Southward Bound

This weekend we made the most of the Anzac day public holiday, took Friday off work and set off on a four day long weekend road trip to explore parts of the south-west.

Stops and attractions included:

Fergus the cow - Gnomesville, Ferguson Valley - The Diamond Tree, Manjimup and Gloucester Tree, Pemberton (including bird feeding) - Pemberton Pool and Big Brook Dam, Pemberton - Karri Valley Resort (kayaking, kangaroo petting, night walking) - Callcup Hill, Meerup Beach and Summertime Track (4WDs are a must) - Rest Point Holiday Park, Walpole (camping, kookaburras, pelicans, stingrays!) - Purchasing gumboots to splosh around in the puddles after all the rain we got! - Valley of the Giants (treetop walk), Denmark - Giant Tingle Tree and Circular Pool, Walpole - Home 

Aside from getting up close and personal with stingrays and being happy as Larry in a brand new pair of gumboots, the most memorable event of the weekend would have to be setting out for a 3.5km bush walk at night and joking about the torch going out... Then having the torch go out at almost exactly the half way point! Thanks goodness for the full moon!

Getting Lucky

So this is wayyyy overdue. I'm a procrastinator by nature.

Over the Easter weekend we packed our bags and swags, said goodbye to the big smoke and road tripped to Lucky Bay (about an hour north of Geraldton, Western Australia).

You can explore the world, but sometimes, all you need is to be exposed to your own backyard.

Five Minute Medical: Friction Burns 101

before : having fun

So I went away for the weekend and came back with ruined knees. I hit my left knee on the reef while snorkeling and while riding a body board being towed by a 4WD through shallow water (super safe, I know) I took a spill and got a nasty friction burn from the sand.

after : skinned knee

This post is for people like me who prefer to Google the answer to all their problems instead of seeking out someone who is actually trained in the field. In today's lesson I'm covering the treatment of friction burns (most common tends to be from carpet/rug/grass/astroturf).

When I looked up "how to treat a friction burn" I was met with (what I considered) reasonable advice: keep it clean, put some antiseptic, leave it uncovered and let it dry. The only thing was, 36 hours later my wound would not stop weeping. I took some more advice and put tea tree oil on my battlescar before bed and slept with my leg poking out from under the sheets. In the morning my wound was finally dry! 

So I put a band-aid back on and went about my merry way...

...Until lunch time when I discovered that the band-aid I put on was not absorbent enough to hold all the pus that had again started weeping from my knee. Time to seek out a new bandage and an actual brain.

When I spoke to the pharmacist he gave me a mini human bio lesson in moist healing:

1. Burns/wounds on the knees (and elbows/other areas of the body that move) are best to be kept moist whilst healing [I know this goes against all the times we've been told to give a wound oxygen to help heal and prevent infection]. When a wound dries/scabs over it is not like skin and does not have much/any elasticity, so when you bend the joint, the scab/new skin formed splits/breaks potentially causing further damage and hindering the healing process. Seems legit.

2. Keeping the wound moist while healing (especially with a large wound - mine is approx 3cm in diameter) reduces the severity of scarring because new skin cells grow better/faster in moist conditions. Apparently being shielded by a scab isn't the best environment for skin cell regeneration.

3. Healing time is greatly reduced compared to a wound that is left open to scab over.

And a little advice from me: invest in some good (large and absorbent) dressings that will properly cover your injury so you don't end up with an unexpected mess!

This is my knee tonight, after a body pump class and indoor beach volleyball game, approximately 2 and a half days since the accident.

I've followed the pharmacist's suggestion of vaseline and a non-stick dressing so we'll see how this bad boy fares up over the next week and a bit.

**UPDATE** A week on from the photo above and my knee is looking a heck of a lot better. New skin has grown in and I no longer have to wear a bandage :)

*Disclaimer* I in no way, shape or form claim to be a medical guru - take this advice at your own risk and if shit gets real seek an actual professional.

Dar-winning

See what I did there? I know, I know...

Anyway, Mum and I made a getaway to Darwin (Nothern Territory, Australia for those of you playing at home) for a few days and I was certainly surprised by what I found.

When you're there you forget it's a state (sorry, Territory) capital and it has more of a large country town feel about it. Since the wet season started early this year it was also a heck of a lot greener than I expected it to be, given that when you drive through the North West area of WA it's all low lying scrubland and dry.

We did an all day tour of Litchfield National Park stopping by giant cathedral and tombstone termite mounds, Wangi falls (closed for swimming due to the heavy rains and croc potential) and finally got to take a dip at Florence Falls which was well deserved after Mum and I trekked to the top of the Wangi falls (1.7km) in the midday heat! 

We also did a second day tour to Kakadu National Park (which is world heritage listed) to have a look at some Aboriginal rock art and take a cruise down the Yellow River for a spot of croc watching. At first I was like 'meh, crocs, whatever..' but there's something about when a crocodile ever so slowly surfaces from under the water and eyes off your boat like a free buffet that made it a little more exciting.

It was a good (but hot and humid!!) break, but it's good to be back home just in time to celebrate New Years Eve :)