The Day before it all begins

It is may 8th 2011.  Ive just spent a relaxing morning at home with Jo and the kids having packed my suitcase for this , the longest trip away from family that I have ever spent.

As a nurse educator teaching Rural and Isolated practice nurses, I feel well equipped with a multitude of skills. Ive worked in the biggest of emergency departments and intensive care units in metropolitan tertiary hospitals.  Ive worked in the interesting field of hyperbaric nursing, and Ive enjoyed the fantastic experience of helicopter retrieval nursing.

Ive worked in rural and remote locations in western Queensland where the desert meets civilization, at places like Quilpie and the Yowah Opal fields RFDS clinic, and my involvement with the Australian College of Emergency nursing has taken me all over Australia and New Zealand teaching Trauma nursing .  So what is the final frontier for me??? 

Ive never been to Cape York, and nursed in indigenous communities.  So when an opportunity came up for me to work on Saibai Island and Darnley(Erub) Island in the northern and eastern Torres Strait; it was one that was too good to pass up.

This first entry is the beginning of what I hope to become a running journal/diary of my experiences, good and bad, happy and sad.  I warn the reader that they may be raw, and rough, and at times full of jargon.  But they will be real, and honest.  Those of you who know me will see me in these blogs.  Those that dont, will perhaps get to know me a little more than you do now.

So...I am packed.  I think!   I think I am packed.  I think I am ready.  I am excited, but scared of what will transpire.  That age old fear of the unknown.  I am so so thankful to my bride, and best friend Joanne.  The mother of my children, who on this day (Mother's Day) is bravely going about her business, and putting on the positive face.  I know that she is dreading me going .  I know that she already misses me, but all that stuff is unsaid, and I am ever so thankful for supporting me on this adventure.  She is an amazing woman, and my rock.

At 4am, the Airport flyer will pick me up, and take me to uncharted waters.  I will fly to Cairns, and on to Horn Island, and then Tuesday....I am off to my first assignment to Saibai Island located 3-4 km south of the Papua New Guinea mainland.  I invite you to come with me (Timmo)
as I go

...   Over the Top!!