We left the winery on time and headed for O'Reilly's.
We had 30 kilometres to travel through a narrow winding uphill road.
It took an hour
through the national park to get to our destination.
Each time we met a car coming in the opposite direction we had to pull to the edge of the road so it could pass.
Really didn't want to look down too often since I was sitting on the
side of the bus where the road dropped off into the valley.... *S* Seemed pretty 'hairy' at times but the driver was in full control.
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This shows how narrow the road was. |
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Finally... the retreat.
View from our room.
Another problem....
Marj had organised 2 double rooms next to each other. Ruth and Lisa in one and Marj and I in the other.
There was a mixup....another lady was in the room I was supposed to be sharing with Marj and Marj had been given a single room some distance away. |
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I went to reception to explain the problem. Suggested the lady in our room might like to have the single room instead so Marj could be near her daughter Ruth and share the room I had.
The driver sorted it out... problem solved.
Our rooms were the two
on the right in this pic.
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Interior of room.
No TV....no phone... *S*
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View from the balcony |
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Marj deciding where we should all go.... |
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One of the spa pools. |
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Lisa. |
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We didn't even have to worry about our bags... the driver had them delivered to our rooms.
Got our stuff unpacked, hung up and headed for afternoon tea...
scones, Jam and cream!!
Yum!
A couple (not from our group) came over to our table asking if they could join us...
I was
pretending to think about it when Lisa said 'for heaven's sake...we need the male company Jamie!!" LOL!!
Turned out they were from England and on their honeymoon.
Lisa, Marj and Ruth left long before me since I was deep in conversation with them
talking about all the places they had visited do far. I was nice to talk to someone from "home"
...
well almost "home"
since I'm from Scotland.
Eventually got back to our room and Marj decided we should explore the place.
I had the map... where she was heading was the car park.... told her I really wasn't interested in walking
uphill to see a car park!!
Still, she insisted there might be something else to see when we got there...
There wasn't!
So we headed out the front of the retreat, found out where the bird feeding would be
and where the gift shop was situated.
The whole place was up and down hill... not good for me, but I persevered.
Dinnertime arrived... 3 courses... delicious!!
This was an A La Carte restaurant.... everything came out looking like a picture.
Of course there was whining to my left... not enough vegetables...
what's this.... what's that....????
Lord... did I have to explain everything??
We made it through dinner and I was sooooo tired...
been a long day and was looking forward to getting some sleep...
fat chance!!
First some damned bird spent half the night screeching like a banshee and
boy could Marj snore!! She never stopped all night.
I got about 2 hours of broken sleep.
Felt like crap the next day.
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Day 2
Got up at 6am... weary from lack of sleep.
The pillows were some sort of foam which made my head sweat.
Breakfast was a buffet... oodles of choices but had to get the chef to cook me an egg
that wasn't 'sunny side up'. Wasn't a problem... al the staff were so accommodating
.
After breakfast we went on a 4WD tour through the rainforest..
The trip was over booked... not enough seats.
4 extra people....
2 sat up the front of the bus with the driver. A couple of young kids (Julian & Kerry) who had finished
school
and were having a holiday before going to university.... nice kids... *S*
The other two gentlemen (Dutch) got a regular 4WD vehicle and followed the bus.
It was drizzling and the drizzle turned into rain.
We stopped along the way to check out the views.
An hour later arrived where the driver made tea and damper.
"Damper" for those of you who don't know is an Aussie bread cooked on a campfire.
The young fellow fanned the fire so the "billy" could boil for the tea and he toasted the damper.
His girlfriend helped with the teas and spreading the butter and honey on the damper for everyone.
BUT... WE'D
HAD AN ACCIDENT BEFORE THE CAMPFIRE WAS MADE.
With all the stops and starts looking at scenery along the way the steps on the bus
were slippery from everyone's wet feet.
When we arrived at the site for the tea and damper the bus was parked at a slight angle
so the steps were tilted slightly forward making it
awkward getting off the bus.
Ruth waited until last... BUT she slipped and fell down on the top step and slid down the other 3 steps
with a great thud. She cried in pain and both Lisa and I were sure she had a broken ankle.
Like I said.. Ruth is disabled and it was hard for her to tell us where the pains were and how bad they were.
We knew her foot was sore and her legs and bottom from hitting the steps.
SO... Lisa decided to go back to the retreat using the regular 4WD the 2 Dutch visitors had used.
