my gastrocnemius(es) hurt!

Yay, the weekend! It's amazing not being on call. That's all I have to say about that. So Josh had a hike (called tramping here) that he picked out up on Taranaki. Saturday was absolutely beautiful, so we decided to hike up. First, since we could see the mt from Hawera, we went up the water tower. All 209 steps! Yay.

Here's the view from the top--pretty!


This was one of the signs up in the Tower--it's a bit hard to read, but on the right you can see this kid (he was 17 at the time) doing a handstand on the top rail-thingy. EEKS! The story came out during the renovation of the Tower in 2004.

And now we're on the way to Dawson Falls visitors center, where we'll get on the Fantham's Peak trail and walk up stairs and up hill for 4 straight hours (minus lunch time and the millions of breaks I had to take cause I can't walk up that many stairs).

Here's a picture of the hut we stayed in that night during the winter--it's bolted to the ground with cables that were about an inch thick. It gets just a bit windy up there.

Josh in the goblin forest! Named for all the gnarled trees and mosses hanging all over them. It doesn't really translate to pictures, but cool nonetheless.


I love the self timer. However, neither Josh nor I can figure out how we set up the camera on this angle....

See those clouds behind us? On the right? We're higher than them!!

Josh's hair is getting long. I want to put it in pigtails.

Gorgeous sunset!!!
Syme Hut, NOT covered with ice.

That's Taranaki (apparently saying Mt Taranaki is redundant, as 'tara' means mountain peak) up close and personal!

And what is this????? This is what we woke up to on Sunday. You should see the video on Josh's facebook--it takes too long to get it on here!
Now, we had a gorgeous Saturday, not even windy up at the peak! Went to bed in the cozy little hut with a few new friends, and woke up to crazy howling gale force winds and visibility not great. We stayed up in the hut till about noon, hoping that maybe it would get better...not so much! The way down took about half as long, was wet and cloudy! But at least the visibility got much better after we got about halfway down.

medicine

Ah, yes, medicine. The reason we're able to stay in NZ for a whole six months! It's a very interesting process, really, seeing and working in a new health system. Makes me feel like I'm a med student all over again! So here are the basics, from what I have figured out so far (don't hold me to it!!): NZ has both a public (paid for by general taxation) and private system. If you go through the public system, most things are covered (blood tests, imaging, etc), but if it's not urgent, you may be waiting for a while (weeks to months to even years). If you do purchase private health insurance, or just want to pay for it outright, you can get a specialist consult or test much quicker. Medications are also subsidized, but only certain ones--mainly these are the older, generic meds. For example, if someone comes in with depression, my options are basically the tricyclic antidepressants and prozac. If I think someone would do better on celexa, they apparently need to try and fail two of the other meds first. It's kind of like the insurance companies deciding what they'll cover, but more extensive.
Another interesting aspect is called ACC--it's the Accident Compensation Corporation which is separate from the public health system, but will help cover the cost of care from basically any type of injury that resulted from an accident--whether it be a motor vehicle accident, or you tripped and sprained your ankle, or it was an injury at work. It also covers some personal injury stuff, like medical mistake or error, sexual assault or abuse, and some work-related conditions. And you cannot sue anyone for compensation.
I'm working at the Ruanui Health Center, and has been staffed mainly by locums (traveling physicians) for the past at least three years. So that means most MDs are only there for 6-12 months, which means there is very little continuity, sadly. It's focused on Maori health, as well as being an access for the low socioecomonic folks as well, as it's cheaper than other private clinics--like $10NZD vs $50NZD for a private clinic. They also have a ton of community services provided by RNs that both see people in clinic and go out on home visits or other types of community events.
So a normal clinic day for me is also a bit different--the nurses have other roles here, so in my little 15 minute time slots, I get to go out in the lobby, get my patient, do vitals, get the history, physical, get a treatment plan or other investigations, and then chart it all by typing it into the electronic medical records. And I'm not a very fast typer. Typist?
Interestingly enough, since suing people is not done much at all, the medical records aren't like the states, where if it isn't documented, it wasn't done. Here, for example, the following counts as a full note: "Ear infection. Rx amox." Which also means that it's much harder to get an idea about a patient's medical history by just looking at the chart.
So that, thus far, is my understanding about the health system. I'm still working on my comprehension!

mountain!

Josh and I have been in New Zealand for just over a week (it seems like longer, but I know it's going to go super fast!) and we hadn't yet seen the iconic Mt Taranaki from Hawera because of the cloud cover. Sunday morning I looked out the living room window and here's what I saw:

Mountain! From our living room! That is so cool.

We stopped at the gypsy fair that came to Hawera--they even had ads up to join them--"Are you tired of the rat race? This is more than a job--it's a lifestyle!" All you need is a vehicle to live in and a skill that will add to the community. I was tempted. :) Could I sell cookies, maybe?

Then we had to go for a drive so we could look at the mountain. It was super cool. Turns out you can see it from just about everywhere--including the dam! This is the spot that Josh went dam dropping last week--he got directions from the info center in Hawera, so he brought me there on Sunday. Turns out I'm not very graceful!




These kids had been out on the dam every day last week--they were smart and wore wetsuits. While the water did take some getting used to, it was definitely warmer than Lake Superior!

