Spanglish lessons in Ecuador: Always learn food and drink items!

Buenos dias!

I hope everyone is well - I am fabulous!

I´ve spent the last couple of weeks in Ecuador and am having a ball. Mary and I arrived in Quito exhausted after an extremely long haul but luckily had no dramas along the way and settled into our hotel for some much needed horizontal time! We had a few days in Quito to see the sights and along the way managed to pick up a couple of our tour members who had also arrived a few days early and they certainly came in handy as they both spoke more Spanish than either Mary or I!

The most distressing thing is being starving and having no idea what the menu says and then just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best when the food arrives! But we survived our first meal out quite well, we all got what we thought we´d ordered and remembered to leave the lovely waiter a tip since he´d kindly been trying to practise his English to help us understand it all! We took the next couple of days to see the Old Town, La Virgen de Quito (big statue on a hill), and the New Town. Then we met up with the rest of our Budget Expeditions group....

There are 22 people in our group, 10 aussies, 8 brits, 2 canadians and 3 kiwis, plus our leader Julie, and driver Cam, and the most important member of the ensemble - Moose, our big yellow truck! So we all met up in Quito and then the next day headed up north to Otavalo, stopping on route at the Equator where we got to do all the water and egg tricks to prove we were actually on the equator, and also learnt a bit about Ecuadorian culture e.g. how to shrink a head! Very cool, nothing like how it is in the movie Beetlejuice, actually saw a real one which was even more freaky tho!

So it was on to Otavalo where we were supposed to go to the famous markets and supposed to be camping but got there in the dark because of bad traffic and it was raining really hard too so we ended up missing the markets and invading the local supermarket for beer and snacks instead (yep, learnt how to ask for beer quickly!) and then all wound up in together in a house that was under construction, in the dust, sleeping on the floor, but it was a great bonding experience for all.

After that it was onto Banos where we again got there in the dark after being stuck in two different political road blocks, and arrived to one of the local volcanoes erupting and showering the town in ash! Mixed together with the rain meant the ash was turning to concrete so there was no camping there either as concrete and canvas don´t mix, so we were into a hostal and comfy as anything, watching the ash fall outside. We had a couple of days in Banos where we saw the sights and went canyoning. For those who don´t know, canyoning is where you climb down into a canyon by jumping off waterfalls, and abseiling down the side of them when they´re too high to jump off. It was terrifying for the first jump and the first abseil but after that it was just good fun!

After Banos was Mishuali, where we ventured into the Amazon jungle for a couple of days trekking, was great, very muddy trekking but not too exhuasting, saw lots of very big creepy bugs and spiders, including a tarantula! It was hot and humid and I can´t understand it, but I was the only one actually enjoying the heat and stickyness! We did a bit of inner-tubing down the rapids in the river the next day and all got a bit sunburnt but a great time was had by all - well, we´re still debating whether the ones that tried the ´jungle juice´ still had a good time after they spent the whole night losing their insides one way or the other!

From the jungle it was back to Banos, after a stop on the side of the road due to a large car engine part on the road puncturing one of our tyres(!), for a night to do some much needed laundry and hot showers, and then onto Cuenca where we enjoyed the delights of cruising actual shops rather than markets, drinking ourselves silly on cheap cocktails (yes, learning how to order cocktails quickly too!) and visited a Panama hat factory! Now did anyone know that the Panama hat did not originate from Panama??? It actually originated from Cuenca in Ecuador and when the foreigners came in, they saw people wearing these hats and just assumed that they were from Panama (who knows why) and that´s how they got the name....just a little piece of pub quiz trivia for you...

We headed south again after Cuenca to the border of Ecuador and Peru and made it through eventually after a record quick time of 3 hours! But again, it was all pretty straight forward, as long as you just fill in whatever papers they hand to you - and its ok to guess what they want you to write when you can´t read spanish!

Now we´re in Mancora, camping on the northern coast of Peru, lapping up the sunshine and making the most of the beach, the sand and surf. I´m gradually getting there with my Spanish, I can now say whether I want chicken, fish, or meat (that would be anything that´s red, you never actually know what it is, I like to live dangerously!), and can order multiples of drinks, hooray!

So for now I´m going to sign off, I hope everyone is well, take care all,
Senorita Ronita xxx

Lessons from the Outback: #7 Outback girls don't cry...

Hello!

It been a busy few weeks since the last lesson, in fact, I have barely had time to breathe! In between working my butt off trying to earn lots of money to spend, a group of us nurses managed a fabulous trip up the Dampier Peninsula to Cape Leveque for a few days which was bliss.

Rosanne, Sarah, Emma, Naomi and I all scored days off together after much begging, pleading, and bribing, and headed off to Broome for a night of glitz and glamour, well, cocktails and a fancy dinner! We wined and dined at the Mangrove Resort in Broome while we watched the last Staircase to the Moon for the year (unfortunately it was a bit of a fizzer really), and lived it up as we were all suffering from a bit of Derby-itis. Early the next morning we were picked up by Rodger, our guide/driver/cook/general slave, and got loaded into the back of the old Land Cruiser, balanced precariously on the bench seats lining the sides. Once we were all buckled in, it was north up the Dampier Peninsula with our first stop being Beagle Bay. Beagle Bay is an Aboriginal community made famous because of the settlement of French Pallotine monks there back in 1890, and it was the monks that made the beautiful work of art that people come for hundreds of miles to see - the church, and more importantly, the altar inside which is decorated from top to toe in pearl shell. It really is quite a sight to behold and a magical experience for me, seeing something I read about years ago and have been dying to see since.

After Beagle Bay we headed straight for Cape Leveque and the beach! Yes, the afternoon was spent relaxing on the pure white tropical sand, sunbathing, swimming, croc spotting, and a fun game of spear and throw the jellyfish which I avoided as much as possible. We visited Hunters Creek but the crocs didn't want to come out and play (something i was personally quite pleased about!), and then it was back to Kooljamon at Cape Leveque where we set up camp for the night. We managed to climb over and around and under the rocks from the Cape round to West Beach to watch the sunset which threw the most amazing colours onto the red rocks there. Almost all of us made it through intact, only Sarah and Emma both managed to fall over, only Sarah did the most damage really. Being cocktail hours we were all carrying our beers with us and Sarah was carrying hers in her back pocket as we climbed. It was almost a very sorry state of affairs when she fell and landed straight on her butt and therefore the beer bottle, but somehow the bottle didn't break, she just scratched the label and got a hole in her shorts! A miracle beer bottle, and an excellent advertisement for Pure Blonde Beer - try it, you'll love it! The rest of the sunset came and went with no major incidents, was another west coast stunner.

After a very comfortable night sleeping in our tents with all the sides open and breathing in the fresh sea air, we were up early and down to the beach swimming before breakfast, then it was off to see Eric, our Aboriginal guide who took us around Swan Point where we saw turtles, mullet, dancing fish and a lot of sharks. We went fishing - very unsuccessfully, and got all our lines snagged on the rocks, so Eric and his grandson had to jump in and try to unsnag them for us, which they did! It wasn't soon after though that we had to abandon and make a run for it as we were getting caught in the tide, and I ain't swimming back to shore when there's crocs and sharks around thanks!

