Chris Darwin who is a grandson of Sir Charles Darwin, contacted me in 19??.  He opened up saying I know you do a trapeze act and aren’t afraid of heights, how would you like to join us to raise money for the National Heart foundation?   He explained they were going to hold a dinner party at a table hanging off Nth Head Sydney.   They needed a mature waiter to abseil down and serve them the fish dinner.   I agreed that I’d do it, how much money?   Nothing he replied, but they were going to get a sponsor when they held the world’s highest formal dinner party on top of Mt Huascaran, the highest mountain in Peru.  There would be 4 men, 4 women me as the butler and a full camera crew taking 6 weeks.   This would allow for establishing camps and acclimatization. 


One week before leaving the major sponsor pulled out.  We had a meeting and we decided to cover the costs between ourselves.  We portered the gear and food to establish camps on the way and climbed Mt Pisca, to help with the acclimatising. The main camera man got cerebral oedema and we ran him quickly off the mountain and saved his life. One man got mountain sickness and couldn’t carry on and a girl decided Mt Huscaran was too frightening and pulled out.

I milked a lama to get milk for the English tea party at Machu Pitu.  Then I fished from a straw boat on Lake Titicaca,which is the highest lake in the world for fish for their dinner.   I abseiled  into a blue crevasse so deep you couldn’t see the bottom to retrieve a top hat. Had the first wash for 3 weeks in a small lake formed on top of the glacier.  This was performed very quickly much to the amusement of the others.  I did a free head balance on a huge block of ice that had crashed down from a glacier face.


A climber borrowed my ice axe when I was on an ice face so was unable to climb higher.  I was left there for 2 hrs and got very cold.  This was 200mts. from the top but then Dr.Glen Singleman decided I should go down due to the worsening weather conditions. .I roped onto a French team that decided the weather was going to be bad.  They literally ran off and after a few hairy jumps over crevaces reached our top camp.   I was happy to get some hot soup and drinks.   Then there was a terrible time waiting the all the others got back safely as the storm was really strong.  There wasn't any great happenings our flight home called at Puntea del Vista to refuel.  We were hustled into a shed with armed soldiers everywhere and freezing wind. When I returned to Ausstralia and looked into a mirror I realised just how much weight I had lost.

We had raised $32000 for the Aust National Heart foundation.