WoodWalkAbout

Wood Walkabout - October (First Half)

Week 1 - Australia (Gold Coast) - Julie & Cassi
Week 1 - Greece (Santorini) - Steve, Mitch Sheri
Week 2- Greece (Santorini) - All
Weeks 3-4 - Austria (Vienna,) Italy (Lake Como)

Australia (Gold Coast)- Cassi & I return to Oz to see Dad in hospital


Seeing dad's steady improvement, spending time with Jon and Chloe & walking the best beaches in the world!

Having divided our luggage, Steve, Sheri & Mitch farewelled Cassi and I at Athens Airport.
It was an emotional goodbye given the reason for the trip and the fact that this is the first time the five of us had been apart for ten months, (neverlone taking to opposite sides of the world.)

We bound a four hour flight to Dubai where we stayed overnight in a hotel five minutes up the road from the airport. Despite being a little nervous doing this with Cassi in the middle of the night, all went smoothly and in next to no time we were airborne once more and heading for Brisbane.



An emotional goodbye at Athens Airport
Ashleigh, the Emirates hostie from Inverness in Scotland, who really helped us out

Fourteen hours later we were on the ground, although slightly worse for wear, and headed down to the Gold Coast by car. After dropping our bags into our apartment and meeting up with Barbara, Denis, Jon and Chloe and arriving at the hospital, the reality and enormity of it all hit home. Dad seemed ok physcially although not able to get around a whole lot. He had persistent headaches due to the pressure on his brain and needed a lot of sleep due to all the medication. Medically, the bleed seemed to be clearing itself, whilst the doctors increased his level of white blood cells should surgery be needed down the track.

Cassi at Brisbane Airport

"Dubi" the bear from Dubai. Cassidy thought he'd make a good present for Grandpa along with the cards made by the kids

Over the next five days, we spent a lot of time close to his bedside being sure not to overstay our welcome, and allow him the time he needed to rest. The girls were great company for each other camped out on the floor of Grandpa's room, doing schoolwork, drawing and colouring in. Hospitals are never good places for children, so we tried to mix things up a bit, with walks on the beach each morning before heading to the hospital, and the odd dinner or lunch with Jon, Barbara & Chloe. We were still jet lagged so we were up early each morning, with plenty of time for walks and schoolwork. As a special treat for being so patient during a difficult time, Jon and I took Cassi and Chloe to Sea World one afternoon while Dad rested. The cousins enjoyed this rare time together on water slides, rides, the obligatory dolphin shows and seeing all the other animals. This was the silver lining of what had happened....

Dolphin Show & swimming at the Sea World pool

Chloe & Cassi doing the dishes - what fun!
Cassi doing her school work in the apartment before visiting the hospital - not so much fun...

After the European beaches, we really appreciated the beautiful white sand of the Gold Coast

Whilst we were there, Dad was experiencing constant headaches due to the pressure on his brain. These combined with some memory and speech issues proved to be his biggest challenges. The regular CT scans showed steady improvement, the bleed was disappearing slowly of its own accord. No surgery would be needed if this continued. He was steadily improving: firstly moving from ICU, then into a room of his own in a ward, and by the time of our departure, he'd graduated into a shared ward. Not that being in a room with 5 other neurological patients all coming to grips with their own traumas and frustrations was any type of reward mind you, but it did mean he was getting better and less dependent on medical supervision. All good so far... The doctors seemed happy with his progress, and were talking about rehab. shortly if things continued. Surgery wasn't completely ruled out, but it didn't seem likely with the current rate of progress.

After meeting up with my old friend Shell at Brisbane airport, Cassi and I returned to Athens, a week after our departure. It had been a surreal time for us being back in Australia, having been away for so long. We had gone home without returning home, and things were not the same as when we left.


Greece (Santorini)

Temps. 23 deg. C - 31 deg. C Dusk 8pm


A family reunited, sharing stunning sunsets, volcanic vistas and long, panaramic breakfasts.

Eventually we arrived into Santorini after travelling for nearly 30 hours. The hotel's no-show at the airport after our epic journey didn't go down well. Whilst being one of the first to collect our luggage and greet the sea of signs waiting out front, we quickly became shags on a rock as our fellow passengers were collected up and taken to their accomodations. Thankfully the timing mis-hap was resolved and we were taken to our hotel, where Steve and the kids were outside waiting for us.

The road there didn't seem to match up with what I had been imagining. It was dusty, dirty and lined with huge no.s of motor and quad bikes for hire. We were nearing the end of the tourism season so many of them stood unused. The view from our hotel which was a collection of stand alone apartments stepped down the hillside, was thankfully quite a different story -this was the Santorini I'd seen in all the pictures.

