Our Clinic is Our clinic again!!!

Haaaa! the relief of getting your own clinic back!!  Jo and i had the rare experience last week of having the Midwife here for a couple of days, the Mental health team all three people and a strait jacket (note spelling) , a relief nurse that was supposed to give Jo and I some time off with Mum and Dad who are here to visit.  We have Heidi here a Graduate RN learning the outer island RAN ropes, and with all the comings and goings, our little clinic was a busy place reminiscent of a baseball field with all bases loaded.

This week, it is just us and Heidi....and today in the clinic was just so peaceful!!! It was noce to get our own rooms back and get on with core business.  Our immediate boss is away at present, so the running of the clinic has fallen on our shoulders.  I must admit that management is not my thing but we are bummbling along and i feel we are doing a great job in what is becoming a busy pre christmas clinic. 
The affirmation you get from elderly (previously non compliant folk) who have not come to the clinic for months.  Jo has one such patient...a matriach of the island, who attends the clinic when she deems it necessary, but lately has not missed an appointment with Jo, and is taking all her meds.  Wounds that she has had (non-healing) for months, are starting to heal.  Whoop whoop!!!   Of course I know that it is Jo's excellent wound care, but the rapport that Jo fosters with the most difficult of patients is to be seen to believed.  Getting them through the door to the clinic is half the battle.

Mum and Dad continue to experience the Island culture and life style.  Mum has been counting fish species that we have had for kaikai (food).  Today we got given another two different fish that we haven't tried before.  One , called an Errarr (sp) or blackfish, is venomous.  Like a happy moments, but apparently delicious cooked in a coconut milk curry, or roasted like chicken.  The advice given to me is "be careful if the spines, they be go prick you , you be prapa hurting"!!!

We however remain adventurous in diet as we are in off duty entertainment activities!!  Dad and Ben and I went spotlighting in the low tide fish trap last night.  You apparently shine a strong torch onto the sand holes, and octopus sit beside their hole mesmerised by the light.  Knock them on the head and you have a quick easy dinner...Calamari (of sorts) the fresh easy way!!  as it turned out there was no octopus to be seen, but seeing the bright orange eyeshine of shrimps, prawns and crabs made for an interesting night time activity on the reef and I am looking forward to doing it again soon.

The fishing has been a bit off over the last few weeks, which is sad because i promised Dad some awesome fishing,; still he enjoys trying, and it is nice to see him just easing in to the island way of life.  Daily they meet locals and discuss the issues that need to be discussed.  Mum and Dad are like people magnets, and everywhere they go, people ask them if they are Rob's Mum and Dad. 

The EBAY Barge arrived today...we received FRESH friut and veges, FRESH meat, and some grog.  It was a good day.  The clinic got a good haul too.  The new fridge for our pharmacy arrived, along with new air conditioning units.  We got clinic supplies that are getting very very low, and the return of some broken medical equipment sent away on the day we came to the Torres.  This device is called a Hemocue, and it measures the red pigment in your blood.  A measure of iron levels and red blood cells. Well the device went to TI, then got sent to Melbourne, then came back to TI then returned here.  I turned it on after excitingly unpacking it, and it blinks once with error code   E02 !  so I look up the internet website for Hemocue.  I download the manual and errorcode list, and it tells me that error code E02 means thatthere is an electronic fault and the device needs to be returned to the manufacturer!!!!  Now this is where I got excited for another reason.  You see, I was under the understanding that when some Techy gets a device to fix in the factory, that they actually fix the bloody thing, TEST THE BLOODY THING, and then once they know that the device is working, THEN send it back!!!!!   I am really frustrated.  This tool allows me to check that a patient's haemoglobin is normal in about 30 sec.  Now we are back to take a formal venous blood stab samble, package it, refridgerate it, take it to the airstrip, load it in an esky on the plane, and then it travels 1 hour to Horn Island, it then goes on a Buss to the Horn Island Wharf...it then goes on a Ferry to Thursday Island and then a Bus to pathology to the hospital.  Upon reciept of the blood sample, one staff member processes and logs the sample, and another staff member (pathology assistant) takes a drop of blood and sticks in in a Hemocue to test it!!!!!   Can you hear my frustration?

