Up for a swim, anyone?

2008-09-24 - Wednesday

Ok, it was another late night...but not for the reasons you may be thinking!! (Well, Ok, maybe partly for the reasons you may be thinking).

We did go out to the Vic for another night of partying... and party we did. Some of us harder than the night before. As for me; I think I partied as hard, but it was alcohol free - thank goodness.

If I hadn't mentioned before, one of the attractions of the Vic, besides the cheap food, is their party games - the prizes for which are normally jugs of beer. Well, we were the clear victors that night, taking home jug after jug... Which no doubt added to the party spirit. Again, it was an early start so it was a relatively early end. We were back from the Vic around midnight, but unfortunately that wasn't the end of my night. For you see, I was nearing a crisis...I was down to my last pair of underwear and really didn't want to resort to spraying them, flipping them inside-out, holding them out the window while driving or any other methods I've heard of for restoring their "freshness". T.M.I. ? Sorry...I thought we were at that next level of sharing already. :-)

So, due to the speed of the machines I was using, it was another 3 hours before I got to bed. I was able to use that time to get caught up on some emails and upload some blog entries...so it was productive time.

After about 5 hours of sleep, I was greeted with another issue. About a week ago, I had noticed a very slight patch of rash on the front of my right leg. I had watched it for a day or two and noticed that it wasn't progressing any and in fact was getting better so I didn't really think anything of it. I suspected it was brought on by the heat or the wool socks I used while hiking.

Well, this morning, it had grown considerably and was blood red, worse, it was on both legs and had climbed up to my knees in a series of blotchy patches. There were no other symptoms, no itchiness, no pain what so ever...but given it's new appearance, I figured I really should get it checked out while we were in a city with realatively accessible doctors. So, while the group went to stock up on supplies, I ran down to the local community clinic. I don't recall the techical jargon, but after discussing with a doctor I was assured that it wasn't anything to be overly concerned about. The doctor surmised that it was some form of bacterial infection which was most probably spurred by some kind of environmental element and that it was undoubtedly agrivated by the heat and friction generated by dancing in jeans last night (all my shorts were dirty as well). He prescribed me 10 doses of anti-biotics and I was on my way.

<< Just as a quick note to those who may be overly concerned about the rash (read "Mom"); as of the writing of this blog entry (3 days later); the anti-biotics are working their magic - the rash has subsided dramatically and I suspect it will be completely gone by the time I upload this entry. >>

So, today was a day for swimming. We explored 3 different falls and took the opportunity to try all of them out.

The first was called Wangi falls. These seemed to be busiest of the three we visited. This set of falls were characterized by a very large water pool with two sets of falls running opposite to the entry point. These falls were also known to be inhabitated by fresh water crocodiles - and the posted signs made a point to indicate that you were assuming the risk should you wish to swim with them. Perhaps it was because the swimmers didn't read English, or could not interpret the rather dire pictures; but the warnings did not appear to be a deterant for the 10's of people presently enjoying a refreshing dip.

To be honest, it did little to deter us as well. It didn't take anytime for all of us to be in the water and swimming towards the larger of the two falls.

After about 45 minutes of swimming, we were out for lunch and then off to our second set of falls.

These were called Florence Falls. And again, they were busier than Matt had ever seen them...but then again, we were visiting them later in the day than Matt had ever done so previously as well.

These water pool associated with these falls were much smaller than the first and the falls themselves were about 1/2 the height of the first. However, all sides of the water pool, except for where the water flowed out of the pool was surrounded by this cliff and I rather liked the intimacy it created as compared to the other falls.

Matt had taken down his Mask and snorkel, so we had all taken turns discovering the underside of these falls as well. Below the water line, many a fish could be seen ranging in size from a couple of inches to just short of a foot. Also visible were one or two quite tall trees which for one reason or another had lost their footing on the cliffs edge and now call the floor of this pool their new home.

After an hour of relaxing in this pool, it was off to our evening campsite and the home of our last swimming hole: buley rock hole.

There wasn't really a set of falls here; unless perhaps you were the size of a smurf. Instead there were a series of waterholes, each fed by the one previous with water cascading down and over a rock embankment to the next. The first pool, measured only 20 feet or so in diameter, and was just as deep...so it did make for some nice diving...certainly not to Olympic standards...but fun nonetheless.

For supper tonight: Chicken Alfredo, prepared by Matt and Paul.