This boy

We have finally booked everything for our trip to the UK and Ireland and I couldn’t be more excited!  It is just a few weeks away now and I can’t wait to introduce my amazing David to my family - and of course meet his.

And here’s a very early almost-dawn photo over Brisbane airport a couple of mornings ago.  Not completely in focus but we were travelling at 300kts and it was taken on an iPhone in low light!

It is absolutely freezing!  I am wrapped in blankets on the couch waiting for it to get warmer... and it probably doesn’t help that I have frozen fruit in my breakfast muesli which is cooling me from the inside out. 

David and I have only done a couple of climbs recently as my roster has been very busy and I have been very very tired.  We did have a lovely climb up Beerwah in the semi wet and got some nice photos.

 

It was good fun although I do prefer climbing when it is dry.

We also saw a beautiful Beerwah sunset

This photo is looking East back towards Coonowrin (left) and Tibrogargan just right of the shadow of Beerwah.

We also went flying with Lily, in the 172RG and she wasn’t terrified all of the time ... she didn’t like full power but seemed to like Dave’s practice forced landing!  

Here’s a nice shadow of the aeroplane, coming in to land

We also got Dave a new car!  Very exciting, and we pick it up in a week or two after finance is approved 

Doesn’t he look smart?  He had just completed a job interview to be an engineering instructor, which went really well and we are really hoping he gets.  It would be initially a casual position but potentially with a full time position available in the future.  Either way, a government job that would be much more reliable than his current company!  It’s not the BEST time to be buying a new car, with so much uncertainty, but he needs a vehicle to be able to get to work, and his old Camry is so dodgy now, I’m worried for him every time he drives it.  Not only does it have 350,000km on it, but it also steers left dramatically, the steering vibrates through the steering wheel, and two out of four wheels wobble alarmingly as you drive... so we didn’t have much of an option other than to replace it!

Anyway that’s about it for now - I’ll try to make the next post sooner!

It’s hard to explain why I haven’t blogged lately.  It’s not like I don’t have down time, I do, but it’s more like I don’t really think about it any more.  And when I do, no words really come to me. 

Just a random cute picture of my child

And now to recap on June...  it was an insanely busy month from a work point of view, and my only weekend off was the very last weekend of the month, so by then I felt like I was beginning to forget what D looked like!  This last weekend was D’s birthday, and I managed to get 3 days off to spend with him - unfortunately on the very first day I got a head cold so we had a quiet few days.  Even so, it was so nice just to be together.  

We have got a few climbs in but not as many as I was hoping - that weekend off we had planned to climb every day but being sick, I didn’t have the energy.

Us on Beerwah for a VERY cold sunset

Said sunset

There has been lots of uncertainty with D’s job over the past few weeks.  Even now, the company is technically closing down but D is keeping it ticking over enough to keep him and one other guy employed. It is very stressful for him though, and we were hopeful last week when he got a job interview - but that was then cancelled a couple of days before.

We were hoping that D’s daughter would be able to visit us during the July school holidays but unfortunately this didn’t happen (again) so we are travelling down to Hobart next weekend for a couple of days.  That will hopefully go as well as it did last time... maybe better!  D will go for four days and I will join him halfway through for two days, as my roster is once again pretty packed.

Today, we are going on a 3 hour river cruise.  Yes, me, on a boat.  D’s idea, obviously, as there is a US aircraft carrier in Brisbane this weekend and the cruise is specially laid on to see it.  Should be fun, if I don’t fall in the water and get eaten by bull sharks.  Then, tonight we are going to a leaving party for one of my ATR friends who is moving to New Zealand.

And that is all the blogging you get... I leave you with a final cute photo of my child

(Temporary Backup) Back at work

It happened!  After 9 long weeks, my return to work happened glitch free.  I narrowly scraped inside the time window for revalidation, at 67 days only needing to complete 2 training flights.  If I had hit 70, the requirement would have been 10 training flights plus a check.  It was made a little harder due to having only had 3 days’ work since my month in Africa, but it wasn’t long before the rustiness fell away.  (Nice excuse though)

After my reval, I was supposed to just have a few quiet days on reserve and days off before work started in earnest, but when offered a 4 day trip with bucketloads of overtime, it was impossible to refuse.