After another swim, it was morning tea time - fresh damper and billy tea plus two fish Eric caught (us girls were all a bit useless), and some fresh shell fish, yum, yum, yum. I have to say, I think I could get used to the whole bush tucker thing! And then back to Cape Leveque for lunch, another swim and off to Lombadina further back down the Peninsula. Lombadina was fabulous, a beautifully looked after Aboriginal community, loved the art centre there, and the beach was another hit with us. After hanging out there for a while it was back in the truck, onto the bench seats and on our way back to Broome where we went into recovery mode for the evening! It was such a great couple of days, we came back exhausted but feeling like we'd been gone for a week!

The next morning, the girls all had to head back to Derby for work in the afternoon but I wasn't starting til the day after so bought myself a bus ticket for that night and stayed on in Broome for the day - shopping! It was a long morning trawling through the pearl shops, but eventually found the one that was to be mine, and what a beauty it is! A stunning Australian South Sea gold pearl from the gold-lipped oyster, it was made for me. After only a slight hesitation it really was mine, and what do you do when you've just bought a gorgeous pearl and are carrying it around in your bag??? You head straight to the beach for some necessary sun time! The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging on Cable beach, taking in my last Cable beach sunset over a lovely cold Pure Blonde, and then a cocktail at the Sunset Bar before jumping on the bus back to Derby, ahh, a perfect day.

My surprise when I got back to Derby was that I had a visitor! Practically the whole town was out looking for me coz my friend Matty from Hedland was up in Derby but had arrived while i was away, and had visited I think every hospital employee looking for me - which of course in a small town means that everyone was now looking for me! So i arrived off the bus back in the nurses quarters to a very agitated bunch, waiting for me to arrive, and then it was off to find the said radiographer in Derby somewhere at 11pm. Proved pretty easy to find and there followed a long night of catching up and gossiping!

My last week in Derby was a rush of 7 shifts at work and much socialising and not much organising of leaving - a recipe for disaster some might say. Naomi and I were both finishing at the same time, so the night before we were due to hope on the bus we had a great night out with half the town showing up! It started with drinks and nibbles at the jetty to take in our last Derby sunset which was beautiful and then it was down to our local watering hole, the Spini, for dinner and drinking and dancing, and more drinking, and more dancing. There was a live band playing, and after they finished, Damian (one of our nurses) got up and did a few numbers for us which was a great send off. Steve, the owner of the Spini kept it open late for us and we eventually closed it down at about 1am by which time we were all dying of heat exhaustion and the only cure was going to be a swim in the hospital pool! So in we piled there, and what a fabulous way to cool down. We made it home just before 3am, did a very hasty throw-everything-in-together pack and was up again at 5 to get on the bus. Now that was painful. The bus was chocka-block and behind Nomes and I were 4 screaming, smelly, dirty, revolting kids that just wouldn't keep to themselves, and that's never enjoyable at anytime, but its sooo much worse after only 2 hours sleep and with an overhang! But we hung in there, got to Broome, grabbed a coffee, and things started to look brighter after that.

Matt arrived in Broome at lunchtime (yes, radiographers get flown, nurses get bussed), and we flew down to Perth together and Emma picked me up and we had an excellent night of catching up over cocktails! Saturday morning was a very exciting occasion - a haircut! Such a luxury that you're not aware of til you can't get one! And then it was back on the plane, across to Sydney and a reunion with mum - every girl nomad needs a courier! Mum and I have now had a few days in Sydney to do last minute shopping, organising, sorting, stressing - just the usual, but we did manage a great trip to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the stageshow and it was worth every one of mum's pennies to see it - thanks mum!

So now we're at the end, Red Ron of the Outback will be no longer and I have to say, its quite an emotional experience saying goodbye and closing that chapter. I have had an amazing experience so far this year, I have met fabulous people, I have seen (and done) crazy things, and I have grown in so many ways. It has been overwhelming at times, lonely too, but it has also been some of the best times of my life so far and I don't regret a second of it. It has been sad saying goodbye, or see you later, to so many new friends,but now I farewell Outback Ron, I also get to look forward to the next adventure that starts tomorrow. Tomorrow I fly out of Sydney and across to South America where I'll be for the next few months. I get to meet up with Mary, and together we travel through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil, wow. And I thought the Outback was an adventure...I wonder what on earth is to come???

So here's Red Ron of the Outback signing off,
Love to all and talk to you soon!

Lessons from the Outback: #6 Always take an shade umbrella when at risk of being stranded on an airstrip...

Hey guys,

This year is just going so fast, I've been back in Derby for 6 weeks and only have 3 more left before the next adventure! Now in this edition of the 'Red Ron Chronicles', I'm going to have to do a little backtracking and catching up again, so bear with me, it might get a little confusing...
In the last email I neglected to include my trip through the Kimberley on my return from Asia, before starting back at work, so let me backtrack...

After my asia adventure, I returned to Perth to the wonderful hospitality of lovely Emma (thanks for the room babe!), and to meet up with Mum and Peter who, bless them, missed me so much they had to visit...well that, and the fact that they wanted to see one of the most fascinating and spectacular regions of Australia for themselves.

It was a very happy reunion at the airport with mum handing out the best compliment I've ever received - that I, of all people, looked 'so tanned'! Hooray! I guess that's what happens when you spend the best part of a year in solid sunshine... We had a couple of days in Perth to see the sights and recover from jetlag, before flying up to Broome, back to the warm weather, sunshine, tropical breeze and red dust! The four days we had in Broome were filled up easily with experiencing everything on offer - trawling through many many pearl shops, relaxing on Cable Beach, seeing Gantheaume Point, taking in a sunset camel ride (very amusing), a movie at Sun Pictures - the oldest Outdoor cinema in the southern hemisphere, Staircase to the Moon and the flying boat wrecks in Roebuck Bay (only able to be seen a few times a year)...whew, I feel exhausted after just writing all of them! And of course there were the markets, galleries, and many cafe breakfasts, I could've stayed forever...

But there was more fun and adventure to be had when after our few days in Broome we picked up our...Campervan! Yes, we braved the campervan experience through the Kimberley, infact, after resolving the few teething issues brought on by three of us in a very small confined space, we embraced the idea of taking your home with you, and the many experiences of 'old farts in caravan parks' and we came out the other side willing to do it all again one day! Maybe with a bigger one next time though...

So after Broome, it was through to Derby, a welcome home as such for me and a chance for Mum and Peter to see where I'd been living and 'the local' that we frequented, it was a bit of an eye-opener I think... I relished the opportunity to be tour guide, and took the drivers seat in ol' Britzy (our van) and whisked around the few sites that Derby has offer, including taking in a beautiful sunset on the Jetty (complete with wine and nibbles - added bonus of having Britzy) and a dinner at Derby's one and only decent restaurant, overlooking the jetty and the King Sound. We also managed to get a flight over the Buccaneer Archepelago and the Horizontal Waterfalls (literally what the name says, a waterfall flowing between two sets of rocks which is horizontal rather than vertical) which was stunning.

After a 'see you soon' to Derby, we let Britzy loose on the Great Northern Highway all the way to Fitzroy Crossing where we enjoyed a cruise up Geikie Gorge, checking out the 'freshies', hoping not to run into a 'salty', and then set up camp along side quite a few 'old farts in caravan parks', but it was an enjoyable night listening to the bats squealing, the dingos howling and the owls hooting...