One of them was a nurse... how lucky can you be... he suggested that Ruth be taken back and
an ambulance be called so she could be checked out.
She could barely walk ... and couldn't get into the car....
The young fellow, Julian, (in the pic below
in the white T shirt) lifted her bodily and put her in the car seat.
He was amazing!!!! I don't know where he got the strength because Ruth must weigh over 200 pounds.
So Lisa left with Ruth and we had our damper and tea.
Again... everything happens for a reason... if the bus wasn't overbooked we wouldn't have had the 4WD
available to get Ruth back to the retreat.
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We got back to the retreat... I was soaking wet.
The paramedics arrived about 15 minutes after us. They checked out Ruth, put a cold pack on her ankle
and said she should stay in bed. Our tour driver Pat got hold of a wheelchair incase she could
go to the restaurant for dinner but Lisa and Marj decided that she could have her meal in her room
to save any more stress.
I'd left my sunglasses on the bed.... of course I sat on them and broke them!
So I went to the gift shop to see if they had any and managed to get myself a nice new pair.
Lisa and I headed off for afternoon tea....
I got up 4 lots of stairs...
don't know why
...
but on the top landing somehow I lost my balance...
fell forward... hit the floor with a thud, hit my head off the corner of the wall,
hurt my chest, hand and left foot.
Broke my reading glasses which had been perched on my head.
I screamed on my way down to the floor!
People came running from all directions.
Lisa had her hand on my head... I asked if I was bleeding....
she said "NO... but you've got a bloody big dent in your head!!!"
Then I started to laugh.... I couldn't believe we've had 2 accidents in such a short time.
I was also in shock. Lisa took off to get the wheelchair from Ruth's room.
Apparently Marj asked what was going on and Lisa told her "You don't want to know!!" *S*
When she got back with the wheelchair I got myself on my knees somehow and
used the chair to lever myself up and on to it. I ached everywhere and my foot and index finger
on my right hand hurt like Hell..
When I calmed down I thanked everyone for their help.
We headed back to the room with an ice pack for my skull...
Both of us cracked up... couldn't believe the chain of events.
Then we had to tell Marj !!
I was supposed to go on a Glow Worm tour that night...that wasn't going to happen.
Marj decided that Lisa should keep her company instead.
Lisa hadn't wanted to go but was now without an option and sarcastically thanked me..
(she was smiling...)
So we went for dinner when the time came and Ruth had dinner in her room.
Since I wasn't going on the tour I was assigned to check on Ruth regularly until they got back.
I had trouble balancing in the shower and it hurt to wash my hair, but I made it.
It was nice to have time to myself.
10PM...or thereabouts they returned. Lisa actually enjoyed the tour, which was great because
she'd been working like a trooper looking after Ruth and then me.
I'd taken some pain killers and was looking forward to my bed!!
Well... the pain in my finger got worse, the same damned bird was screeching outside
and there was the snoring AGAIN!
I was ready to scream... got up took more pain killers... pain subsided, snoring didn't.
got up half an hour later and went to the toilet thinking the flushing might wake up Marj so
I could get a chance to sleep before she started snoring again...
That didn't happen.
The pain came back in my finger, by this time I suspected it was broken.
Sat up on the side of the bed and felt like crying.
Lay down and tried to shut out the screeching and snoring and about 25 minutes
past midnight Lisa knocked on the door.... I yelled at Marj to wake up.. Lisa needed her!
While she was in their room I hit the sack and concentrated on getting to sleep before she came back.
SUCCESS!!!!! For a couple of hours...
Friday morning I felt like I'd been pulled through a creek backwards.
Got breakfast... watched a movie about the Stinson rescue which you'll find on page 4 of this.
Had bag packed ready for the driver to collect.
Had morning tea and headed for the bus. It was a struggle getting up the steps but not
as much as it was for Ruth.
It took half an hour to get her on the bus. The driver, Lisa and Marj had to drag her on.
She was a dead weight and couldn't use her left foot. She wasn't using her right foot either ...
she didn't help at all.
We finally got on our way... late...
On the way home she was really good considering we found out later that she actually had a broken ankle!
She's in the Hervey Bay hospital... has been since she got home on Friday.
I was so glad to see my own home!!
Never again!!!!!!!!
I didn't want to go in the first place.... next time I'll go with MY intuition.
BUT WAIT..... THERE'S MORE....
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