Our Very Sick Little Angel: Wednesday 8 August 2012: Townsville Queensland.

Last night I was all set to type up another travel blog, now that Dave and I have been happily settled into Big4 Woodlands Townsville Caravan Park the past few days. Then came a phone call from my youngest son Adrian telling us his eldest little 3 year old daughter Orlena is critically ill in Princess Margaret Hospital with a blood clot bleeding on her brain and pressure building up. A terrible sleepless night for us after her parents were told to "prepare for the worst" as she was operated on, and then a team of doctors and nurses were with her all night, monitoring her. Orlena survived last night due to the hands of all the medical angels, and today we've been told she has a lot longer to go with her treatment. Poor Adrian says she looks like a little doll on the hospital bed with tubes everywhere. I can't think straight and am close to tears all the time, and Dave has been wonderful with booking a flight home for me first, I am back to Perth this time tomorrow (Thursday 9th August) and straight to PMH to join the family waiting and hoping for little Orlena to get better.

It's really horrible when life is a waiting game at times like this; all I can say is that at least Orlena has so many loving hands and hearts looking after her. I can't wait to be there too….Queensland is too far away from home right now!

Dave is staying on a few more days, organising somewhere to store our bikes and trailer, and just waiting to see what happens next anyway.

One thing I was going to say in my blog last night was that my Moto Guzzi bike has broken down again on Monday, electrical problem again, this time at a very busy big roundabout in Townsville. At least our helmet "Senna" communication system had just been sorted (the day before) and I was able to let Dave know I had just lost all power in heavy traffic! After us both doing a spell looking like stranded fluoro-vested teletubbies with our motorbikes on the grassed roundabout verge, the darn Italian bike was very quickly towed away and taken to a great repair shop with a lady mechanic called "Spanner" and she knows what the problem is….and a new regulator part to stop the bike overcharging on the long trips is being sent over from Perth. Once again Mario from Thunderbikes is our helper here, thankfully!

So my bike will possibly be repaired by this Friday, giving Dave some time to get it stored if he is to also fly home. We just don't know what to do right now, take each day as it comes…at least I have a plane ticket ready to go for starters.

We have also had new bike tyres for our bikes while in Townsville. The management at the Big 4 Caravan Park here have been so kind and helpful with our news about our dear little sick granddaughter. They have offered a space to store the bikes/trailer with them, but we may need a month to do this safely. It depends on how our little angel goes.

On a happier note, before our bad news, we did thoroughly enjoy a ferry trip and a day to Magnetic Island which is prominent off the Townsville "Strand" beachfront. Very cheap prices to go over and a delightful place to visit. I even went for a swim in one of the gorgeous isolated bays, this being the "non-stinger" season.

We have also spent time at the Reef HQ, which is the world's biggest marine coral museum. Worth it! There is a turtle "hospital" for poor sick turtles that have been harmed by human water practices, like fishing nets, plastic bags, boat strikes etc.

Townsville has been a surprisingly lovely place even though it is a huge city (over 195,000 people) and we have had to ride long distances to get anywhere. The city area has had a major multimillion dollar upgrade along the beachfront to make the most of the lovely coastal views, and the tourists from the world are coming to enjoy this.

All this has paled into insignificance now that our little family member is so ill. Makes us realise what really matters, and how much family counts at times like this.

Trish

PS. Now is not the time to post photos of things we have been doing. We will sort out this family situation as that is the most important thing on our minds.

Dave