That's Doctor V to you!

Iguazu Falls and into Argentina

2009-01-26T21:37:00.003-08:00

From the Pantanal, Marama and I bused down to Foz do Iguacu, the town on the Brazillian side of the falls. Given that we weren't sure of our plan for the day and whether or not we wanted to stay on this side of the falls overnight, we figured we'd go and see what there was to see and decide later. So we put our bags in storage at the bus terminal and off we went.

We started at the Bird Park which is just before the falls entrance. We both really liked the park for the number of birds and especially the tucans which get up close and personal. They seem to be intrigued by the sound of a camera shutter and so would come right up to the lenses, poking at them with their huge beaks. There were so many different types and they were all so colourful. Definately my favourites at the park. There were also some macaws as well which were pretty cool, with one that you could have sit on your arm for photo ops. Very touristy but of course I climbed on the bandwagon.

After the bird park we hit the falls. I've had some people say to me that compared to the Argentinian side, the Brazillian side isn't really worth a look. I disagree. I thought the Brazillian side was really stunning. Once you get off the bus, they're almost right there in the sense that it's not a long walk before you get a glimpse at them. And they go for miles. Or at least I was told they were 3km long. Once you get to the major part of the falls you're able to walk out on a boardwalk which goes along the bottom of them. Here you're able to get the full impact of the spray that comes off them. Wet we got. You can then take a lift to the top of the falls to see the drop off, though I think I preferred the lower view. Here, Muzz and I met a really nice guy from Costa Rica who we had a drink with in the park hotel. Afterwards he accompanied us to watch the light show at the Itaipu Dam.

The Itaipu Dam is the third biggest dam inthe world though I think it's the largest in the amount of electricity it generates. It supplies 85% of Paraguay's electricity and 25% of Brazils. It also stretches for around 8km, with 3km of it being concrete. That said, it's pretty impressive, particularly at night (though I never saw it during the day) with the lights on it. The dam people also put on a wee show with a sax player and Cirque-de-Soleilesque girl on a ribbon. We all really liked the show though perhaps wasn't worth the exorbatent cost of the taxi ride out there (we were running so late that a bus was out of the question).

After seeing the light show it became apparent that we were staying the night in Foz. Particularly given that the show finished at 10.30, the same time that the luggage storage at the terminal closed. We then had to find ourselves a hostel which turned out to be no easy task. We ended up taking the last two beds at the third hostel that we tried. Who would've thought Foz would be so busy? On top of that we didn't have any of our luggage and I felt so gross with not having showered in more than two days and spending one of those on a bus. I guess this is all a part of the adventure though.

The following morning we headed to Puerto Iguazu, the town on the Argentinian side of the falls. If anyone is thinking of heading there, I definately recommend Hostel Inn to stay in. It's an incredibly huge, clean hostel with two bars, a huge pool and loads of land. I can see how it'd be easy to get stuck there. We however didn't as we had plans to the wazoo. After checking in, Marama and I headed to the triple fontier where the two rivers (Parana and Iguazu) meet, with the three countries of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Very cool when you think that you can see all three countries at once and take a quick boat across (or swim, if the current wasn't so strong). You can actually head down from the Argentinian side and swim in the river providing you don't stray too far from the shore. Given how hot it was, we decided to go in, especially having brought our togs with us.

From there we went into town to do some emailing and so forth. We were lucky enough to stumble across a tour company place that managed to get us a full moon tour for that night. They do these tours only five nights in a month and that night was the last night. If you are ever heading to Iguazu Falls, I'd do my best to try and plan it for a full moon and if you can, do NOT miss this. It was just the most magical thing I've seen the whole trip so far...and perhaps even ever. (The evening was a little marred by the fact that I wasn't able to get my camera to take any photos that showed anything at all, but on the upside, I was then able to appreciate the view from outside of the viewfinder of the camera).

We revisited the Falls again the following day, doing the full Argentinian side. We started with the inferior path walks and then taking the speed boat under the falls. This was a lot of fun as they take you out on the boats right up to the falls where you get REALLY wet. I tell you what, there is a huge amount of water that comes off them and as such, vision becomes severely impaired. I wasn't able to keep my eyes open for the amount of water coming down on top of us. After that, we did the superior path and then the Garganta Diablo (Devil's Throat). This is the piece de resistance of both sides of the falls, and what we had gone to see the night before by moonlight. Again it was very impressive and a totally different view to the Brazillian side. Here you're right up at where the falls go over and you're able to really appreciate the force and size of it. Absolutely amazing.

All in all a great way to end Brazil and start Argentina. The following day the two of us flew down to Buenos Aires to start the next and essentially last "leg" of our respective trips.

The Pantanal

2009-01-26T21:13:00.002-08:00

After busing to Campo Grande, I met up with Marama as planned so that we could book our Pantanal tour together. This we did with Pantanal Discovery after I arrived as they clearly looked the better of the two options. (We were also considering Ecologicial Tours but for the same price, instead of sleeping in a lodge, it was hammocks and we both preferred four nights in a bed given the choice).

After arranging our tour, it was dinner time and we both thought that the street BBQ looked good. And it was. While eating dinner, we got to chatting to the owner of the BBQ place, a 22yo Brazillian guy with really good English. He invited us to go to a local party/club to samba and given we didn't know anyone and both thought a local party might be fun, we were both keen. However, this "party" turned out to be myself, Marama, the BBQ guy and his friend. Set-up? I think so. At the time, we figured what the hey and stayed around for a few drinks. We eventually decided to split from it though when after saying that we didn't have boyfriends (BIG MISTAKE in South America it seems), they thought they would take up that title. Just to disclaim, it never got hairy or anything and we never really felt in any danger but these Brazillian boys were persistent. I'll give them that.

The following morning we headed out to the Pantanal where we stayed at a pretty nice lodge, the name of which escapes me now. This is where we spent the next four days, with activities like boating the river, piranha fishing, river floating, swimming (with caiman and piranhas) and horse riding. Given the heat, there was a lot of down time, particularly before and after lunch where we were able to just chill next to the river for hours at a time before the afternoon activity. Here there was no shortage of animals to see, with the exception of the elusive jaguar. We did manage to "spot" caiman, iguana, capybaras, deer, giant otters, the rarely seen other type of otter (again can't think of the name) and coati. There were a couple of exciting moments with the caiman. The first being that when the other boat was up against the shore looking at an iguana, a caiman actually jumped into their boat! It didn't stay in their long. The guide told everyone in it to stay still (duh) and it eventually jumped out again. It was probably only in it for a minute or two. The second incident was when horseriding. We were walking through a swamp and a caiman came a little to close to the horse for it's comfort and the horse kicked it. Good think it didn't make it angry cause I'd have hated to be the person riding it. The piranha fishing was fun and I have to say, modestly of course, that I was by far the best piranha fisher there. I think I caught over 10 fish and it got to the point where one of the other guys asked if after catching a fish, I was just throwing it in and out of the water to make me look like I was catching many! We did get to eat these for lunch, though I don't recommend it. Piranha are really bony and have very little meat. We were also really lucky (or unlucky?) with the weather. It didn't rain once and the days were nice and warm. However, as jaguar are more likely to head to the rivers edge prior to or during the rain, this mean't that we didn't get to see any. This turned out to be quite unlucky given that the groups who arrived before us saw one every night for three nights, and the group that arrived on our last night also saw one. Marama and I tried to convince our guide to take us out to have another look but he flatly refused. Disappointing but never mind. We did get to see a lot of other cool stuff so I'm happy with that.

Rio

2009-01-26T20:30:00.002-08:00

From Manaus I elected to fly from directly to Rio to save time and in order for me to make it there for new years. When planning my trip I figured that if I was going to be in South America for this time of year, the best place to spend it would be where the biggest party is held...Copacabana Beach.

The flight itself was pretty uneventful though little sleep was had. After arriving in Rio I took a local bus to Ipanema where my hostel was to be found. I have to say that on checking in I was shocked at the state of it. Despite the fact that I was paying something like $80 per night for a DORM ROOM, it was not what I expected for that kind of money. The rooms and bathrooms were really dirty though the common areas were not so bad. I was staying in a girls 6 dorm that though it had it's own (filthy) bathroom, there was no windows and so no fresh air either. It was easily the hottest room in the house and as such sleep was difficult. I tend not to plan to spend much time in my dorm rooms as possible but there's still the eight or so hours that I tend to spend in them sleeping. Oh well, given the time of year there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

I ended up staying five days in Rio over new years from the 30th Dec to the 3rd Jan. In that time I was able to see the Christ Redeemer which was quite impressive standing extremely high on the mountain with spectacular views of Rio beneath, The Stairs in Lapa, the cathedral, Copacabana and Ipanema beaches and Angra which is a town south west of Rio, opposite Isla Grande. Unfortunately, because of the weather, I wasn't able to go hang gliding as I'd hoped but I was fairly time limited in the end after my little unplanned segue to Angra.

