I slept for ten hours which I desperately needed. My body feels totally exhausted all the time and I have to push myself to do the most basic things. Breakfast was served in a beautiful two storied room with stained glass windows. Our bedroom and the dining room are the only two original rooms from the Monshi's palace. The owner's son proudly told us about the restoration and showed us pictures of the renovation process on his computer. I couldn't really eat much as my appetite is totally gone. I have to force myself to eat to get calories into my body.

We finally meet Mr Zandi, the man who has organised our tour after breakfast. For some reason, I had imagined a elderly man but he turned out to be in his early thirties and has, we discovered, just become a father for the first time two months ago. We climbed into his landcruiser and met our driver, Zacchariah. Then we were off on a five hour drive deep into the Zagros mountains. These mountains stretch a huge distance from north to south in the western part of Iran. The paved road gave out and we continued above the snow line on very bumpy and slushy track for the best part of an hour. We ended up stopping 3000 metres high on the side of a glaciated valley looking out on a wall of snow on the other side of the valley. (For the geography nerds the closest place I could find on the map was called Chelgerd but that was not particularly close) Zandi announced that we were going to picknick in this exact spot.

He and Zaccariah constructed a little stone circle and lit a charcoal fire and barbecued marinaded chicken and vegetables. Zaccariah hunkered down to cook perched with his feet a couple of centimetres from a 1000 metre drop to the snow melt river in the valley below. The meal was delicious and the first time in 10 days that I could eat anything with any relish. Zandi had provided folding chairs for us so we could relax and enjoy the breath taking views. It would be no exageration to say that I have never eaten in such a spectacular setting. Despite the altitude, it was surprisingly warm. As we packed up we could see storm clouds on the other side of the range and then a huge peal of thunder echoed through the valley.

Another few hours brought us to another isolated spot, only this time there was a large tent made of blue tarpaulin nestling under a huge rock outcrop. Zandi had brought us to meet a nomad family. Their herd of goats were milling around and then suddenly the flap of the tarpaulin opened an a mother and 8 year year old daughter emerged. We were invited inside for tea. The father was sitting huddled over a parafin heater with his three year old son. It was initially an akward meeting. Both groups were giving each other sidelong glances, not wishing to be seen to be too curious. After not too long they asked to see any photographs we had. I showed them some family photos and also ones of Piper. I couldn't help but think how different the little nomad girl's life was from Piper's. They wanted me take photographs of us all together and then I offered to do some portraits and send them via Mr Zandi. I had a book of my New Zealand photographs with me and they were fascinated to see the different landscape. The mother asked if I could send them a book of photos that included both Iran and New Zealand. It was a strange meeting high up in the mountains sitting inside their home. They stay there for eight months and then go further south for the worst of the winter. They said it was a five hour journey. Outside we could hear the bells on the goats as they foraged in the vicinity. They stood in the opening of their 'tent'and waved us goodbye. Then the flap dropped and they returned to their lives and we drove away down the mountain.

Another drive of several hours brought us to a small village. It turns out that Zachariah is from here. We are staying the night in a private house and have a whole floor to ourselves. The house has a beautiful garden that drops down to the river. The owner had created a wonderful garden of roses, jasmine and many flowers and trees which I didn't recognise. On the way to the house we stopped at a small fish farm and Mr Zandi bought two fish for dinner. There were also nuts for sale and Gill bought a bag of almonds. Nuts are an important crop in this area and many farms have almond and walnut trees. For some reason, they hadn't stunned the fish prior putting them in plastic bags so we had the uncomfortable experience of our supper trashing about behind us in the car for several miles until they expired. At the house Zaccariah disappeared off for twenty minutes to gut the fish while the owner of the house prepared a barbecue. We were utterly exhausted but the fish was delicious. We fell into bed and we were asleep in second.

We slept well last night and Mr Zandi and Zachariah had prepared our breakfast out on the terrace and we sat in the cool morning air with the sound of the river below. We had fried eggs and fruit and cheese and halva. We explored the gorgeous garden and then set off up the mountains close to the village. The views were beautiful out over the bare countryside and when we reached a plateau there was a herd of goats drinking from a small watering hole. We spoke for a while with the goat herder and then his donkey wandered over to check out the new arrivals. Zandi was very keen for Gill to get on the donkey. Gill was less keen but game enough to give it a try. She perched precariously on the back of the donkey, finding it very difficault to balance. However much to her surprise she managed to stay on long enough for a photograph. We then went to the farm of the father of the goat herder but he was out about so we we weren't able to get access to the mud walled compound.