From our hillside terrace we could see the entire expanse of water and the circular band of the island. The view's were panaramic, and too good to be given full justice on camera. Santorini itself, is a volcanic island made up of black volcanic rock. The first volcanic eruption was back in 1500 BC and is said to be responsible for the destruction of Minoan Crete. The second eruption was as recent as 1956. The centre of the volcano crater (the caldera,) is still visible today within the 100 square km basin of water and is still active today as we saw first hand. The terrain itself is very dramatic, with black earthed cliffs sitting up to 300 meters above the waters edge.

The two things that hit you when you arrive into Santorini are the steps and the cats! There are steps everywhere if you intend staying or venturing around the rim of the volcano, so its not for the faint hearted. By the end of our stay we had well developed calf muscles. And the cats, well much to Cassidy's delight they were everywhere too.

Our Hotel:

- Astra Hotel & Apartments at Imerovigli:

In a word - Outstanding!

View of Oia through the wall at the poolside bar- a pretty as a postcard!
The hotel pool, like so many others within view was stepped down the hillside overlooking the water - we all loved it after our wet, cold summer!

Cassi with the beautiful breakfast delivered each morning to our terrace

The view from the terrace - in a word - heaven! (n.B. central crater, the dark bit in the middle)

One of the apartments of our hotel down by the pool at sunset.

Valentina, our main host who took Sheri and Mitch under her wing before Cassi and I arrived.

She was wonderful with the children, and gave them all a lovely card and a parting gift when we left.

View of Imerovigli from Oia. We were within all the mass of white buildings directly up from the

famous knoll known as Scaros out in front.

A closer view of Scaros the odd bit jotting out from the volcano rim below Imegrovigli.

Cassi an I walked two thirds of the way around it, counting each of the 32o steps on the way back up - Year 1 Maths at its best

At Work - Sheri and Steve doing a Maths lesson

At Play - Mitch and Cassi's Flag Shop in the fireplace

Making the most of the sun and being by the pool

One of the many sunset views from our terrace

Buildings to our left bathed in a warm glow at sunset

Looking out our door as the day came to a close

The Churches:

Characteristic domes of the Greek churches

Fira:

View back from Fira towards Imerovigli

View of Fira from Fir0stefani

View from the terrace of Archipeligos Restaurant at Fira

The most amazing sunset of our time in Santorini - taken at Fira

Boats anchored off Fira after dark

Terrace on the walk around to our local Taverna
One of the many cats of Santorini - they were everywhere much to Cassi's delight

Local Post Box
View of Firostefani on the way to our favourite Taverna
Some of the many cruise boats anchored off Fira.

(We saw up to 4 at a time, in peak season they have up to 12.)

Dinner In Oia:

Dinner in Oia was meant to give you the quintessential Santorini sunset experience. Having already had such an amazing one two nights before in Fira, it was going to be hard to top. We got the local bus down to Oia, which was fairly hair raising on certain bends. The view over the side of the cliff towards the barren waistland below was such a contrast to the Caldera (rim of the volcano,) where we were staying.

We enjoyed pottering through all the little shops up and down the narrow alley ways, before making our way down the 340 steps to Dimitris Restaurant at Amoudi Bay. An unforgettable evening!

View back to Imerovigli from Oia

View of Oia from our apartment



Oia harbour

Dimitris Restaurant on Oia harbour - seafood straight from the sea to the grill

Boats at Oia Harbour

Victory Over the Volcano:

During our time on Santorini we had the pleasure of meeting a lovely couple from New York. Both Dermatologists, Ruth and Eric stayed in the apartment with the terrace across from ours for three nights, which meant we got to know them over a couple of long, panoramic breakfasts.

Eric and Steve were keen to investigate the volcano. Mitch and Ruth though, were a little nervous about the compulsory tall ship excursion to get there. In the end, we all braved the heat for a little adventure. Once the boats got going Ruth and Mitch were fine, and we all enjoyed the different perspective that being out on the water gave us. We not only got a closer look at some of the enormous cruise boats in the harbour, but we got to appreciate the enormity of the cliffs we were living on.