I managed to meet up with Milton the afternoon of New Years, a friend I made in Peru on our tour to the Uros Floating Islands. We went to the Garoto de Ipanema cafe (infamously known as the place where the song The Girl From Ipanema was written), and then arranged to try and meet up later in the night after the fireworks on Copacabana beach. We'd at that time also planned to head the next morning early to Angra where some friends of his had hired a beach house and had a boat, so that we could join them on the boat party. With all of that arranged, I went off with some people I'd met from my hostel to have some new years drinks before heading down to the beach. The beach was great. Copacabana is massive and despite there being over 2 million people there, it didn't feel that crowded. There were still people everywhere though, with street vendors walking around with chilly bins sell alcohol for those who still needed it (not me though, by this time I'd had plenty!), and snacks. A big stage had been erected on the beach for the after fireworks concert and cruise ships had lined the bay to take part in the festivities. The fireworks were pretty amazing. They went on for ages though weren't coreographed to the music at all. After the show, the music started and people generally either hung about listening or went off to after parties else where. We ended up just chilling on the beach til early morning and then heading to Ipanema where I then peeled off to get some sleep before having to meet up with Milton.

Unfortunately, because Milton's cell phone had died over the night, we were unable to catch up with each other until about 5pm, which I have to say I was pretty annoyed about. This was because we'd arranged to meet at 7am-ish and so after not being able to get hold of him by phone, I waited and waited and waited around the hostel. I'd have obviously preferred to go to the beach. This was not going to be the last time I'd be waiting for him though. We did finally meet up and we headed to Angra that night. Unfortunately we had missed the boat party, though the plan was then to go out again the following day and for me to catch a bus back to Rio afterwards, with Milton following the next day. When we did finally get to Angra, I have to say, Milton's friends were really nice and extremely inviting. The language barrier wasn't too much of an issue, especially as all they were really keen to do was dance. The music of the night was funk. I'm not sure if any of you have seen the way Brazillians dance to funk, but it's little different to grinding provocatively against each other, gender being no issue. Certainly an eye-opening experience for me.

The following morning we headed (late) down to the marina to take the boat out. Unfortunately, there was some problem with the battery and so we didn't actually get it onto the water until mid afternoon, after spending roughly three hours waiting on the marina for the issues to be sorted. Once we were out it was quite pleasant. I was taken on a little tour of the bays and what not, before we pulled up to do some fishing. After about an hour though, we noticed that the boat was taking on water (!) so needed to head back to land. By this stage it was looking to be a comedy of errors. Given by the time we got back and sorted it was 4-4.30ish, I was keen to try and take the next bus, as it's a four hour ride back to Ipanema from there. For reasons unknown to me, this wasn't possible and so I didn't end up getting back to the hostel until about 11pm, by which time all the friends I'd made at the hostel had gone out with no one left behind to let me know how to meet up with them. So it then turned out to be a pretty lame Friday night.

The following day, my last full day in Rio, I had hoped to head to the beach. The weather was not so great though so instead walked down to Copacabana with a friend to try and have a coffee in Copacabana Palace, the most expensive hotel in Rio. This was where Madonna had stayed a couple of weeks earlier and where most of The Stars end up. Funny enough though, when we asked if we could enter, the restaurant was fully booked and it was only four in the afternoon. Something told me that was the PC way of saying no, plebs, you may not enter. So instead we went and had six beers at a bar further down the beach. At this point I still hadn't heard from Milton as he was supposed to be coming back so we could hit the bars in Lapa that night. I waited and waited but when 10pm came around and I still hadn't heard anything, I decided to go for dinner with other hostel people as it was a birthday and celebrations needed to be had.

I didn't end up hearing from Milton in the end until the following morning when he texted to say he'd be back by 2pm (a little late for our night out). At four, I still hadn't heard from him further and at this point, I had to head to the bus terminal to make my bus to Campo Grande. I eventually got a text from him at 7pm, as the bus was pulling out of the terminal, to tell me he'd arrived. I have to say, that all things adding up, I was pretty pissed off at this stage with all the waiting around and time wasted. It really did put a damper on my Rio time. I guess that just means I'll have to go back another time...perhaps Carnaval?

Manaus and the Amazon

2009-01-24T05:28:00.002-08:00

The whole reason for me heading to Manaus from Colombia was to do the seven day kayaking tour of the Urubu River which I had booked from home. I arrived in Manaus a day ahead of schedule (still not enough time to do Angel Falls in Venezuela) and spent the day wondering around the town to see the markets and Opera House.

I was picked up the following morning from the Hostel and was taken to the start point to begin my kayaking adventure. There were five in total in the group (myself, Anton, Marissa, Mike and Ignacio - Anton was from Russia and the other three the UK) , plus two guides and our cook. Our main guide was Ronaldo with Milton as his second, and the cook was Joseph. It was a great group and we all got along well which helps make the week a good one. We didn´t kayak as much as I thought we were going to but it was certainly enough. I´m sure I now have shoulders like a Chinese swimmer! We did roughly two to four hours of kayaking per day with the exception of the last two days. The kayaking was good. It was all down current (phew) and the water was nice and high and was was flowing fast. We had one day where we needed to navigate a small waterfall (read level 5 rapids given how high the water was) which was fun and exciting. We had to get out of the kayaks and into the water and ease them down using ropes and then follow on foot. Now THAT´s the excitement I signed up for!

Unfortunately though, because the water was so high and there were so few mosquitoes (thank goodness), there were also few animals as a result. The lack of mosquitoes is due to the black water of the river...it´s too acidic for the larvae to survive and so nothing for fish etc to feed off. We also did a couple of jungle walks and on the second last night, Anton (the Russian/Los Angelean) and I slept in the jungle overnight. That was an experience not because it was jungle but because it hadn´t rained so much during our trip as it did that night and we got soooo wet. We were sleeping in hammocks with tarps, but the tarps got oversaturated that it just soaked right through. Again, the adventure I signed up for. It´s just funny though cause every night we had that we didn´t have a "proper" roof over us (i.e. abandoned house with some sort of cover), were the nights it really really poured on us. The other nights were fine as.

As for the animals we saw, there weren´t as many as I expected but apparently that´s normal as the jungle is so big and the animals have so much area they can go in. We did see monkeys, snakes, loads of birds, giant otter, frogs and toads. Unfortunately the water was too high for caiman and piranhas but no matter. It was a great week and would recommend it to anyone interested in heading that way.

After the jungle expedition, I went the following day to see the Meeting of the Waters with Ronaldo and his family. This is about a 30min bus ride out of Manaus and is where the Rio Negro meets the other (white) river. It was pretty interesting to me but I won´t bore you with the details of how this happens or why. If you want to know, ask. It was a nice day overall but very hot and muggy. I was glad to be get out of Manaus that night and on to RIO!

Colombia to Caracas to Manaus

2009-01-24T05:08:00.004-08:00

This entry is more to put information out there on the bus ride from Colombia, through Venezuela (Caracas) and down to Manaus, Brazil. Prior to doing the trip myself, I wasn't able to find much good or useful information on the route and how safe or unsafe it really was. Most information did point to the latter however when looking into flights to avoid Venezuela altogether, it was just way too expensive ($900USD). So the bus it was.

The bus from Santa Marta to Caracas itself wasn't too bad. I used Brasilia, one of the companies recommended by the Lonely Planet. The journey was pretty easy and the border crossing no hassels what-so-ever. Over the 14 or so hours of the trip there were no police and no bribes requested.

While on the bus, I met two Australian guys who were headed to Caracas to meet a friend of theirs who was now living there. They kindly invited me to have breakfast with me at their place to avoid a 6 hour wait at the bus terminal. I took them up on the offer and it was certainly a much more pleasant way to pass the time.

The bus from Caracas to Manaus was not quite so easy but again, no dramas. There is no longer a direct bus service between these two cities, despite it being advertised on the side of one of the bus companies. I ended up taking a bus from Caracas to Santa Elena, the Venezuelan border town. The company I used was Los Llanos and they were quite good. The ride took approximately 24 hours and they had enough breaks for food and drink. They did however stop at places that seemed to be owned by the bus company and snacks and meals were very expensive. The bus was stopped twice on route by the police to check identification but again, no dramas and no bribes. A group of Venezuelan girls on the bus that could speak English informed me though that we were really lucky at the second check point as they'd done that trip many times and that was the first time the police didn't search the bags as well...a process that can take over an hour.

