Well last day in Aus- flying out tomorrow arriving home Monday after an over night in Auckland. I'm going to have to wear all the heavy items of clothing- i.e. my uniform! to travel in to keep the weight down a bit.
I'm on an obs shift back in Prospect again with Emily and Christian. It's 10.25 am and since 7.00 we have been dispatched to 4 jobs and not transported any of them- could be another one of those days, and here's me hoping for some good ECG strips for my logbook.
Not much else to say for now, sun's shining outside, yesterday temp was 29, trouble with being on shift - you're shut in a darkened stuffy room or a darkened ambulance never mind stops me catching too much sun.
See ya soon
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Some reccommendations for anyone thinking of spending the night in a Toyota Yaris
1) Don't
2) DON'T
3) If you really really have no other option- really really DON'T
After a night at Swan reach station- much of it spent trying to shut up the noisy items around the place I headed out to look for the cave. A stop off at the local Post Office- 'to tell someone what I was doing' -much to their surprise. I'd been given directions to find the cave- out to the golf course, go through the double gates opposite and head left and climb down the cliffs- there's a track you'll see it. Uh Huh. Well the double gates were easy enough but no sign of any tracks to the left - just a nasty rusty fence to get through. I headed downstream along the cliff top but it was getting steeper so I started looking for somewhere to get down. I got a good looking spot and started heading down, it turned into a bit of a bum slide but was OK but furtehr down whe I was scrambling thorugh dead leaves I did start thinking about snakes and lizards and things that like to live in the undergrowth. I reckoned it'd be ok tho cos they'd have to bite right through my shoes right? Then I got to a 15ft overhang at the bottom which was impassable so had to climb back up- now I'm having to bury my unprotected HANDS into those leaves to get a grip- hmm lizards, SNAKES, spiders! At the top the limestone turned into about two to three feet of oyster shells which was quite impressive- I'd have liked a picture but it was a bit difficult to hang on and balance so I didn't and just had a rest to wheeze for a bit- who forgot her inhaler then?
Once at the top I headed upstream and after a couple of attempts found an easy spot to get down. next problem - which way to go. There were vehicle tracks following the bottom of the cliff in both ways. So I headed downstream until I can to where there were some pumps taking green smelly water out of the scummy pond which was once a river before it dried up- urgh and I had tea last night with water from the tap. The tracks ran out here and I had a look around but couldn't see a way on. So i turned around and looked the other way. There was a horrible squirmy crawl partly blocked by a couple of trees brought in on flood water from the days when there was water in the Murray but no one else had been in there (?ever?) so I came out again. By now I was getting pretty p-d off with the directions I had been given- no one had mentioned the pump station or whether the cave was up or down stream. the cliffs just disappeared upstream so back down I went. This time while following the end of the vehicle track to where it stopped (boggy horrible stuff- wet feet ) I saw a grassy patch off to the left, in that I saw the footpath immediately- bingo!
The actual cave entrance was a big walk in thing with bats and swallows and of course graffitti. Not the most interesting cave I've ever been in- but it was the hottest, driest, easiest, QUIETEST cave ever. I've never been in a cave before where the only sounds of dripping water was my sweat! Anyway after following a passage which got smaller and smaller to the point where I couldn't be bothered any more I cam to some bottles which some jerk had left there to mark their furthest point- if I hadn't have been on my own I would have gone on but couldn't be bothered as it would have meant crawling out backwards and it didn't look that fascinating.
I went some way down another passage which had a nicely pocketed chamber before coming out. How these caves formed is a bit of a mystery- there's NO water, nor any signs of water erosion, no features nothing.
