Darnley Days..Comblo

Darnley First Shift.

This blog is a comblo (combination blog). One in which Jo & I both write our experience.  For a few reasons, it is a good idea.  You see Jo and I had the same day.  Today was day one in our job as nurses at the Darnley clinic.  Darnley is located about 40 km south of Papua New Guinea. It is one of a collection of small volcanic islands that emerge from the ocean in the eastern Torres Strait.  The Torres is divided into many islands, some just a whisp of coral or sand , and like Darnley, or Murray Islands, a vast rocky island measuring up to 5-6 km in diameter.  Traditionally the Islanders of the Eastern cluster of islands (Murray, Darnley and Stephen Is.) are different than those in the central Coral Cays (Yorke , Coconut and Sue Islands); or the western clusters.  The Eastern cluster people speak a different creole, and their traditional language is Miriam.  Darnley is the first island that Christian missionaries came to in 1871.  McFarlane and his wife were from the London Missionary Society and anchored in a sheltered bay where they befriended one of the warriors.  Some days later they sailed around to the village on the Southern coast (where the we are living and working) and attempted to come ashore.  Every missionary and other visitor to the islands prior to this time had been killed and eaten by the cannibalistic locals, but McFarlaine and his wife Elizabeth, were spared, because the warrior that they had befriended went before  them and told his people that McFarlane brings a good magic.  The Light.  The bible, and the good news of the Gospel.

Christianity was introduced to these head hunter warriors, and the rest as the say is history.

The first two days of our stay here, Jo and  I and the kids drove down to the monument at the beach where this first landing occurred.  The beach is littered with black basalt volcanic rocks, totally different to the coral and sandy beaches of Yorke island.  The under water terrain is amazingly different too.  Boulders and rocky gutters and bommies adorn the sea floor, and Amy and I had a great time duck diving in around massive schools of bait fish and trevally.  Ben and I caught another painted coral crayfish, which was a nice bit of kaikai (food) tonight.

But work today; work was a surreal experience today.  In a clinic that I am familiar with, I worked along side Jo.  Most of the day was our formal orientation.  Acronyms and jargon filled our head space as we learned about key performance indicators, quality management systems, pharmacy ordering, stores and purchase requisitions, maintenance reports and failed airconditioning.  Sadly the air conditioners in the clinic died, and whilst the Torres has been in the low 30s because of winter; the absence of Airconditioning has not been a real issue.  In the next few weeks the wind on the eastern pacific drops off, and the seas turn flat, and the mercury sours.  The air con will become a necessity to keep pharmacy items cool, and delicate computer and biomedical systems cool, and us, the health care staff.  Heat is one thing, but that humidity is going to start to bite, so I hope they get it fixed soon!!!

I will hand over to Joanne, to give her spin on day One…but there is a real sense of optimism, as we can see ourselves in this place, making the clinic our own.  I want to thank Annie and Susie our out going nurse for making our transition so much easier that it would have been without your hard work, and diligence.  We also want to thank Lucy, Annie and Lizzie for making so welcome in your place.  We are getting to know and love your island…Erub....Bye from Rob...

Erub is different to Yorke, it has rocky shore lines and steep hills. The beaches are littered with tiny shells and thousands of pieces of coral. It is beautiful in its own right. I love the change in landscape as you follow the coastline along the island, and while windy on one side, the other can be calm and glass like. The water is so clear, its like looking through glass at the sea floor.

Last night we were invited to a dinner party at Jeurg and Susie's house. They are the current Dr/ nurse team. It was hard to know what to take to contribute as we had just done a fleeting shop on arrival at the local Ibis store which is waiting for the latest shipment from Cairns, so was a bit light on. We headed to the beach to give it some thought, and saw coconuts ( as you do here ) Ahhh great idea. Green coconuts are filled with coconut water, which is  light and sweet  slightly fizzy. Its very refreshing. SO Ben scaled the palms, and only got hit by one falling coconut (!!!!!) We got them home and planned to open them after visiting one of the local artists on the island who was going to show us his work. After chatting for a while, Rob told him about our coconut idea and he offered to carve the nuts into beer steins as Jeurg is Swiss / German heritage. Well, what a wonderful idea. He spent three hours on the coconuts. Another example of the generosity of the Islander locals. They looked fantastic when he was finished. We just added and oxygen tubing straw ( as you do ) and they were very well received.

Today it was all hands on deck for our orientation at the clinic. It was a great day. I am looking forward to working with the team here. They were all welcoming and the clinic runs well. Annie is the departing full time RN and she orientated Rob and I today to the paper work and systems side of things. My head was full after a day of it, but I feel optomistic and excited about the challenges ahead. It will be great to be a hands on nurse again and I am really looking forward to working alongside Rob and the team here.