A few final notes and then...the end.

The last few days were really a blur - in fact the whole 2 weeks were a bit like that for me!! One of the things that really made me realize what a small world this is was meeting an Austria ex pat who had come to work in Weipa in the 70s. He was in the nursing home section of the hospital with dementia and not a soul in the world. I was asked to speak to him about a "not for resuscitation order and it turned out that when he spoke in German he was actually quite articulate and scored 25/30 on a mini mental quiz (used to assess someone's cognitive function). We arranged his will and he was clear on not wanting anything to prolong his life and had quite a chat at the same time.

{Small world again - Johanna also admitted a grey nomad who lived in the same street in Victoria Point that Michael's parents had before their recent move into a retirement home.}

The last morning on call was quite busy. A lot of kerfuffle about an indigenous lady who was about 20 weeks pregnant (not sure as has not had an ultrasound) who had paranoid schizophrenia and lived with a violent husband. When I admitted her she was hearing voices but really just wanted some respite from a dreadful home situation. All took ages.

The afternoon was just great. One of the nurses showed Michael a great beach/lagoon where we could actually paddle (croc free) and we spent some time playing ball with our friends and the kids. We then drove to Red Beach where we saw our first crocodile !! They look very log like till they move.... Had our last supper at the Thai /pizza place and saw a beautiful green tree frog. Kids all exhausted ... I am a bit that way myself. Spent the last day packing, clearing up and handing in that on call phone. Jumped every time someone's mobile rang for a few days afterwards...

Rather nice to get onto the little plane that connects Weipa to the world. Kids behaved well and had a smooth flight. Flight from Cairns left pretty much right away but still got home about 9pm - travel weary and pleased to see East Brisbane again. Michael dreamt about a cup of coffee and I dreamt about a night's uninterrupted sleep ... actually make that a week of uninterrupted sleep.

Overall, it has been an adventure and I am keen to do some more remote rural locum work. I felt challenged and was definitely out of my comfort zone. Australia is really an amazing place.