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