Once in Santa Elena the easiest, though likely not the cheapest way of getting across the border was via a taxi. It cost approximately 40Bolivars which I didn't think was too bad given the convenience. The taxi stopped at both immigration points and then took me on to the bus terminal. Oh and he also found me somewhere I could change my remaining Bolivars to Reais. This took almost an hour in total.

The border town on the Brazillian side is Pacaraima. I was very lucky here as a bus was waiting to go on to Boa Vista so there was no wait at all. The bus company that does this section of the country is Eucatur and they are quite good. I wasn't able to pay by visa at this place but I was able to once I got to Boa Vista for my onward journey. The ride from Pacaraima took roughly 3 hours and was pleasant enough and once in Boa Vista it was again easy to get an onward bus to Manaus though this time there was a wait...both for buying the ticket and the bus. The constant power outages didn't help the process though.

The bus from Boa Vista to Manaus takes roughly 12 hours though they really race. The bus I was on (a 9pm bus) broke down at one point and when I woke to realise this, the 10pm and 11pm bus had both caught up with us and had stopped to help. Despite this long delay in the middle of nowhere we still arrived very much on time. I'm glad I didn't have a window seat at this point as the speeds might have scared me just a little.

So that's the journey in a nutshell. Again no direct services and from Santa Marta to Manaus tooke me a total of four days. I left on a Wednesday and arrived on Saturday. Good luck to anyone else who decides this is the trip for them!

Colombia

2008-12-29T13:14:00.002-08:00

Despite all the warnings about how dangerous Colombia is and my family´s desperate pleas for me not to go, all the good that I´d heard from others just compelled me to check it out. After all, it was one of the places on my trip that I´d thought was a must to do. Unfortunately though, given my albeit breif trip to The Galapagos, I was running out of time and not able to see most of what was previously on my itinerary. Given the time constraints I ended up flying from Quito to Cartagena and missing my bus journey through Cali, Medellin and the Zona Cafeteria. I guess though that´s an excuse to come back!

Cartagena was great. On route there I met an interesting young lass from Sydney who was awfully lost what with travelling for the first time on her own. As such, she tagged along with me to my hostel (which was rather dodgy I thought at the time) where we shared a double bed (essentially as strangers) as she didn´t want to sleep in a dorm room. That same night of arriving we met Eddy, another boy from Oz and his Irish entourage of 5 other guys and 2 Argentinians. Prior to going to Chiva with them, the aussie chic and myself went for dinner where we were serenaded by a Colombian and his guitar. From there it was Chiva with the boys. This is essentially an open bus tour (kinda like the buses in Samoa for all that are familiar with these) with booze a live ¨band¨and lots of what appeard to be under aged Colombian kiddies. It was all good fun though and a very lively and interesting start to Colombia. It made me all the more glad I´d not detoured past it.

The following day myself and the boys headed to the mud volcano about 45km out of Cartagena. This is a 1500m plus deep volcano which spews mud instead of lava. Despite it´s depth, given the density, there was no way to sink below your shoulders no matter how hard you tried. And the boys tried. It was like sitting in a pool of cream or perhaps melted chocolate. Very weired but very cool. Once you´ve done your time you then climb out and the ladies in the lagoon wash you off for a small fee. They do a very thorough job as before I knew it they had my bikini top off and they were demanding my bottoms too! Plus it was the first time I´d had someone elses fingers in my ears since I was washed by my mother as a very young child! All this for a small fee of course. I´d have not been able to do my back or hair without their help though so all worth it.

The following day the boys and I then decided to do a boat trip out to Playa Blanca via Islas Rosarias. I thoroughly recommend the trip to Playa Blanca but if you ever do this, I´d recommend skipping Islas Rosarias as unless you want to see the aquarium, there´s nothing to do and no where to swim except between the mangroves. Live and learn. Playa Blanca was exactly what I expected a Caribbean beach to be like: lapping waves, palm trees, white sand and thatched huts with hawkers selling their hippy wares. It´s possible to stay the night on the beach in hammocks but I was booked on a bus to Taganga the following day. I would have definately stayed other wise.

Taganga was also awesome. Fresh juice on the beach every morning for breakfast and the beach no more than a block away from everywhere. I stayed my first night in Baguettes de Maria (the local baguette shop) as the two hostels that were recommended to me were fully booked. The following day though, while booking my dives, I met a lovely Melbournian who took me around to the other hostels until I found one that was in my budget that I liked. After that I did my first two dives which were pretty but not the Galapagos. I fear I´m spoilt for life now. We saw lots of pretty corals and big French Angels, wrasse, butterflies and others. That night at the hostel I met a really nice guy from the UK called John and an Adelaidian called Steph and we decided that the following day we´d bus to Tayrona, the National Park along the coast where you can sleep in hammocks just off the beach and generally chill.

At the entrance to the park there were police looking for ¨drogas y armas¨. Why anyone would take drugs and weapons into a national park is beyond me but oh well. They gave John a real good search. I guess with his longer than usual hair they suspected drogas and they went through his wallet, all the pockets in his clothes and even gave his bits a good jiggle. Kinda funny after the fact but he wasn´t happy at the time. The rest of the Tayrona trip was uneventful. It was a long but pleasant walk through rainforest to the beach (which was unswimmable) and then another long walk to the swimming beaches. Still it was worth it. John stayed another night and Steph and I went back to Taganga where we chilled some more and I did some diving, including a night dive which was awesome. It was the first night dive I´d done in two years and what a site!

Before I knew it it was my birthday and it was one of the nicest ways I could spend it. I had a phone call from my beautiful sister which was great. It´s always nice to be remebered despite being on the other side of the world. After the phone call, the three of us went to the local beach for being too lazy to walk to the nicer beach 20mins away. There we stayed for the next four hours drinking coctails and cooling off in the water from time to time. That night we caught up with the divers and had drinks at the shop. Because Steph was feeling unwell and the divers were gearing up for a big one the following night, John and I walked to the only night club in town which unfortunately was closed, so we chilled on the hammocks on the roof of the hostel. All in all a fabulous day and a great end to my time in Taganga and Colombia.

The Galapagos: So close, so tame

2008-12-09T17:54:00.004-08:00

After a not too long flight from Quito to Baltra Airport on the Galapagos, it was an absolute pleasure to land in the heat. The scenery however was not really as expected. Despite seeing multiple documentaries on the islands in the past, I still for some reason didn´t think I´d see a desert type landscape. Everything was all really quite dry and barren which was a fair surprise. After getting over this, I then had to deal with Freddy - or Crooked Freddy as I prefer to call him. He poached me at the airport (BIG MISTAKE) to do a `week long`boat tour of the islands, with the bait being that it included a day diving. He charged me $780USD which to me seemed not too bad given the diving. I´d seen advertised about $600 for the same period of time so figured it was ok. However, the tour didn´t really start until the following afternoon after my dive and I later discovered after talking to people on the really budget boat that we were on that most paid half of what I´d paid...oops. So I wasn´t so happy about that but the moral of the story is: Don´t book tours at the airport. Seems logical when I say it to myself but no matter. It was still a fantastic trip overall.

So after arriving at the Glalapagos, the first thing I did as part of the tour was to go to a piece of private land where tortoises are found out of captivity. There were a load of these and it was possible to get up quite close. From there I went and checked out the lava tunnels which was not hugely interesting until I learn´t how they´re created. (The lava crust forms by cooling with the air and as the inside lava cools also, it shrinks and tunnels are created in the gap between what was the crust and the now cooled lava).

The following day was really the best of day of the entire week on the islands. This was my day diving. I went with a great dive operator (Macarron) and we dived what is supposed to be the most challenging site they have: Gordon Rocks. Fortunately though, the day was quite calm but despite this we were still able to see a couple of large schools of hammerheads, which usually are only seen in strong currents. We also saw lots of Green Sea Turtles, sealions and white tipped reef sharks. All the big stuff with the exception of Manta Rays. All up we did three dives here and saw hammerheads on all of them. Just spectacular! My dive buddy and dive master were also tops (Abraham), as was the other DM (Georgie) and the captain (Harvey).