All in all , I am happy with our Barge supplies.  What I am supposed to do with 2000 glass Vaginal microscope slides elludes me.  We just dont have that many vaginas on Darnley, but I suppose I can put them on the storage shelf along side the 80 boxes of 500 condoms.  That is a Vaginal slide to condom ratio of 1:20...Clearly we need more penises!!!

Now talking of the birds and the bees...Sally is 37 weeks pregnant.  She should have left the island a week ago.  She was booked on a plane for TI maternity unit this morning, but didnt get out of bed on time and missed her charter flight!!!  Now this would not be such a stress if Sally wasn't a grand multi with 6 other children, every baby has come early via normal delivery, and her last labour was 11 mins!!!  Joanne is sleeping in a gown and gloves!!

Well.  The sun has started its rapid desent into ocean on the western side of Erub.  The tide is on its way out which means that Sally wont deliver for another 6 hours.  These women only birth on an incoming tide!!   TRUE story!

Time to sign off.  I am still living the dream, but some days that dream is a bit of a night mare!!  all in all it is all good! 
Christmas is just round the corner, Grog came today on the boat, I have a new immunisation fridge and 2000 vaginal slides...what more could a man ask for? 
YAWO!!!!

Part of the family

What a week! Work wise it has been fairly quiet and Rob and I have had the luxury of 2 days off while a visiting nurse relieved us. Sam and Glenis arrived on Monday morning on a tiny plane. Glenis was so brave and overcame one of her biggest fears, flying, to come and visit us. They had a night on Horn Island and saw the sights there and then headed out to Darnley Island via Murray Island. Each time I stop and think and realise we are 20km from PNG and 1000km north of Cairns, it all feels very surreal. Its so good to share it with family, and know we will talk about this for years to come. This week my sister rang with the great news that she will be coming up for New Year with us so we feel so blessed to have a supportive family to share this madness with!

Since Monday, we have eaten 6 different varieties of fish. We have had mackeral, sardines, javelin fish, rock cod, coral trout and sweet lip. Its so good to hunt and gather your food but to be honest, each time we go fishing we seem to come home with a gift from someone else. I am not sure if they feel sorry for our fishing ability or if its just the generosity of people here. But we have been very lucky with the kindness of the locals here. Each fish is a bit different but so fresh and delicious. I went to the shop on Thursday to get some red meat for a break. All I could find was some kangaroo mince! But, turns out it makes a delicious bolognaise, and no one was any the wiser, until now, when they read the blog! Still I think Sam and Glenis have enjoyed all the fish meals....

This morning we headed out to the beach for a swim and snorkel. We have really high tides at the moment so it was lovely to enter the beach from the sand. At low tide, the water goes way out and you have to go in via a lot of rocks. It can be difficult entering the water and not slip on the rocks so this morning was perfect. The water was so clear and there was just a gentle swell. We all floated around for over an hour and Rob took his Dad for a snorkel around the rocks. In amongst, the palm trees, the coconuts and the turquoise water, it was hard not to feel like life was pretty good.

This afternoon we went to the funeral of a well respected member of the community who died in Cairns 2 weeks ago after a long battle with illness. He left the island before we arrived so we never had the chance to meet him. But it was fitting to go to the funeral and it was one of the most moving services I have been to. It started in the church next to the clinic with a service that went for about an hour and a half. Eulogies were said and many hymns sung in both English and Creole. Then the casket was loaded onto the back of a ute and a procession of cars and people walked up to the graveyard, about 1km away. The graveyard here has graves dating back to the early 1900's. It is filled with huge frangipani trees of all colour and they provide shade and perfume. About 200 people sat around on chairs under the tress. One of the elders bought in his guitar and the whole community joined in singing hymns interspersed with more words from the minister. It was such a peaceful atmosphere. At times, the sounds of sobbing and wailing were heard but the overall feeling was restful. The coffin was lowered into hole and then about 20 of the men from the family took it in turns with shovels, to fill in the grave. As some got hot and tired, others stepped up to relieve them and share the task. All the while, gentle hymns were sung with the accompanying sounds of the guitar. I can honestly say, it was one of the most moving and peaceful ceremonies I have ever attended. It felt surreal, sitting high on a hill, surrounded by frangipani trees, in the middle of the ocean.......one more amazing memory to add to the collection. Yawo!

