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| Macksville Pole Dancing |
Our family was on a road trip from Northern NSW down south, almost a 9 hour drive to visit Deano's parents. It was a hot summers day, the type of heat you could fry an egg on the bonnet of the car and perhaps throw on some bacon too. With the aircon cranked inside the car the four girls played eye spy against their Dad (who made up things he could see, but the girls at this stage didn't even cotton on to the fact so continued to challenge their blind dad duelling it out to the bitter end) and spotto where they would punch each other when they spotted a yellow car...this was totally not a fair trade for Deano, of course the girls were always winning this game with quite a few punches on their dads arm until he growled at them when he had had enough torture.
Our resting point was the little township of Macksville. A tiny country town set on the Pacific Highway just south of Coffs Harbour with its famous Big Banana. Yes the only big things in Macksville are the bridge that crosses the Nambucca River, the huge blue pub where all the tourist, locals and weary drivers stop for a hearty meal and a cold drink, and the flagpoles in the park overlooking the majestic meandering waterway.
As we pull up to the park I mention the size of the three flagpoles to my husband Dean. I always try to describe what I see so he can get an imaginative picture of his surrounds in his mind before we get out of the car. When I described 3 flagpoles it seemed to resonate with Deano's sense of adventure for challenges for our girls. After spending 4 hours cooped up in the car the girls Dad had the brilliant idea to try and burn off some unused energy....the girls were pretty hyper by now due to the sweets Deano had been giving them throughout the mornings journeying!
"First one to climb to the top of the flagpole gets five bucks!" Sounds easy right? For my three little spider monkeys in the back seat the call to action was all too exciting... Having permission to climb a 5 metre pole...getting let out of their cooped up space and five dollars of money for sugary treats was a challenge none of the three older children were going to miss out on. Whilst I sat in the car breastfeeding our youngest daughter I watched on as the girls took their dad over towards the climbing flagstaff.
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| The Ouchie part of the flagpole |
"Ready,set,go!" With that the girls were underway, shimmying up the iron rods. Then in a split second my mind sees a danger that Deano hadn't anticipated. His limited eyesight could not see about 1 meter from the bottom of the pole there was nuts and bolts. Yes great for getting a footing but not so great if any of our little possums were to lose grip and slip down the pole....just as my mind took me there without a chance to warn the trio of the impending danger daughter number two, the one who had climbed the highest lost her hold of the pole and slid down landing her rib cage right onto the metal frame and bouncing backwards into the grass landing with a thud and a scream. Winded by the experience and rolling over in extreme pain the little one cried out for help. Her Dad scooped her up in his arms and with the assistance of her sisters brought her back to the car. Taking her to the hospital the pole climber was diagnosed with cracked ribs and we were told by the Doctor she was lucky not to have punctured her lung!
Today the daredevil carries a rib cage scar that will always remind her that she Is a survivor of the climb of death. For me there were two take always...never let my Blindman do a risk assessment of a gauntlet zone and little girls will do anything for $5...perhaps I could get them to do some extra chores if pocket money was involved! For Deano I am not sure what the learning experience was because risks don't seem to faze him. He takes them everyday...a broken rib or two is a small price to pay for scar and a story child number two can share with her own kids years from now!
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| Sunsets on yet another wonderful day in the life of the Blindman and his family |
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