Yiyili Community was the next stop after Fitzroy before hitting Halls Creek. They have a beautiful art centre there with lots of fabulous artists and both mum and I were tempted quite easily really into buying a painting each. The community is set up really well where all the parents are encouraged to come to the art centre everyday and because the parents come, they bring their kids who are quickly whisked away next door to the school! A win-win situation for everyone. Halls Creek we passed through pretty quickly on the way north and it was onto Warmun (or Turkey Creek) where we stayed at the roadhouse which was an adventure on its own! This roadhouse ended up being the home to numerous heavy rigs, cars, campervans, tents, you name it, it was all piled in together. It was a pretty grotty place really but I like to think it added to the character of it all...

From Warmun it was up to Wyndham to have a look at the Five Rivers lookout where, you guessed it, five rivers meet. It was quite a view to take in, and then after a aquick squiz around the rest of Wyndham (took about 5 mins) it was on to Kununurra where there was much ogling at beautiful Argyle pink diamonds (a girl can dream!), more galleries and food trails to follow, a sunset cruise up the Ord River to the diversion dam (necessary to keep Kununurra as lush and fertile as it

is!) and a fantastic flight over Purnululu National Park which is more commonly referred to as the Bungle Bungles. The Bungle Bungles are beehive-like rock formations coloured in black and orange stripes by algae on their surface, which are unique to the Kimberley and spectacular to look at from the air. We ended up staying and relaxing in Kununurra for aobut 3 days before heading back south down the Great Northern. We checked out the Old China Wall in Halls Creek which is a strip of naturally occurring old marble in the middle of red rock which, funny enough, looks just like the Great Wall of China. We trucked on through to Fitzroy for the night and back to Derby the next day where it was my turn to move out of Britzy and take up my place in the Nurses Quarters again. The next morning it was a sad farewell (only a few tears this time) to mum and Peter as they headed back to Broome and then onto the rest of their holiday down south, leaving me with an overwhelming sense of once again being on my own in the the middle of nowhere...I find it fascinating how once you're used to being on your own, it takes a while to get used to having people who are close to you around again, and yet it only takes them being there for a short while til you're back to normal and then it leaves a bit of a hole where they were when they go...

But never fear, I didn't have time to dwell too much, I was busy getting thrown back into Derby life, getting acquainted with my new housemates, catching up with old friends, and finding out who was sitll in town and who had moved on already...and now I think we're caught up to where I left off last time! So onwards and upwards...

My time so far in Derbytown has been reasonably uneventful, lots of working, working, working, trying hard to save my money for my next adventure. There have been a few animal adventures, like seeing my first live snake and plenty more dead ones, getting to know Blue-tongue lizards personally (they live under our house, look like snakes but with legs), battling with swooping bats every night on the way to work, and having many close and personal encounters with frogs of all shapes and sizes in the toilet, the shower, the sink and even the fridge (that one wasn't moving much though...)! There have been a few great nights out at the pub, including the Kimberley region Country and Western Music Festival - yes very popular up here in the Outback! There was a great marsh party the other week (yes a party on the Marsh that surrounds Derby, otherwise known as the tidal mudflats that never get wet...) where the bonfire could be seen clearly from the quarters and infact, almost every road in Derby that had a view of the marsh. Unfortunately I was on night shift so had to leave reasonably early on in the piece, incredibly early it ended up in fact, because when I was getting home from work at 7.30am, they were all only just coming in off the marsh!

I've also been housesitting for 3 weeks for my friend Di here, she's got a little hospital one-bedroom unit and puppy dog that needed looking after while she was on holiday and I was the lucky recipient!

I also got to babysit her very spunky red scooter which was a lot of fun to zip around town on, and as I found out, highly conspicuous!

Everyone was able to track my moves around town as there's only one red scooter around and you can't miss it, especially as it sounds like a ride-on lawn-mower! Lots of fun though, cruising down the highway at its top speed of 66km/hr, being overtaken by roadtrains!

I had to opportunity last week after talking to one of the Royal Flying Doctors Service nurses to go out with them to a clinic. We went to a community called Tablelands which is home to between 20 and 60 people at any one time. Its in the middle of nowhere, extremely isolated and experiences pretty harsh conditions, so I automatically thought - adventure! And it was... We left Derby base at 7am and flew towards Tablelands, circling over the community about 8.30 to let them know we were arriving and to send someone to pick us up. We landed on the 'airstrip' which is more like a dirt track with halved oil drums lining each side that can have fires lit in them to act as torches when landing at night. It was a pretty sharp and short landing, and a we bit bumpy as you'd imagine but all part of the adventure I thought...well, it was only just beginning... After parking up on the side of the airstrip and unloading all the clinic gear, we stood and waited for the sound of a vehicle on its way...it was a sound that never seemed to arrive. After sitting under the wing of the plane - the only shade available, for a good hour and a half, we eventually decided that perhaps they hadn't heard the plane overhead and didn't know we were there. Unfortunately there was no reception to be able to ring the community nor was the plane able to make radio contact with anyone while grounded, so the decision was made to send the plane up again, to circle the community once more and to try to make radio contact with the community somehow... The plane took off, showering us in a whirlwind of dust and dirt and we were left in the open blazing heat of the desert, on the airstrip with no shade and means of moving anywhere...we were stranded. After another 20 minutes, the plane landed again and informed us that after circling the community, he saw only one vehicle and it was up on blocks with the bonnet open, didn't look promising, but he had managed to make radio contact with Brisbane of all places and Brisbane were going to ring the community until they got hold of someone to come and pick us up. We had a laugh about it, and then quickly moved back in under the wing of the plane for some shelter. Only another half hour after that did a vehicle come rumbling down the track to get us, hooray! Until we saw it...it was the shell of an old toyota van, with not many windows left, a boot that didn't close properly and nothing at all on the front dash - not even a normal ignition, it was started with a screwdriver! We loaded up the van with our trailerload of things, crossed our fingers that we'd arrive in one piece and piled in on top of one another, onto the floor - no, no seats either, and just clung on as we rattled back down the track, bumping and swerving, with dust pouring in on us...

When we arrived at the community, everyone seemed to be sitting waiting for us, word travels quickly I guess. We set up a table on the veranda of a house (that was as good a clinic as we could get) and proceeded to check blood pressures, blood sugars, fill up medicine boxes, give injections, and weigh babies until at last we'd seen everyone. We'd worked hard and were tired so packed everything up and began the search to find someone to take us back to the airstrip...alas, everyone after being seen by us took off mustering
and there was no one left - we were stranded again! We went house to
house, calling out for anyone, we tooted the horn of the stripped out van, and then we sat, and we waited... Eventually someone emerged from one of the houses most upset that we'd disturbed her afternoon nap, but reluctantly agreed to take us back to the airstrip in the beat-up van. So in we went again, piled on top of gear, and other people, and covered in dust. Arriving back at the plane was a relief with the promise of air-conditioning once we finally got in the air, until we saw a grader coming down the strip - now where would you ever see one of them in the Outback??? Who knows how it got out there, but it meant that it was all hands on deck to pack her up and get outta there quick before the dust got even worse. We eventually got everything in and ourselves and it turned out to be a reasonably uneventful trip back to Derby after the unpredictable day we'd had until then! It definitely an adventure...

