Irukandji in the ER, A bit of Obs, and a Bone-jarring visit to Cape Leveque

It always happens when we get settled for a week or so that the daily experiences to enlighten these pages dry up a bit. My work isn’t mundane but just not overly publishable. The kids and Jen are getting around and seeing the sights – doing the camel trek, getting to the beach, going to the weekend markets. Having missed these experiences being holed up in the ER, I unfortunately cannot comment but they sounded fun (I’m just jealous!). We did end up going out to dinner Saturday soire at Matso’s Brewery – a microbrewery/chic little restaurant in town that makes a host of beers including their coupe de grace – Mango beer. Sadly, it’s a bit over-rated – basically a mango-flavoured shandy – nothing to write home about other than being novel. The dark ale was good though and not just in the microbrewery way – it was fresh and hoppy – quite flavourful and quaffable. Would go back for one in a second. The food was average and pricey but such is the way in some of these resorty places. Jen and I had a combo dish with a type of white salmon, kangaroo, spiced chicken and harrassi spiced prawns – sort of bar-fare kind of standard – would go with the curry next time. All tolled, it was just nice to get out with the family for a change. Not sure how I survived the heavy work load in Narrandera for so long or how I will manage getting back into the swing of things back in Canada. I’ve been spoiled!



I’d had an interesting day in the ER none-the-less as we had 2 unfortunate souls arrive post-irukandji stings at a local beach. The first fellow was out in knee deep water enjoying a cool beer (as you do in Oz) when he felt a slight sting to his elbow and shortly thereafter an uncomfortable cramping to his back and chest. He responded well to our symptomatic treatment but once this wore off the symptoms returned. By the time my shift had ended he was still there waiting for the toxins to finish their toll on his system. His was apparently a mild reaction. Some of the nurses reported previous irukandji victims to be uncontrollably yelling out in pain when stung and requiring massive doses of opiates to settle. Our other sting patient simply had nausea and tingling and came good with fluids and anti-emetics. It added some excitement to my day. Once home and well asleep my phone unexpectedly rang out – the doctor on call needed an assist for a Caesarean Section. Naturally I agreed to help as I haven’t been near the labour ward for months and needed to get reacquainted. It ended up as a bit of a consult as the Doc on call requested my opinion as to whether to give her a trial of vacuum or not and given the clinical situation I felt it was worth a go. In the end he took my advice and with one big push and pull the babe was out and yelping. It was good to know I hadn’t lost my touch in this regard .



Today Jen had organized for us to join a 4WD tour group up to Cape Leveque and some Aboriginal Communities in the near vicinity. We were off and running out the door by 6:30 AM ready to catch our massive Isuzu 4WD bus along with a host of geriatrics – or so it seemed and our tour guide, Wade. Jen and I were very nearly a good 20 years younger than our closest tour group colleagues and no one else had kids. Naturally we found our position at the back of the bus and in true rebel style, had a bit of a chit chat while our tour guide attempted to ramble on with his quota of stories and information. The problem was that the speaker system and bouncy four-wheel track were not conducive to what one might call actual ‘hearing’ and as such we chose to ignore the ‘Charlie Brown’ Teacher’s voice in the background to actually have a discussion we could understand. Unfortunately, being loud and North American got us in trouble and the rather obese, sedentary geri sitting in front of us became unnerved and asked us to quiet down – for what I’m not sure. It almost felt like we were in a bus with a bunch of retired old school teachers – many patronizing us with regards to the kids. At lunch the oldies seemed quizzical at whether or not the kids were in school (it was a Sunday!) for which I had to go through a thorough explanation. We seemed accepted in the end and I think the kids impressed with their behaviour – so we went home proud. The trip was otherwise great and much was learned about this part of the world. Our first stop was in a place called Beagle Bay – where Darwin’s ship actually docked at one point during his pivotal tour around the seas and to the Galapagos where his theory of evolution was derived. Aside from this famous acquaintance, the community is famous for a church built by a missionary sometime in the 1800’s. The bricks had to be built from local supplies such as the calcium carbonate of crushed sea shells and the inside has been decorated with in-laid mother of pearl shells. It was actually quite exquisite to see. From Beagle Bay we headed further up towards the Cape and learned about the less well known pirate named Dampier who frequented the west coast of Australia not only as a buccaneer but also as a naturalist and explorer well before Captain Cook claimed the big island for Britain. Cook actually used Dampier’s charts during his voyage! A stop at a tropical, barramundi and mangrove jack fish-farm at One Arm Point gave the kids some fun as they got to feed some of the big barramundi and sea turtles and gawk at some different species of Nemo (clown fish). The 11 foot(?) tide was on the way out (the second largest tide in the world … to the Bay of Fundy of course) and it actually appeared as though there were rapids the tidal pull was so great! Once in Cape Leveque we settled down for some lunch at the resort  and had a chance for a snorkel and explore in the afternoon. As I was a little knackered from the late night call the night before I had presumed Jen had packed my swim shorts so had a little surprise to find I had no togs to wear in the rolling surf. Jen kindly offered me her short blue shorts – they were better than my form fitting jocks – so I had tried them on and instantly felt like an Aussie Rules footie player with the tight short shorts. Jen was in near hysterics and vowed to get a photo. The visibility was a bit obscured by sand – likely from some off-shore storm or something, so we weren’t able to see much and the sharp coral seemed to make mince-meat of us, slicing Cole a couple times and myself a good 3-4 times on the feet. It almost felt like my skin was like butter when it touched these rocks – with a seemingly innocent scrape peeling off layers of skin. All I could think of was the heightened sense of smell for blood I imagined crocs to have and could envision one hankering in the hazy water making a b-line for me as I helped Cole back to shore. Fortunately, the crocs don’t like fast moving water and tend to hang out in the creeks rather than the shoreline of the Cape. The sandstone rock formations were once again magnificent to behold with wind-shorn tiers, multiple colourations, and impossible frail ledges or hollows bored out by the wind and ocean. We eventually clambered back aboard our bus and began the long journey (240 odd kms) back to Broome. The road in and out has an area that has been paved towards the tip where a host of Aboriginal Communities are located. It runs for maybe 70 to 80 kms – perhaps slightly more, and then becomes a corrugated, seemingly endless 4WD track. It’s one of those roads that when it ends it feels like your whole body has been tenderized by a meat hammer. Like you’ve spent 2 hours being pummeled by a Thai masseuse and her onslaught suddenly ends leaving you in an acute state of calm and serenity. We eventually made it home and without much ado  fed ourselves and called it a night.