That night was my first night on the cruise. The boat was ¨The Friendship¨and it really was a floating backpackers only MORE budget if you can believe it. The toiltets often didn´t flush and there wasn´t necessarily always running water (though there was drinking water so no worries there). Like I said, it was a budget tour and this was confirmed with the introduction by our guide: ¨My name is Fabian and I am not a good guide. But this is The Galapagos...so close, so tame¨. Not exactly encouraging but it served to provide giggles throughout the tour as that had to be his favourite line...so close, so tame. All up we had two and a half days on the boat so not too much to bear. We went to 5 islands in total: Rabida (the one with red sand), Sombrero Chino, Bartolome (the one with the panoramic views over Santiago Is), Santiago and North Seymour. We saw loads of animals, in fact everything that I really wanted to see I did see...SeaLIons, Blue Footed BOObies, Frigates, Galapagos Crabs, Marine Iguanas and I think that´s it. We snorkeled most days and again I was able to see White Tipped Reef Sharks, Spotted Eagle Rays, Penguins, Octopus and many, many more. Acutally, the only thing I wanted to see on the islands that I didn´t was the Giant Iguanas. No matter. Probably the best day though was the second last day when we were travelling between Santiago and North Seymour Islands. During the trip we were followed by a flock of Frigate Birds which were so close, so tame, we saw dolphins, a whale, sharks and mantas breaching. Pretty damn cool if you ask me. So despite my being totally ripped off, I did have a good time and did get out of it what I wanted. Can´t really complain about that.

Now I was supposed to leave the day after I finished the tour but the spectacular diving called me once again and I was able to change my flight very easily without any extra costs. As such, an extra days diving was done and what stories. We did three dives again, though this time the sites were Mosquera, North Seymour Point and Daphne Menor. Now if Gordon Rocks was supposed to be the most challenging dive I´d have to say North Seymour gives it a serious run for it´s money. It was definately the most challenging dive I´ve done in my whole diving career and this was something like my 52nd dive. The current was so strong that as soon as we were down we had to take all the air out of our BCDs and hold on to the rocks for dear life. To get about we essentially were dragged by the current moving rock hold by rock hold until we got to where we needed to be. Fortunately we saw what we wanted down there and that was a heap of White Tipped and Galapagos Sharks. Also the usual suspects of turtles and rays. But if that wasn´t exciting enough, I almost died and that´t no lie. While we were down my weight belt slipped off and at the same time my fin came loose. I think what stopped me from shooting straight to the surface was the current going over me. However, because of the current I wasn´t able to pick my belt up though it was essentially right beside me as I´d have shot up and out. To top it all off, the DM wanted to head off and he wasn´t close by that I could let him know. Eventually he looked my way and I indicated a problem. He crawled his way over and it took him a little bit to figure out my issue. It was quite an intimate affair to fix. He had to wrap his legs around mine so that I could hold on to the rocks for the both of us while he used both hands to get the weight belt around me. Clearly after that things went well as I´ve lived to tell the tale but what a time.

That was the end of my time in The Galapagos and I have to say it was shorter than I´d have liked. There were plently more islands I´d have wanted to see and definately plenty more diving I´d wanted to do. Perhaps one day I´ll be back.

Ecuador - Quito

2008-12-01T18:58:00.000-08:00

After eventually arriving in Ecuador with my new bus friends Jimmy and Braydon, I checked into my hostel The Secret Garden where I was treated with a ¨special¨coke made especially with rum, and where I proceeded to wait for a bed to become available for me. This didn´t happen until about 11pm and in the interim I decided to go and visit the Basilisk though given my fear of heights I didn´t make it all the way to the top of the belfour. I then had dinner at the hostel which included an open bar (w´hoo) so I quickly forgot about my bedlessness though as metioned, I eventually was shown where to lay my weary yet slightly tipsy head. Despite this being the start of ¨Quito Week¨I think this is actual normal behaviour for this hostel.

The following day the bus buddies and I went to Mitad del Mundo to get that box checked. It was reasonably straight-forward to get to though again was very touristy once there. I had expected nothing less though and took the obligatory photos on the incorrect line as everyone does. (The GPS equator is about 200m away from the monument and line on the ground...oops).

Given that each of us had things we wanted to arrange back in Quito, it was a short day trip out. I managed to arrange last-minute impromtu flights to The Galapagos (YAY!) for the following day and then the three of us met up again for hand-made icecream. Unfortunately after these gustatory delights, we went back to Jimmy´s hotel to find that one of his bags had been stolen. In it was his passport, credit cards, laptop and so on. Ouch. That would have to be my worst nightmare. Needless to say, the rest of the afternoon was spent keeping him company while he called home to cancel cards etc. At least I had my flight to ecological heaven to look forward to for the following day.

Peru - Part Two

2008-12-01T17:46:00.002-08:00

We start where we left off earlier: The bus ride to Arequipa. This wasn´t too exciting except that again there were more bus lies. I was once again told I was on a cama and got semi-cama. At least now I had company though was able to sleep for most of the ride. Again we arrived at ridiculous o´clock though the hostel was expecting me at this time. We managed to sleep some on arrival and woke later in the morning to go and explore the town and arrange onward tours and travel.

Arequipa is a really pretty town with a lovely Plaza de Armas (every town in South America seems to have one of these). The plaza is surrounded by gorgeous white buildings with arched fronts. Heading away from the plaza things become a little more bleak but Kelly and I did manage to get to the Monastery which was absolutely gorgeous. It´s like a mini city (I believe this is also referred to as a citadel) and when you´re in it it´s hard to believe that there´s a world outside of it. The buildings remind me a lot of what I imagine the mediterranean would be like with terracottas, whites and blues, and murals in the small squares. If you ever go to Arequipa it´s a real must to see though time is required...it took the both of us about two hours to see it all.

That night we met Frank and Miriam, others from our Peru Treks group, at what is supposed to be Peru´s best pizza joint. The pizza was good but can´t say for sure that it´s the best, particularly as I was sick later that evening! I have to say though, I couldn´t have asked for better company. It was an early evening though in the end as we were being picked up for our Colca Canyon day tour at 2.30 in the morning! Ouch. Fortunately my belly was ok by then. The trip itself was nothing really worth writing about. A lot of driving though we were really lucky and saw loads of Condors. They put on a good show for us, flying close overhead and in front of us. What magnificent birds! On route back to Arequipa, we were supposed to stop at the hot springs though didn´t which was poo. It was apparently too hot. We did stop at a town though where we were able to do the tourist thing and have our photos taken (for a small tip) with tame eagles and llamas. Yay.

On returning to Arequipa, the three of us hot-footed it to the bus station so that we could get to Huacachina, a small lagoon town just outside of Ica, 4.5hrs south of Lima. This was a really nice spot to just chill and have chocolate brownies and the local Hostel International. We also did some (more) sand boarding though the sand boarding here was loads better than the boarding in San Pedro de Atacama. This was because the dunes were much bigger and we did more of them rather than the one run over and over. We started on baby dunes and worked our way to bigger and bigger ones. We also did a bit of dune buggy-ing which was wicked. Loads of adrenaline pumping fun.

Huacachina was my last stop in Peru before taking the never ending bus journey from there to Quito in Ecuador. I left Huacachina at 11am on Thursday morning, taking one of the regular buses to Lima. There were no promises made for this bus so no promises broken. However, I was on a pretty tight schedule as my onward bus from Lima to Quito was due to leave at 5pm and I needed to be there an hour before. The Ica-Lima bus generally takes 4 hours though mine was a little longer given we had a flat. Great. Oh well, I made it on time so no harm done. Little did I know though that this was going to mark a trend for the rest of the journey. We left Lima late and were supposed to arrive in Quito at 2am on Saturday morning. This was not the case due to stopping multiple times so that the bus driver could tinker with a seemingly working motor. One stop was over three hours at the Tumbes bus station where we were effectively locked in with no food or water and we had to pay for the bathroom, no matter how many times we needed it. We eventually arrived in Quito at 2pm (12 HOURS LATE for those too lazy to work out the math) and unfortunately by this time I´d missed getting to the Otovalo markets. But Ecuador is another story for another time...

Peru - Part One.

2008-12-01T14:58:00.005-08:00

Well, since I last wrote there´s been a bit going on. First, I did do the floating islands and though they were very touristy, it´s a box ticked. One of many. Each island houses a couple of families and what cracks me up is that if there is a family feud, they just pick up their house (literally) and start a new island. We visited two islands in total, the second even more touristy than the first, with actual shops and a restaurant. En route between the islands, we took a reed boat and were entertained by a local school girl who sang us many songs in many languges. What talent.

Now from Puno I caught a night bus with three Danish girls. This was to be the first of many Peruvian bus lies. We were told is was a cama bus (with bed seats) though it wasn´t. Unfortunately to go down with this, the vegetarian I had for lunch decided to argue with my stomach and all pills and potions were in the luggage compartment. Fortunately, the lady sitting next to me explained that I would feel better if I spat on my hand and rubbed it on my tummy...ah the wonders of cooky ¨medicine.¨ I did feel better for a while or maybe I just fell asleep and forgot about it.