Since then its been another week of hideous night shifts with nothing much happening except watching the weather. Now this may seem ridiculous, but in these parts its not. See the few weeks have been getting noticeably hotter and more humid with the buildup to the wet season. And the wet season would usually not start till around late October/November. But the last couple of days have been incredibly windy with a lot of cloud building up which is something that is quite unusual. Now in the beginning we didn't really realise it was cloud on the horizon becuase there have been so many bushfires recently that the sky is almost always coloured purple and smoky somewhere (very cool to watch in itself) but then tonight as I was walking back from the jetty, I just about fell over as I saw a huge black raincloud come towards me. Within 5 mins it was spitting, and within 10 mins it was raining properly, and it was magical.

You would think that growning up in NZ, I would have seen enough rain for a lifetime, but there's something so intriguing about rain in a place that never gets any, and it was exciting! Everyone was out on the streets, standing looking up at it, dancing in it, taking everyone by surprise. What an experience! It may sound ridiculous but its something pretty amazing that'll bring a whole town outdoors at the same time. Within an hour though, it was all over and the cloud had passed, but it gave just a little hint of things to come. The locals have been hoping for a decent wet season for a few years, and the Aboriginal elders have predicted that this years wet season will come early, so it looks like maybe everyone will be happy. That shower was nice, but I hope the real wet season holds off a few more weeks so I can get all the sunshine possible out of the Kimberley!

So if you've made it to the end of this marathon read, you deserve a prize, and that prize will be that the next one will be shorter I'm sure! Hope everyone is well, keep up the emails, I love getting everyone's news.

Take care,
Red Ron

Kimberley photos

Windjana Gorge

Stunning Kimberley boab

Getting up close and personal with the crocs at Windjana

Derby sunset at the Jetty

Me, Tash & Pauline at the Boab Ball

My mudcrab! Look at the size of that beauty!

Southeast Asia: by plane, train and automobile...

Ok everyone stop panicking! I realise that perhaps I have been offline for a little longer than usual (what's two months...?) and for that I apologise - but its all ok, I am still alive, very much alive, and having a ball...sorry for worrying you all, I have received the emails and have taken note, and will not be silent for so long next time... :)

So...what have I been up to...I really don't know where to start...I shall try to collect my thoughts and abbreviate them so you don't all have to read another 'novel'...

I left Australia two months ago for Southeast Asia, and what an experience it was. It was overwhelming, inspiring, mind-blowing, depressing, dirty, beautiful, smelly, serene, infact I really think I experienced every possible emotion during the time I was there, and I'm still struggling to find the right words to describe it...but I'll give it a go, bear with me...

Flying into Bangkok was an assalt on the senses in every sense, I went into immediate shellshock, due to the insaneness, the chaos, and the sheer number of people around...it probably wouldn't have been so bad if i'd arrived after living in a normal city, however coming from a town with a population of less than 5000, to a city of millions, i'm sure anyone would've had to take a moment... I spent my first day just wandering, trying to take it all in without feeling too overwhelmed, but I did experience a great wash of relief when Bernie finally arrived on her flight from Melbourne that night - and what a happy reunion it was! There was much excited chattering and gossiping until the wee hours of the morning when after lovely hot showers (our last for many weeks) we finally crashed into our most comfortable hotel beds (also our last for many weeks)... After checking out of our hotel we headed across town to find the first of many grotty backpackers for our final night in Bangkok and then we were off to explore what we could in the time we had...we also organised our ticket out of there. The next morning, bright and early at 7am we boarded a bus that was going to take us to the border of Thailand and Cambodia, and settled in for what we thought was going to be a 10-hour bus trip through to Siem Reap in Cambodia...well, weren't we ever wrong about that?!? The ride to the Thai border was quite managable but at the border was where the fun started. We were to get used to the various forms of transport across borders - cattle trucks, motorbikes, and walking and this particular border was a combination of the cattle truck and walking...and standing...for a very long long time...while 10 people all examine your passport, first on the Thai side then on the Cambodian side of the border...all in 40 degree heat, fun...but the fun doesn't stop there...then we bordered our 'air-conditioned bus' that was going to take us the other 150km to Siem Reap...shame that it was actually a 12-seater van with broken windows packed full of 20 backpackers with all our packs inside as well, with us lucky ones sitting in the aisle, for the next 9 hours! Yes, it took 9 hours to drive 150km...we were thrown from one side of the 'bus' to the other, up and down, we all ended up with head injuries and covered in orange dust - good thing i was already used to that part! So our 10-hour bus trip turned into a mammoth 15-hour nightmare trip, but we survived and ended up bonding with ALL our fellow travellers - as you do when you're all sitting on top of each other (!) but especially with 2 Danish sisters who we ended up travelling with through a lot of our trip...what an introduction to Cambodia eh???

So there we were in Siem Reap for a few days, the home of the great Angkor Wat (one of the Wonders of the World). We spent a day recovering, and then a fabulous day cycling around the Angkor ruins. The Angkor Wat itself was amazing, huge, but totally overrun with hideous tourists which kinda took away from the whole experience, but the smaller temples and ruins were just spectacular. We found a little village kid at one of the ruins hiding in the long grass and he ended up taking us around the ruins, pointing out interesting things, telling us all about the history - and kept ducking and hiding in the grass whenever a policeman went past - he apparently wasn't a registered tour guide at the grand age of 8 and therefore wasn't allowed to be showing us anything! It was a great day, Bernie and I even had our 'Lara Croft' moment in Ta Prohm - the temple where the film Tomb Raider was made. The rest of our time in Siem Reap was taken up with visiting the Landmine Musuem - horrific but inspiring that someone is actually trying to make a difference, and just taking in the sights, sounds and smells of Cambodia. The number of amputees from landmines that are begging on the streets is heartbreaking, and the drugged babies that are carried around by their 4 or 5 year old sibling, begging for money for the supposed 'sick' baby was so shocking, but at the same time, there were children that were so delightful and still grinning even after you turned them down for the 20th time saying that you really weren't going to buy anything off them!

Onto Phnom Penh where we stayed in probably the worst guest house of the trip - a squat toilet with not even a bucket to flush(!), holes in the walls, gaps between the walls and the doorways, no windows, you name it, it was that bad...but it was also only 50cents a night! In the few days in Phnom Penh we visited the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek, and the S21 prison/concentration camp/museum - mindblowing. It was an incredibly depressing experience, very moving, and upsetting, and shocking. We came out of a daze at the end of our time in Phnom Penh with an almost hatred for human beings, it amazes me that we still continue to massacre each other for pathetic reasons, killing hundreds of thousands of people in the most grotesque ways, and still end up exactly where we started from each time...so on that note we decided we had to get out of Cambodia, everything in Cambodia is centred around the war, the genocide, and the ongoing problems with landmines, and it was quite an experience to be there, but it all got too much and when we realised that we hadn't laughed or smiled all day it was time to move on...so we headed to Vietnam.

Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam was another loooong bus journey, another long hot walk across another border, through no man's land, and into Vietnam - after having to fork out even more money to the Vietnamese officials just coz they asked for it...not very nice...and then into another van with 20 people for 12 seats for another long ride to HCMC with - a singing guide(!) - talk about torture! It was pretty obvious right from the border of Vietnam that it was a much richer country than Cambodia, there is still poverty but no where near the same extent of what we'd already seen. It wasn't a bad city but one night was enough for us and we decided to head to the coast for some serious beach time. But before we left we got an email from our friend Neil who was supposed to be joining us to say he'd lost all his money and cards one night and had to head back to Australia early - silly boy! So we weren't going to see Neil which was a shame but unfortunately, them's the breaks! So onto Mui Ne!