This trip had me covering Sydney flights, overnighting at the Gold Coast, right beside the beach.  It was odd being so close to home (90 min drive) and a pity that D couldn’t join me due to work, but the location was amazing!

Four days began to feel like a really long time before I finally got to go home - for one short day!!!  It was then off again, overnighting in Cairns this time, where it rained and rained and rained.

I got home late last night at 2300 and quickly packed to travel to Hobart this morning, this time for “fun”.  Getting up with my alarm at 0415, I felt like a zombie well after arriving at the airport.  Scraping onto the flight with the very last standby seat, I am now using the QF free wifi to blog on my way to Sydney - where I will hopefully scrape onto the mostly-full flight to Hobart.  

This is a big weekend: today is when I meet D’s daughter, C (9), and tonight we are going to dinner with his ex and her new partner.  I have to say I am a lot more nervous to meet the ex than to meet C!  However, it is very important that I do so, as we are really hoping that C will be allowed to travel up to Brisbane in the upcoming school holidays.

There was a really beautiful rainbow over the house when I left for work a couple of days ago, so here you are!  An early morning K&D residence shot, with a rainbow.  Or two. 

In other news, it’s just a couple of weeks now until I can go climbing again! My wrist is still somewhat sore when I use it, and aches quite a bit at night time, but with lots of heat pack and massage treatment, it is continuing to heal well and strengthen.  I doubt it will ever be 100% but I will keep working on it!

Anyway the cabin crew are bringing around breakfast now, so i

April

April has come and almost gone, and despite being off work, I’ve still managed to fit a lot into the month!  The hardest thing has been the loss of independence due to not being able to drive.  It is amazing how quickly one learns to do things with one arm - and even then, after the first two weeks in the cast, I was able to use my left hand for light things like holding a fork, etc.

Since then, a lot of my days have been spent at work with Dave, working on things like fixing the P51d (Mustang) which was both fun and frustrating at the same time.  It has given me a much greater appreciation for the work that engineers do!  

We have been on a few short hikes up Coochin and Ngungun, although I won’t be able to climb my favourites for another few weeks until the tendon is stronger.  We have watched sunsets, been to the beach, and spent a glorious weekend away in Noosa together - our first mini holiday!

I also went down to Melbourne for a couple of days to visit a friend, and this coming weekend we are going to Hobart to visit Dave’s daughter.  This will be my first time meeting C, so I am a little nervous!  

The last couple of days have been a bit hectic - we almost got the Mustang finished, and then on the first engine run, a drive shaft snapped which may mean the removal of the entire engine, which is a massive job... ugh.  After all the hard work of the last couple of weeks it was a bit depressing!  Then, Lily suddenly developed an abcess and was in to the vet’s for emergency surgery, and the very same day I seem to have developed tonsillitis.  I can only say that I am very thankful that this has happened before my return to work.

It looks like I may be back at work in two weeks... I am now seeing a private occupational therapist as I wasn’t making much progress with the public system.  My new OT thinks that two weeks might be a bit fast, but I am determined to work hard towards it. 

This week, due to the Mustang being officially broken, Lily needing 24h supervision, and being a bit under the weather myself, I am keeping myself busy around the house.  My wrist exercises alone take up 4h30 of each day (6x45mins).

Also, we are another step closer to booking our trip to the UK and Ireland in September, as we have found flights - I just need Lily’s vet bill to clear off my credit card before I can book them 😂

My second housemate moves out today, which signals the end of an era.  My first housemate moved out at the end of January (he bought a house) and was efficiently organised in the weeks proceeding the move.  Everything was boxed up, everything was carefully loaded into the Ute for the minimum number of trips to the new house, and the move proceeded to schedule.

