I'm halfway thru my first term- only 5 more weeks to go at coffs harbour. also today is my last weekend shift- woohoooooo!!!! yesterday was exhausting- 8-10.30 nonstop. today i finish at 6- plus its been a cruisy day with little to do.

last week we went up to dorrigo. its a spread out little village in the new england tablelands surrounded by hills with little patches of rainforests. it was an overcast day and the rainforest was shrouded in mist. as we walked thru the well-marked trails in dorrigo national park, we came across perfect spider webs, all sorts of wild berries, and wierd rainforest plants. the thick mist made the atmosphere surreal- it almost felt synthetic. then of course, there were the leeches. in the never never picnic area, there are several bushwalking trails that lead deep into the rainforest. five minutes into one of these, we were covered in leaches and forced to retreat. it took nearly 30 minutes to pry all the leeches off our clothes, shoes and skin. anyway it was fun...

then we went to the dangar falls. because of the good rainfall in the mid north coast, there was a lot of water in the rivers and streams and hence, the waterfall was rather torrential and loud. i've got photos but i dont have the cable with me to download onto the computers. i dont have internet where i stay u c....

anyway, work and lunch beckons. so i'm off.....

over half way thru a 14.5 hour shift...on a sunday....after working 10 hours on saturday. this doctoring business isnt all that its made out to be. er, grays, even scrubs....all completely inaccurate. our work is so inglamourous u wouldnt believe it unless u did it urself. anyway, i'm not complaining- its actually not that bad. just very tiring, and leaves time for little else beyond eating and sleeping- i'm glad i'm able to do these things regularly. my two fellow interns (i'm at coffs harbour hospital for 10 weeks) have it much worse than me- they work 10-12 hour days regularly whereas i rarely work over 9. the weekend shifts everyone has to do at some stage.

its a steep learning curve, especially when ur the only doctor in a small country hospital- like right now actually. because my morning colleague and i were very effecient this afternoon, i'm enjoying a long break. the problem is the cafeteria is closed and i cant leave the hospital to get food. so i'm just pumping myself full of sugary tea to keep me going for a another 3 hours. have to plan better next time. anyway, just got called about a patient. better get back to it.....