I scraped my elbow! I know, I know...poor meg. :)

kiwi land

We left the hot days of Fiji and got into Auckland on 13 Jan. I had an 'interview' with the Medical Council of NZ, which I though was going to consist of sitting in front of a board. Turns out I just went to this lady's house and she went through my paperwork. It took about 20 minutes. Yay! Once that was done, we wandered about Auckland for a while. All the shops were closed up by about 5:30 or so. Turns out that's the norm. In fact, we later saw an advertisement for a 'late night' shopping day back before Christmas--the shops stayed open till 8!

We walked through a little park from our hotel into the downtown area of Auckland--the park was full of magnolia trees (which I think these are!), with flowers as big as my head. (Ok, fine, more like my hand, but still, large!)

We made it to Hawera, the town we will be living in for the next six months on Friday, 14 January. The clinic manager met us at the airport in New Plymouth (about an hour's drive from Hawera) and brought us back to Hawera, showing us some sights along the way. We also stopped at the clinic to meet some of the folks who were working. Then he brought us to our apartment and we started getting settled in!

That weekend we took the scenic drive from Hawera to New Plymouth--it's called Surf Highway for all the surf breaks along the way. We stopped at pretty much every one we could find--there are some beautiful beaches! I was also a big fan of all the cows on fun hills. We're in dairy land here!
View of Mt. Taranaki from a winery that we stopped at, and bought a yummy pinot gris from. Mmmmm. We saw the mountain in all its glory when we first came, but since then it's had clouds at the peak every time we see it!!

Josh and his ribs out for dinner in New Plymouth.

This the the beach closest to us in Hawera--about 2-3 miles from our apartment. It has gorgeous black sand. I've never seen a black sand beach, so this was super cool. Fun waves, too!
Wider view of the beach!
Josh got to go dam dropping (and surfing) with a couple of kids this week (yes, kids--they were all around 17!). We bought a cheap boogie board so we can go together sometime.

The Hawera watertower, the famous landmark of Hawera. We've yet to climb up it--you actually have to go to the info place and pick up the keys to climb up.

We drove up to New Plymouth again on Friday to check out the 'award winning' coastal walkway--very much like the lakewalk in Duluth, very pretty!

You can see the Sugarloaf Islands in the distance. Apparently there's a colony of penguins and seals out there that we need to go see. Penguins!!!

Along the walkway they were having a display of stone sculptures--so cool to see. This one was my favorite. You could actually purchase them via an auction this weekend....can you imagine the price of shipping???

Around Christmas time every year New Plymouth has a Festival of Lights--it's a spectacular light display through Pukekura Park. Josh and I did get a bit lost trying to find our car after looking around the park. Ooops...


It was great fun.

more fiji!

We've made it to New Zealand! But first some more Fiji, as internet there was a bit dodgy. So here's more of Taveuni--we were there for about a week, and so on Sunday we went to church at the Catholic Mission church in Wairiki. The guidebook said that there was fabulous singing, and we were not disappointed. The congregation sings like a choir. I'm trying to get a video uploaded of the singing (sorry, Mum, I did record during church, but I tried to be stealthy!). We'll see if it works.

Here's the view from the church steps--unbelievable.
After church we headed south with our taxi driver/guide. He took us around for the whole day, through lots and lots of horrible roads. Again, only a portion of the roads were tarred. The picture above is creatively named the 'blowhole.' It's on the South Cape of Taveuni, which is beautiful and full of volcanic rock cliffs and rough seas. The blowhole is an actual hole in the rock that sends up the shoots of mist-ified water, and when the sun's out it makes pretty rainbows. Except the sun wasn't out when we were there.
Another picture of the coast of the south cape--very different than northern Taveuni!
Then we stopped at Vuna reef (which is to the left of this lovely beach), on the southeastern side of the island. It's a big ole reef, with tons of gorgeous color and fish. Josh and I weren't exactly sure where to go, and were told just swim for about 10 minutes to the left! We wandered our way there, and weren't sure we were in the right place. All of a sudden the sun came out from behind a cloud and all of the life underwater positively sparkled! Then we had a great picnic on this little beach.

This is a waterslide. No joke. That's me, sitting on the left side waiting my turn. The Waitavala waterslide is a very popular cascading series of small waterfalls that people like to use as natural water slides. The water has made the rocks quite smooth. Apparently even Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkin did their thing at these falls in The Blue Lagoon. There were a TON of people there! A gal that I talked to said that the week before the slides were wicked fast, as there was a bunch more water from rainfall.
WWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
says Joshie.
For our last night in Taveuni, Josh and I had kava with Spout (the night watchman at Matei Point) and some of his friends. Kava is basically the national drink of Fiji--it's from the root of the kava plant, which gives it a very earthy, muddy, root like taste. Yum. I could only handle a few. Josh did much better than I. Did I mention that it's a mild euphoric? And it makes your lips numb!
Sigh. A beautiful sunset on our last night.

Ripe mangos!

Josh receiving the gorgeous garlands that the girls made for us, that's Lo in the background putting it on him.
So Josh and I were walking to the airport from our accommodation in Taveuni (which consists of walking the lovely gardened driveway and across the street to the airport, and is seriously 5 minutes from the airport) when out of the plants comes this little dude. Isn't he the cutest thing ever? I, of course, whip out my camera amidst my baggage and ask him if I could take a picture. He just grinned some more.

sadness.

John with his mum, Meg's Auntie Jeannie

We just got news yesterday that Meg's cousin Johnny died unexpectedly on Friday. He was an 18 year old sweetheart with a heart of gold. Please remember him and all of his family in your thoughts and prayers.
the cousins at Thanksgiving