Friday 16th August D-day -6 (Cairns, Australia)
Last day at work. Why when you are leaving for 4 months does everyone need a letter or legal report or worksite visit or some other time consuming task that takes loads of time. Oh well no more patients for a while but in on Saturday & Sunday to finish off the paperwork.
Monday 19th August D-day -3 My Birthday (Cairns, Australia)
Had a bit of a lie in for a change before a quick chat with Mum & Dad in the UK. With all my training I had been getting a lot of foot pain. No blisters, no muscle pain, just really sore feet. Despite all my self treatment efforts and discussions with other physios there was no improvement. Eventually diagnosed with possible "metatarsal plate sprain" and thanks to Sarah Shipton - much better after one session and doing better each day. Should be able to walk up the hill now without grimacing in pain. Then out for a great Birthday lunch (and Dave's leaving lunch) at Vivo's in Palm Cove with the Cairns Innovative Physio Team. The Spanner Crab Linguine is amazing! Thanks for lunch Taryn, and Dave, a pleasure working with you. Enjoy the rest of your trip around Oz. And after lunch another walk around the Blue Arrow (a hilly rain forest walk in Cairns), with about 400mm of climb and descent and about 7kms. Just got home and my passport arrived back from the Kenyan Embassy - phew! Wouldn't have been going anywhere without that.
Tuesday 20th August D-day -2 (Cairns, Australia)
A day spent going around the Cairns shops, buying last minute items. Started packing in earnest - this is going to take some time!
Wednesday 21st D-day -1 (Cairns, Australia)
I spent all morning either packing and re-packing and repacking again to make sure that I had everything that I needed and that it all fitted into the bag. Stuff for Kilimanjaro was all packed together and easy to transfer to a rucksack once at the bottom of the mountain. Camera packed with good padding, medical kit packed, various drugs and letter from Dr packed, repair kit for all eventualities over 4 months packed, mask & underwater camera, diary, laptop etc etc! I also packed to Australia post large envelopes to post all my warm mountain gear back to Aussie so I don't have to carry it all across Africa. Don't think I will need thermal long johns on the beach in Zanzibar - unless I get a special request!? Nipping out to the shops to buy something that I forgot and tidying my room incase someone wants to sublet it. All that before the event of the year in the evening, Graham & Kel's joint 2st birthday party. Great night, with loads of people there and managed to not have too many shots of what ever that stuff was! Even managed to get Taryn to have a shot and think she may have been just a little tipsy? Surprised to see one of my patients there - MELISSA!