Birthday Weekend 19-20 Nov By Rob

Birthday Blog. 19 November 2011

Birthdays are a funny thing.  A celebration of the day you were born.  Our culture (white, angilo-saxon Caucasian middle Australia) reveres the anniversary of the birth.  Birthdays are often look forward to as a day of rest, and in many cases, there are gifts and presents, being spoiled and just generally being made to feel special for nothing other than to have turned another year older.  At 43 today, I think about the lunacy of such shenanigans and muse at the culture we have.  Yesterday (19^th Nov) was actually the “birthday”  but another quirk on our family is that a birthday is often an event that spans a weekend or even longer.  Parties are sometimes used to celebrate the occasion, but as we merge into adulthood, parties seem to be bestowed on those that are having a special birthday. 18ths, 21sts, 30, 40, 50, and so on.  You are probably wondering why I am speaking about a celebration with which you are all familiar, in a blog that journals our experiences in the Torres?   Well I am coming to that, so don’t be so impatient.

First, the last month.  Here on Darnley we have had an interesting month of fun and games.  On 11.11.11 I was First to find Australia’s most northern Geocache…and for those that know the www.geocaching.com treasure hunting game, that is a achievement.  There was the usual sporadic sick patient came in and needed to be flown out.  The Island has had contractors for a telecommunication giant that we all love to hate, have been here fixing, or maintaining equipment.  Our internet speed is appalling, and with the salt air and the high winds on the top of the hill where the tower is, metal fatigue and weather takes its toll.  There have also been Concrete contractors here rebuilding the roads.

These boys with limited hygiene, poor nutrition, high alcohol and drug intake are up here chasing huge dollars; and poisoning their livers in the process.  Anyone with a basic nutrition understanding would know that good nutrition, healthy lifestyle = healthy immune system, and this area is often sadly lacking in these itinerant workers.  The climate up here above 9degrees south is one that breed are funkiest of tropical bacteria and parisites.  The smallest scratch from slipping with a screwdriver, or skin burn from constant contact with cement powder turns rancid in a matter of hours in young men with next to no resilience. 

That last month has been a potpourri of skin infections, dental issues, and general health breakdown.  One boy who was sick and tired of toothache decided to go “old school” to get relief, and armed with some hefty mates with a set of pliers, and a skin full of local grog, sought to effect his own dental extraction.  Now this would not normally be an issue in middle Australia, where pain killers and dentists are plentiful, but in an environment where salt water is not the same as home, skin wounds and dental sockets tend to get infected fast.  The pliers in this boy slipped and he snapped his tooth off, leaving an infected cavity that resembled a volcanic crater with it’s own sulfurous cesspool of organisms intermingled with food residue.

250km from the nearest dentist, and he gets me!!  Ive got dental solution, toys to squirt saline in the crater, and antibiotics.  Ife got a good light, some sharp thingies, and this magic stuff called Cavit.  It is like window seal putty.  You mold it into tiny balls, and push it into the  hole in the tooth.  Kind of like blue-tak in its consistency but when you ask the patient to rinse and spit with cold water, it sets the filling like cement.  Now I know what you are thinking.  Why would Robert seal an infected cavity?  Well I wouldn’t.  Through the magic of artistic writing, the time line in this story has been skewed.  I treated him with painkillers and cleaning and antibiotics one week, and got him back for a filling a week later…but this job is soo cool, and throws curve balls all the time.

Another white worker with toothache sought refuge in Vodka and Panadol.  Those in the industry know that more than 16 panadol is lethal poisoning.  He had consumed 72 panadol (3 every 2 hours) over the previous 2 days, and when he presented peeing blood, abdominal pain and with abnormal liver function studies, it was time to call God’s mixmaster  (the helicopter) and get him to TI.  Paracetamol OD be it accidental or intentional is a recipe for a coffin, and with a huge consumption of alcohol to numb his toothache, on top of the poisoning, he was lucky to still be alive.  I heard that he was discharged from TI a couple of days later, and was back on the job in Boigu Island north west of here.  My mate Gary on Boigu was looking after him and he was doing OK.