Anyway, we arrived in Cuzco at the pleasant hour of 3.30 in the morning and were kicked off the bus (despite being told when sold the ticket that we´d be able to sleep on it til 6am...another lie). We made it to the hostel and I spent the next three days looking around Cuzco and waiting for my Inca trek to start. During that time I saw the Tambombachay, Pukapukara, Qenqo, Temple de la Luna and Saqsaywaman Inca sites. They were pretty cool. My favourites were Quenqo and Temple de la Luna. We had an impromtu guide that we´d met walking up to the sites so this provided some good information. Other than that, not much was done. Just chilling and acclimatising until the time for my caminar del Inca.

This started at 6am on the 19th of November...ah it seems so long ago now. I was picked up from my hostel and we were taken by bus to a small town for breakfast...you´ll have to excuse me as all the town names currently escape me. They´ll be added later. In total there were 15 tourists, two awesome guides (Rony and Augusto), and 22 equally awesome porters. It was a fantastic group in all and I believe good friends were made. After breakfast we moved on to where the Classic Inca Trek starts and we began our walk. This first day was really quite easy and it was spent chatting and getting to know one another. We saw on the way one ruin and stopped many times for toilet breaks and snacks. When we got to our campsite, the tents were already set up which is the way it should be! and the boys decided to get in on a friendly soccer (football) game. Dinner, as with all the meals was delicious. Generally for breakfast we´d get the usual bread and jam but also either pancakes, scrambled eggs, omlette or what have you. Lunch and dinner was two to three courses - soup followed by mains of meat and pasta and rice with salads, then maybe dessert. It was all really, really tasty and rich in carbs for all the walking we were doing. It was reasonably cold that night but our tents and my sleeping bag managed to keep me warm and toasty all night.

The next morning, we were woken at around 5.30am with a knock on our tents and a hot drink in ¨bed¨...ah, what service!!! The walking started after breakfast and just felt like it didn´t stop. It was definately the toughest day on the trek. We walked maybe 5km and it was pretty much all up hill...1.4km vertical! I was in the slow group of all of us but I wasn´t alone. I was accompanied by Kelly who was sick, Martin who had a sprained ankle and Joel who was suffering badly from the altitude. Personally I blame the altitude but only for the lack of oxygen. Surely it wasn´t my fitness?? Once we got to Dead Womans Pass (altitude approx 4200m, maybe more), we took group photos and then started the steep downhill bit in the rain. It didn´t really let up from then until the morning we arrived at Machu Picchu thank goodness.

Day three was more walking though a lot easier than the previous day. It was Ïnca¨uphill for most of it and then at the end we had the ¨Gringo Killer¨which was downhill steps again. We were finally in the lush forest though few animals were seen. Mostly just birds. The views along the whole trek were pretty special though so not complaining. We ended at the camping village of Winaywayna (check spelling) where we were able to have a cold beer (mmm, beer). This was our last night with the porters so they put on a singing show for us and that´s when we gave our tips. I think they did pretty good but they so deserved it.

Day four, the final day, was an early one. We started at 4am with our usual breakfast though this time sans hot drink in bed. Then we headed down to the checkpoint to start our walk to the ¨Sun¨Gate. Not much sun this morning as when we got there, we were in the midst of cloud and Machu Picchu couldn´t be seen for love or money. Oh well. We rested there for a bit then headed down to the other look out over Machu Picchu. Again cloud. Yippee. It cleared occasionally for us but not for the group photo - curses. After that, it was down to the actual site. It was quite impressive, even given that it was thought that it may have been unfinished. We walked around for a while, took the obligatory hundreds of photos, including llamas getting jiggy with it (heehee) and then headed to Agua Calientes and the hot springs.

We finally arrived back in Cuzco at 9.30 that night, where we had about an hour to get fresh before meeting for the end of tour drinks and pub crawl. All up, four clubs were visited and I got back to my hostel around 4.30am. Others stayed til later and even had a wee nap in McDs. I needed at least a little sleep as I was heading to Arequipa with Kelly and Martin that night.

NB: The company I went with for the Inca Trek was Peru Treks. They were absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend them. Rony and Augusto (our guides) were just great, the porters were awesome and the food couldn´t be faulted. In fact, nothing could be faulted at all, so if you´re planning a trek, I´d seriously consider them.

Potosi to Peru

2008-11-14T10:46:00.004-08:00

After Potosi, as promised I went on to Sucre, the legislative capital of Bolivia. The bus ride there contained much excitement. I was seated at the back of the bus, above the rear right wheel. It was getting dark and I noticed flashing orange lights coming from underneath and I thought to myself ¨Yeah! a Bolivian party bus. Go Bolivia!¨ However I was to be mistaken. They weren´t party lights...it was FIRE! I didn´t realise this until the bus had pulled over after multiple cars had flashed their lights at us. The fire was eventually put out by everyone´s drinking water, leaving us with none. Fortunately, the bus trip was only 1.5 hours more.

Sucre itself was a pretty town though I feel that Potosi was perhaps nicer. Sucre is well known for it´s white washed colonial buildings and there were a few of those but mainly centred around the main plaza. The rest was as per the rest of Bolivia. There was a textile museum which was quite interesting. It looked at the history of weaving in Bolivia and the museum raises money to teach locals their traditional techniques to prevent them from dying out. I also went up to a conventy thing which was a steep walk though was well rewarded by the views that greeted me at the top. The convent housed a whole lot of religious art (by Anon), and a cedar that was over 1000 years old. The actual church was beautifully decorated also.

That night I left sucre and my travelling buddy of the last couple of days (Bertram from Germany), heading to La Paz. Everything they say of this night bus is true. It was long, stopped many, many times and was FREEZING!!! A lovely Bolivian man who was sat next to me was kind enough to share his blanket with me. I might have died of exposure otherwise.

La Paz was a city to behold. I stayed at Loki, which I might never do again for reasons which will become apparent. On arrival, I booked my mountain bike tour of The World´s Most Dangerous Road and then wandered into the city for some lunch. It´s a huge city with steep, steep streets which are really slippery with stones that have been walked on for what I imagine would be more than hundreds of years. The markets were interesting but there wasn´t the bartering that I thought there´d be. Oh well. The next morning I woke to do the WMDR which was awesome. I was aprehensive at first because of the well known 400m sheer drops from the edge of the road, the gravel we rode on (instead of asphalt), and the deaths that were constantly being talked about. I eventually loosened up and our group ended up being one of the fastest that our guide Matt had taken, having finished around 1.40pm. I also managed to meet some lovely Perth peeps on the tour, as well as a Noosa boy and a Brazillian living in Sydney. I spent the next two days consequently hanging with them. The following day we did the San Pedro Prison, made famous by Thomas McFadden for his drug smuggling. This was an eye-opener to say the least and that´s about all I´ll say apart from ¨Read the book.¨ That night was just a chilled night chatting in Yelena and Chris´room, up until I went to my own to change into my PJ´s, only to find that people had been smoking in the dorm and that they had left their empty cigarettes in my clothes. NOT HAPPY JAN! Then, when I awoke the next morning and looked in my locked box in reception, the $1300 Bolivianos ($300AUD) that I´d put in there the night before to pay for my room, bus out of La Paz, etc was GONE!!! There was much cursing though surprisingly very few tears. Osgur (the guy who runs the hostel) was kind enough to reimburse me half as he felt given the security of the building, it shouldn´t have happened and he felt partly responsible...damn straight. But live and learn. I spent the afternoon therefore trying to forget about it. I watched the new Bond flic which was partly set in Bolivia so that was cool. The others all left that night and I then bussed on to Copacabana and Lake Titicaca the following morning.

Copacabana was a cute little town though not much to do there. I did a day trip out to Isla del Sol, Isla de la Luna and the ¨floating islands¨they have there. It was nothing too special but I´ve done it now. I also did the climb up the cerro to see the sunset and that was about it for Copacabana. Or so I thought. Due to some farmer turmoil in Peru, the bus we (me and an Irish dude I´d met) had taken to get to Puno to see the real floating islands wasn´t able to cross the border and so we were stuck in Copa for the night. I could think of worse places to be stuck. It was cheap and the company was good. Today though I´ve made it to Peru and am sitting in an internet cafe killing time til my Uros Island tour (aka the floating islands). Until next time...Hasta luego!

My first week in South America

2008-11-03T16:32:00.003-08:00

Well here I am in South America or Potosi, Bolivia to be exact. It has been a pretty busy week since I landed in Santiago de Chile. I spent three nights there and have to say that as a city it was really just another city. There were lots of pretty parks which was nice (and cheap!) but after losing my only jumper on the way to my hostel from the airport, I ended up spending most of one of my days trying to find some fleece. Once that was accomplished, I spent an amusing day in Valparaiso (read: Viña del Mar) which is a port two hours to the north of Santiago. This was a really pretty city.

