Anusha and Ashesh get remarried on their 10th wedding anniversary

Anusha and Ashes, our beautiful Nepalese friends, got married 10 years ago, but by Nepalese standards, it was a very small wedding. They decided to get remarried and do it properly this time to affirm their commitment and celebrate their love with family and all their Australian friends who they've met since moving here. 

I ended up being neither celebrant or official photographer so I was able to completely relax and enjoy it. They got married at 8.30 am on Sunday morning and their reception wasn't till 5.30 pm so I was able to go home and have a nap in between. I had woken up very early in the morning to help Shushann with her conscious aging presentation.

At the reception, there was a wonderful array of performances to watch. Ashesh has a love of magic, so they had a fabulous magician do a show. The highlight was when he filled a paper cup with water and then asked Anusha to pour it over her head. Of course, the water had magically disappeared, but there was a little bit of suspense. If the magician had got his trick mixed up, Anusha's beautifully done hair would have been horribly ruined!

Lots of Anusha and Ashesh's friends's did songs and synchronised dances. There were also lots of heartfelt speeches, some of which brought tears to my eyes. Anusha did a lovely song and she and Ashesh did a beautiful dance. Of course, Gavin was the MC (who else!) and he always makes it fun despite the 45 logistical announcements he had to make and the fact he had just returned from a gruelling trip to Saudi Arabia.  

Jack was there with his lovely wife, Tess, who I have never met and they brought their gorgeous new baby who did not cry once despite some very loud singing and antics.

All in all, a beautiful day of love and celebration.

Ashesh, the groom

Krishna, the head groomsman

All the groomsmen. I wonder what the collective noun would be 😅

The beautiful bride arrives with her parents out from Nepal

How cute was this little page boy

The flower girl, also so cute

The bridesmaids

Saying their vows

The celebrant had done over 500 weddings and he was great

The wonderful climactic clinch!!

Signing the register

For once, the Hot Lunch Bushbashers were not in hiking clothes!

Tanya in beautiful attire, as always

At the reception

Ashesh takes part in the magic show

Rajesh, not surprisingly, was late to the wedding but, surprisingly, was on time to the reception!

Lovely to meet Tess, Jack's lovely wife

Jack's beautiful new baby

Our table won the prize for best table photo with the bride and groom

Celebrating Michal's 40th birthday

Michal had his 40th birthday while Gavin and I were overseas. So we had a surprise birthday for him last night at Anusha and Ashesh. It was a lovely evening. I love our group so much.

 

What a legend Michal is

Memorable moments: The Khumbu Siren

In 2023, a group of us—including Russell, Gavin, and Rajesh—set out for Everest Base Camp. It’s a brutal trek under the best conditions, but Russell started the journey with a stubborn throat infection. By the time we hit the higher altitudes, it had mutated into the dreaded "Khumbu cough," and it was, without exaggeration, the most extraordinary sound I have ever heard emerge from a human being.

It didn't just sound like a cough; it was a multi-stage acoustic event. It would start as a low, ominous rumble in his chest, then rapidly accelerate in pitch until it hit a high-velocity, uncontrollable wail. To the rest of us, it sounded like the melancholic mating call of a cross-eyed yeti searching for a lost love in a blizzard.

The hike was grueling. For days, we pushed through thin air and steep terrain—conditions that would break most healthy people, let alone someone whose lungs were performing a one-man opera. Yet, Russell was a legend. He remained cheerful and relentlessly adventurous, refusing to let the "Siren" in his chest dampen his spirits.

We, however, were not quite as legendary.

While we genuinely loved Russell, we were also as brutal as the mountain itself. We became so fascinated by the mechanics of the Khumbu Siren that we turned it into a competitive sport. Every time we reached a particularly steep precipice with a good echo acoustic, or a quiet moment of reflection, one of us would drop a perfectly timed one-liner.

Russell, unable to help himself, would start to giggle, which would immediately trigger the wail, echoing off the Himalayan peaks while we stood by, shamelessly scoring points for the "Best Trigger."

It was terrible, really. But as we climbed higher into the clouds, it became the soundtrack of our journey—a mix of thin air, gasping laughter, and the most ridiculous cough in the history of mountaineering. Russell eventually made it to Base Camp, proving that while the mountain is tough, it’s nothing compared to a man who can survive both a chest infection and the "kindness" of his best friends.

Camping at Bents Basis

A wonderful camping weekend with the boys. Bents Basin has the biggest water hole in NSW so the swimming was glorious. It rained hard during the night but I was all cosy in my spacious new tent.