Dear all,
Well, I think I have found my feet in Port Hedland. I wouldn't say that the red dust has gotten into my blood just yet, I'm not disillusioned and by no means have fallen in love with the place, but I've meet a lot of fabulous people who all seem to be just as crazy if not more crazy than me!
So what have I done since the last 'Lesson from the Outback'...
I went on a mad overnight camping trip with a group of BHP engineers, 2 nurses and 2 doctors. We went camping on Downes Island which is a short boat trip off the shore from Port Hedland and what at experience. I have never seen so many hermit crabs in my life! Now everyone knows I'm not a big fan of creepy crawly things and hermit crabs definitely falls into that category coz those suckers bite! What I learnt about camping on a sandy island is that there is no place to esape them especially when you are sleeping on the beach! The other thing about camping on a sandy island is that the only light you have is the camp fire and that makes it especially hard to see the little nippers too! There were a few nibbling surprises in everyone's swag that night - not pleasant! So needless to say, there was not a lot of sleep had that night by me and a few others. The blokes didn't seem to mind too much, and I just tried to keep it very quiet that I jumped at every sound overnight wondering what the heck it was! We were up early with the sun at 5.30am - another side effect of sleeping on the beach, and it was 40 degrees before lunch even. The plan was that when it really started to heat up we would head back to shore before we all slow-roasted, but unfortunately the best laid plans are not always such when the boys forget to take into account how much petrol they use up with wakeboarding etc and you run out of petrol in two of the three boats before you've even left the island! And they tell you engineers are intelligent...? So it was many slow trips backwards and forwards to get people and gear off the island, and we were almost on the home stretch, when the bloke with the remaining boat decided to stick a rather large and meaty fish-hook through his finger! After some handy first-aid (yes mum, I did need to bring all that first aid stuff), we were on our way back to shore. You would've thought that was enough drama but alas, given that much of the coast of Western Australia is all tidal flats for a good 1-2km out, the tide was out so far we were in less than a metre of water by half way in. We would've been happy to jump out and walk to the shore, however shallow waters don't bother sharks either and I certainly wasn't going to take any chances considering how everyone else had to turn their heads away at the fish hook, there would've been no first aid for me! So you could imagine that with 4 people and a reasonable amount of gear we were sitting pretty low in the water when something hard hit the prop and we lost one of the blades. Down to two blades on the prop it was a VERY slow ride back to shore but we did make it reasonably intact, just very well roasted, missing a prop blade and with an extra fish hook.
Following that was Severe Tropical Cyclone Glenda headed straight for us for a couple of days then deviated off and headed along the coast so we only wore the side of her, but the side of a category 5 cyclone is still strong enough! We literally were tying down the hospital - a very new experience for me, and everyone in the nurses quarters were on alert to come into work before the cyclone hit so that everyone with families could go home and be with them. We didn't end up with too much damage just a lot of flooding and a few trees blown over. But in our efforts to cyclone-proof the quarters we thought we might bring the outdoor furniture inside, wee bit of a mistake that was. Jaimy and I decided that because I still had my jacket on after getting home from night shift, I would be the one to go outside and throw the stuff back inside for Jaimy to catch. We got organised and stood by the door waiting to see if the wind would die down a little. Thinking it had, we opened the door a smidge and both of us literally were sucked outside by the wind gusts and in less than 1 second we were both soaked to the skin. Not surprisingly we abandoned the outdoor furniture, deciding that us staying dry was more important than the possiblity of a smashed door or window from a flying table! So we went to bed, sleeping with our bags packed, passports in plastic zip-lock bags under our pillows and water flooding in under the door in the lounge and above the window in the kitchen! Despite the wind whistling through the quarters we did get some sleep and by the time we rose the worst was over.
In between times there have been cyclone parties, pool parties, and bbq's at the quarters spaced out with nights at the local 'sweat-pit' The Pier, good times. It was at one of these bbq's last week that the two absolutely crazy irish nurses Kate and Bernie and I decided to do a day trip to Marble Bar. Now Marble Bar is famous not for its actual Marble Bar, but more for being the hottest town in Australia, and is only just over 2 hrs drive from Port Hedland. We set off the next day in the morning with a gallon of water and a full tank of petrol. After dodging road trains, stray cattle, dead cattle, snakes on the road and fording rivers flowing across the road, we made it to Marble Bar only to find that the road to the mine there was closed due to flooding and slips, the road to the actual Marble Bar was closed due to flooding and slips and the 'beautiful swimming hole' (according to the Lonely Planet) was a gushing river flowing downstream at a brilliant pace and wasn't really suitable for swimming unless you don't mind crocodiles! We thought we'd take a drive around town instead where we found a large digital thermometer at the park which told us that it was only a mere 33 degrees in Marble Bar that day, a bit disappointing, and the Nurses Post that looked like old deserted army barracks! We found the local pub called the Iron Clad Hotel where we stopped for a drink and bite to eat and on meeting the owners discovered that the husband was a Kiwi and the wife Irish! What a coincidence! We cruised around for a few more minutes - not a lot else to see in Marble Bar, and then headed back on our merry way to Port Hedland. The destination wasn't fabulous, but we had a wicked time getting there and back! Probably one of the highlights was being able to drive again - its amazing how much you appreciate something when you no longer have it!
The very next day the next Tropical Cyclone made its impression by dumping bucket-loads of rain on us and causing even more flooding but nothing else. We spent the weekend in the pub and in the pool and am now back at work, on the dreaded night shift.
Now onto Lessons from the Outback #2 - we have resident lizards in the house. They are hideous creatures called Tartars and they jump up and run incredibly fast on their back legs. They are all named Jimmy and so far we're up to Jimmy #3. Jimmy #1 was discovered when I was on night shift, midmorning got up to go to the bathroom and the little blighter was in the doorway - I almost wet my pants there and then! We then discovered him next in the kitchen when Jaimy almost stood on him, then in the bathroom as I went to have a shower. His luck ran out when he decided to make his home in our pj's that were drying on the clothes rack in the lounge during the cyclone. I walked into the lounge and was talking to Jaimy who was sitting on the couch a foot and a half away from the rack when I noticed a tail dangling down inbetween our pj bottoms. I calmly pointed it out to Jaimy who disagreeing leaned forward and took a closer look, then practically jumped backwards into my arms when she discovered that it was indeed our friend Jimmy. Luckily one of the blokes happened to be around and gleefully pulled Jimmy out of our pj's by his tail and then heaved him outside.
Jimmy #2 appeared a week later in the lounge, happily making his home on the couch. I let out a rather loud scream, almost wet my pants again, and hid on the other side of the room. Then suddenly remembering I'd left my bedroom door open, I booted it up the corridor to close it, only to find Jimmy #2 had beat me to it and was on my bed! There was another blood-curdling scream loud enough to wake our male and hung-over-at-the-time housemate Matt who happily picked up the literally 'scared-stiff' lizard and threw him outside.
Jimmy #3 was spotted yesterday at the side of the fridge and hasn't yet made another appearance, but you can be assured that my bedroom has been thoroughly gone over by Matt incase he's hiding in there, and the door has remained firmly shut at all times.
I think that that's about all my news for now! Time here in Hedland is flying, only 3 weeks to go in this contract and then who knows where I'll pop up. For anyone who wants to see photos of what I've been doing, I've set up a blogspot website that you can look at to save me filling up your inboxes with photos. The website is www.nurseroni.blogspot.com . I'll also post my emails on there.
Thanks to everyone who's been emailing me, its so awesome to hear from everyone.
Take care everyone, keep in touch!
Love Roni xxx
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