They arrived on Friday mid-morning, and we had a yummy roast pork dinner - our belated Christmas lunch/dinner..hehe. Again, the caravan oven made the yummiest pork - crackling of champions I tell you! Before dinner and after they'd had a bit of a stretch and we'd caught up for an hour or so, we were keen to show them around the area - as if they hadn't done enough driving for one day.. oops. We took them to Bellingen and had some lunch at the Old Butter Factory, which was lovely and had a look around the shops again. Then headed up the mountains to Dorrigo - Dad loved the trains. Aaron was able to do a bit of sightseeing in the passenger seat, as he wasn't able to fully appreciated the scenery on the way down, as he was concentrating too much on the driving and keeping the caravan from the hundred metre cliff drops!
After Dad had fixed a few bits and pieces that I wasn't able to, and after dinner we sat down and watched Soul Surfer (the story of the American girl who had her arm bitten off by a shark and is now a professional surfer) again - which again put everything into perspective. Mum and Dad camped in our annexe - so we now know we're able to house visitors quite easily .. so feel free to come visit anytime anyone :)
Mum's Lunch - complete with a tomato sauce face
Our lovely guest suite .. inviting isn't it
On Saturday, we started our "Maintenance 101" course - I tried to fix the side of the van - the external cladding popped out of the trim (I know! I even sound like a true maintenance woman!!) .. but have now found out that my wrists aren't quite strong enough for the drill, so will be working on that one. I had to hand it over to Dad to finish - who made it look extremely easy. Next I attempted a new washer on the tap on the front of the van - SUCCESS!!!! Easy peasy .. until Az told me that it was a super simple one to fix - buzz kill. I tightened the hose clamp to our water tap and then started on the car .. oh yeah, I was on fire!
Not the most flattering photo, but I had to show you my maintenance attempt .. hehe
So onto the car - I attempted to tighten the air-conditioning belt - I didn't do too bad, only had to get a little help from Dad. We did a few other little bits and pieces, and by the end I was exhausted - my brain was on overload - so much to remember! It felt good though, learning something new and challenging myself to push through the automatic 'I give up' when it got hard.
After we'd finished all the maintenance that we could possibly think of before Mum and Dad left, we had a bite to eat and then it was farewell to M&D once more.
Sunday we did a drive down towards Port Macquarie, to have a look at the roads and see where we might stop next - I had to work out which roads to take the caravan on that weren't too hard for me. We stopped in at South West Rocks - it was nice, but didn't really take our fancy, Scotts Head - where Aaron managed to get asked into a caravan he was checking out (the owner was very proud of it - picture a sun drenched older lady, dripping in gold and wrapped in an animal print sarong .. with no bra) and went into a "Recycling Centre"at Nambucca Heads, but it turned out to be just a tip .. no tip shop *insert big sad face here* .. so we figure we'll head to Port Macquarie and try and find a free camp around that area and then push through and get down to Newcastle.
Ummmm..... ok, I'll watch out for the wild elephants ....
The pool at the caravan park has been a saviour - there have been quite a few muggy days, so a nice dip in the pool has been just the ticket!
Az enjoying the pool .. you can visualise him swimming like a submarine .. all body parts under water, except his arm
Enjoying the water together ..
Today was our follow up appointment with the Hospital - to get the plaster taken off and start Physio. The plaster was taken off (actually Az had to take it off for them .. short-staffed) and the 25 staples were taken out by a medical student from England - after Az's arm was looked at by an Indian Doctor - both had started today. We overhead the Nurse talking to the medical student telling him that they don't really "go to too much effort" - about the small details .. ummm, ok.
So the verdict - the thermoplastic splint (a big piece of plastic moulded to his arm) has to be on for 4-6 weeks, then back to the Physio to take it off. He has exercises to do with his hand every hour. They were happy with the healing of the wound - well when I say happy, they said it was good enough to take them out. The Physio/Occupational Therapist was hilarious - she would have been about 45kg and every time she sat on the office chair, she had to jump up and down on it for it to go down.. gee, what a problem .. hehe. They seem to think that he won't be able to do any hammer/drill type work for 12 weeks and then he should be able to get back into it. Apparently the nerve grows back at an inch per month, so they estimate that he'll get complete feeling back to his index finger in about 6 months - about 99% of feeling has returned to the rest of them . All in all, Az was quite happy with the prognosis - he said 3 months was a lot sooner than he had anticipated being able to work, so that was a good thing.
Az playing with the off cuts from the splint .. nice moustache honey
Az doing a Leyton Hewitt impression
The plastic splint
This does mean that I'll be doing all the driving and towing for the next 4-6 weeks. We were planning on leaving tomorrow, but we have had another turn of luck. The front wheel bearings (right side) have decided they need a change - a job Az would normally do (when both hands are in action).. so we took the car to the mechanic this afternoon and are now carless. We're hoping to get it back tomorrow, which means we'll probably leave on Wednesday at this stage. Our goal now is to get to Newcastle and stay there for a few months and try and get a bit of work - and then do trips in the Troopy to the places we may not be able to see on the way down. That way we can have a base and then work and come and go when possible. At this stage we're thinking maybe a few months in the area, but we'll see.....
While we were at the hospital, we were able to catch up with Robyn Luke, our celebrant and good friend from our wedding. It was great to be able to catch up and spend her lunch break with her. We were all surprised when we worked out we'll have been married for 2 years at the end of this month - wow!
While we were initially a little disheartened about Az's predicament, we have been made to realise that life is too short to worry about the small stuff. I awoke this morning to someone standing outside our van (on the road), and was asked if we were missing anyone from our van. Apparently they had found a lady in the bathroom, collapsed, and didn't know where she was from - ie. from the park or from outside. The lady outside our van was waiting for the ambulance. It turned out that the lady who collapsed in the bathroom was a camper in the park, who had a husband and two teenage boys with her. No-ones knows how long she was in the bathroom or what happened to her - so the ambulance came and took her to hospital but she passed away a little later. She had just celebrated her 47th birthday..yesterday.
It really goes to show, while we've had a few unfortunate events in our lives recently, we are still alive, still healthy and still able to live life. From this point on, we will be endeavouring to live life to the fullest and not take anything for granted.
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