The crater itself was like what we imagined the moon to be - barren, black dirt, with the absence of any living thing. Correction. We did find one tiny shrub, to disprove this theory. Having been dropped off by the boat and given a deadline of an hour and a half we set about the loooong walk up the path in search of the top. We found it, and saw signs of the volcano's activity with sulphur-like gases escaping from rocks. We then took the obligatory photos and headed down to the boat for our tour of the hot springs on the other side of the crator. Just as we boarded the boat we realised we'd left a bag behind somewhere up there, and Steve (not liking to lose anything,) stayed behind to find it, whilst we sailed away to the hot springs. He had a mere 40 minutes until our return, and somehow managed to get up and back to the very top where he found the bag. A human feat in our opinion !

Donkey Drama's:

We made the crossing back to Fira uneventfully, and decided to continue with the touristy stuff opting to have a go at the donkey rides up the hill. Whilst Eric and Ruth made it up unscathed it seemed, it would be a decision we would regret. Cassidy, with her love of horse-like creatures was chaffing at the bit (pardon the punn) to have a go, but as luck would have it she was the one who ended up crying half way up, "I want to get off! I want to get off!" I couldn't blame her. We both shared one poor donkey so you can imagine it wouldn't have been any fun for the donkey in the heat. Being anxious to get us off its back it zigzagged up the hill and took us into the wall at every turn grazing our knees on the way. Meanwhile, about 100 meters back down the track, Steve and Mitch were also sharing a donkey (another poor creature, ) and Sheri was on her own. Thankfully they all had "The Donkey Master" with them because at least he was there with them, when Steve had to dismount and retrieve my camera guard that had dropped into a pile of donkey urine, during the two previous zigzag lengths of the hill. My attempts to ask people passing to pick it up, and pass it to the man wearing the green hat with the children, had understandably failed. So it was Steve to the rescue once more. Amazingly he was successful in finding it, problem was, he then had to walk up the steep path unaided, on the back of his victory over the volcano. By the end of the day we thought he was Hercules! It had been an exhausting day's outing, but nothing a swim didn't fix.

The tall ship that took us to the crator & hot springs

Cassi on deck

Standing on the top of the crator with our neighbours Eric and Ruth from New York

Kids in front of the crator

Mitch thinking it really was the moon...
Sheri and Eric walking across the crator

The Hazardous Donkey Rides:

"The Donkey Master"

The zig-zag donkey track up to Fira - a scarey experience

Poor donkey waiting for a rider (or two)

Cassi and I before all the drama....

Mitch and Sheri after Steve had jumped ship to retrieve Julie's camera guard
Poor things lining up for their turn

We hired a car on our last day and saw the rest of the Island including the Red and Black Beaches. A real contrast to what we had seen up till then....

Red Beach:

Deck chairs cast aside from the summer season

Ancient Thera:

After the steep walk up the hill, we inspected the ruins of Ancient Thira

where we nearly got blown off the cliff. Well worth the effort!


The Black Beaches: (Kamari & Parissa)

Cassidy navigating her way through the stones to the water on Kamari Beach

Parissa Beach below Ancient Thera

Kamari Beach
Vlichada Beach

An Island of Contrasts:

The old & the new. It was common to see abandoned homes and building sites.
The view from the bus enroute to Oia. The barren plains- the other side of Santorini

Circular vines to protect the grapes from the wind, are characteristic on Santorini

More Bad News From Home:

(Dad has emergency surgery five days after our return to Greece.)

For the past five days, Cassi and I had got back into the swing of being with the gang again, and discovering the delights of Santorini. We tried to limit the feelings of hopeless isolation by keeping in touch with Dad on a daily basis which was comforting & ressuring now that we were back on the other side of the world. Then on the morning he was meant to move to rehab. we got news that he had undergone emergency surgery to remove a clot. They couldn't get it all, so a second op. was planned for twelve hours time. This news hit us hard to put it mildly, thinking he was on the up and up. A torturous couple of days followed - a kind of a blur really, as we stayed close to our phones for updates.

Thankfully, he come through both op's well on all accounts and still continues to improve each day. I am pleased (an understatement of course,) to say nearly seven weeks after the first bleed, (which they are now calling "a stroke,") that he is now home, having spent a few weeks in rehab. He tells us he topped his class in rehab. rising to "top dog" status gaining the best room. He's made amazing progress, but still has a way to go with twice weekly appointments as a day visitor. Whilst still coming to terms with what happened, Dad, (our Grandpa,) I think now realises that he's a very lucky man. We all look forward to seeing him again, once back in Oz, especially the kids, who probably felt more of what happened than we gave them credit.

We left Santorini and headed to Vienna, with thoughts still turned towards home. Back to the cold - the start of our second European winter. We would continue our remaining 12 week adventure, and appreciate every day at a time...

Quad bikes for hire
Aegen Airlines flight bound for Athens

Kids bound for Vienna