 13th.
I hope I can give you adequate coverage of this trip. It is jam packed.