#43 - Ere I Yam Iama.

Wow.  When beauty and spectacular have a love child it is called Yam island. My day started with my alarm clock waking me at 5:30.  Up, shower, pack my stuff into my suit case, ...pick up from Cairns Novatel Oasis, Airport and off.

We boarded the Q400 to Horn...uneventful flight over pristine reef and rain forest...off the tip of cape York and landed on Horn Island.  A wait at the airport for a couple of hours and onto the Westwing leg of the journey.  I sat where I wanted to, She sat where she wanted to, He sat where he wanted to, and they all sat where they wanted to. Suddenly the plane lurched back and rested on a steel pole placed there to brace  the tail , and stop the plane over balancing. The aeronautical equivalent of the Decky, had a wee winge to the pilot, who asked a few of us to shift our weight forward .  Subsequently, I sat behind the pilot, a few islanders come up front with me, and we were good to go.  I had no idea how much of a fine balance those planes are on.

So up to Boigu Island, on to Saibai my old stomping ground, where I shed a tear (I do miss Saibai-you always remember your first you know!).  Then on to Yam (Iama).  With not a cloud in the sky, the water was iridescent, blue/green and fish/sharks could be clearly seen swimming around the coral bommies and reef on our landing.  I made a mental note not to swim at that spot.

I landed and was met by Susie, the nurse who has been posted here for the last 8 weeks.  The air strip is in the Clinic's front yard, so after collecting the bags from the hold, we wandered over to the clinic to meet the boss (Andrew) and some of the health workers (James and Millar).  The hand over went smoothly then the Bomb shell.  Susie is out on the next plane at 9am tomorrow morning!!  This is a 1 nurse island, and from 9 am , I am it.

Now I am a little anxious about this.  On Saibai, I was one of 3 nurses.  On Darnley, Annie the permanent nurse and I were two nurses, with a Doctor on the island also.  But here, it is just me and three health workers.  Now dont get me wrong, or think I am paranoid or anything, but I get the sense, more than anything now, that God is conditioning me.

The afternoon was filled opening and closing cupboards, to familiarize myself with the layout of the clinic and shopping for a few groceries at the iconic Ibis store.  The shopping done, it was time to unpack my stuff in the unit.  At Darnley the unit was up stairs above the clinic.  Well this is the same building on Yam.  Two units on top of the clinic, so it immediately felt familiar.  Same aircon, same kitchen, same bathroom (only functioning).  The TV is much bigger, and I was thrilled until I turned it on.  No aerial !  equals no TV !!!

Are they kidding me?   three weeks of no TV?  I will be on call for three weeks, confined to my unit every night, and I have no TV or DVD player???  So I think I might just have to blog, and pretend I am camping.

This evening on dusk, I went for a walk down to the jetty.  There was half a fresh crushed Crayfish head on the jetty, and I kicked it over the side into the clear water.  Immediately a frenzy of activity as 4 sharks measuring about a metre or more vied for gustatory rights.  This is truly an amazingly beautiful place, and I have been given the honour to nurse it's people for a snapshot in time .

Tomorrow, it is home visits, finding my feet, and meeting new people.  Optimism is high, but not quite as high as my anxiety levels.

Until tomorrow's post...Yawo.