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Published: December 10th 2007
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Our beach - Clifton 4th
How creapy did i feel taking pictures of all the people on the beach? Let’s just get straight into it, no need for any poetic prelude.
Day 18
Today we spent a few hours in the morning shadowing the biomechanists (who are nothing more than glorified personal trainers) in the SSISA gym. From here we went to the hospital where many of the SSISA doctors perform their surgery.
After providing the receptionist enormous entertainment through our pronunciation of the doctors’ name we finally worked out where we were meant to be and subsequently witnessed: ACL (knee) reconstructions, arthroscopies, a carpal tunnel release (hand surgery) and some ulnar shortening (poor diamond miner was getting sore wrist).
Interestingly the first operation was performed on a man who had just finished running the Great Wall of China with an ACL deficient knee, running approx 46km a day for 4 months: his knee pain is probably the least of his worries I’d say!
Day 19
After working so hard yesterday we thought it best to take the day off and go to the beach. Upon arrival we were greeted by thousands of 15-18yo school children making the most of their 1st day of school holidays, I felt every day of my 24yrs of age… and
A day at the cricket
Be carefull with the heavy beer Tim some!
What else should you do after a day at the beach except share a few cocktails over a seafood dinner…life is tough. Obviously, (being Aussie boys in a foreign country) this led to a few more drinks and a night out with friends. As has become common for Tim in Melbourne, he ended up having drinks with the manager of the place at the end of the night; except Tim was still buying the man drinks? Work that one out?
Day 20
7am and we were up preparing for a day of wine tasting at the nearby ‘wine farms’. Spectacular scenery, beautiful wine, good company and even a romantic boat ride for a lucky couple (Tim & Simon).
Our crew booked out a backpackers in the wine region and after throwing a few ostrich steaks on the ‘braai’ (BBQ) we sat around the fire telling stories and bad jokes most of the night.
Day 21
Up early again to come back to town for the cricket, SAR vs NZ in a 1 dayer at Newlands stadium. Two mates, Tim and I all managed to get in for free courtesy of a contact that
Free ride home
An expensive price to pay for being a patriotic Aussie one of the boys had. We all proceeded to drink full strength beer in the sun (impossible back in Aus) while taking great pleasure in watching the Proteas teach our Kiwi neighbors a cricketing lesson. Tim (possibly unaccustomed to drinking heavies in the sun) thought it would be a great idea to don his Aussie rugby guernsey and repeatedly bellow out “come on Aussie come on…” at the top of his lungs as we were leaving the ground; much to the disgust of the local crowd.
A quick shower, some “chow” and we were ready to head over to Camps Bay (an affluent suburb on a west facing beach) for some sun downers. Little did we know we would rudely interrupt the romantic dinner of Sarah (one of our supervisors), but after pouring on some of our Aussie charm we were all best of friends and had a great night. The night finished with Tim taking / ‘borrowing’ the parking attendant’s identification bib and directing cars around the parking lot at 2 in the morning…definitely should stick to the light beers next time you are at the cricket Tim.
Day 22
Back to work today. We went
to Cape Town’s other Major Soccer club, “Santos”, in the morning where we talked to the team physio and helped out with some of the junior trials that were going on.
We spent the afternoon speaking to people at SSISA to organize our schedule for the rest of the week.
After handing out 4 dinner invitations to different people for one of my famous home cooked curries, we had dinner at home by ourselves. Tim kindly assures me that it was not my cooking that turned people away but I’m not so sure.
Day 23
Santos again in the morning then off to the beach in the afternoon. Must be sounding a bit repetitive by now but, surprisingly, the beach was soon followed by an incredible seafood platter and a few 'quiet' drinks to share between 4 of us.
Day 24
An early rise to be at SSISA for a ‘healthy weight class’ by 6:30 (we are possibly not the best role models for this class at this stage of our trip). We then joined in with the training interns to learn a bit about the different classes that SSISA has to offer.
I
Dinner at Moyo's
Can any1 spot the tourist? spent the afternoon trying to catch some much needed z’s while Tim saw a patient with one of the biomechanists before returning home. We went out for dinner at a traditional African restaurant (MOYO's) with Sarah (yes we were invited this time), where we enjoyed an indescribably amazing night; tasting a smorgasbord of local delicacies while intermittently watching an eclectic range of entertainment including; native dances, music and theatrical performances.
Day 25
Back to Santos for the morning then over to surgery again to watch some different methods of ACL reconstructions.
In the evening we went for a run with a local running club that one of our supervisors is a member of. A 10km run half way up Table Mountain was made incredibly easy due to the beautiful forest that we were running through combined with spectacular views over the bay and the eastern beaches of Cape Town.
Finally we convinced someone to come over for a home cooked meal. Yay!!! Thankfully Tim cooked and impressed with a delicious spag bol.
Day 26
In to SSISA again to be shown through some state of the art research/rehab equipment that some of the prof’s
Wine tasting
I wish i knew a bit more about wine! and surgeons are developing. May not be exciting for you to read about but Tim and I were enthralled by the explanation given to us explaining the intricacies of the eccentric cycle egometer program currently being developed.
Friday afternoon drinks followed at the local Irish pub with 20 other members of staff/students of the institute. Another great night was enjoyed topped off by Tim accidentally sending an SMS to the wrong ‘friend’ at 4:30 in the morning. For those of you that need explanation…lets just say that messages that are sent at this time shouldn’t be going to the wrong person. Hilarious for me, not so for Tim 😊
Better leave it there folks.
Thanks for taking the time to read about what we have been getting up to!
Love and miss you all heaps!!!
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