Mui Ne is a quiet little fishing village on the coast famous for making fish sauce - and yes you can smell the village a long time before you actually get there! But it was nice for a few days, just to chill out, enjoy the fresh ocean air and explore the Red and White sand dunes, go sand boarding and cycle around the coast enjoying the amazing scenery, hills, and lush rice paddies, with a backdrop of sparkling blue water. We did have a little incident when walking along the beach one day, obviously walked a little too far and out of our area, because we came across three dead dogs within about 20m of each other! They were in various stages of decomposing and as you can imagine we turned and hightailed it out of there very quickly! It also managed to keep us out of the water in Mui Ne quite successfully! After a few days in Mui Ne we headed up the coast to Nha Trang which is a much bigger town, more like a city and a bit resorty too. It was nice enough, and we went on a crazy boat trip where we got to enjoy a floating bar with free wine for most of the afternoon - can't go wrong! Only tragedy was that this was where my camera decided to pack a sad and didn't want to work anymore! So Bernie became official photographer. We caught the overnight bus to Hoi An from there, and that was another experience. As many people know, I'm a hopeless sleeper, I seem to lack the ability to just sleep anywhere and that was definitely true on this bus trip, but i didn't mind so much in the end. The road wound around the coast of Vietnam in the carved-out side of the mountains and all I could see was a sea of twinkling lights from the fishing boats on the water and the moonlight reflecting off the buddhist monks head that was sitting in front of me! Quite a magical experience at the time..

Hoi An was a lovely town, had a great beach that we frequented often for the 6 days we spent there! We got to know all the locals on the beach who after a couple of days were spending their time hanging out with us instead of wandering the beach, selling their pineapples and mangoes like they usually do...fabulous fun. We also met a man named My Phong at a restaurant we ate at one night who told us he did trips out to his village to show people around and teach them about Vietnamese culture. We weren't sure whether we were getting ripped off or not, but thought we'd give it a go and the next day headed out on motorbikes (the only form of transport in Asia) to his village. What a day. We learnt so much about Vietnamese history, culture, religion, the war, and just general life. It was one of the best days of our trip. He took us into his home, around his village, we were introduced to every family in the village, drank tea in every house and shared a meal with his family, it was such an amazing show of hospitality and generosity. While we were in Hoi An we also went out to the My Son ruins which were cool but nowhere near as amazing as the Angkor ruins, and the Marble Mountains which were beautiful. When we decided it was time to move on from Hoi An, we tried booking the bus to Hanoi, but that was full, and then the train, but that was full, and so we had to fly...except there was only 'business class' seats available...we thought that we had may as well spend the extra money otherwise we'd just be spending it staying on in Hoi An, so imagine our surpirse when our ticket ended up with us at the very back of the plane, with no more leg room than anyone else and only a glass of water to drink the whole flight...hmmm...another asian scam experience...!

Hanoi was a very busy, big, smelly city that I didn't enjoy particularly but you get that...we went out to Halong Bay for 3 days for a boat trip and to stay on Cat Ba Island National Park, which was ok, but not great - coming from NZ I expected a national park to BE a national park, but rather it was a resort town for local vietnamese with hotels, restaurants, and lots and lots of rubbish and pollution...i couldn't even go in the water coz it was too polluted! But after that disaster of a trip and another day in Hanoi visiting all the different museums, we got the overnight train to Sapa up in the highland where we were signed up for a 4 day trek. Now Sapa was fabulous! It was probably my favourite place of the whole trip. Its a small town nestled halfway up the side of a mountain, in the middle of a huge valley, surrounded by cloud, with mountain peaks towering overhead, it was magical. The landscape was so green and lush, and the the crops and rice paddies terraced down the mountains just created the most beautiful picture. We trekked through all the villages down in the valleys for 4 days, homestaying with families in the villages, it was hard work, but it was such an incredible experience to be able to live with and talk to and get to know these beautiful village people. We were very sad to leave after 4 days, but we had to catch the overnight train back to Hanoi before flying out the next day back to Bangkok..!

In Bangkok it was a sad farewell to Bernie who was heading home to Ireland after being gone 10 months, although she was so excited to be going home it was hard to stay sad. And I caught a flight up to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand where for a week I went hiking, elephant trekking, river rafting and even managed a Thai cooking course! All too soon it was over though and I was on my way back to Australia, and back to work.

Final thoughts on Asia: for an area that appears to be such a contradiction in humanity, with the history of war so recent and so intricately wound into everyday life, I am amazed that people have such strength and resilience and are able to continue smiling throughout. My trip affected me in ways i wasn't really expecting and it moved me immensly. I am in total admiration of the hundreds of children that I met and played with through Cambodia and Vietnam. They have such fighting spirits and it seems that each generation thats born comes out ready to battle on, grinning the whole time...its inspiring, and it makes you appreciate being brought up in a country of peace more than you can ever fully comprehend.

So here I am, back in Derby, in the Outback, getting used to working again...its a hard life...so I'm here for 2 more months before heading to South America! Hooray! Time to knuckle down and earn some money and try not to spend it! There was another tragedy while I was away in Asia though - my cellphone went walkies somewhere...it was left in Australia but obviously missed me, went to find me, and is now missing in action...so anyone who has be calling or texting in the last couple of months - terribly sorry but I won't have got the message! I've just picked up a new number now i'm back in Derby though - onto my third phone number since i've been here - ridiculous!

Well, sorry, it did turn into a bit of an essay, didn't mean it to, but there was just too much to say as per usual. I hope everyone is well, and happy. I can't wait to hear news from home or abroad...

Love always
Red Ron of the Outback

Lessons from the Outback: #5 Always watch out for crocs while crabbing...

Hi all,

Well, another month has flown by and I find myself often wonderingwhere on earth the time is going...

My time in Derby is up for now, I had a great last few weeks. Icontinued to work hard and had a couple of weeks of night shift thrownin for good measure, just to make sure I hadn't forgotten what theywere like I think! But I managed to fill my spare time easily, withfishing, crabbing and sightseeing...ahhh, what a life...

We had a great day out on the King Sound with Grant (nurse manager) and a couple of his friends. We took the boat out and had the rods cast but unfortunately the fish were not biting and the King Sound Barramundi were definitely not making any appearances. We cruised around looking for better spots, even found ourselves anchored to an abandoned barge in the middle of KIng Sound, but alas, still no fish however there was fabulous tanning to be had by all (I promise I really did have my sunscreen on too though!) and lovely company for a day out on the water. What I did realise from that day was that even though Derby is surrounded by water, you can still feel incredibly land-locked because you can't go into the water. Just having the salt air in your face was amazing.

About two weeks ago Tash (housemate) and I went on a great trip up to Windjara Gorge and Tunnel Creek. It was a long day starting at 8am and we didn't get home til 8pm but it was definitely worth it, a fabulous day. Windjara Gorge is up the Gibb RIver Rd (corrugated gravel 4WD rd - a very bumpy trip) and is an ancient reef that millions of years ago was underwater but now towers above the ground creating a magnificent gorge in the middle with white sand, green water and best of all, hundreds of freshwater crocodiles!

The scenery is breathtaking and the history is quite something too with fossils visible everywhere through the gorge. So we lay with the crocs for a while, enjoying the sunshine and loud screeching of the white parakeets that call Windjara home as well.