After signing back in at the Post Office I set off for the Adelaide Hills via Angaston. I had decided to sleep in the car to save money (tight wad) so bought a cheap tarpaulin to block up the windows. the next problem was finding some where to stop. The map showed a whole load of camping places in the Crawford Forest- but at each one the gate was locked and there were signs up everywhere saying no camping! I was getting slightly miffed when I finally found an open gate (Chalk Road for future reference1) but it said a permit was needed (no hints as to how to get one!) and the gate would be locked at night. A fellow traveller in a camper van said he had asked at a local attraction and they reckoned he would get away without a permit. A few more vehicles arrived later so the gate couldn't have been locked ( I have a phobia about getting locked into Forests for reasons to do with a job interview many years ago!). So I blanked out the car windows with the tarp, several T shirts and a towel and found 101 uses for a St John road coat. Then it was just a question of finding something warm to wrap up in- thermals (NEVER wear thermals in an Assie cave- I never thought I would be at risk of getting heat stroke underground until today!), lots of fleeces and 101 uses for a St John jacket. then it got cold, and then it got colder so out came the silver blanket from the first aid kit- aren't those things CRAP! You can't get them to stay on. Oh and if you are ever seriously considering sleeping in a Toyota Yaris take my advise and reconsider but if you have to then don't bother putting the seats down cos that leaves a six inch gap between the boot and the seat and the cover thingy sits proud so there's a lump and even a serious shorty like me couldn't lie down full length on it anyway. So don't waste your time trying, I ended up just on the back seats which wouldn't have been too bad if it hadn't been so bloody cold!
So after not very much sleep I got up to find that you DO get frosts in Australia- I have the photos to prove it.
Next stage was to head off for a nice hot cup of tea and after that find the Morialta waterfalls which had been reccommended- and rightly so. you drive through what looks like wilderness bush country and then suddenly you're in Adelaide. The waterfalls are just off the edge of the city. A friendly local told me not to bother with the five dollar fee for the top carpark but to park for free and walk up - good advice. Being a good Kiwi tramper I took my pack and a fleece and water etc etc and got lots of funny looks from the locals (average age 60) who were carrying nothing. But I did the 10km walk and they were all doing the shorter walks- so there!
The scenery is spectacular and worth the climb as not only do you get the waterfalls but also a look back out across the city. I went up to the third waterfall and had the track to myself but back towards the second and first waterfalls it got busier and busier- it's a popular spot with the locals.
Today (Friday) I'm with Clinton of the SOT for another look at what they get up to- except he's had to go to a meeting so I'm at the Emergency and Major Store - with PC access- whoo hoo!
So far today I've been to SOT and the Police Academy where the major event staff were doing some training- they have quite a bit of kit at their disposal- so much so that the Manual handling trainer was there to supervise them, he got me to take some pictures of the things he's not happy with so I need to remember to send them to him when I get back.
The Sprint Team leader (i.e. Rapid Response) is based here and he's just in the process of trying to track Clinton down to pick me up cos he has to leave so I'd better finish up.
2) DON'T
3) If you really really have no other option- really really DON'T
After a night at Swan reach station- much of it spent trying to shut up the noisy items around the place I headed out to look for the cave. A stop off at the local Post Office- 'to tell someone what I was doing' -much to their surprise. I'd been given directions to find the cave- out to the golf course, go through the double gates opposite and head left and climb down the cliffs- there's a track you'll see it. Uh Huh. Well the double gates were easy enough but no sign of any tracks to the left - just a nasty rusty fence to get through. I headed downstream along the cliff top but it was getting steeper so I started looking for somewhere to get down. I got a good looking spot and started heading down, it turned into a bit of a bum slide but was OK but furtehr down whe I was scrambling thorugh dead leaves I did start thinking about snakes and lizards and things that like to live in the undergrowth. I reckoned it'd be ok tho cos they'd have to bite right through my shoes right? Then I got to a 15ft overhang at the bottom which was impassable so had to climb back up- now I'm having to bury my unprotected HANDS into those leaves to get a grip- hmm lizards, SNAKES, spiders! At the top the limestone turned into about two to three feet of oyster shells which was quite impressive- I'd have liked a picture but it was a bit difficult to hang on and balance so I didn't and just had a rest to wheeze for a bit- who forgot her inhaler then?
