May 30, 2002
07:01 AM dublin time
so it looks like i'm going to escape this ordeal totally pin free. my most recent [fourth] x-ray confirmed that all bones were in the right place and the relevant ones were healing nicely. so nicely i might get out of the cast in two weeks, which would be a relief - the temperatures are starting to soar as we get into the tropics proper and my cast is acting like a super efficient thermal sock making for a pretty overheated cd.
i braved my first cast-wearing shower today - my first in about three weeks [i have managed to take a couple of baths in the interim though, so i'm not as smelly as you might think]. between the two of us we designed a magnicifently ingenious waterproof cast protector from a black plastic bag and a condom. it's still patent-pending though, so i won't give away too much detail. given that we were driven to the inventing table when we found out it would cost $37 to buy an equivalent contraption, i think we're on to a winner!
our most recent dilemma is a west coast or not west coast one. it's down to whether we want a very leisurely tour of the east coast with the possibility of getting too bored and bickery or a high-speed race through to the west coast, clocking at least 250kms every day and getting stressed and snappy.
it's more that i do want to do a bit more surfing - which isn't possible at this point on the east coast - the great barrier reef makes the coast line here pretty gentle - so we'd have to get west for some surfable waves. there are other reasons too, but it all starts to become tedious. my plan is to avoid making a decision for as long as possible until it's more or less made for me. sounds like a plan methinks.
so at the moment we're hanging round airlie beach. we've found a boat that is crutch-accessible and are going to take a wee cruise about the super-hyped whitsunday islands tomorrow. i'll unfortunately be giving the snorkling a miss though, though my cast is snazily waterproof [with purple and green stripes. really. they gave me a new one when my pink one got a bit loose when the swelling on my leg went down and the cast-man went a bit over the top with the new cast] the dressing underneath is not.
[link]May 21, 2002
05:29 AM dublin time
after promising the orthopedic specialist we'd stick around for a 'progress checking x-ray' two weeks after the break, we settled back into the now familiar caravan park in byron bay for my fortnight's recuperation - deliberately picking a site near the amenities block so i wouldn't have too far to struggle.
i did nothing more than sit and read and yet was surprised by how quickly i tired. the physical trauma of the break - all those lil cells working overtime to heal the bone - and the strain of trying to master my crutches [the classy wooden, old-fashioned kind] left me worn out, quite subdued and more than happy to just sit, read, eat, read and sit some more.
usually i get impatient with reading if i've been at it for more than two or three hours [unlike aonghus who can read indefinitely] but only now, after a week or so of recuperation is my inertia beginning to become frustrating. i guess it means i must be getting better - or at least over the initial trauma of the break. at this point i'm battling boredom earnestly.
i've just finished the riviting "the fountainhead" by ayn rand. it managed to keep me entertained for the last three days but we've run out of books that i'm eager to read and i haven't the patience for the pile that i'm only lukewarm about.
last night i resorted to solitaire - which turned into a skirmish with the wind that's been blowing in violent gusts since yesterday morning. i won, but only after retrieving a queen of spades, stolen by a sneaky blast - the second thing the wind's thieved. the first, a successful claim, was the glass casing on our gas lamp - smashed by a rotten branch that was pushed from its tree by the unruly gusts.
it's too breezy even to sit comfortably outside now - i'm driven so mad that i'm sheltering inside the van.
but my 'progress checking x-ray' is the day after tomorrow. after that we can vamos northward to some hopefully calmer sunshine.
[link]05:08 AM dublin time
in all the kerfuffle and excitement, i managed to miss the one year anniversary of this here weblog. my very first entry was on may 2nd 2001. happy late birthday to 'it's always the quiet ones' from me.
