Goodness, the time gets away.  This year I was asked to be the Australia Day Ambassador to Balranald.  While quite a drive from home to get here, I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet the locals at both Balranald and Euston.  A highlight of the day was to visit the Bidgee Haven Retirement Hostel in Balranald where I was asked to give a spur of the moment speech to the residents.  We then enjoyed a short afternoon tea and I met a number of the residents who were really lovely and I think very excited to be included in the day’s celebrations. (They’d actually done their research on me and had a number of well considered questions about my mountaineering.  I’m going to post them a copy of my book.)    So overall it was a great day.