We have arrived....

Twin engined plane, thirty or so passengers,  from Darwin for the 45 minutes to Manigrida International airport where most of the passengers got off.  Being limited to 13 kg, including much of our food, ( more about food on the island later) packing was somewhat frugal....well it's not as if we need winter woolies,

 'Most' of the passengers appeared to be in some way employed by government, and there was, so it appeared, one tourist; abc.  Of those many it was clear was involved in the health sphere.  It is a big industry.   

Took off again for the shorter hop to Galawinku, on Elcho island.  

Arrived at airport and it was hot and raining.....and of course all our baggage is thrown into the tray of the truck, and it rained even more....arrived at the ngalkanby clinic, introduced those present, many of whom remembered NJC from her October stint here.    The new clinic near the airport is awaiting the installation of the fibre-optic, and then it's all go.....but the old clinic has seen many years of good service, but is well past the use-by date.  We have been accommodated at the three bedroom house, about 200 metres from the current clinic. We are the only occupants.  Not sure how long it has been vacant, but there was a layer of fine red dust as well as accumulated fluff throughout.  No carpets, as they would just go mouldy, so heavy duty linoleum.  Washed some bedding,  

Have a resident gecko, whose chirping makes one look for the smoke detector.  They are very benign, and useful house guests, earring many of the annoying house guests..ie moths, mosses, and from time to time spiders.

Had a bit of an orientation wander, and this is a lovely island...and very very green.

Tuesday the14th of February is Jack Benny's birthday and it is apparently Valentine's Day.   Can not get the satellite T.V to work..found out there wasn't a set top box present, whose absence made the reception nil.     

Doesn't get more romantic than that...$6.50 Valentine's Day gift.

The weather is wonderful 30 ish and only 70% humidity, and a NE breeze running on shore.  Not unpleasant.  No rain for the next day or so....not too bad...

So what more can go wrong. Nathalie is on call.   What that means is that from 5 p.m to 8 am she has the on-call phone, and is, almost the mobile ED for the night.  Once a call is received, a basic triage is conducted, and if required the patient is asked to come to the clinic, or if serious enough, or the patient doesn't have transportation, the ED goes to them.  Then the Aboriginal Health worker is contacted to check out if the call could be "humbug" ( either false or recidivist minor complaints).  Then if assessed as serious, the AHW and  on call nurse meet the patient at the clinic, or go to the location picking up the AHW on the way .   The most exciting thing is that she also gets to drive the ambulance home...(a full 200 m).  It is a sturdy land cruiser troopy, and similar in drivability to the one we have at home......needs a bit of TLC, but adequate.

 There were three call outs, 1900hrs to an address, and the next two at the clinic at 2200hrs and 0100hrs.  Each time ABC got to drive to collect the AHW from her house and then to the address or back to clinic.   Fortunately all the calls turned out to be not serious, but had to be checked out nonetheless, including a young child with a fever, a man with pain in arm and shoulder ( maybe cardiac issues) and a dizzy disoriented man.  So not to bed before 0300 ish.

With no working side mirror, backing it in was fun....And abc was standing in front to take the picture 

The ambulance has lights and siren, and we could not imagine any circumstances where the siren would be needed, and the lights just attract people.  It's not as if there is traffic.  A car (mostly Toyota Land Cruisers or troopy) maybe, but two in a row...not often.  But care was required as the people of the island, seem to have a mostly nocturnal existence.  Many people wandering the roads up to two a.m....and beyond no doubt.

More later...NJC and ABC