Last Impressions

As I come to my last week in Derby I reflect on my time here. It has flown surely. Derby, you are by no means a pretty place and there is some work to be done. However, you possess a certain charm that draws some amazing wonderful people. And for this I am forever grateful. I have learnt so much and feel in debt for learning is a gift. In return I hope I have achieved partially what I set out to. I endeavoured to offer my skills and assets and give what I could. I have stumbled across many foreseen and unforseen challenges and, succeeding them or not, have taken them on. I am grateful for the acceptance and patience I have learnt, for these qualities I had not developed or presented well. But mostly I am thankful for the friends- such generous, caring and intelligent people who have a wealth of ideas and beliefs. The conversations are stimulating and thought provoking. Thank you. Derby I would love to stay and complete what feels like some unfinished business but home is where the heart is (forgive the cliché). I have beautiful friends and family whom (I hope) are eagerly waiting. I long to hug my mum, go for a bike ride with dad, hang out with my sisters, listen to my niece laugh, visit my grandparents, have coffee with my girlfriends and kick a footy with the girls. People come, people are drawn, some stay, some go, some return, all remember. Might see you again some day…

Back to Derby Town

Wow Monday is probably the second longest day. Straight from the airport to work and when I finally get home I am packing for the next day for that will be New Years Eve and we are heading to Broome straight from work! New Years is fun. We check into the backpackers around 5pm and start getting ready for our night out on the town. A zoo party at the Zoo Bar. Animal print is in abundance but not as much so as Espresso Martinis. And these lead to my New Years Resolution of “Never Drinking Again”. New Years Day we have a long slow brunch at Matso’s brewery and a swim at the beach before the long drive back to Derby. When we get home- we collapse in front of Game of Thrones to enjoy the last bit of the first day of 2014. What will this year bring I wonder…

Dec 25th Orphan’s Christmas

We wake up after a nice little sleep in and head down to the beach Christmas morning for a swim and a coffee. Everyone who is anyone in Freo is down at the beach on Chrissy morning. Back at home Christian cooks us up a delightful brekky of eggs and yummies and of course what is Christmas morning without chocolate for breakfast. We then open our presents that family has sent over to us and it isso exciting and fun. After brunch and present excitement it is time to prepare the house for our “Orphan’s Christmas”. Everyone who doesn’t have family to celebrate with is welcome. Just bring a plate and a secret Santa gift and you can come through our door. Christian’s ham glaze is my highlight and skyping mum and dad and Anna. We do secret Santa, which is fun and then play with our silly presents and everyone starts to get rowdy and drunk. A bit of a different Christmas to what I am used to that is for sure. More than half the crew are Brits as well so it is a bit of a different Christmas for them too. Though they try to make it as British as possible with all their roasts and cooked wintery dishes. At about 11pm I am absolutely knackered but we have to head to the beach party of course. ALL of Freo is at the beach party. It is fantastic really- there is a DJ mixing it up on the sand and everyone dancing or stumbling around. We don’t stay too long and sleep comes easy when it is bed time. Boxing day is nice and chilled. I shop a bit, chill a bit, beach a bit and then catch up with an ex-Derby friend for dinner. We go to a lovely bar on the water in Freo for a drink and then head to Cottlesloe to an Italian restaurant. Yum yum. On Friday I finally indulge in Fremantle coffee- something unavailable in Derby and Christian takes me out for a kite. Whilst I practice on the trainer kite he tackles the wind on the water. That night we settle in for a cutsie dinner and movie. Saturday morning- an early start because we are going camping. Not really quite sure of our plans we head a few hours north to a beach and have a surf lesson from Christian. I’m not very good at it, Brig is much better, but Christian persists and I get to stand yay! We then drive to Wedge Island. What an odd place. It is a community of a few hundred in the middle of nowhere. All of the houses are made from recycled material. Unfortunately it is too windy to surf here so we stop under the first aid shelter for lunch. Lovely Sheryl – the community nurse- drives by and asks us if we are ok because we are hanging out at the first aid area. It was the only place we could find shade! We set up our picnic and sit for a bit with a treatment table and medication cupboard our backdrop. Next we drive to the Pinnacles. I have seen these before when I came with mum and dad and Anna to the Westside but they are as charming and funny as ever. There are so so many of them- all different shapes and sizes. Standing tall and erect (some of them too erect…) we take silly photos and have “pinnacle moments”. They are really cool. We try to find our way back and get semi lost among them because they all look the same and there are so many and they are just everywhere. Eventually we head back to our campspot and set up camp. Pub for dinner and lovely bed. Brig and Christian have set up a little hideaway in the back of Christian’s car with homemade curtains and everything- Christian’s Christmas gift from Briggie. I am in a tent next door. Morning comes and we have a delightful pure-camp-style brekky before heading to the beach. It is super doper windy today and kind of menacing and scary. I don’t think Christian is keen to go out but I kind of want to try and surf again so we head out and battle out to sea. The current is strong and the waves kind of treacherous (to me anyway). We get a few small waves and then I’m happy. So Brig is next. But it isn’t long before they are battling to shore again- Christian has been bitten by a cobbler and it is flipping painful apparently. We quickly pack up and head back to the caravan park for hot water to submerge the bite- this is the only thing that feels soothing. Brig and I do hot water runs every so often because once the water starts to cool the bite throbs. Poor Christian is rendered to the grass with his foot in a bucket under the shade of the car boot door. At one stage I head to the camp kitchen and cook us up some tacos for lunch. 4 hours later the pain has subsided enough so that Christian can drive us home. I feel terrible but sleep overcomes both Brig and I and is unavoidable. And so comes the end of my short but wonderful little trip to Freo. Brig (ever so generously) drops me off at the airport at 4am so I can fly back to Derby. Thank you my lovelies!!