Once at the top I headed upstream and after a couple of attempts found an easy spot to get down. next problem - which way to go. There were vehicle tracks following the bottom of the cliff in both ways. So I headed downstream until I can to where there were some pumps taking green smelly water out of the scummy pond which was once a river before it dried up- urgh and I had tea last night with water from the tap. The tracks ran out here and I had a look around but couldn't see a way on. So i turned around and looked the other way. There was a horrible squirmy crawl partly blocked by a couple of trees brought in on flood water from the days when there was water in the Murray but no one else had been in there (?ever?) so I came out again. By now I was getting pretty p-d off with the directions I had been given- no one had mentioned the pump station or whether the cave was up or down stream. the cliffs just disappeared upstream so back down I went. This time while following the end of the vehicle track to where it stopped (boggy horrible stuff- wet feet ) I saw a grassy patch off to the left, in that I saw the footpath immediately- bingo!
The actual cave entrance was a big walk in thing with bats and swallows and of course graffitti. Not the most interesting cave I've ever been in- but it was the hottest, driest, easiest, QUIETEST cave ever. I've never been in a cave before where the only sounds of dripping water was my sweat! Anyway after following a passage which got smaller and smaller to the point where I couldn't be bothered any more I cam to some bottles which some jerk had left there to mark their furthest point- if I hadn't have been on my own I would have gone on but couldn't be bothered as it would have meant crawling out backwards and it didn't look that fascinating.
I went some way down another passage which had a nicely pocketed chamber before coming out. How these caves formed is a bit of a mystery- there's NO water, nor any signs of water erosion, no features nothing.
After signing back in at the Post Office I set off for the Adelaide Hills via Angaston. I had decided to sleep in the car to save money (tight wad) so bought a cheap tarpaulin to block up the windows. the next problem was finding some where to stop. The map showed a whole load of camping places in the Crawford Forest- but at each one the gate was locked and there were signs up everywhere saying no camping! I was getting slightly miffed when I finally found an open gate (Chalk Road for future reference1) but it said a permit was needed (no hints as to how to get one!) and the gate would be locked at night. A fellow traveller in a camper van said he had asked at a local attraction and they reckoned he would get away without a permit. A few more vehicles arrived later so the gate couldn't have been locked ( I have a phobia about getting locked into Forests for reasons to do with a job interview many years ago!). So I blanked out the car windows with the tarp, several T shirts and a towel and found 101 uses for a St John road coat. Then it was just a question of finding something warm to wrap up in- thermals (NEVER wear thermals in an Assie cave- I never thought I would be at risk of getting heat stroke underground until today!), lots of fleeces and 101 uses for a St John jacket. then it got cold, and then it got colder so out came the silver blanket from the first aid kit- aren't those things CRAP! You can't get them to stay on. Oh and if you are ever seriously considering sleeping in a Toyota Yaris take my advise and reconsider but if you have to then don't bother putting the seats down cos that leaves a six inch gap between the boot and the seat and the cover thingy sits proud so there's a lump and even a serious shorty like me couldn't lie down full length on it anyway. So don't waste your time trying, I ended up just on the back seats which wouldn't have been too bad if it hadn't been so bloody cold!
So after not very much sleep I got up to find that you DO get frosts in Australia- I have the photos to prove it.
Next stage was to head off for a nice hot cup of tea and after that find the Morialta waterfalls which had been reccommended- and rightly so. you drive through what looks like wilderness bush country and then suddenly you're in Adelaide. The waterfalls are just off the edge of the city. A friendly local told me not to bother with the five dollar fee for the top carpark but to park for free and walk up - good advice. Being a good Kiwi tramper I took my pack and a fleece and water etc etc and got lots of funny looks from the locals (average age 60) who were carrying nothing. But I did the 10km walk and they were all doing the shorter walks- so there!
The scenery is spectacular and worth the climb as not only do you get the waterfalls but also a look back out across the city. I went up to the third waterfall and had the track to myself but back towards the second and first waterfalls it got busier and busier- it's a popular spot with the locals.
Today (Friday) I'm with Clinton of the SOT for another look at what they get up to- except he's had to go to a meeting so I'm at the Emergency and Major Store - with PC access- whoo hoo!