My second housemate decided not to pack.  He scheduled his move for yesterday and today (he got the keys two days ago) and decided just to throw things in the back of the car and “the house isn’t far away” so it didn’t matter how many trips (but every trip takes thirty minutes out of the day in driving alone).  He got side tracked during the first trip and spent a few hours at the new house cleaning gutters and so on.  He got side tracked on the second trip with multiple phone calls (at his usual top volume) to friends, and so far he hasn’t moved anything out of his bedroom at all.  (“I’m just going to tip the drawers into the boot.”)

He got a phone call last night from work asking him if he could do an overtime shift, so this morning he has gone to work, leaving him just the afternoon to move house.  I’m not quite sure how he is going to do it, considering he hasn’t even put his pantry contents into a box yet, or packed Anything At All from his bedroom.  But we shall see!  It is all quite amusing watching the process - and I am systematically going through my cupboards and putting his things on the spare bed as I know he will forget them otherwise!

In other news... there is no news.  I go back to the hospital this morning to have my splint amended - then another two weeks splinted and two weeks after that doing exercises and then hopefully back to work!  Lily isn’t going to know what hit her - she is loving having me home and trails behind me every time I move off the couch.  

Aussie happenings

I arrived home with a clear day off before returning to work.  This passed in a moment, what with unpacking, jet lag, and of course my most amazing boyfriend, who met me at the airport complete with a massive bouquet of flowers.

Lily also met me with lots of kisses, once we got to the house, although was a little less effusive than I expected.  Mind you, after my first overnight back at work, when I got home she was SO excited, she must’ve thought I was going away for a long time again!

This one day off was filled with chores, appointments, baby shopping for little K, and all the food I could possibly eat.  D made slow cooked ribs for my first night back, and they were amazing- especially after a month Vegetarian!

My first day back at work was a little weird to start with.  I felt really rusty but it came back to me quickly!  And, excitingly, D was able to join me on my overnight up in Cairns.  The captain, N, had plans to hire a car and go swimming in the pools at Fishery Falls, so we joined him and had an awesome time.

D was able to join me in the flight deck before the flight home 

It was a really memorable trip - despite all the rain (the rainforest living up to its name), and hopefully we can do more of the same! 

After that trip, I had a day trip, bringing my total flights after my holiday up to six.

Six short sectors... three take offs... three landings... and that was it.

Wednesday morning, we finally made it up Tibrogargan (it was going to be Beerwah but we felt very unfit)

And then... once home I offered to do the washing up while D did other chores, and a wine glass exploded in my hand, slicing into my wrist and cutting a tendon.  I yelled for D, he came quickly out of the office and I ordered him to GET A TOWEL and kept positive pressure on my wrist with my right hand.

D quickly bundled me and the towel into the car and raced off to A&E - unfortunately I forgot my wallet in the rush and chose shoes instead of flip flops, that D then had to struggle to get onto my bare feet before going into the hospital!

Waiting in Emergency 

when the surgeon finally came to see me, he agreed that I had cut a tendon (I could see the white ends) and admitted me to hospital pending surgery.  We were hoping to be processed the same evening, but being on the emergency list meant that we were fairly low priority as obviously if a serious injury or Caesarean came in, we had to wait!

Interim Dave came to visit 

It was past 1500 the next day (Thurs) when they came to take me.  I was petrified, having never had surgery before, and poor D was pretty anxious too.  Thankfully they were all very nice and it didn’t end up being as scary as I thought.  By 1830 (I think) they were taking me back upstairs.

Now sporting a snazzy cast

They let me go home just after 2200 as I was very insistent that I wanted to sleep in my own bed!  Sadly, having cut a tendon, it sounds as though it will be a slow recovery and at the moment I have two months off work.  D is doing half days at the moment so is home every afternoon doing paperwork, so it is nice having him home to help me - as it’s amazing how much you need two hands for!

Last night, almost one week after the accident, we walked up Ngungun for sunset.  Although it wasn’t climbing, it was so nice being out and not trapped in the house.

Everyone has been so supportive, and maybe it will give me more time to blog (with one hand!!)