After leving Windjara Gorge we headed to Tunnel Creek where we did a little informal rock climbing into an underground cave sustem where there are all sorts of fabulous things like bats, crocs, eels and catfish to play with as well as some Aboriginal rock art and a few more Aboriginal stories to be told. And it all involves walking through the cave, almost waistdeep in very cold water, hopeing that you're not the one that discovers the croc, catfish or eels first. I'd sucked up enough courage by the end to go for a very chilly swim at the northern end of the cave only to be told after I got out that there was a huge croc in THAT pool! I think I truly had palpitations at that moment!

But the real croc experience came just last week after my last shift in Derby when my housemates and I were taken out by Brra Bob in his boat to the King Sound for a spot of crabbing.. well... crabbing is great fun, for humans but apparently for crocs too coz they love to come and stal not only the bait from the pots but any crabs that have climbed in as well! We were halfway thorugh our morning of crabbing and were getting into a nice routine of pulling up the crab pots, checking, re-baiting, putting them back down when I saw about 15m away from the boat a rather dark slim head bobbing in the water. I believe some rather delightful words came out of my mouth when I realised that I was staring at a salt-water crocs head and then followed the line in the water to find the end of his tail sticking out of the water some few metres further down! Not very reassuring when there's 5 of you in a little tinny boat the same length as the croc! So I raised the alarm as quietly as you might imagine but hollering about the "huge bloody Salty!!!!!" and when everyone went to have a look he dived right under.

So I was given a reasonable amount of grief about the supposed salty when who should choose to resurface but the said salty! And man, did everyone see him that time! He ws obviously a little curious about us as we were him, although I think there was possibly a little more fear on our boat than with dear Salty, because he had come closer by a considerable number of metres! Everyone got a good look at him and his size and his teeth and then Barra Bob hightailed it outta there with the excuse "no croc gonna get my crabs!". We all had a small sigh of relief, smiled at each other and then proceeded to burst into excited babbles of exclamation of the fact that WE saw a SALTY!!

Now for anyone who is interested and doesn't know the difference between the salties and the freshies listen up....

Freshies have a narrow jaw with a single line of raised scale onto their head and are relatively harmless to humans as long you leave them alone and don't bother them. They'll usually move away from you if you hop in to go swimming where they are.

But Salties on the other hand have quite an apetite for humans and if you're anywhere close, you will end up being the main course served for lunch - not nice. They're recognisable by their wide jaw, and I'm reasonably proud of myself because after a little research and small amount of practice I seem able to tell them apart! And just if you're interested the crabbing trip ended splendidly with 6 big mudcrabs being caught and promptly cooked up at the Nurses QUarters for lunch - Yum!

So after a yummy lunch of fresh crab, I grabbed a couple of hourssleep and then rose in time for my farewell party at the NursesQuarters! What a day! It was a great night, had the BBQ going, lotsof wine flowing and fell into bed around 3am - ouch!

Friday was pack up day in Derby, and as I was a little slow to startthe day, it was a good thing I didn't seem to accumulate too much inthe time I was there! When I was all packed and ready to go, Ingrid(housemate) and I hopped in Pauline's (housemate) car (bless her) andcruised down to Broome for a final weekend in the Northwest beforeheading south again, and what a weekend it was!

I don't think we managed 4 hours sleep between us over the whole weekend, partly due tonot being in bed long enough, partly due to the Outdoor Disco next toour backpackers and partly due to noisy neighbours and the substantiallack of any type of soundproofing once the disco had finished! But atleast we had Cable Beach to lie on all day to recover - nothing better. We also had a look at Gantheaume Pt with the beautiful redrock formations, dinosaur footprints and Anastacia's Pool, kinda cool. Anastacia's Pool is a circular area of rock that is rumoured to havebeen dug out of a large slab at Gantheaume Pt by an old lighthousekeeper for his wife who was riddled with arthritis. When there is a really high tide, the water comes up and splashes into the pool therefore filling it so his wife could sit in there to ease her pain, cool huh?

It was time to farewell Broome on Sunday morning and I flew back downto Perth for a couple of days that I have managed to fill quite easilywith catching up with Mary and Emma, seeing the 'Amazing Human Bodyexhibition' and shopping for all necessities for Asia! The time hasflown by, I'm now packed and organized and simply cannot wait to geton that plane and be in Bangkok! We leave for the airport any minutenow once i'm off the computer. Asia had better be ready for Red Ron -coz I'm on my way!

Take care all,Roni xxx

Margaret River

Its such a hard life, good food, good views and good wine...

Mary enjoying another lovely wine...

Busselton Jetty, all 1841m of it...

Karijini Part Two

Another water-feature of Karijini!

Karijini Photos

Enjoying a sunset swim through the gorge

The crew at Circular Pool
Fortescue Falls

Me, Chris, Neil, Damian, Simon & Bronwyn

Under the falls at Fern Pool

Leaving Port Hedland photos

Just a couple of bags...

Corinne, me, Clare & Naanke - my last night at The Pier

Neil, me & Simon

Lessons from the Outback: #4 A lady should always carry a pair of high heels when backpacking around the Outback.

Hello again!

Well...where to start...I had two fabulous weeks in Perth with Mary after I left Port Hedland where we spent lots of quality time catching up on the last couple of years! I did a couple of shifts at Princess Margaret Hospital which was an interesting experience, I was mildly terrified before my first shift as one would be going into another new environment in a country that does many things different from the NZ Health system, and then absolutely shaking with fear when I was told I was going to be working in the Neonatal Unit where I'm not hugely experienced (does a couple of shifts helping out back home count?)! But it all went well, I had lovely babies all shift who did exactly what they were supposed to do and didn't give me any grief, thank goodness. I also managed to catch up with Bernie and Kate from Hedland for a night too!

Mary and I headed down to Margaret River (wine region) for a lovely 4 day weekend (oh the luxury!) where we holed up at her aunt and uncle's new mansion in Dunsborough and drank copious amounts of fabulous wine while having bubble baths in their giant old claw-footed tub (such a hard life!) and we were even visited by kangaroos in the garden. We spent the next few days trucking around the winery's, tasting everything on offer, eating fabulous meals out, stopping at all the lovely gourmet food shops, the cheese factory, the chocolate factory, the fudge farm and Ye Olde Lolly Shoppe. I think for a couple of days there we thought that life really couldn't get any better! We also had a wander through Lake Cave, one of the caves in the Margaret River area where we saw some really stunning stalactite and stalagmite formations, watched a beautiful sunset at Yallingup Beach, and came across a bush fire! This trip had everything! And on the way back to Perth we stopped off in Bussellton to have a look at the Jetty. Now you would be thinking I'm nuts looking at a jetty but this is no ordinary jetty, its the longest jetty (1842m i think) in the Southern Hemisphere and has a cool Underwater Observatory at the end that you can go into - after you walk all the way out there! But it was a
lovely day, with a beautiful if crisp sea breeze and the walk was most pleasant to stretch the legs.

