Island dress

One of the Aunties on the island, made Amy a traditional island dress and gave it to her yesterday. It cost $60 (!) but the work that has gone into it is appreciable, and its a one off, and something very special. Amy was nervous about wearing it to school today but Wednesdays at school here is flowery day. All the kids wear something floral so it was fitting she wore it today. I think she looked beautiful but know I am a bit biased.

I spent a bit of time this morning walking around the island and taking a heap of photos. Our travel was confirmed today and we will be leaving Saturday morning for Darnley Island. So I want to capture as much as possible of this place. Yorke Island ( Masig) is not somewhere you can just go to unless you have a purpose. So I am mindful that we may not come back and really want to record as much as possible. It really is somewhere very special. Its not perfect, nowhere is but this little piece of earth in the middle of the ocean has been a wonderful experience. One of the things I have loved is walking around and seeing the different gardens. Some people are very house proud and have made a real effort with their gardens. Often shells are used as features in the gardens and this is certainly a unique features you don't see in Toowoomba gardens

After my walk around I headed into the clinic to shadow Rob for a while and help out as there was only him and one of the health workers today. I did a couple of dressings and met a couple more islanders. They seem very grateful for the care they recieve. Once it quietened down I had a look around the pharmacy and Rob asked if I would do the monthly check for expired stock. It was good to go through each item, remember drug names and what things were used for, and learn about a lot of new things. Diabetes, high cholesterol and renal disease are common problems here so the stock of those medication is always plentiful. As I went through the shelves it was nice to see some familiar things....and then I came accross this, not something I had seen before, and hope not to have to use!!!

Half way through the afternoon a fax came through to the clinic to say a plane was on its way to deliver some pharmacy items that had been ordered yesterday. So we hopped in the car and headed to the airport to wait for the plane. We parked at one end of the runway to see the ocean while we waited. The runway stretches from one end of the island to another, literally from beach to beach. I noticed this sign on the gate across the road that crosses the end of the runway, and then I realised the reason for the sign as I snapped this one:

I made a heap of pikelets this afternoon in preparation for the after school hordes. Today was the last day of proper school as tomorrow there is a clean up followed by a picnic on the beach. So there was much excitement among the kids today. The older kids will also be coming home to the island from boarding schools down south so they are also looking forward to having older siblings home for a few weeks. Once the clinic shut at 5, everyone piled into the ute and we headed off for our nightly trip to the jetty. It is such a nice thing to do at the end of the day. The colours of the sea, never ease to amaze me. The water is warm and so clear. It really is very relaxing. I snapped Amy and Jocelyn together in the back of the ute. I hope Amy will find another good friend at Darnley....Yawo