A glimpse into my world...

Some of the stuff on my desk placed on a globe... a new tshirt design I've just completed... click on the image to get a better view.

Winter bloom

If this looks familiar, you may have seen it in my previous post in its original form. I've used photoshop to make it more expressive :)... click on any of the images below for a close-up view. Enjoy :D

Visiting Hobart, 22-25 Aug 08

We just had 4 beautiful days in Hobart, where the weather was surprisingly not as cold as I expected. It was actually mostly sunny during the day.

Jeremy was part of the Melbourne real tennis team to Hobart, but unfortunately Melbourne lost to Hobart 12-8. I had a nice time watching the tournament, and walking around the city. The Hobart real tennis club is situated close to the Salamanca market, which operated every Saturday. We went there to browse and to get some food during lunch. It was busy but lots of fun.

Here are some photos taken around the city.

Paradise Bay, Whitsundays, Queensland

17 to 22 Aug 08

The weather in Melbourne turned pretty cold and wet recently so we thought we'd escape to sunny Queensland and booked into Paradise Bay in the Whitsundays. We had 5 nice days in the sun, eating lots, going sailing, snorkeling, reading, drawing, kayaking or just doing nothing much in particular. There were cold bits but they were "bits"... :)

Jeremy was pretty pleased... enjoying a glass of wine in a hammock on the verandah of our bungalow.

Seen too many movies...

The nite before we left for our holiday, my silly mind wondered if the resort would let me enter. LOL. I've seen too many movies. After all they are a smart sort of place and having someone around with crutches might kinda lower the tone... and the type of people who goes to resorts in the middle of nowhere in the Whitsundays must want to go on cruises, snorkeling, walking and lots of other exciting activities. I recalled a movie I saw (Hot Fuzz) about a city cop going to a little town where the neighbourhood watch or committee killed those who did not meet a certain standard and the troublemakers, so that the town will be judged a good town and be given an award! So having to use crutches would be pretty unfashionable and hence, I will be at risk of being killed.

Anyway, at the time of composing this, I was at the verandah of our bungalow, where the resort is preparing a candlelit dinner. Dinner was not yet ready, but the table was laid and it was rather nice :) (pictured left). The bungalow faced the sea so we could hear waves lapping... And I was very much alive... and my leg was doing well, despite having walked a lot at the airports, and even climbed onto a helicopter from Hamilton Island to get to the resort!

My first helicopter ride

... and it was sensational, especially the lift-off. I took the front seat and felt my heart sink seeing the ground pulled away from us as we ascended... In my amazement, I had forgotten about the camera in my hand! Most images from the helicopter were taken by Jeremy on our return trip to Hamilton Island to catch our flight back to Melbourne.

I love this photo (above) which shows how expansive the ocean is. (LOL, you can see my reflection in the photo)

The above is Hamilton Island from the helicopter

And finally, us standing by the helicopter (left) and me in it...

The resort has a catamaran, and we were out most days on it.

We'd leave after breakfast and by lunch, arrive on a nice deserted beach for our packed lunch and some sun... then we'd snorkel and head back to the resort. I did not cope well with snorkeling. I don't like the sea or swimming pools and having a bad leg didn't help. Jeremy had to swim for me and dragged me along in the water...

That's me reflected in Jeremy's glasses! You can see my crutches on the left!

Spotted 2 humpback whales!!

Spotting two humpback whales within close proximity was definitely a highlight. They were up and out of the water showing their white front, and were flapping their gigantic tails in the air. The spectacle lasted quite long, possibly 5 minutes, from when we saw them in front of us, then on the side of the boat as we passed them, until they were behind the boat and out of sight.

Other animals we met

The were lots of birds at night having conversations and keeping me awake some nights. There were 3 curlews (one pictured on the left) which lived in the resort. They were all named Edgar (don't know why) and they were rather scary looking... and would come around especially during meal times.

We saw some eagles, some wild goats too, some dolphins in a distance (I could barely make them out as dolphins) and some turtles poking their heads above water.

Here's are pictures of Edwina and me. Edwina is one of the resident wallabies. She had a piece of banana in her hands.She would take the food from the hand of the resort staff but was quite wary of the guests. I had to leave a piece of banana on the ground, and then move away before she would take the food. She has a joey (baby wallaby) in her pouch.

For the tea enthusiast

The Richmond Tea Club emblem :).... just kidding! My latest and fun design on Tshirt....

My cast is gone!

It was a big day for me last Thursday - I had my cast taken off!

I was braving myself for another disappointment when I went to see the doctor, because 2 weeks ago I was told by the doctor that the bone was not healing well. After 6 weeks with the cast, I have had enough but I was told to wear it for another 2 weeks. I'm so happy it finally happened! Yay!

Not as I expected, I don't have to wear a plastic brace or boot. I'm given a support sock (shown in a couple of pictures below) to suppress swelling, and can gradually put all my weight on the leg. There will be a fair bit of exercises to follow through to strengthen and stretch the muscles and many visits to physio. For now, I still use the crutches until I am able to walk confidently.

I told my bro the good news and he wanted some photos. Bro, I'm afraid you are going to be disappointed because the photos are not exciting...

To start off, here are my first xrays of my left leg one day after the accident. The fracture is just above my ankle shown on the left of both images (indicated by red arrows).

Photos of one leg in the support sock (left leg)... I think the difference in size of the two legs is quite minor...

When the cast was taken off, my leg looked rather sad. It had layers and layers of dried skin, so the first thing I did when I arrived home was to try to wash the layers off. It's going to take a while... I could have stayed in the bathroom for a long time.

These photos are taken after having washed once, and they still show lots of dried skin. Here's a close-up (below left) just for you bro! The photo on the top right (below) shows the the outside of the foot is still a little swollen.

Previous related posts:

A broken leg... and light at the end of this tunnel - posted July 11

Ankle update (again) - posted June 23

Ankle update - posted June 17

A broken leg - that's what happened last weekend - posted June 11

A quiet moment snuggling up to Kitty

A nice thought to have a cat to snuggle up to (or rather a cat which wants to snuggle up to you) and have a nice quiet moment on a swing... :). I guess this won't happen too often in Melbourne now that's it's winter and is usually extremely cold, unless you are able to find a swing indoors...

A new digital piece uploaded today... as usual, also available on Tshirt and prints (as greeting card and wall art)