The West Macs Surprise! I’m late! Well, I s’pose it had to happen sooner or later, and well… sooner I guess it is. Just you wait until I have started my new and very beautiful diary (thank you Sal and Emile). These entries will no doubt become boring sketches of where I have been and slept. Well… I left you about four weekends ago… My only excuse is that I had finally found people who attempted to not sleep, partying every night, and working all day, and I tried to emulate them… which meant less time in front of a [View Full Entry]

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Saturday: We got up early (well, not really), and headed out in the morning (ok, it was midday-ish) to the East McDonnell Ranges. We being Chris the Radiographer, myself, Ange and Ange, the Pharmacists (Simply Ange The First and Ange The Second, cause they both have dark hair, they're both pharmacists, and every other differentiator ends up being rude). First we went to Emily and Jessie Gaps, the next two breaks in the otherwise uniform wall that forms the McDonnell Ranges to the South of Alice Springs. The Ranges are so forbidding, they rise as a solid mass, and it is [View Full Entry]

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This information has turned my world completely upside down. The second largest Lizard (sub-species dragon) in the world, the Perente (pronounced PER-renhe) injects a nasty poison into your hand, whixch makes it swell up and bruise. I learnt this at work. Only in Alice Springs would a live snake show by the local reptile park be considered an education session. We saw all sorts of snakes from the Legless Lizard (not a snake at all, I know), through to mildly venomous snakes, all of whom look like a Western Brown snake, through to a Western Brown snake (of which ther are [View Full Entry]

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... It was from that Cyclone (?George) in the Top End. The Clouds Gathered mid-afternoon Saturday, we lost shadows (for the first time ever, that I'd seen), and it got almost darkish. The next day it was sunny again. That's all I have to say. I worked, remember. [View Full Entry]

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now where did I leave off... Oh yes, walking to the Telegraph Station. It was a cool walk, and very pretty. The Todd River quite fascinates me, and I followed its sandy course all the way to the Station. The Station is the first (and 2nd through to around 12th) building(s) built in "Alice Springs", although these days it's actually about 4km out of town. In fact, the buildings were there not as a suitable place to put a town, but as a suitable place to run the Overland Telegraph Line, and put a boosting station. The Overland Telegraph represents the [View Full Entry]

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Work is getting better now that I've worked out the rythm. And we haven't quite been so hammered now: we were on call and only got 4 new patients. I had a great weekend. Well, a mixed, mostly great weekend. I slept in (for a start), then I went to see the Royakl Flying Doctors Service Base. Which, none too surprisingly is on the hospital grounds. When we were there, the radio operator was having the weekend off, s all the calls were being switched through to the local (St John's) ambos. So the guide explained what was being shown on [View Full Entry]

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Fly count: 3 It's hot out here. Fancy that. Well, despite a lack of luggage (Which did arrive, at about 5.40pm monday), I started work on Monday. It is really busy here, while only 15-20 patients, you're on call one in three, and most of the patients aare complicated. I usually start about 0800, with real, proper handover, and I usually finish around 5pm. Wierdly, my actually paid hours are 0800 to 1606. Yes, at 6 minutes past 4 pm, I finish. Allied health finish at 16.21. I do not understand, myself, but I hope to, soon. It is amazing, truly [View Full Entry]

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Actually, if I write this the instant I get here, as I am, I won't have any stories to tell... Well, sort of. Drove down to the Airport, all was well, got there in plenty of time, you know, 50 minutes before the flight, 20 minutes before check in closes... Now, I've never been to terminal 3 at Kingsford Smith before, so maybe this is normal, but it was absolutely full of people. Like, people everywhere. I try to find a check-in counter... but there aren't any. So it's Automatic check in or the highway... and it's 2,800 km between Sydney [View Full Entry]

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How weird is that. First Leg, here I come I wasn't going to write anything until next week, or at least Sunday, but seeing as a couple of people have asked, which suggests that a couple of people don't know... I'm off on Sunday Morning. Leg 1: Sydney to Alice Springs! I'm heading to Alice Springs for work: they're actually paying me to work in the red centre of Australia, at Alice Springs Hospital. I'm excited, and nervous, and looking so much forward to it. I expect that medicine there will be much the same as medicine here. Maybe more of [View Full Entry]

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What am I doing Here?! Yes, well. Those who knew I was starting my travels with a week in Melbourne... well, this week, I think they all know why I'm not there now. But for the rest of you. My Grandfather, my mother's father, passed away at 10.30 am on Thursday 8th February, 2007. His funeral was today, at 11pm. He will be missed by his sister, five children, and countless grandchildren and friends. Of course I couldn't go to Melbourne. I am currently trying to work out *when* exactly, I will be getting down to Melbourne. Watch this space. [View Full Entry]

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