The month has not been without it’s ugly moments.  Amy has been bullied at school a bit while we have been here, and last week a boy hit her (normal thing for a kid who sees it daily).  We were livid, and when we tried to have a yarn with the Kid, his mother got a little toey with Jo.  I thought that Jo was going to thump her, but after calming down, and a mediation with the school, the mummies came to an understanding that they were just doing what mummies do…protect their cubs.  All is good now, but ugly business.

Now, some awesome news.  The Coles order came.  Boxes and boxes of real groceries!!  The pantry looks normal again.  Opening the boxes was like Christmas…expensive but really lifted our spirits.  We have TimTams and Tacos and other little tastes of home.  It is so nice.  My Mum and Dad come tomorrow, so it is so good that the groceries came in time for them.

Mum is a nervous flyer.  She hates little planes.  She is going to be, either very brave, or very drunk!  Today they fly to Horn Island and spend the night in the Gateway resort, about which I have blogged previously.  Then first thing tomorrow morning, they are off in the Westwing to Darnley via Murray Island.  I didn’t have the heart to tell mum that it was two take offs and two landings.  I also didn’t tell mum that Darnley has one of the shortest and most difficult air strips in the Torres, but I have always been taught by here, that if you are in for a penny , you are in for a pound.!!

Dad is like a kid waiting for Christmas.  I am so excited to show them the beautiful raw paradise that Erub is.  The beaches, and the fishing, and the catch your own sardines for dinner, and the Jetty, and the shells.  I want them to experience the reef from above and below the water line.  This anticipation is a welcome emotion.  And as I sit here looking at the coral reef view from my kitchen/lounge, I think to myself…wow, how lucky we are.

My birthday this year was out of this world…literally.  It was experienced in a plave that so few will ever see.  An elder told me the other day, that more people have been to Antarctica than Darnley Island.  Isnt that a special location for a birthday.  In a culture that reveres birthday celebrations, I find myself in one where Dates of birth are seldom remembered, and many people don’t accurately know how old they are.  Birthdays are not big occasiona here.  18^th and 21^st and 80^th birthdays are common, but it is amazing how many people put 1.1.19xx or 1.7.19xx as their date of birth, because they just don’t really know.

Last thing I wanted to talk about this blog is funerals.  A respected elder , a man in his early 50s (ill let that sink in) …. Died last week.  I am not sure it is culturally appropriate to mention names, but for the purpose of this blog, it is not necessary.  The man will be expatriated back her from where he died in Cairns, and the whole community will lay him to rest.  The event will be next Saturday, and the whole island will shut down.  I am sad for his family and community, and respectfully will attend the funeral with my family.  It will be a spectacle of colour, culture and sound.  It will be an opportunity for Mum and Dad to see the community spirit and connectedness of the people here, and a testament to perhaps one of the strongest lessons that Jo , the kids and I have learned here.  That is the lesson of togetherness. One we perhaps don’t really get in mainstream Australia.  With that thought I will leave you.  Enjoy your Sunday, enjoy your week, and most of all, seek to connect with someone that you havn’t spoken to in a while, because it is good medicine.

From 9 Degrees South

 Yawo

Epaulette-Cray and the dive. (from Ben)

So this is my second edition to this blog, and as I had explained in my first, I have a great interest in the marine world and its fauna, so a lot of my blogs are going to have something to do with the critters I have found and mingled with during my reef experiences.

First of all I will explain about a particular species of shark that has been popping up everywhere! Yes this story has been blogged about very briefly in one of mum’s blogs but one night at the wharf we were fishing and I had the amazing experience of hand-landing a male epaulette shark. Now these only grow to just over a meter and are often kept in house hold reef aquariums. So after the exiting catch of the night I went home satisfied that I had seen and handled a wild epaulette. Skip a few weeks forward and I got taken out in a dingy, cray diving, with some boys. Whilst our dive, I did the routine bomie check where I swim down and check under the large coral out crops for the tell tail feelers of the painted cray, and this time I saw the blade like tail of another epaulette shark, This time a large mature female. Ignoring common sense I plunged my hand into the rocky fissure and clamped my gloved hand around her tail. After a gentle tug I had her out in the open holding her like Steve Irwin with an aggressive tipan and the looks on the blokes faces were priceless! After securely grabbing he shark just behind the head I felt quite safe to swim with this beauty for a bit, until I loosened my grip… she swung round with almighty force and lunged at me, luckily she didn’t get me, only a mouthful of my favorite red shirt. After getting heaved into the boat with the thing still hanging from my shirt I managed to remove it and renewed my grip behind the head as I jumped back in the water. Slowly and carefully I released her and she shot off like a bat out of hell back to her cosy rock hole. Wow what an experience and a holy red shirt to show it.

