TV's leg update

So TV had his temporary cast removed and to our surprise was given a removable boot instead. The doctor said the leg was healing ok and should be ok to walk on next week. The boot is great because it is removable for showers. So four and a half weeks from now TV has another appointment to see the progress of the leg and most likely stop needing to wear the boot.

Here are a few photos of the foot and leg after getting the cast taken off.

Fibula Catastrophy and a Soothing Visit from Grandma

During a quiet Sunday morning jog last week, Thomas was confronted by a middle-aged woman riding a mountain bike with training wheels on the footpath. He decided it was in his best interest to give this woman a wide berth as she was looking rather unsteady. This proved to be a fatal error, however, as he promptly stepped into a hole and twisted his ankle. He crumpled to the ground immediately, but sent all the bystanders away, insisting he was alright. He then hopped 300 meters to the tennis courts were he hoped to find someone with a mobile to call Katie to bring the bicycle to push him home. Someone took pity on him and his ankle's increasing girth and gave him a ride home. Katie took one look at that ankle and insisted on taking him to the Emergency Room at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Their very good friend, Rachel Naylor from Merry Old England, obliged them in driving.

An x-ray confirmed a straight-across fracture in the distal fibula of his left leg. He was very lucky in that the fracture probably won't need pins as it was a very clean break and was not dislocated. Two and a half hours later, Thomas was hobbling home on the bus with his new crutches and a half caste to allow for the swelling.

 

He went to work the Monday, but found it an incredibly difficult and sweaty situation so he worked from home the rest of the week. Luckily, Grandma arrived the following Saturday to save the day.

Things are looking up now for Katie and Thomas as Grandma has come to spread some cheer, cook a few meals and enjoy a modified tour of Sydney with a whole lot more rest stops.

Contest update

Just got back from our Thailand trip last week only to find an email and phone message telling us that TV won first place in the Keeping it Local photography contest put on by Leichhardt Council. The judges picked the photograph above as the winner, while the public voted it second best.


Also just before leaving on our trip we found out that the photo below was the winning entry from the walk TV was on in Sydney.


So thank you all for your votes and support for the work that we have been doing.

The latest news

Hello everyone,
We have been busy preparing for our trip to Thailand where we hope to be riding through the jungle and streams on elephants. Of course us some of you may know KT just got back from Shanghai a month ago, so it's been quite busy getting everything sorted.

TV has been also busy working on his photography and has entered another contest. If you could spare the time have a look at this website and vote for one of his photographs.
http://www.leichhardt.nsw.gov.au/2010-Entries.html

His photos are 28 to 32. Just above the photos there is a link to where you enter your email address and photo number that you are voting for and takes all of 30 seconds.

Personally we voted for photo 31.

Thank you for your support and keep an eye out for a Shanghai photo post.

Flights to Australia

There is a good deal to fly from California to Sydney out now. Check it out here: http://www.travelzoo.com/supersearch/?cp=AUS0710&catid=1014

Tickets start at $700 for travel in August. It's a great deal if you can go during those dates.

Beautiful WA

Well, we've been back from our month long trip driving from Perth to Darwin, an easy 6,200 kms. Perth was beautiful although somewhat quiet and we thoroughly enjoyed touring two of the breweries out there. After two days we picked up our campervan and headed to the Pinnacles and the coast to start the real adventure. We stumbled across the original inhabits of Earth, the mighty Stromatolites! We did not tremble but we did pay homage to their oxygen producing awesomeness. We then found some deserted sand dunes where we almost got mummified because KT got the camper bogged in the sand, but luckily she managed to get it out all on her own. She would like it noted that TV said it was ok to drive on, which it was.














Having escaped the sand dunes we found an empty beach on which to picnic. That evening we pulled into a town with a lighthouse that we couldn't resist having a bit of fun with. The next day we went internationally to the Hutt River Province, a sovereign nation within Australia. The Hutt River Province is a big farm property that is owned by Prince Leonard who is a recognized Prince who seceded from Australia in 1970. At the rabbit-proof fence (vermin fence for you Australians) we got attacked by flies, but we managed to escape having only had a little bit of extra protein in our diet.













Next it was on to meet the wild dolphins of Monkey Mia. Notice the teeth on the one that is being hand fed. There were also some hanger-oners in the form of pelicans that really enjoyed the sprinklers. On the way to the main road we found a tourist sign for a hot tub which led us to a decommissioned sheep station that now acts as a museum. On our way we saw a bit of American influence in the form of a giant radio dish that NASA used to communicate with the Gemini and Apollo space missions. Keeping with the space theme we later found what looked like meteors from a distance but actually turned out to be rather big termite mounds. There were hundreds if not thousands of them along the side of the road.


















Reaching Exmouth we finally went in for a swim and found some friendly fish. Oh yeah, and the biggest one of them all, the Whale Shark. These magnificent creatures were amazing to swim with and very calm. It was a really great experience which was further enhanced (some would say) by seeing a Tiger Shark and a Black Tip Reef Shark swimming just below us. It was also great to see a pod of a thousand Spinner Dolphins which twirl when they jump out of the water.












We also saw some interesting citizens walking through the streets of Exmouth before we headed out of town. More to come about the next part of our trip soon.