[link]May 13, 2002
06:47 AM dublin time
i have developed the habit of pre-writing my weblog entries in my little pink travelling notebook, to type up on the occasion of our increasingly irregular internet sessions. so rather than launch immediately into an explanation of this most recent [but very excusable] blogging interval, let me first share a previous sunshine scribbled observation:
ah, this is indeed the life! mornings spent on the beach working on our tans, taking refuge from the sun for lunch followed by some lying hammockwise eating mandarins and reading. as i remarked to aonghus, all we need is a slave to rock our hammocks and peel our mandarins for us.
that was all before the disasterous surfing lesson.
we'd been happily kicking back in byron bay for a couple of days when we reckonned it was about time we took one of the heavily advertised 'learn to surf - stand up or your money back' courses. we went for the one that offered the free kebab and so it was my stomach that was to be my undoing.
on the sands of a quiet beach outside byron, we went through all the basic learn to surf training with our slightly ageing 'surfer dude' teacher. as we took to the waves i tried to remember the four key steps that would hopefully result in our standing atop the surfboard atop the surf. funnily enough, the standing up turned out to be the easy part.
the surfing instructor - to save us trying to catch the wave - would push us forward onto it, telling us when to start the standing process. my turn came - i wobbled slowly into a standing position. hurray. this wasn't so hard. i was a couple of metres away from the shore in about two foot of water when time came to 'get off' the board. i'm not sure if i jumped or fell, but either way went straight into the rather shallow water pushing my full weight onto my right ankle. a couple of crunches and a lot of pain later and the damage was done.
despite the crunches, at first i thought i'd just sprained the thing. an x-ray at the byron bay hospital put me right there. fractured right fibula - probably needing screws, though i'd have to go to lismore - about 50km south of byron - to see the orthopedic doctor find out for sure.
so off we go the next day down to lismore where they confirm that yes, it's a borderline case, but i'll be having surgery to put in some screws and a plate.
'how long since you've eaten? ten o'clock last night - fine - there'll be a theater free sometime this evening, now please put on this terribly immodest hospital gown so you can show your bottom off to the world'
[meanwhile aonghus was off locking the keys in the van - but that's another story]
and then suddenly in arrives another orthopedic doctor who pokes a bit at my ankle, askes if it hurts 'here' and says not at all, i don't need screws, just a cast for six weeks will be fine.
phew says me, and we scarper before they can change their mind.
well, i have to go back in two weeks for another x-ray to chack progress and rule out the screws for good. so i'd say it'll be a bit less beach bathing and a bit more lying hammockwise for the next six weeks. it's certainly put a delay on our plans, though hopefully not ruined them altogether.
[link]May 05, 2002
06:51 AM dublin time
we are at last, officially subtropical. albeit after being briefly delayed by a couple of necessary sub-subtropical detours;
the first was into the blue mountains - just inland from sydney - spectacular with deep tree packed valleys as against the usual mountain style peaks. "imagine a winding harbour with its deep water surrounded by bold cliff-like shores, laid dry and a forrest sprung up on its sandy bottom" - to quote mr. darwin, who was there once upon a time.
we skirted the cliff-like shores for a visit to the jenolan caves, australia's most spectacular limestone caves aparantly. we saw one of the twelve - the temple of baal which was satisfyingly impressive and definitely the one with the best name.
a bit further north we decided on another detour inland when we read about a rainforrest canopy walk in the dorrigo national park. it turned out to be less exciting than it sounded, but with lovely views of the sea. i was more impressed by the mid-level walk which gave views of the twisting vines; climbing down towards the shady tree root tangled ground and up into green filtered leafy sunlight.
we stayed that night in the relaxed town of bellingen, described in our book as having an 'alternative bent' [as indeed does most of this part of the new south wales coast, but more on that later]. we definitely did notice a higher concentration of long-bearded men, flowing skirted women and tie-died material than anywhere else we'd yet been. the town also boasted a large bat colony, which we unfortunately managed to camp directly under and though their constant squeaking didn't bother me, the strong smell of zoo [plants, moisture and animal dung] did. we left early the next morning.
and so on to the notorious and tiny nimbin. this somewhat seedy village is inhabited by a melange of organic farmers, aging hippies, hemp reformists, inscense salespeople and permaculturalists. it's a place where [as i saw suscinctly described someplace] 'counter culture is the dominant culture'. we arrived, not totally coincidentally, in time for their annual 'mardi grass' festival [yes, the double 's' is deliberate - and significant]. for some reason this little town exists as a land that law forgot - or at least turns a blind eye to. within minutes of our first stroll along the main street we had been approached by a dozen people selling various shapes, forms and varieties of marjiuana products [the illegal kind].
the festival itself was a bit of a wash out - literally. the end of the wet season kicked in with a vengence and left us in a marshy mud-mired camp and an urgent need to escape to mud free sunshine, the subtropical coast and byron bay.
[link]