Snorkeling yesterday afternoon yielded well, with two more epaulette sharks found (no more attacks) a few nice pearl shells for the collection and a little cray speared from the reef (by little I mean, just classes as a prawn…)

Haven’t kept the tradition of writing this while waiting for my sis this time but hey, next time ill probably get board with no akas to talk to and I will retreat to the ipad to write my next blog, so until then..

Yawo! 

catch up!

Well, its been a while. Apologies to our regular readers. It has been a full on couple of weeks, not just with work stuff but other things going on as well. Some nights when we come home, all the way across the 2 car, carpark, our head space is just so full, its hard to know where to start to write or even what to write. Each day is different with different challenges so perhaps that is why its hard some days. I really admire Rob for writing every night when he was away. I had a bit of a part to play as I would nag him when he didn't  as I loved to hear his stories.

So here goes.One of our biggest challenges in the past couple of weeks has been Amy. She has really struggled with a lot of bullying issues at school and a lot of people we have spoken to have identified it as a bit issue with the school and the kids here. Its hard to instil resilience when you are feeling challenged by that yourself! It all came to a head last Friday when Amy was punched at school. So, long meeting at school and some strategies in place and we all feel a lot better about school. The principle was very supportive and saddened by what had happened as she had not been informed. It was so good to be heard and acknowledged and hopefully the last 2 weeks here will be smooth sailing so Amy can feel good about her time here and leave with good memories. I think she has had the hardest job here and Rob and I are so proud of her and hope that this experience will help her sometime later in life.

Ben has had some interesting adventures. Last weekend we were fishing at the jetty and a group of blokes were going fishing for the day and invited him along. Off he hopped into the dingy, into the deep blue ocean in the direction of....more blue ocean. Ben returned 10 hours later, surprisingly not sunburnt, sporting a big hole in his t shirt where a little shark he had dragged out of a crack in a rock, had turned around and grabbed him!!!! Trying not to be alarmed, we welcomed him home!!!!! Oh yes, the Steve Irwin in our Ben lives on.

There are apparently 5 churches here on the island. We have been to two of them now. The latest one we attended is right next door to the clinic and the view from inside the building is blue, blue ocean, not that I was distracted at all!! Its a bit more contemporary although the hymns are sung in creole and English so we are able to join in every now and then. Ben took his guitar along last weekend and everyone enjoyed hearing him play.

As far as work is going, I am continuing to learn everyday. I think I can diagnose scabies at 50 paces now and am getting my head around what is important to keep a big stock of in the pharmacy. Its been a great way to remember what medication treats what. Looking after the pharmacy has become my role and it fits well with my need to organise stuff! last week I did my first suture job and also got to practise some cannulation on a young fellow who had taken 36 panadol in 24 hours for a tooth ache! We flew him out pretty quickly and hope his liver survived!! Its good to slowly get to know people better, especially some of the island elders who just have the most amazing stories to tell. We have been lucky that the pace has not been frantic and its OK to just chat and take the time to listen without having to rush through assessments. Rob and I are also becoming quite proficient at dentistry and have done a few temporary fillings on some fairly ordinary looking teeth! I think its just because we like playing with the dentist chair, and Rob has a new light that is like a hiking head lamp, which he wears during these sorts of procedures. I really do try not to laugh!!!

One of the things we really love is going down to the wharf at night or the boat ramp and fish with the locals or just sit back and watch all the action. The kids are amazing and start so young. They just know the ocean intimately and when and what to cast. we know its going to be a good fishing night when there is a good turn out. I couldn't resist this photo, I am sure that as soon as he can walk he will be fishing!!!

OK, well we are now 8 weeks before we head home to Meringandan. I have a real longing to be home, be in our place, with friends and family, hug my dog, play in the garden. But it will also be with a sadness that we leave this place. Its rawness has shown us a side of life that has to be experienced to be believed and I can't help but feel that one day we will come back.