So far today I've been to SOT and the Police Academy where the major event staff were doing some training- they have quite a bit of kit at their disposal- so much so that the Manual handling trainer was there to supervise them, he got me to take some pictures of the things he's not happy with so I need to remember to send them to him when I get back.
The Sprint Team leader (i.e. Rapid Response) is based here and he's just in the process of trying to track Clinton down to pick me up cos he has to leave so I'd better finish up.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
all over
Well the exchange has finished. After a last meal at the Woolshed ("don't take the Kiwis in there mate, we'll never find them again") we all parted company on Sunday morning.
I got a bit caught out by it being Sunday but managed to hire a car at the airport (not quite sure how I'm going to pay the credit card when I get back- no reasonable job offers refused.)
So now I can't even remember what I've been up to since- senile dementia setting in fast!
Oh yeh- that's right- we finished Sunday night with the meal so Monday I had a look at the Royal Adelaide show, had a quick trip to the EOC to catch up with some more info I wanted and headed east with the intention of going out to Swan Reach. But then the guy from the State Emergency Service who I've been trying to catch up with all week rung and fixed up a site meeting for Tues 12.30.
After a stay at a rather underwhelming "chalet" I headed back into Adelaide and hung around until 11.45 when after texting my contact he rang back to say some idiot has got lost out on the west coast so he's busy and the visit is off- insert swear word of your choice here as this was a place I really wanted to get to.
Hey ho, off to Swan Reach where I met the team out here on their training night and have manged to look suitably lost and lonely so am sleeping on the put me up bed for the night- out by 9 when the room is hired out. So finishing off to get the bed made up.
Not sure if I will be able to get internet again before I leave but keep watching this space.
TTFN
I got a bit caught out by it being Sunday but managed to hire a car at the airport (not quite sure how I'm going to pay the credit card when I get back- no reasonable job offers refused.)
So now I can't even remember what I've been up to since- senile dementia setting in fast!
Oh yeh- that's right- we finished Sunday night with the meal so Monday I had a look at the Royal Adelaide show, had a quick trip to the EOC to catch up with some more info I wanted and headed east with the intention of going out to Swan Reach. But then the guy from the State Emergency Service who I've been trying to catch up with all week rung and fixed up a site meeting for Tues 12.30.
After a stay at a rather underwhelming "chalet" I headed back into Adelaide and hung around until 11.45 when after texting my contact he rang back to say some idiot has got lost out on the west coast so he's busy and the visit is off- insert swear word of your choice here as this was a place I really wanted to get to.
Hey ho, off to Swan Reach where I met the team out here on their training night and have manged to look suitably lost and lonely so am sleeping on the put me up bed for the night- out by 9 when the room is hired out. So finishing off to get the bed made up.
Not sure if I will be able to get internet again before I leave but keep watching this space.
TTFN
Saturday, September 5, 2009
a day off- now what do I do?
Friday
Trish picked me from Dave's about midday and we headed out to Morgan for me to get a few day's R and R. A walk around the township and a natter on station and bed.
Saturday
Nice long lie in this morning followed by a paddle down the river for a wee way in a hired canoe and a look around the museum.
Morgan has a pop of about 400- in the winter and about 2500 in the summer! It's on the river so gets a lot of holiday traffic. there are houseboats all along the river and shacks on the banks. Historically it was a thriving town as it used to take a lot of river traffic and had 6 trains a day to meet tham and take the farm prouce to Adelaide. Now it doesn't even have a railway line any more!
I've come over the station for the night just in case we get a job- unlikely as that may be. Morgan usually does about 88 jobs a year- most in the summer- but have already done five this week- including two on one day so they have been busy. So sod's law states that tonight will not be my lucky night!
Tomorrow Trish will be picking me up again and taking me back to Adelaide for a last chance to catch up with my fellow exchangees and SAAS staff for dinner then the exchange is over and we go our separate ways.