So we headed back to Perth with a car full of gorgeous wines and went back to work - well, sort of...one more shift at PMH! And then I found out I had a new contract in Derby up in the Kimberley, how exciting! I caught up with friends Neil and Clare from Hedland on the friday night in Perth and enjoyed the luxury of the Super King Size bed in the hotel we stayed at in the city! Then Saturday morning rolled around far too quickly and it was time to farewell the Super
King Size bed and head to the airport to fly to Broome. After saying goodbye to Mary, Neil and I headed through all the security checks (Neil was flying out to Melbourne) and goodness me, that's the last time we travel together! Whether we looked dodgy, I don't know, but the security people seemed to be going out of their way to harass us. I apparently had a pair of scissors in my bag but after re-scanning ten thousand times and making me unpack my whole bag, they discovered that I was actually right, I did not have scissors in my bag and they had made an error. We thought that the ordeal was over, but no. One more step and we were pulled aside again because Neil had to go through an explosives check! We finally cleared the security area and I was called to board my flight, so it was a very quick goodbye and goodluck to Neil and onto the plane, headed for Broome! Yay!

Arriving in Broome was fabulous, a kind of realisation of my dream to finally make it to the place I'd been looking forward to seeing for so many years...until i stepped out of the airport. The first thing I saw was a giant McDonalds, not quite what I imagined would be my first impression of Broome. Then I saw a giant Eagle Boys pizza, and then a giant Chicken Treat, hmmmm. But I focused on the oasis ahead of me, the Kimberley Klub, the backpackers with all the extras. I dumped my pack and headed straight to the bar for a very refreshing cold one, realising with satisfaction that I was back up north, back in the red dust, back with the bugs and most of all, back in the warmth! I hadn't coped too well with the chilly temps down in Perth, so what a
relief to be back up where any temperature in the 20's is considered cold! After demolishing my lovely cold beer with surprising haste, I headed out, away from the pool that was beckoning me coz I had something more urgent in my thoughts...pearls. Yes, I needed to get into town and have a look at the pearls i've been dreaming of for so long...so I trucked into town, enjoying the red dirt already sticking to my feet, and found to my distress, most of the shops were closed on
Saturday afternoons! How inconvenient. So I wandered China Town, and Pearl Luggers Terrace and window shopped at all the beautiful pearl galleries. It was a most pleasant afternoon seeing the sights, and when I eventually headed back to the backpackers, you could imagine my
delight when I saw on the big screen the Super 14 Blues vs Chiefs rugby, I was stoked. So that was me till the end of the game, just chilling out by the pool watching the rugby, drinking cold beer and thinking about the poor buggers at home that looked so incredibly cold, all rugged up at the game with jackets, scarves and beanies, while I was watching it in my singlet and jandals!

So the rest of the day passed quickly and it was time to jump on the bus heading to Derby! While waiting on the side of the road, sitting on my pack, got talking to a couple of guys also sitting on their packs and was relieved that I didn't have the same bus trip they did - they were headed all the way to Darwin, a very enjoyable 27 hr bus trip, bugger that! So the bus pulled up and we all hopped on and settled in for what I thought would be just another bus trip...well, it was, apart from the emergency braking and swerving that occurred about every 10-15mins or so to dodge the cattle on the road. Then there were the regular thuds of kangaroos colliding with the front of the bus, and imagine my delight again as I sat looking out the window just to see the poor roos somersault past, usually landing under the back wheels of the bus just to make sure they really were history. I guess its all just part of the Outback experience, by the time we reached Derby, the regularity of the thuds were just about sending me to sleep!

So now we're in Derby, and yes, it is pronounced Derby not Darby, as most normal people would pronounce it. Derby is the regional centre for the Kimberley and is a working town of about 5000 people, lots of stations around, and lots of fishing. Its situated at the bottom of the King Sound and has the secondest largest tidal range in the world, a stunning 11 metres. Its also lays claim to the fastest tidal range in the world, another useless fact for everyone :) But seriously,
watching the tide come in and out from the jetty is a pretty cool sight and you can top it off by seeing the most beautiful sunsets. I'm working in the hospital here in Derby in the Children's Ward, which is another totally different experience. Its the first time that I have worked on a ward where you are by yourself for the whole shift, literally, there is only one nurse rostered on per shift and you can have up to 10 kids in the ward at a time. Luckily so far we've only gotten up to about 7 kids, but that was pretty manic! Its a challenge at times, not having anyone to bounce ideas off or discuss an issue but its also quite nice having the run of the place to
yourself too! Probably what i'm enjoying most here is that all the patients and the parents call me 'Sister' or 'Sister Roni' instead of just yelling out 'Oi you!', funny eh? Apparently every nurse to the Aboriginal people up here is just known as 'Sister', something they've kept from the old mission days maybe...

Derby's a pretty friendly town, everyone talks to you when you walk down the road, including the aboriginal dudes that sit under the trees, you don't even have to be in your uniform and they'll still recognise you and call out 'Good morning Sister!', its kinda nice. Its been a very positive experience so far, especially seeing the difference in the aboriginal population here compared to Port Hedland, there isn't the same displacement here as Hedland, the aboriginals are much more part of the community and in turn because there isn't as much bitterness and conflict, they are a much friendlier group of people to work and live with, what a refreshing change. Its also a much quieter town than Port Hedland and definitely doesn't have the
same social scene, but my wallet and my liver are enjoying the relative holiday/recovery period!

So what have I been up to here in Derby...? Not a lot really. Lots of working, working, working. I'm living in the nurses quarters here again, and my housemates are Tash, a nurse from Canberra, and Pauline, a nurse from Melbourne. Pauline was headed down to Perth for a course
last week so we went with her in her car to Broome where she flew out of and we therefore had her car while she was away. Tash and I enjoyed our day in Broome where we went to the markets, I got to see some pearls (although none that tickled my fancy enough for the price
of them!), and we spent the afternoon roasting on Cable Beach reading our books and swimming. As the sun dropped we headed up to the Sunset Bar above the beach and watched the stunning sunset with a lovely glass of wine as the camels sauntered along in front of us, perfection. It was then time to head back to Derby, watching anxiously for the cattle and roos from the week before but all we saw were a couple of baby roos hopping along not bothering about us.

Now last week was shaping up to being another quiet week in Derby until...they announced the Boab Ball was happening on Saturday night. Well, tell me, where do you find a ball dress and pair of high heels in the Outback??? Shopping in Derby is basically non-existant, there is no clothes shop to speak of, but there is the Derby Emporium, where nothing is over $10...do they have high heels though? Hence the latest Outback lesson. I gave up very quickly the idea of finding a dress to wear and settled for my denim skirt and my one nice 'going out' top I brought with me, but thought that a pair of heels rather than my jandals might dress it up a little...I had to laugh when I found myself in the Emporium, staring at rows and rows of rubber jandals, and then after a little detective work found a pair of strappy sandals - one colour and two sizes only, but one size fitted me so I was done! Delightful. The ball turned out to be a great night, lots of fun, even if I was one of the most under-dressed there! Imagine my surprise when everyone showed up in REAL ball dresses! Where did they get them??? I laughed when I found out some girls had had their mothers/friends/flatmates mail dresses and shoes to them, far too much effort for the Outback if you ask me... But yes, it was a great night, not so great a time the next morning when I had to be at work by 7am...at least I was looking a little better by the time I
got home from work in the afternoon only to find my housemates all still lying about in their pyjamas feeling sorry for themselves!

The latest development in my future plans is when I finish this contract in Derby at the end of June, I'm heading to South-East Asia, taking in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos over about 5 weeks, how cool is that?! The idea was started when Bernie and I were talking back in Port Hedland about how we both wanted to travel through those areas but didn't have anyone to go with. Bernie mentioned that her return ticket to Ireland stopped off in Bangkok, and well, the idea was there and grew and grew so we got the ball rolling, booked our flights and applied for our visas. Neil was also going to be around the same area at the same time so he's deciced he might tag along with Bernie and I for a while too...so watch this space, South-east Asia,
we're on our way!