Dec 12th-24th. The 12 days of lead up to Christmas

The Christmas Parties begin. The first off the rank is our own little Allied Health Christmas Party- early on as everyone is soon to leave me for their Christmas holidays. We book the hospital pool for the afternoon and have a swim and a BBQ. It is very very tame and most end up leaving quite early. Party poopers. There are 3 of us who hang around and we end up at the Spinny with mics in our hands singing “All I want for Christmas Is You”. It’s karaoke night at the Spinny which we take to mean, terrible singing allowed. But straight after our entertaining song a woman sings and she has the most amazing voice! So unfair. She steals the night away and when we (stupidly) ask to do another song- we are given 1 mic to share and she is given the other to drown out our wailing… The next day is unfortunately Friday meaning a work day and I rock up with a giant coffee and panda eyes- obviously very hung over. The day is a struggle... But not something that a post work nap cannot fix because we are back out that night for a friend’s 30th. Surprise- she has booked the hospital pool for a BBQ toga party. My toga is a very poor effort but it doesn’t last long because we are all in the pool soon enough. The parties do not stop there. Saturday night, one of the doctor’s hosts a Christmas party at his house. It is green and red dress up (I had found a bright green wig at a garage sale that morning and some flashing earrings which were perfectly annoying for anyone who spoke to me). He has decorated the house amazingly with fairy lights and bon bons and balloons. We bring a plate and a secret santa gift. There is lots and lots of food – three roast chickens and a ham. There is a blender and endless cocktail ingredients on a table for ‘you’re your own cocktails’ (my ultimate demise). Dr J dresses up as Santa Clause and hands out the secret santa gifts and they are cool and silly and entertaining. Sunday brings the worst hangover I have had in a long time. I am vomiting/in bed feeling wretched and sorry for myself until midday. When I can finally get up, it is to head to the café to see if a coffee might be a good idea. Could go either way really… but fortunately it is an asset. In the afternoon we head back to Dr J’s to wrap presents for the Mowanjum Christmas Party. Dr J organized the Christmas Party for the kids of Mowanjum Community because he is the founder of a charity called Fair Game who collects donated sports equipment and give them out to disadvantaged communitites. So Sunday arvo we sat nursing hangovers and wrapped 140 presents in Dr J’s lounge. Leftovers and Love Actually on the television were major contributors. By Thursday the 19th of December Christmas is fast approaching and it is very noticeable because everyone has left the department for their Chrissy holidays except me and two others! Lonely oh so lonely. That night is the Mowanjum Christmas Party so Dr J and I head out to the community after work bringing with us our giant santa sacks, 200+ sausages and a Christmas tree I stole from the department for the occasion. We round up the kids in the community and host a few games of basketball. I cook 200 sausages and die in the heat of the BBQ. By the time I get them to the kids, I am sweating sausage juice and I don’t think I can ever look at another sausage. The kids love them though, they come back for seconds and thirds. But not as much as they love my flashing earrings- what a mistake that was to wear! When we bring out the presents – the kids go mad. There are about a hundred of them ripping open wrapping paper and admiring their footy boots, jerseys, balls… it is a lovely site. By dark we are absolutely knackered and smelly and dirty so it is pack up and home to a cold shower! Friday is yet another Christmas Party- hooly dooly. Santa comes to this one- he’s pretty cool. This is the hospital Christmas Party at… you guessed it -the hospital pool. Lots of food and drink and families. The weekend passes by in a blur- most people are heading away to their respective homes for Christmas so it is very quiet. My housemate bought us a present for Christmas- a blow up pool and slippery slide. So we spend the arvo literally blowing up the pool and have fun with our new presents. Back at work Monday is quiet but I am not lonely for too long because Tuesday comes and it is Christmas Eve which means I am flying to Perth to spend Christmas with my darling sister in Freo. It has been a very stressful lead up though- I had no way of getting to Broom for my flight. Back up plan was to borrow my boss’ car and leave it there. And that is what I had to do in the end. And I ended up taking a random person with me who was also in need of a lift. He was going to hitch hike so he was very grateful and provided good company in the end. Christmas Eve was one of the longest days ever- work, 2 hr drive, a friend’s BBQ in Broome while I waited for my flight then a flight to Broome where beautiful Christian and Brig met me and drove me back to Freo!