I've got another week over here and have a road shift in Adelaide organised, and will head out to SOT again and am hoping to get to the SES HQ which I didn't get to see at the conference. I had a phone call yesterday morning inviting me out there to see some USAR training but couldn't take it up due to coming out to Morgan so fingers crossed for next week. Oh and I'm having some time out for myself as well.
TTFN
Trish picked me from Dave's about midday and we headed out to Morgan for me to get a few day's R and R. A walk around the township and a natter on station and bed.
Saturday
Nice long lie in this morning followed by a paddle down the river for a wee way in a hired canoe and a look around the museum.
Morgan has a pop of about 400- in the winter and about 2500 in the summer! It's on the river so gets a lot of holiday traffic. there are houseboats all along the river and shacks on the banks. Historically it was a thriving town as it used to take a lot of river traffic and had 6 trains a day to meet tham and take the farm prouce to Adelaide. Now it doesn't even have a railway line any more!
I've come over the station for the night just in case we get a job- unlikely as that may be. Morgan usually does about 88 jobs a year- most in the summer- but have already done five this week- including two on one day so they have been busy. So sod's law states that tonight will not be my lucky night!
Tomorrow Trish will be picking me up again and taking me back to Adelaide for a last chance to catch up with my fellow exchangees and SAAS staff for dinner then the exchange is over and we go our separate ways.
I've got another week over here and have a road shift in Adelaide organised, and will head out to SOT again and am hoping to get to the SES HQ which I didn't get to see at the conference. I had a phone call yesterday morning inviting me out there to see some USAR training but couldn't take it up due to coming out to Morgan so fingers crossed for next week. Oh and I'm having some time out for myself as well.
TTFN
Friday, September 4, 2009
dimensionally challenged
Day- thingy
Yesterday was a biggy. Dave took me on a tour of the Murray Mallee. Headed south through Murray Bridge and down to Lake Albert and a look at the not so mighty River Murray. It used to be mighty- until NSW and Vicotria took all the water out for irrigation wrecking the economy of South Australia and messing up the ecology for good measure.
One feature of the area is the numerous ferries across the river- tho there is a bridge at Murray Bridge- surprise surprise. The ferries are run by the State and are free.
We drove back up to Pinaroo and went to their training session which followed the same format as the others- good pot luck meal and PAV! with debrief of conference and my increasingly slick talk on NZ.
During the day Dave spent a lot of time on the phone dealing with the Morgan team. They had gone out in the night to a chest pain that turned nasty. The crew did really well and the hospital reckons the patient will be walking out in a few days time. Dave rang them up to congratulate them, and the Paid crew that backed them up, and rang up various other people to make sure that everyone was aware of it and to start the ball rolling to get their efforts rewarded. it was interesting to be sitting in on all this.
After the end of the Pinaroo training we headed back to Dave's- getting in at gone midnight- 698 km today!
Day after thingy (thursday)
Back south again with the intention of ending up opposite Kangaroo island but it was not to be. A late start (I diddn't even wake up until 10) and as we approached Strath Albyn there was a call for pain relief from the Goolwa crew who were with a patient who had fallen off a ladder. Some confusion as to whether we were needed or whether the Doctor was going meant we spent some time driving in circles on the road but eventually it got sorted out.
After dealing to the patient Dave hopped in the truck and the spare volly drove his car up behind the ambulance.
Patient dealt to we kept going but didnt have time to go down to Kangaroo Island as Dave had to get up to Flinders Uni to train and assess his students there. These guys are either FARTs (Flinders Ambulance Response Team ) or more correctly VRRTs (Volunteer Regional Response Team). Degree students on the paramedic course who are being trained up to go on the ambulance as volunteers to cover crews who can't fill their roster.
Not quite such a long day- actually got back not too tired to write this! 2000km in 3 days!
Dave's been a great host and has made sure I have got to see the area and meet the teams, tomorrow I'm off to Morgan while Dave has a well deserved weekend off.
