Friday 16 October 2015 A visit from the Thompsons

In the past weeks we have really been blessed to have opportunities to go away for a few days, or have people come to visit us. During the past week it has been wonderful to have Coral (Brian's sister) and Vivian spend a few days with us. The first thing they did was make the 1000+ km journey from Port Lincoln to Portland in a single day - no mean feat, especially with the strong possibility of getting lost in Gawler - something Brian and I seem to manage with monotonous regularity whenever we travel to Port Lincoln.

On Monday we went to Warrnambool, mainly so I could have a routine post-operative appointment with my neurosurgeon Mr Tiew Han (the same surgeon who operated on Brian's neck about 4 years ago). He was very impressed with my progress, as he'd been concerned I may have been left with a continued legacy of back pain - and he couldn't wipe the smile off his face when I said I basically have none at all. He thinks I must have a very high pain threshold - whereas I think I have a very high prayer threshold! 
He showed us my back xray on his laptop - an intriguing combination of screws and wires. 
I am to have another xray taken in 3 months just to check that I don't have a screw loose - and that is quite literally! Hmmm

After a bit of shopping we headed off for lunch at Fishtales Cafe.

It was a huge lunch at a very respectable price.

Brian was especially impressed with his delectable iced coffee.

 

And on the way home we took the time to drive through Tower Hill (near Warrnambool) - the wildlife reserve in a volcanic crater - something we normally just drive past as we travel from A to B.

I kept my window closed as I've never been all that keen on the beady eyes (and pointy beak) of the emu.

Back in Portland there was some backyard action - with the demolition of the old cubbyhouse. This will enable us to replace the side fence, so it was a great help to have some help to get this task done.

All in all it was a lovely visit, and we hope we haven't worn everyone out with the extra jobs that have been achieved.