Despite those two days out of Santiago, I decided to cut my time there short by one night and so headed up to San Pedro de Atacama in the North of Chile in the desert. There I did a sandboarding tour combined with a sunset Valley of the Moon tour. The first was really fun - I got sand in all the wrong places! and the second was visually beautiful. That night I also did a stargazing tour just off the edge of the desert which was really interesting though after a 24hr bus ride and sandboarding, by 11.30 (when the tour started) I was already quite tired as you can imagine. The next morning I was picked up by my next tour which was a San Pedro to Uyuni (Bolivia) tour. This was really amazing. There were three of us in total and we saw so much. Geysers, hot pools, multi coloured lagoons (green, red and white), flamingoes to your hearts content, llamas, alpacas, vicunas (all closely related), volcanoes, salt flats and desert islands packed with cacti. You can imagine I have hundreds of photos and it´s going to take me a while to get them up but I will do my best. The highest we got on this tour was 4950m! Fortunately the altitude hasn´t affected me too much. The most I´ve had to deal with has been a headache.

Uyuni was not so spectacular. I stayed there one night and spent most of it in my hostel room which sadly, was not a dorm but a single...I read a lot of my book. Needless to say, one night there post tour was enough and today I caught (the slow) bus to Potosi. I was going to reconsider coming here and skipping it but I´m so glad I didn´t. This city is just beautiful...a photographers delight (not that that´s what I am but you know), especially when arriving at sunset. It´s at 4050m elevation and much of the city is on a mountain side so loads of hills. Tomorrow I think I will visit the Casa Real de Moneda (Royal house of money...a museum that was the original mint). Potosi was originally a silver mining town though that´s much depleted. There are also mine tours but I don´t think I want to do this. There is no more silver apparently and the conditions are really very bad. So anyway, maybe only one day here and on to Sucre for tomorrow night (a city further east).

So that´s all that I´ve been up to so far. A fair bit for one week I think. Like I said, next stop Sucre either tomorrow or the next day, spend one or two nights there and then to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia.

Branding

2007-12-17T23:09:00.001-08:00

I've just noticed how much product placement is in this blog. Sorry about that folks.

They only come once a year

2007-12-17T22:48:00.000-08:00

Another birthday has passed and I have to say it was a good one. I usually try and drag the celebrations out as long as possible and this year was no exception.

It started out with a dive of Robb St Jetty. It was the first time I've done that site and I have to say that it was a very easy dive though the walk leading up to it is not...especially with what's probably about an extra 25kg of weight with tanks and lead. It's one of those walks when I think to myself that I should really give up smoking yet I remember that I don't smoke and so can't use it as an excuse for how totally unfit I feel. Go the boat dive! There were loads of nudibranchs and I did see a lionfish (I think), and for the UWAUC people out there, yes, there was also a turtle and snowflake moray, I promise! The dive is a total of about 6.4m (with my puter buried in the sand) and I averaged about 4.8m. Barely a snorkel really but still.

The dive was followed by a wee BBQ back at a fellow divers place with salads and naked saussages provided by yours truly. A generally pleasant affair, especially with the beer drinking that accompanies any good BBQ.

The main event however was dinner and dancing, preceeded by champers. Dinner was at a favourite of mine in Subiaco. The food was good and company even better. Dancing was also done in Subi despite perhaps the location not being known to have a dance floor. Midnight was seen with more bubbly and the end of the night saw me walking the three ks home with heels in hand. I'm a very classy bird, don't you all know. A word of advice though: after a night out drinking, watching Donnie Darko at 2am is not a good idea, even if it may seem so at the time.

Then comes my actual birthday. Breakfast with family and me holding my head. Actually, the whole day was spent with me holding my head. Me holding my head in bed praying for the swift arm of death to relieve my suffering. Me holding my head while trying to watch Pirates of the Caribbean. Me holding my head as I ate a delicious fish n chips. And me holding my head as I watch more TV. Despite all the head-holding it was a nicely relaxing day and the pampering was good too. All in all a great weekend was had.

Full of Grace

2007-11-24T12:54:00.000-08:00

I was walking to work the other day when suddenly I was face down on the pavement. I don't have any idea how it happened. One minute I was strolling along happy as Larry and the next I wasn't. And for all you medicos out there, I had no loss of consciousness, no dizziness, no lightheadedness, palpitations or any warning signs whatsoever. I can not however say that it was definitely a mechanical fall either. The pavement was perfectly flat without a single obvious raised area I could have tripped on and despite one friends suggestion, I don't recall tripping over my other foot. Anyway, this is the result of this graceful event:

How stupid can you be?

2007-09-30T11:01:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd write a quick note on how stupid people can be. Now the fact that these examples are thoughtfully provided by nurses in no way means that I think nurses are stupid. I will perhaps provide them the excuse that they are over worked, under paid and working nights.

These are a couple of pages that have been received by myself and other doctors over the last few days:

1. (9.30pm) Pls review patient with tender lump below sturnum (breast bone for you non-medicos). Patient thinks lump may have been there yesterday also.

An innocent bystander who has never worked nights before might see this as completely reasonable. I ask though that if the lump had been there for probably two days, why does it need to be delt with at 9.30pm tonight? Is this urgent? Is it lifethreatening? NO. Then, on review of this patient, this lump turned out to be the xiphoid process. A part of the breast bone that EVERY SINGLE PERSON HAS! Something tells me then that this would have been there for maybe 60 years!!! And perhaps if it was no longer played with it wouldn't be tender?

2. Pls prescribe sleeping tablet for patient XY.

Again, this might seem a reasonable request but on seeing the patient, they were asleep!!!

A little wary

2007-09-29T09:13:00.000-08:00

I had a phone call from the ex the other day and these always make me a bit apprehensive. For a few reasons really. These phone calls are always out of the blue and I'm never really sure why he's calling. (This one was straight forward though: advice about what to see in The Pilbara). He also calls when he's at work, never from home. And I guess there are trust issues. Don't get me wrong though, the conversations are pleasant enough and we stay away from The Past. Despite the wariness, his parents will be in town soon and I'd really like to catch up with them. With a little luck, this will happen.

Killing time...not patients (warning: serious product placement!)

2007-09-28T12:29:00.000-08:00

Well here I am at 4.30am in Man's Best and waiting for 6am to roll around. In the meantime I thought why not update my virtual life.

Tonight has been a good night for work. Not too many admissions and the ward seems to be looking after itself. Nothing too drastic being done. Kinda surprising given it's a Friday night. ED itself is not looking too bad either. With any luck, the next four weekends will be like this as I'm working all of them. Pooh for me but someone has to do it. Monday being a public holiday at least I get good rates at a time when I'm feeling so poor.

Part of the reason for this is that I've finally joined pop culture and bought myself a new ipod (classic 80G). It's just so pretty and shiny. I went for the black option cause everyone knows black is the new black. I ended up getting it off the Apple web site and was very impressed with the ease of purchase. At a time when there were waiting lists at all the major and minor stores, I was able to have my product within 48hrs of payment with free shipping and free engraving (name and phone number on the back...perhaps I should lose it in the company of hot men). Now I'm just saving for my MacBook Pro. With salary packaging and tax deducting, why wouldn't I get one?

The other reason I'm feeling broke is that I'm a loser. Went out on Saturday night after an awful four days at work and decided that a big night was going to be had. I think the first mistake I made was not having dinner. A friend was coming to mine before hand and I just didn't get home in time to eat. And then there was the mixing of beer and wine. Needless to say I was rather unwell and left my phone in the taxi. Stupid. I tried calling it and the driver did answer and then promptly hung up. The taxi company was no help whatsoever. Even if you give the time of pick-up and drop off location (given all pick-ups are logged), they still couldn't help me. It's just so dishonest and useless to boot. I cancelled my phone straight away and had a block put on the handset so it can never be used. I guess there are some techies out there who know how to unblock them but still. Grr. So I ended up getting the Nokia E65. Would have preferred a Sony Ericsson but there aren't that many nice ones out there. And I have to say, my phone is sexy. Having a bit of trouble finding my way around it but I'll get there. I'm a smart girl after all.