First Impressions

The Land: red, dry, unvarying, roads long and unchanging.

Yet astonishingly different.

Hardy.

Loved and used.

Worn and resilient.

 

Community: population about 3000

50% indigenous.  40% bogan and the rest are pretty cool people :)

an IGA, a woollies, a pub, a gym/swim facility.

People: proud of their community. Proactive and resourceful.

Sharing of stories, wisdom. Generous.

Laid back, welcoming, inviting. 

December 11th-14th Mowanjum Health Day

My last remote trip. Things are winding down, everyone’s getting ready for Chrissy. It’s nice seeing the school decorated but things are much the same, still a challenge and still kind of depressing. One of our aims as a department is to work on health promotion because 1:1 level doesn’t seem very effective. No one in remote communities does their physio exercises let alone exercise in general. Obesity is such a problem and poor general health but people just don’t know about it. And it’s so hard to educate, 1) because there is no interest and 2) it’s difficult to get a message across due to lack of understanding each other’s languages. So we are trying to figure out the best way to get our message across, how do people want us to deliver the information so that they understand it and so that the can be interested in their own health. It’s more difficult than it sounds. There was a health clinic day in mowanjum last week. Mowanjum is a community close to Derby. The even was organized by the Mowanjum nurse and different groups came to set up a little stall – community health, DAHS (aboriginal health service), allied health, a quit smoking/drugs group etc. We were there an hour late but still a few hours before anyone rocked up- all set up and nothing to do. We weren’t really sure what to expect but our ITA (indigenous therapy assistant) said “It’s another bunch of white fella telling them what to do- why should they come?” So we got it wrong… again. Finally (after a few health workers drove out door knocking) a woman and her child came. The poor things were a bit bombarded and didn’t know how to respond. But when the ITA took her around, she interated a little more. Racism goes 2 ways… “Proactive” is a word that doesn’t seem to be in the vocab list. A few people wandered in, took the freebies and free food and sat around chatting to each other. Then we heard news that an elder had just passed away in the community so we all had to pack up and leave… We tried to ask people if they knew us and what we did but it was a bit of a waste of time to be honest. I don’t know why we keep trying. Is it a duty? I’m confused. And frustrated. Yet I keep wanting to help people and make changes and do the best I can – which is a common trait among health professionals. And perhaps this is our problem…

December 5th - 10th Broome Time again

Broome time again yay! On Friday I drove down and participated in a community event with a friend called “The Broome Splash n Dash”. It started at 5pm with a 5k run and it was still flipping hot! But knowing the swim was the next part pushed you that little bit extra so you could jump in the water sooner. But after the 500m swim I was still sweating and red in the face. We both ended up coming second in our gender groups- not a bad effort. Then we rewarded ourselves with delightful Japanese – 3 courses num num num. I was supposed to stay the night in a hotel room with another friend but sadly she unexpectedly had to fly home so I had the big bed and the lovely room to myself. In the morning I woke up and ran down along cable beach with all the other joggers and walkers and early rises. The sun beat down but I didn’t risk cooling off in the ocean with the possibility of lurking irrakanji – not that it would cool you off much, the water is like a hot bath at this time of year. So back to the hotel for a swim in the pool. Then out to coffee and breakfast at my favorite Broome café. I met some more Derby friends then and we did our chrissy shopping and I spontaneously bought myself a beautiful willy creek pearl for Christmas. Back to the pool. Then a pre-dinner drink at the Mangove which provides delightful views of the ocean and sunset. Dinner is booked at the nicest restaurant in town. A few jugs of sangria later we move on to a nice ambient cocktail bar for cocktails and delicious desert. Broome weekends are really just excuses for degustations and coffee. Sunday morning we are picked up at 7 for our big day of fishing! We are taken out on a big boat to a secret location in the middle of the ocean- no land is in sight. We are given rods and bait… “Now what do we do?” The other group of people were keen fisherman and were reeling in fish left right and centre- red emperor, giant somethingorother- just shit loads. And we couldn’t catch a thing! I reeled in a Samson and something else but it was too big so they had to be put back  We kept at it though – in between Matso’s ginger beers. At the end of the day we had one little fish- so the other group made sure we didn’t go hungry and they gave us 5 more fish to bring home! So nice. And that night we cooked up a storm and everyone came over to our little house and we bought chippies and it was all a big chaotic fun.