Seen but never heard

Ok so, I am new to this blog so bear with me. Anyway, I am the son of Rob and Jo and as the title suggests, I am often seen throughout this blog but as I have said I, haven't had any input so far, so  today as I sit in the sweltering school yard, waiting for Amy to be let out of school, I think meh why not? May be good to have a third voice in the party. First of all, most of you already know me but those who don't, I have been interested in marine biology and anything remotely aquatic since a very young age, having both parents as experienced scuba divers and multiple fish tanks filled with a menagerie of weird and wonderful critters scooped out of local creeks all though out my early child hood and my first word being "fish"' It's no wonder there is a strong interest in this field. So look where I am now! A blip of rock floating in Australia's arafura sea, surrounded with untouched, century old reefs and marine habitats.... Liven the dream!

Ok so from reading the previous blogs you would already know about our several weeks here on erub and the 3 spent on masig, but here is a run down from a teenage point of view. School school school, dad goes north to saibai island (this far off land I have never heard of), dad returns - yay! Story's are told and interests are gained, dad leaves again to another far off land he called "Darnley" or something like that, dad returned - yay, more stories told ,this place is starting to intrigue me! I start googling "Torres strait" as we had only ever learned about our aboriginal heritage in school, never our tropical cousins, dad leaves again, this time for yam (this time I know what he is talking about and it doesn't seem so far of and mysterious as I had put in relentless hours on google earth during study time at school....) dad returned with news. We are going north! Now it seems a little remote and scary again! Weeks and months pass and then starts the packing, say good bye to friends and get on the plane and watch as our rides get smaller!

Yorke: wow was that place beautiful! The reefs and the ideal beaches were just incredible! This place was just like a holiday!

Darnley: when we landed here I noticed this island is much bigger then the tiny masig, but just as beautiful. Ok let's move forward a few weeks. Here I am now, homesickness is running raw, with a world of experiences and knowledge (both found out the hard way and been told) and this is more then a dream, this is reality. It is times like this u realise dreams turn into realties, and when you can understand that is possible, then anything becomes possible - you just need to learn to dream! (this is my own personalisation of something I read in "lionheart" the book I'm reading for English)

So yes I know this edition hasn't exactly been as heart warming and newsy as mum and dad's blogs but this is just an introduction to my experience and views on this trip, hopefully I will be adding my thoughts and entrys to this blog over the course of our time here on erub.

So for now, yawo!  

Steel. The Man of steel.

Steel wool like hair.  Eyes like a steel trap.  Hand on the throttle like a steel cable.  Concentration as sharp as a steel fine edged knife.  Uncle, navigated the waves for 50 minutes , sometimes higher that the dingy was long, and in no tome we were on Stephen Island.

Stephen Island is a volcanic rock about 20 km north of Darnley.  It is home to about 80 islanders.  It is serviced by a clinic that has a trainee health worker and that is about it.  Today at 215pm-I get a call from the health worker asking me what sort of needle she should use for putting in a drip.  ALARM BELLS!!

I contacted the oncall doctor, and all the managers in TI to discuss the "lack "of services for the health worker, and it was suggested that I jump in a dingy and make the 1 hour trek to Stephen Island to help assess and treat the patient.  An elderly man has deteriorated in his health. and may need to be Medevac airlifted to Thursday Island.  But with lack of services and staff with assessment skills, a RN was needed.

So off I go in the dingy of a man I never met, into an ocean that i never boated in, and to an island that i had only heard of.  What an amazing experience.  Turtles, dolphins, and massive sharks  all visible over the vast coral reef beneath us.  We arrived at Stephen Island and docked the dingy. I asked a kid on the beach where the clinic was, and he walked me to the clinic.  We seemed to be going the long way, and when i asked him why we were walking in circles, he responded with "there is mad dogs that way".  Note to self.  when on Stephen island ...take the Left road to the clinic on the right of the island!!!

We arrived at the clinic, and a man (I didnt know) in a Ute I hadn't seen, and took me to a place of a man with a sickness that I hadn't yet assessed.  I introduced myself to the son and  the elder.  Assessed the man and stuck in the drip.  It is now 430pm.  After phoning the doctor and being told that the Medevac chopper is busy in Saibai, i treated the patient for his ailment gave an adhoc inservice to the health worker on the management of the Patient with an IV.
It is now 530pm and I am running out of light to be stuck at sea on Stephen Island with no one i know.

