King catastrophe

Saturday 27/2/21

You guessed it.

Paul was one of the 3 doing the rim walk climb and I was one of the 6 who didn’t.

So paul got up and did the rim walk at 6 while I slept in.

Paul took some amazing photos which i will add later, and found it a challenge, a surmountable one.

 

After that he wanted to go to the shop for a drink while I had yet to check out the pool so i thought it would be a good idea to go on my own.

 

Not so.

 

On my way back to the pool after trying a little detour, I fell over. Crashed to the ground, with my face in that lovely red soil.

I realised I had turned my ankle(lots of experience)  and done something to my arm as I could not get up. There was no one around so I tried to get myself off the ground and out of the dirt/gravel and sand.   I fell back on my bum.  I cried out for help but there was no one around.   I noticed a rocky outcrop on my other side and bum shuffled over and somehow got myself up holding on with my good arm. There was no one around, I didn’t have my phone and I was somewhere in the middle of the resort and I wasn’t sure anyone could find me in time for our departure time in one hour. I made my way somehow walking on my own until there were posts to help. I even tried to find a broken tree branch to use as a stick to help me stay upright.   It felt a bit like a cross between Survivor and Bear Grills. Or maybe Crocodile Dundee..

Once back at the room, Paul had arrived  and he swung into action. He decided that my quickly swelling ankle was a sprain at least and needed ice. He checked my wrist and decided it was probably just a strain.

Somehow we got to the bus which was thankfully close and I was practically lifted on by Paul and the driver. I could not weight bear at all at this stage.

 

When the other 7 people got to the bus, they were all talking about the rim walk and how scary that was. Ha! Little did they realise the dangers of the resort itself! 

 

And then we were on our way to Alice Springs, only about 500km away. The resort gave us lots of ice for both my ankle and arm and off we went. Paul and other passengers pooled their drugs and I was offered all sorts of things for pain and swelling.  I generally take Panadol with me when I travel but you should see what other people take, all sorts of drugs. We found this on a previous trip to Fiji when one of the people in our group was bitten by something and he suddenly had at least 20 different drugs to choose from. I am sure they were all legal.

 

It just shows that people are nice and want to help. Lots of people helped carry me on and off the bus at the various toilet and food stops along the way. I could walk a little leaning on Paul one minute and then could not move at all the next.  And perhaps a bit groggy from all the drugs, god (and maybe Paul) knows what I took!

We had a lunch stop at  a camel farm where we ate camel burger and drank beer. Yum.  Camels are a pest in this area. Brought over as transport in the early days of the territory, these camels absolutely thrived. There is much more food and water in this area than in their natural desert habitat.  Unfortunately they are good at finding all the water and  food and have caused the near extinction of some native animals including marlas and are even a threat to emus. They eat the same food as emus but the way they eat this fruit, they destroy the tree so that they don’t seed and grow more trees. All very sad.

But back to something really sad. After 5 or 6 hours on the bus, we arrived at Alice springs where instead of checking in, Paul went looking for a wheelchair (none available) and a taxi to take us to the hospital. I somehow got off the bus with at least 2 passengers and driver helping me.

So we went to Emergency at Alice Springs hospital at about 6.30 ish on a Saturday night. It took about 3 hours to be seen, Xrayed and booted up.

I have a broken (fractured) ankle and only a sprained wrist/elbow. The lovely Irish doctor  considered plastering my ankle but that would mean I could not fly due to increased risk of DVT  so she decided on the boot. She also provided a letter saying I was fit to fly. Or at least she thought I would be in a week or so.

Everyone at the hospital was great and while we had some concerns, it all went well, even waiting for a taxi at the end. This was a little scary with some of the drop offs and pick ups.

Back to our hotel and finally checking in at 10ish. Still no wheelchair available and our room was a very long way away apparently. The two couples with whom we were going to have dinner that night (at 7.30) were happy to help. So we asked the hotel guy for some form of transport as it was clear I would not be able to walk to my room nor be carried.  I suggested a luggage trolley early on which was quickly discounted but in the end,  I hopped on a trolley and was pushed.

The nice hotel employee suggested we place a chair on the trolley so I could sit as it would be safer.

OMG I felt like royalty being carried/pushed aloft on my own throne. I don’t think we have a photo of that.

 

Once we reached our room, we ordered dinner with strong drinks (medicinal only for both of us).  Thank goodness for Paul. All the canyon rim walkers felt like heroes for making the walk. But Paul did that and did everything for me for 500 kilometers.  I don't know where or how i would have been without him. My hero.

What a strange day that was. Or was it the drugs?