On Monday I'm having a tupperware party. I think tupperware is pretty awesome as it's leak free and has a lifetime warranty but it's just so expensive. Now people generally think that the reason I'm having a tupperware party is that I want them to subsidise my own purchases. This is partly true but I'd buy the stuff anyway. I just figure it's an excuse to get people together for drinks and cheap food that someone else cooks (the tupperware woman does a cooking demonstration for us and I've opted for the chicken curry...mmm). The disappointing thing is that I've had friends say that they aren't really into tupperware or in the tupperware market and so won't be coming. THIS IS THE WRONG ATTITUDE PEOPLE!!! It's really about supporting friends and spending time. It's like when people invite me for a dvd night or what-not. I don't say sorry not coming cause I've seen the movie. That's not what it's about. For me, it's more the time spent with friends and it doesn't really matter what's being done. That's one thing in life that shits me. Believe me though, there are others!

Last sightings

2007-09-07T23:25:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to make a note about seeing people for the last time. I don't know necessarily if it makes a difference if you know that it's the last time you're going to see them. In hindsight I always wonder though if I would have told that person something different or behaved in a different manner or not. There does come a point though where contact between the two of you becomes so difficult or apathetic that you then turn around and say to yourself...that night was the last time I will probably see that person. It just makes me wonder.

It also brings to question the value of a one-sided friendship. But that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

Lots of news

2007-08-24T07:14:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while since I last posted anything and that's mostly been cause I've been unusually busy. I posted in my anaesthesia training application and there was palava that ended up going on with that. It sorted itself out thankfully. And it's been a long and what's felt like extremely drawn out waiting process.

While I was waiting I managed to head over to Melbourne for five days to hang out with a good friend, and just get back to being cultured. The trip over there was less than impressive. My flight was almost three hours delayed and I'd just finished a ten hour ED shift so was none too impressed. Fortunately there was some nice eye candy at the service desk that I could feast my eyes upon to pass the time. The flight didn't leave until about 2am and when we landed, they somehow forgot to unload our bags. We were waiting at the carousel for an hour before they came out! Unbelievable. Needless to say I was exhausted. As for the trip, I'd never been to Melbourne before and I must say it was mostly like what I'd been told. I didn't do any shopping (shock horror!) but I did do lots of eating. No, lots of GOOD eating. Oh the restaurants! And what I must say is the best hot chocolate on this earth (and I think I have to clarify that and say Australian earth). The first night I was able to catch up with a long lost friend from the home land. It was really nice despite going to a restaurant that meant we had to shout at each other to be heard. No matter, it was the company that I'd gone for and it's just awesome when you can see a friend after so long without contact and it's like no time has passed at all with respect to the ease that you feel with each other. Hopefully now we'll stay in contact again but that's the problem with life and time I suppose. It waits for no one.

As far as activities go, I even got to go to the snow! Now I've seen snow before (not even a handful of times), but I've never done any snow sports...skiing or snowboarding. On this, my virgin snow sport experience, I chose to do the snowboarding option. I found it really fun and I'd love to do it again. I just don't know how people can enjoy queuing for hours on their holidays when you can spend time doing other things without this annoyance. And I have to say that the people who work in the snow are not happy people. I don't believe they understand the meaning of the term "customer service". Still, it was a good day despite spending much of it on my ass.

So I've now finished ED at the peripheral hospital I was at and am now at Man's Best doing what is named the "Short Stay Medical Unit", but what is more like the "ED Dumping Ground" ward. It's not exactly conducive to learning but it does provide a steep learning curve with respect to time management. My first day in the unit had me doing 18! discharges!!! Welcome to hell.

Anyway, now for the real news. I did not get a training position for next year. This means I now opt for Plan A as per numero uno. This means no Sipadan, getting some kick-ass stuff behind me for the applications for next year (APLS and ATLS courses, audits, research maybe), reapplying and GETTING THE DAMN JOB and then taking three or four months off and travelling South America with E-Dog. I sincerely hope my place on the roof of his car has not been given away!

Bipolar?

2007-07-20T22:06:00.000-08:00

On a lighter side...here's a photo of some intelligent graffiti that I pass on the way to work. When I say intelligent, it's cause it must mean something and I can't figure it out:

It's been a while

2007-07-20T21:41:00.000-08:00

Applications closed yesterday and I have to say the last week was a little stressful. I discovered only days before the closing date that one of my referees was having a hard time writing about me and as such hadn't sent in their necessary responses. Panic. I couldn't understand though why he had to wait for me to remind him of applications imminent close before fessing up. I promptly sent him a copy of my application and set him in the direction of other consultants in the department who I'd had contact with (albeit LESS contact with...I'd asked him for a reason). Then I found out that one of my other referees has gone on leave so they didn't get the reminder. This one should have their own secretary so I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

In all honesty though I did have hard time in picking the third referee. Not because I'm so useless but more because I'm still only half way through my second year and a number of the terms I've done have not had single consultants. The first two were easy: my ortho reg who is now a consultant (yay for him) who told me on a number of occasions he was glad to have me as an intern, and my general medicine consultant who I got along with really well and felt I didn't disappoint too much. The only terms left were emergency (many consultants, minimal contact with each), general surgery (I had my reasons for not picking him), leave relief (need I say more?) and intensive care (the field my third referee came from). I'm also doing ED now and in hindsight perhaps would have chosen one of these consultants but as the term had only just started, this wasn't really an option. Anyway, as I've said to a friend of mine...back to Plan A and he'd better leave me a spot on his South America trip next year!

Not giving up

2007-07-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

People have been constantly saying to me that I'll meet someone when I stop looking. Why would I give up on myself?

Paying by the hour

2007-06-30T20:13:00.000-08:00

Last night was the first time I've ever paid for a room by the hour. No, it's not what you think. It was all a part of a quite random evening but I guess what do I expect when I don't plan my Saturday night. It started very depressingly with me drinking at home (alone) and watching an even more depressing rugby game. I then found someone to go out with (yay) - a friend of my cousin (random event number one). I met up with him and some of his friends at an out of the way pub and listened to irish fiddling while jigging it up on the dance floor (random event number two). We then were kicked out of there as the place was closing and the boys, as they are, wanted food. Headed into Northbridge and ended up playing spacies (that's space invaders for those who don't know) at a random kebab place (random event number three). After that the five of us hired a room at a karaoke joint for an hour and sung (terribly) what was considered karaoke hits (final random event). If someone had asked me what I thought I'd be doing (and a couple of people had) I would never have thought that that's what I'd do. I can't say that I didn't have a good time cause I did.

On a different note, it's pissing down cats and dogs at the moment and I'm rather liking the sound it's making on my tin roof. Definately curling up in bed with a good book weather but equally I feel it's going out with the girls and having a boozy lunch weather...oh for weekends off and late starts on a Monday. Thanks Miles, I knew there'd be a way to make the shift swap advantageous.

What do you call this?

2007-06-22T04:58:00.001-08:00

Last night, I had this intense feeling of sadness.

Almost done

2007-06-20T02:53:00.000-08:00

I have spent the WHOLE of today looking at and composing really wanky responses to the anaesthetic college selection criteria and am almost done...whew. The only thing left (aside from sending the damn thing in) is to have it critiqued and basically ripped apart by my genius and expert-at-these-things cousin. Then, once I've re-written it for the third time (the complete one from today is part one), I'll be able to send it in. I have to say though, I hate doing this stuff. Needless to say that part of it is the whole "look at me, I'm so awesome" speel that has to be delivered, but also I just hate the whole competitive aspect that it implies. Over the 28 years I've lived on this earth, I've come to know that I really dislike competition...perhaps that's why I "thrived" so well in the GMP program.

On another note, further proof that I'm awesome (I don't mind the I'm so awesome stuff when it's all in fun) is that yesterday THREE residents called in sick. That's three out of five who were rostered on for the day. And guess who was on call...

That sickening feeling

2007-06-18T21:19:00.000-08:00

I went to the supermarket today as one does when one needs groceries, and I was at the check-out, diligently packing my own shopping bag when the check-out lady informs me that the total comes to $68.00. I look into my wallet and to my complete horror, there's NO CREDIT CARD! Talk about one of my worst nightmares come true! You know that sick feeling you get when you have no idea where a really important item is? Well I had it. Multiplied by a million. I couldn't for the life of me think where it could be. I couldn't even remember the last time I used it. (Being a single girl, essentially living alone, I tend not to buy groceries very often). I had to go back and count day-by-day my activites. Now everyone, rest in peace cause I found it. It was in with my palm pilot which I take to the gym to listen to music. I'd paid for my personal training sessions the last time I went and had put my card in there. So I had to leave all my shopping at the supermarket, return home, pick up the card and head back to pick up and PAY for my shopping.