I went back down to the jetty, where Uncle (the man of Steel) was waiting, and we headed home to Darnley.
Half way near the Island of Nepean (uninhabited due to Ghosts and Bad Poripori)  the engine failed on the dingy.  Uncle ripped off the top of the motor, played with something, poured in some greenish fluid, and cranked it over again.  Turtles are surfacing around us, and he asks me to "jump in and grab one"  I decline, and he rolls his steel eyes.  The engine kicks to life and we are 30 mins from home but 25 mins from dark.and we are on our way throught 2 m seas, Darnley Island clearly on our horizon

The race is on.  Waves or light.  Flip a coin!!

Waves won, ...although shaken to the bone, and wet through from the spray, the Sun beat us to the horizon and we arrives 10 mins after sundown.  The patient has been treated.  A Medevac has been avoided.  $20000 of helicopter has been avioded, and I am safe home in my unit with Jo and the Kids.  It has been a Hay and a half.   This Bacardi has never tasted so good!!!

I love my wife for covering the oncall phone for me.  Awesome experiences...that is the Torres!!!

Half way mark

Well its been a mad couple of weeks on Darnley Island. Not crazy busy but relentless. We have had another couple of medivac retrievals and much of the routine. I think the thing that Rob and I are finding the hardest is the oncall stuff....not feeling like we ever really leave work. Sleeping with one eye open, one ear alert for the phone. Perhaps we are too diligent but its hard not to be when the health resources are so scarce. This week we had 20 hours without any phones. This isolated us even more as even our lifeline to TI hospital and the amazing group of doctors on the end of the phone, was gone. It was an eerie time and hard not to think through a whole heap of scenarios and how we would manage by ourselves. The night before the phones went down there was a car roll over on one of the hills here. Its quite steep and apparently the brakes failed on the car and it started to roll down the hill. Amazingly, a small rock stopped the car and it balanced precariously on the edge of a steep gully while the two in the car managed to climb out of a back window. We flew one out in the early hours of the morning with chest injuries. How the car stopped and how there was not more carnage is remarkable. One of the occupants of the car is one of the ministers on the island....divine intervention????

We have had some more snorkling adventures and nice evenings on the beach watching the sunset. Its so peaceful late afternoon and its a great way to wind down and enjoy the beauty of this place. On the weekend we also spent some time swimming at the boat ramp while Rob fished. The mackeral season is about to start so the activity on the jetty is building too. Its just awesome to watch the little ones fish and casually pull in a big fish, while the 4 of us are leaping around  with excitement when we pull in something the locals would use for bait! Rob is waiting for his second fishing rod to arrive. The first snapped in half last week when something BIG took off with his hook. As I write this, I think....why do we swim here??????

November 1st is a special holiday here. Its all Saints Day. It celebrated the opening of the church on the island in 1871 when the missionaries brought religion to the island. There were a number of missionaries prior to this but they were not well recieved, and I think are buried somewhere on the island! Anyway, we were invited to a night of feasting and island dancing to celebrate the occasion. The home that held the event had been beautifully decorated with palm leaves and flowers and other plants. We sat outside on a HUGE verandah overlooking the ocean. Everyone bought a dish to share and it was lovely to sit back and enjoy a variety of different food - getting a bit sick of my own cooking!! It was also nice to know a few more people and chat to some of the locals and enjoy the evening. Amy had a few friends who she roared around and giggled with and Ben, well, he did some palm plating with one of the local ladies(?)

After a delicious meal that included turtle, sop sop (vegetables cooked in coconut) and a huge range of other goodies, the dancing started. Its not just the dancing but the singing and the island drums. Its amazing to sit amongst people who are singing their hearts out to traditional song and 7 - 8 are playing the warup ( island drum). From the youngest to the elders, all sing along heartily. The men do most of the dancing and its tribal and fierce but we were treated to a dance by some of the ladies in their colourful island dresses and it was beautiful and the music very different and relaxing. I sat back and listened to it all and felt very honoured to be there, right there, and be a part of a special day here on Darnley island