Catharine Kan, Simon Brennan and their children Tobias Brennan (12) and Joseph Brennan (8) are making a trip with a difference. Ms Kan, a teacher at Bayfield High School, said they wanted to give their children a different experience before they reached their teenage years.
''You know how you get a calling and something says to you have just got to get up and go and so you go.''
She will be involved in training head teachers at the Edmund Hillary Himalayan Trust's Read Programme at Salleri, near Kathmandu.
Mr Brennan, an electrician, will offer his services to help re-wire the ageing electrical system at Phaplu Hospital.
Not only will Mr Brennan miss his surfing, the whole family will miss most of the Dunedin summer.
''It is going to be minus 15 degrees and there is nothing but a bucket of hot water for washing,'' Ms Kan said.
She teaches textiles at Bayfield High School and plans to study ethical rug-making in the area. An organisation called Goodweave has a rug-making factory in Nepal and all proceeds go to humanitarian causes.
Ms Kan said she wanted to find out more about the programme and the different textiles they worked with including banana flax, soya fibres and metal.
She said the boys were not sure what to expect in Nepal, and a tropical island had been suggested as an alternative destination.