That's about all my news for now, have just finished day number 7 at work and feeling a little ready for some days off now...I wonder what kind of mischief I can get up to for two days??? I'm sure you'll be hearing about it in the next installment whatever it is...!

Love to all, missing everyone and everything but having a fab time anyway!
Red Ron of the Kimberley now! xxx

p.s. Thanks to everyone for all their emails, its so good to hear from you all and i'm sorry if i haven't replied to you personally yet, i'm trying to get through them all with limited time!

R xxx

More Port Hedland photos!

Anzac Day brekkie after the Dawn Service - Emma, Neil, Chris, Simon & Naanke

Kate & Bernie's farewell

Kate, Corinne, Bernie, me & Claire

Birthday celebrations at House 7

Just another low-key BBQ at the Quarters!

Emma, Corinne & I at

Staircase to the moon

Lessons from the Outback: #3 Beware of giant red rocks that jump out and bite you!

Hello again!

Wow, my time in Port Hedland has come to an end! I'm on my last shift at work and fly out tomorrow night back to Perth, to the bright lights of a big city, which I'm sure will be very bright compared to what I've had for the last two months! I am amazed that I'll actually say this, but I'm feeling a little sad to leave, I have had such a blast, have met so many cool people and have really thrown myself into the adventure I'd say! At the moment though, work is becoming a little scarce in the Outback so I'm gonna keep the income rolling in by picking up some shifts at Princess Margaret (the Children's hospital in Perth) until another rural contract comes my way :) I'm also going to use it as an excuse to catch up with fabulous Mary (thanks for the accommodation babe!) and also see some of my friends from Hedland that have already left, can't go wrong!

I haven't had too many more crazy spontaneous trips since the last email, and there haven't been any more cyclones through the area either! But I did survive one crazy, liver-thrashing 3-day birthday celebration (apparently compulsory in Hedland) and a fabulous (planned!) camping trip to Karijini National Park.

Easter was a bit of a de-tox weekend as all the pubs were closed and there's no such thing as a restaurant in Hedland, so we were left with only casual BBQ's at the nurses quarters which ended up being crashed by all the bouncers from the pubs (lovely Samoan blokes they are!) on the Friday night. We were lucky enough to get beautiful clear skies on Saturday night for the phenomenon Staircase to the Moon which is (quote from a postcard!) "a spectacular sight created when a full moon rises over the shoreline at low tide. The rising moon reflects in pools of water left by the receeding tide creating the illusion of a golden staircase to the moon." It really was beautiful, the photos that we tried to get just didn't do it justice, it was amazing, and a sight that is only seen in Western Australia so I was pretty stoked to see it. And then come Easter monday night the birthday celebrations began...

My birthday was a serious event, starting at 0001 on the 18th and finishing at 2400 on the 20th! I did manage to continue working through it, but there wasn't a lot of sleep had in between shifts, mostly spent socialising with one event after another! I also think it was just a good excuse for everyone else to have another party as well! There was much silliness involved, much champagne, chocolate and some bizaare presents but I can guarantee a good time was had by all. :)

We survived the farewell for the Irish girls with much laughter, drinking and general craziness, and headed off the next day (after a few hours recovery time) to Karijini National Park (about 4 hrs drive) to go camping for 3 days. There was an interesting mix, 2 girls and 4 blokes, 4 aussies, 1 scotsman and a kiwi, and between us there was a pharmacist, a doctor, speech pathologist, teacher, engineer and of course a nurse! It ended up being a fab group to go camping with, everyone blended really well and we had the most fantastic time. One of the more entertaining things on the trip was the two internationals teaching the local aussies how to camp - including how to put up their own tents and connect a gas bottle to the bbq! We were wrong when we thought that they'd teach us a thing or two, we ended up being given awards at the end of the trip for being the best and most organised at camping! Karijini is known as one of the most beautiful places in Western Australia with its amazing gorges that you climb through, swimming holes and waterfalls. We spent our time there climbing along crazy tracks into the gorges where you climb down the cliff to get into the gorge and then have to scramble over, under or around giant red rocks to find the swimming holes and waterfalls, but all of it was so much fun. The weather was perfect, beautiful blue skies, really warm but not so hot that it was uncomfortable and the water temperature was so nice and cold compared to the sea here, that it was refreshing when you got in! The only bummer was at the end of the second day of tramping when I rolled my ankle when a great red rock just jumped out and bit me! Now if anyone remembers when I hurt my left ankle last year, I did a great job of it, 10 months of physio, cortisone injections, accupuncture, you name it, I had it. Well, I've done my right ankle now! Its a real bugger, black up to my knee, really swollen and hurts like hell, but such is life! Didn't stop me enjoying Karijini, probably added more to the experience, really getting up close and spiritual with Karijini, and it just meant that instead of doing the vertical climbs on day 3, Neil (the scottish pharmacist) and I went and did the easier gorges that no one goes to and it turned out to be more beautiful than some of the harder ones! Plus the fact that there wasn't anyone else there for a lot of the time! The best thing about the gorges and pools in Karijini is that at this time of year there is a lot of water, and if you ignore the fact that you're at a higher risk of flash floods wiping you out, you get to enjoy the amazing waterfalls that cascade down on top of you at every pool. There really is nothing nicer than sitting under a waterfall after a long hard climb! So we thoroughly enjoyed Karijini, found the gorges gorge-gous! Saw lots of beautiful things, encountered lots of bugs and even more lizards too! Still no snakes though except a dead one, so keep your fingers crossed!

Back in Hedland, I have worked steadily for the last week, and have had 2 farewells already this weekend, the last being tonight once I finish work! Then a girls breakfast tomorrow morning, after which I will hopefully pack my things and I fly out of the Pilbara tomorrow night. I have had a fab time here, and will miss the friends I've made, but no doubt, it'll just mean more adventures to catch up with everyone! Who knows where I'll be when you get the next Lesson from the Outback!?!

Take care everyone, love to all!
Red Ron of the Pilbara xxx

Marble Bar

Kate & Bernie

Fording the river, check out the rapids on the left!

Bernie & I changing shift, no need to worry about traffic in the Outback, you could have a picnic in the middle of the road!

Kate & I in the town where the best pick-up line we've had in Port Hedland originated - "Are you from Marble Bar? 'Coz you're so hot!"

Some pretty stunning scenery

The Marble Bar Nurses Post

Lessons from the Outback: #2 Always look before you step with lizards in the house

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

Bugs and the weather...

Just wanted to share with you all a couple of the lovely bugs I have met in my time in the Outback...plus a photo of a stunning weather storm - although with me as the photographer it could never really do it justice :)

Take care everyone.

Beetles...

Spiders...!

And the most wicked weather storms in the Pilbara

Karratha Photos

Obvious really - Whim Creek Pub where I watched the Rugby 7's when NZ beat Australia!

Hearson's Cove

Aboriginal Rock art at Burrup Peninsula

More rock art...

Burrup Peninsula Gully

Sunset at Dampier Peninsula

Yes, the dreaded flat tyre in the Outback and our saviour the 'Skippy hunter'!

Port Hedland Photos

Port Hedland

Gorgeous patient

Mama Roni in action in WA

Images of Port Hedland

Working hard