Yesterday was a biggy. Dave took me on a tour of the Murray Mallee. Headed south through Murray Bridge and down to Lake Albert and a look at the not so mighty River Murray. It used to be mighty- until NSW and Vicotria took all the water out for irrigation wrecking the economy of South Australia and messing up the ecology for good measure.
One feature of the area is the numerous ferries across the river- tho there is a bridge at Murray Bridge- surprise surprise. The ferries are run by the State and are free.
We drove back up to Pinaroo and went to their training session which followed the same format as the others- good pot luck meal and PAV! with debrief of conference and my increasingly slick talk on NZ.
During the day Dave spent a lot of time on the phone dealing with the Morgan team. They had gone out in the night to a chest pain that turned nasty. The crew did really well and the hospital reckons the patient will be walking out in a few days time. Dave rang them up to congratulate them, and the Paid crew that backed them up, and rang up various other people to make sure that everyone was aware of it and to start the ball rolling to get their efforts rewarded. it was interesting to be sitting in on all this.
After the end of the Pinaroo training we headed back to Dave's- getting in at gone midnight- 698 km today!
Day after thingy (thursday)
Back south again with the intention of ending up opposite Kangaroo island but it was not to be. A late start (I diddn't even wake up until 10) and as we approached Strath Albyn there was a call for pain relief from the Goolwa crew who were with a patient who had fallen off a ladder. Some confusion as to whether we were needed or whether the Doctor was going meant we spent some time driving in circles on the road but eventually it got sorted out.
After dealing to the patient Dave hopped in the truck and the spare volly drove his car up behind the ambulance.
Patient dealt to we kept going but didnt have time to go down to Kangaroo Island as Dave had to get up to Flinders Uni to train and assess his students there. These guys are either FARTs (Flinders Ambulance Response Team ) or more correctly VRRTs (Volunteer Regional Response Team). Degree students on the paramedic course who are being trained up to go on the ambulance as volunteers to cover crews who can't fill their roster.
Not quite such a long day- actually got back not too tired to write this! 2000km in 3 days!
Dave's been a great host and has made sure I have got to see the area and meet the teams, tomorrow I'm off to Morgan while Dave has a well deserved weekend off.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
be afraid- very afraid
Day- um forgotten!
So with all the running around I am totally confused as to what day of the week I am up to . Yesterday (tuesday ) I spent on Berri station. Pretty quiet, we did 3 jobs and they were just off to a 4th when I had to leave to get down to Swan Reach. Berri mostly ends up doing transfers, there are three small hospitals in fairly close towns but only the one at Berri can do Xrays, so I leave the workload to your imagination! We did one job out to the airstrip to meet the RFDS and hand over a patient. It's set up really well as they all have the SAME stretcher (Chch take note! also Life flight and all the other NZ flight providers) so we just wheeled the patient out and they loaded her on and we took their stretcher. The stretchers they use are a self loading Ferno which also adjusts itself to the correct height- anyone who's deciding on our NEXT stretcher configuration take note!
While waiting for a job Garry showed me how to cannulate and I spent a bit of time practising with their training kit. You are all advised to wear long sleeves and gloves when in my presence in the future!
(a picture for Caity of her mum- happy now?)The evening training session was at Mannum and they were all surprised at us having two stretchers and at our manual handling techniques. We would appear to be about ten years behind them in terms of how we look after our backs! But we do win out on the dispatch system- they are looking to get AVL in maybe the next 18months and MDTs are a LONG way off on the horizon.
A long and late drive back to Tanunda with Dave not getting back until 11 ish.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
If it's Tuesday I must be in .... Berri
Day 7
Today was a tour of the Riverlands area and a look around the Barossa where Dave lives.
Dave doesn't live in his patch which is the river valley of the Murray. The Barossa is really GREEN at the moment but will dry out by November while the Riverlands gets less rainfall and is dry scrub and bush. Huge expanses of sky and outback- very impressive.
We headed through several places (it's starting to get a bit blurred by now) and visited a volunteer out at Swan Reach who runs a native wildlife rescue centre from his home- he was feeding a joey when we arrived and we had a quick tour and a look at some wombats with sarcoptic mange and some kangaroos awaiting release.
