New Year at Hervey Bay

Always hard to say Goodbye to the kids Briony (flew back to NZ), Todd and Tenelle but left Burleigh after the housesit and drove up to Hervey Bay where we celebrated the New Year with friends on Stephen & Annette's property.  Also were able to catch up with Nola and Alan from NZ who we travelled with through Canada/Alaska.  Had a great lunch and catch up at Silky Oak on Tin Can Bay Road which is a lovely place to call into for breakfast or lunch.

Stayed for Australia Day, had a kangaroo come and talk to our animals.

January in SE Qld had some rain which flowed over the access road to the property

Things were going great until middle of January when Helen broke her right humerus bone (in between elbow and shoulder) when she was climbing into the Van.  As usual, she was carrying things in her hands (not hanging onto the handle) and had a cooler bag over her shoulder which caught on the door and pulled her backwards.  Had the ambulance take her to Emergency at Hervey Bay Hospital and after spending several hours waiting to be seen (luckily she said she was full of drugs), having plaster fitted which was then cut off because bone was not straight!  Then a webbing was fitted, pulled tight and an immobilizer fitted over the top at which point I think Helen was about to yell out a few choice words as the pain was intense.  Luckily there was a mature nurse handy who recognized the shivering was from pain and gave her some morphine to suck on - the orthopedic surgeon (much younger) was surprised it was hurting so much!!!! Another joy was having the wrist in a collar & cuff which kept weight on the elbow so bone would align when healing and another "bonus" was having to sleep sitting up for the next 6 weeks!!  She could do nothing so I had to become 'carer' and boy was it challenging to say the least!

Back from hospital, not happy, this is how the arm stayed for weeeeks!!!

Helen needed to report back to the Hospital on a weekly basis for 2 weeks then after seeing the Doctor about a month after the accident, we got a referral for her to report to Robina Hospital on the Gold Coast as we were heading back to Burleigh Heads to celebrate Todd and Tenelle's Engagement.  They announced their Engagement in October last year but waited until February to have an official celebration.