On another note, while I was waiting for the check-out girl to get to me, she was serving another customer (essentially what she gets paid for). But what I noticed was this: that other customer had purchased a packet of crumpets, and he had put said packet into one of those fruit and veg plastic bags! This I have never seen before. Mainly I think because most people realise that a packet of crumpets is already packaged. And in plastic too none the less. People, please. Now I know I'm not the most environmentally friendly person in the world but I do try. I mean, I don't even put my fruit and veg in those fruit and veg bags (as I'm ususally only buying one and really, I figure they're plastic, not good for the environment and I figure you don't need to bag a single item of fruit). That's my rant for the day.

Another non-dinner topic...sorry

2007-06-17T06:55:00.001-08:00

Well after another hard day at work in the ED, I yet again leave feeling useless and it's all because of that last patient that sticks with you. I had a woman with an STD and I needed to do a pelvic examination. I don't like these at the best of times and tonight was no exception. I cannot do them. Not for not wanting to...if one could actually want to do one of these. Or should I say not for not trying to. I try. And I try. And I can never find the cervix. (If I was talking about the "G-Spot" perhaps one would mistake me for a man...just kidding blokes). But it's true, I can never find it. And I've tried. I spent three months in Port Hedland and up there spent time with the gynaecologist. She did everything INCLUDING draw me a map and still I came up short (don't even go there with that pun). And tonight was no exception. And it was the girls first PV exam as well. (I mean there's her first mistake...21, sexually active and never had a Pap Smear...is she stupid?!). Anyway, in the end my registrar saved me and I was left feeling deflated and useless. I guess these just aren't my thing but I will persevere.

Beware if weak stomached!

2007-06-16T06:49:00.000-08:00

It's been about a week (I think) since I last posted and mostly that's because I have done nothing of interest worth posting about and nor have I thought anything particularly shareworthy. However, I can now inform people that I'm tough...at least tougher than some of my other ED counterparts, a lot of whom have called in sick the last few days but not me...despite a touch of gastro, chills, fevers, stomach cramps etc, I still turned up to work...partly out of guilt (I had agreed to cover the shift for someone) and partly cause I was hoping I'd be told to go home...silly rabbit, that never happens. So I turned up to work and felt awful the whole time I was there. And two other residents had called in unwell. Hence the conclusion that I'm tough. The culprit was either one of two things...I caught it off a patient. Very likely since that's been a majority of what I've seen the last week. Or I ate some dodgy double cream brie. It was tasty but I think that's what it was. Now on a more disgusting but rather fascinating note...I don't know about anyone else, but when I vomit, I seem to be able to separate things quite nicely as they come up. First came the pasta, then the tomato garnish, and finally the brie with crackers. I could tell not because they came up whole, but because of all the different and very pretty colours, resembling nicely the originals. Good thing I was feeling awful enough that I didn't get my camera out for a visual for this page. Anyway, I'm feeling better now. Still a little crampy in the stomach and still off my food, but I don't think I could any longer get away with calling in sick.

Coulda, Woulda But Didn't

2007-06-07T18:46:00.000-08:00

It seems as though I'm destined to be single forever. And I think I've resigned myself to that fact now. There was a guy. I thought he liked me but I guess not. I dunno. I do think that I have to put this one in the coulda shoulda pile. So for now it's just me and my cat. You'll see me in a couple of years and I'll have half a dozen cats and hordes of newspapers lining the halls of my house. Oreo for now is my initiation into spinsterdom.

Welcome to psuedo-GP land

2007-06-02T18:58:00.000-08:00

I've now finished intensive care as of last week and am proud to say that there were no deaths on my watch. As morbid and poor taste as it is though, I've never had to deal with the coroner and it's something I should know how to do. Unfortunately I think it's learnt practically. I did really enjoy the term. The nurses were really helpful and the registrars really keen on teaching. From what I hear, I think I was lucky in that respect. I had hoped that I would get to do more procedural stuff with respect to lines and such but c'est la vie.

I'm doing my emergency term now out at one of the peripheral hospitals and so far it's ok. I'm not so sure how last night went though because in the wisdom of clinical administration, the 10pm til 8am person was on holidays and they didn't think it important enough to provide a leave reliever. That left ONE person to manage the 14 cubicle department. Crikey, I'm glad it wasn't me. And it's going to be like that for the next two nights again. The department itself seems pretty good though. Again the nurses are great but given that it was a little mad last night, there were basic things that didn't get done that should have...like obs. Fortunately there weren't any REAL emergencies. Believe it or not but most EDs tend to be used more as a GP service than an emergency service. It's all the people who feel that they don't want to pay for their healthcare as it's free. That's why I think that there should be a fee for any non-emergency services provided, but that's a whole can of worms right there. The one thing about this department in comparison to Man's Best is that it isn't on a public transport route so it makes people need to be a bit more determined and motivated to get there.

Now for an update on the last entry: it's got to the stage where I'm meeting one of the anaesthetic educational people this week to go over my cv and discuss any questions I might have. It seems option 2 is the way I'm tending.

Decisions, decisions

2007-05-28T03:30:00.000-08:00

I've recently recieved my application for re-employment at the esteemed hospital for which I work and it's got me thinking about when exactly it is that I want to apply for the anaesthetic training program. Well to be honest, it's a combination of that and my cousin whispering in my ear that perhaps I should apply for next year. What's been stopping me is this: I'm keen to do a little travel before I start a training program and I kind of had my heart on doing a further nine months as a resident doing jobs that will provide me with experience but not necessarily add a great deal to my application when I get around to it, and then do South America for three months. Of course I'd apply for the program next year for the 2009 intake and come back for that with travel out of my system...for a while anyway. (The original-original plan was to move back to New Zealand and start my training there but that's taken a huge backseat given recent xperiences...a story perhaps for another time). So I suppose the pros are: 1) I get to travel, 2) I have a bit more experience (life and work) and 3) I don't yet feel ready to take on the responsibility of being a registrar, albeit a junior one. I think the major con here is that I'm delaying the inevitable and perhaps also I should give myself a little more credit as to my knowledge base.

Now the alternative is this: I apply for the program, get on it and start next year, sit for exams around mid 2009 and then travel after that (this time perhaps for four to six months). The pros for this are singular: I get started. (There are subsets of pros within this, in short being I'm 28 and the sooner I get on with life in general the better). I do feel that there are a couple of cons though, with these being: 1) Like I said, I don't feel "ready," 2) I'm not sure I necessarily want to be in Perth for the next 5 years (though again this can be negotiated), and 3) I want to travel some. Even in my head these are pretty soft cons, but they're cons none-the-less and I don't want to regret this decision. I guess I can still "holiday" while I'm on the program but it's not quite the same. I think, for today at least, I'm leaning towards this alternative but there is still some serious thinking to be done and some talking with various anaesthetic types. In the meantime, if anyone who had decided to read these entries has an opinion, I'd love to hear it.

On a lighter note. If I do decided to start the program next year, I've started picking out possible holiday destinations to break up the daily grind. The first is a weeks dive holiday in Sipadan followed by a week in Borneo. (A certain someone has been in my ear about this spot for a little while so thought I'd check it out and it turns out that they've been whispering for good reason). The second is the usual New Zealand holiday to see the north of the South Island. The third really is anywhere else. This is the exciting part of choosing the more dull alternative.

It's Personal

2007-05-24T17:50:00.000-08:00

So I had my second session today with my personal trainer and I have to say I really quite enjoyed it. I'm only really going to be able to see him once a fortnight but I think that should be enough as we did completely different stuff this time as to last time. And it's stuff that I wouldn't think of doing otherwise....really different exercises using platforms, medicine balls, fitballs, etc...I like balls. I also got to vent some steam with the boxing stuff, though instead of boxing it was kneeing. (Imagining the ex at these moments is helps to keep one enthusiastic about the exercise). Very satisfying. Who says I'm bitter and twisted. I think it's quite a healthy attitude to have.

Numero Uno

2007-05-23T07:25:00.001-08:00

I've decided to give this a go and link it up with my Facebook site. With any luck, no one outside the people I'm readily willing to embarrass myself in front of with my excessively boring life and terrible spelling will read it. I was never really any good with a diary and when I was it was just about boys. Perhaps this will give me some focus. But I doubt it. The trouble is, I'm an email fan albeit if they are usually group emails. Emails are not a fad and these possibly are...I mean I hardly ever remember to check the homepages of friends because they aren't, you know, DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO MY EMAIL as updates. (Yes, yes, shake your head at my blatant laziness).

Also, I feel kind of funny about posting photos on the www as who knows who might have access to them. At least with Picassa (a Google thing) the photos can only be viewed by those invited if I so choose. And I don't believe it's fair to put photos of friends et al up on a readily accessible site without their permission. So I guess for now, at least with respect to photos, Picassa it is.

Anyway, that's the hard part done with...starting. It should only get easier from here.