Then we headed in Swan Reach (don't blink) to Dave's office- this is 67.5 km from his home! off to Waikerie to get salad for tonight then out to Morgan to the volunteer training night ( roast chicken and salad all round). We did a debiref of the conference for the benfit of those that didn't go and Dave got me to give them a run down on St John in NZ. They were all really interested and their were lots of questions. After a few (!) technical hitches I was able to show them pictures of the old 780 truck and my video of the "earthquake".
Trish took over from Dave as host for the night to get me up to Berri.
Right now I'm on Berri station ("take a good book") waiting for a call out.
Today was a tour of the Riverlands area and a look around the Barossa where Dave lives.
Dave doesn't live in his patch which is the river valley of the Murray. The Barossa is really GREEN at the moment but will dry out by November while the Riverlands gets less rainfall and is dry scrub and bush. Huge expanses of sky and outback- very impressive.
We headed through several places (it's starting to get a bit blurred by now) and visited a volunteer out at Swan Reach who runs a native wildlife rescue centre from his home- he was feeding a joey when we arrived and we had a quick tour and a look at some wombats with sarcoptic mange and some kangaroos awaiting release.
Then we headed in Swan Reach (don't blink) to Dave's office- this is 67.5 km from his home! off to Waikerie to get salad for tonight then out to Morgan to the volunteer training night ( roast chicken and salad all round). We did a debiref of the conference for the benfit of those that didn't go and Dave got me to give them a run down on St John in NZ. They were all really interested and their were lots of questions. After a few (!) technical hitches I was able to show them pictures of the old 780 truck and my video of the "earthquake".
Trish took over from Dave as host for the night to get me up to Berri.
Right now I'm on Berri station ("take a good book") waiting for a call out.
Conference call
Day 6 (day 2 of conference)
First up apologies for the spelling mistakes- things have been really hectic and getting online has been a bit erratic so stuff gets typed in at high speed in short breaks and the err0r$ creep in.
Anyway day 2 consisted of the final two vists, first off to the MFS (Metro Fire Station) where we were given a power point showing fire service capabilities, taken through the decontamination units that are used - the "pod" is very cool, and shown the command centre- tho I would question having it in the third floor if an earthquake happens. Apparently Adelaide sits on a fault line so it is possible.
After that it was out to Fulham to look at the set up there- which we had seen during the week so nothing to really add about that.
Back at the Conference Hall after lunch the key speaker (name not to hand) was from the State Government and she was a very energetic speaker (luckily by this stage!) who gave us a run down on the recovery processes post disaster. The conference was wrapped up by the Minister for Volunteers.
I then hooked up with Dave Schilling, my host for the week and the Regional Training Leader for the Riverlands area and after saying goodbye to the other exchangees we headed off to Dave's home in Tanunda. A quick stop to do a first response on the way (an"unconcious" teenager) broke up the trip.
First up apologies for the spelling mistakes- things have been really hectic and getting online has been a bit erratic so stuff gets typed in at high speed in short breaks and the err0r$ creep in.
Anyway day 2 consisted of the final two vists, first off to the MFS (Metro Fire Station) where we were given a power point showing fire service capabilities, taken through the decontamination units that are used - the "pod" is very cool, and shown the command centre- tho I would question having it in the third floor if an earthquake happens. Apparently Adelaide sits on a fault line so it is possible.
After that it was out to Fulham to look at the set up there- which we had seen during the week so nothing to really add about that.
Back at the Conference Hall after lunch the key speaker (name not to hand) was from the State Government and she was a very energetic speaker (luckily by this stage!) who gave us a run down on the recovery processes post disaster. The conference was wrapped up by the Minister for Volunteers.
I then hooked up with Dave Schilling, my host for the week and the Regional Training Leader for the Riverlands area and after saying goodbye to the other exchangees we headed off to Dave's home in Tanunda. A quick stop to do a first response on the way (an"unconcious" teenager) broke up the trip.
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