04/09/2026
Last Sunday afternoon, I had an 'oopsie' on a bike, riding the Northern Rivers rail trail between Lismore and Casino.
Did I fall off? Yeah... I did (on a rail trail!!). There was a territorial magpie who didn't like the look of me and swooped, causing me to loose my balance and smash into the gravel trail.
Naturally, I landed on the only decent sized chunk of rock on the trail with my left elbow, and started oozing red stuff straight away.
Fortunately, two gentlemen driving on the road beside the trail saw me flat on the ground and stopped to check if I was OK. They didn't have a first aid kit, but were quite happy to bundle me and the bike into the back of the car and drop me off to the Casino Hospital A&E Department.
The next 24 hours I got to experience the wonderful medical practitioners skills, care, and help at Casino Hospital and then Lismore Hospital whilst waiting for orthopaedic surgery to clean my wound and remove any gravel, dust and bad stuff in it, then stitch and bandage me up.
I want to say how grateful to everyone involved - the random two men/ good sorts, the staff at both Hospitals with their professional manner in getting me back up and out.
Also, a massive, massive thanks to Renato for lending me his bike, and being that go to guy who came to the hospital to check on me, driving me between hospitals, brought me food, and then afterwards offered me a place to stay and chill.
So, so appreciative of this!!! Thank you to everyone involved, and the wonderful messages of support.
Two funny stories....
As I was being wheeled into the operating theatre, some of the medical staff had attended our Lismore and Brunswick Heads screenings, and were super excited to chat to me about the films. Then, of course, the general anaesthetic did its work.
And Yes... the bike is OK.
