Gallivanting on Territory Jetplanes yet again

The last few weeks have been interrupted yet again by exams and family commitments down in Sydney. I have however managed to get in a few work trips.

The NCCTRC runs courses year round but it seems to be super busy at the moment so most of them are running back to back. My most recent trip was out at Groote Eylandt.

The Red A marks the spot!

Groote Eylandt is the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria and lies about 50km out from the coastline, and about 650km from Darwin. The island has only recently been open to the public and people head out there now to go deep sea fishing, but BHP Biliton has operated a large manganese mine there since the 60s. The island is really quite small (about 50m x 50km) and in our two days there we really only saw the mining areas – the mines themselves and the mining community. There are a whole series of demountables where the guys sleep with a mess, a little shopping arcade and a coffee shop. There are 3 places to eat – only the golf club has recently lost its chef so a little less than that at the moment - and you can only drink in the club if you have filled out a permit and had it approved.

Mr Sim-Man saying HELP in the car!!

The Remote Pre-Hospital Trauma and Disaster Course (RPHTDC) is an extension of the RATE course I have already done a few times with the team however this one runs for two days and centres more on crash scene management and patient extrication. It also incorporates some of the mass casualty courses we run so its pretty jam-packed and involves us taking nearly 200kg of equipment with us (That is a LOT of excess baggage charges which I am very thankful I don’t have to pay!)

Letting the Firemen loose with the power tools!

Tex and Megs supervising the Firemen

 We take one of the firemen from the Centre out with us and most of the second day is out in the field practising extricating patients from vehicles and crash sites. At the end of it the firemen get into it and bring out all their power tools to cut up the cars as fast as possible. I find it quite exciting as its something I never really get to do. Plus there’s the added bonus of looking at firemen all day!

We’ve just repeated the course this week at Darwin – the firemen are still the highlight!

Our next trip is out to Tennant Creek, via Alice Springs, next week. I am quite excited about heading out there particularly as the other doctor on this trip is my friend Fiona. Updates to follow.

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