This morning we woke up to a phone call from Robert who has spent some time in hospital with vertigo. He rang to ask about the history of my vertigo, which is Migraine Associated Vertigo, so I don’t get the migraine, I get the clamp around my skull instead.

Robert has been diagnosed with the more common, but no less debilitating, Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo which means the tiny calcium crystals (called otoconia) come loose from the utricle (a sensory organ in the inner ear containing hair cells which send signals to the brain concerning the orientation of the head) and flow freely in the fluid filled spaces of the inner ear causing the spinning sensation with movement of the head.

He tells me he has some exercises to do (like throwing yourself back onto the bed in an effort to get the crystals moving and allow you to get

used to the vertigo motion) but he is responding well to the tablets they have given him. He had to wait three hours for the ambulance to take him to Swan Hill hospital.

While he was seeing the doctor, he also had the incision site looked over as he has a lump above the site. However, the doctor assures him it is all fine, and it is not causing him any pain. The doctor thinks it will go away once his muscles are back in shape and place.

I took the opportunity to ask after the rest of his family who had been unwell and he tells me that Jacquab is back at work from hi Ross River Fever, Lucus is back at school after his latest bout of Covid, and Tracey hasn’t been really good, but has certainly had to deal with some stress over the last few weeks. Leah appears to be doing fine as she didn’t get a mention.

The family was to travel to Bendigo to meet Harvey this weekend but that has now been postponed until next weekend as Robert is not allowed travel for four days.

I then realised that I had a very red and puffy right eyelid. I think I have been bitten by something and it is not pleasant. The skin along the eyelid is stretched tight, and very itchy as well. I took some Zyrtec and hope that this will assist with the swelling and itchiness.

Once we had showers and breakfast we headed down to the IGA and found it was open – holiday or not. We topped up our supplies of milk, water and some eggs and bacon, unloaded it all at the van, and then headed out.

We went along the Midland Road until we turned right onto Tabletop Road and Russ was slightly disappointed that it was bitumen. Once we got to Allanooka Springs Road we headed back to the spot where we first found our orchids and took some time to inspect the area more thoroughly. However, there was no new flowers to be seen at this location.

We then took a side trip down a 4WD gravel road and stopped about halfway down. We had our lunch and coffees here before checking out the bushland around us. I found several flowers that I did not have photos for and did not know what the plants are, so I have more investigation to do in my fu

We had a lovely time in the sunshine and fresh air. The temperature hovered around the 22-degree mark for most of the middle of the day so it was very pleasant out walking.

We pulled in to one of the parking bays on Allanooka Springs Road and got out for a look-see. We have named it the Cowslip Orchid Parking Bay as there were well over 200 of the little darlings clustered on the sides of the roadway.

Along the way today we clocked over the 13,376-kilometre mark for this trip. When Russ downloaded the GPS track of today’s trip it was to see that it looks like a map of Victoria. It is so amazing that I got Russ to take a screenshot of it so I can include it in the photos.

The total distance for the trip today was 123 kilometres. We climbed up to 274 metres above sea level before descending back to 129 metres above sea level at Mingenew.