The heat wave continues...

02/02/2011

Today was a far better day. It started with an orientation of the hospital. This didn't take long seeing as there are only 8 beds... quaint some may say:) I was also temporarily relocated due to the aircon situation... thank god! My tears as I arrived at work must have said it all... The hospital lent me a car to do my relocating in, another huge plus. This gave me a chance to get to coles and buy the things I couldn't usually lug back, ie: freezer items and 30L of water. Apparently you can't drink the water here, something else I would have loved to have known prior to moving here! Yesterday even...

That night I headed out to dinner with a friend I've known since high school. He works on the Marandoo mine site and invited me up to the mess. It was lovely to get out and meet people, although slightly awkward as I was wearing the same top as the wait staff. I arrived in my very flash country road SLEEVELESS top... and was refused entry. Apparently singlets are unhygienic... what, with my locks of plaited underarm hair? So a waitress lent me her work top which caused quite the stir. Meanwhile, I sat next to two men, in their full mining get-up, stinky from a hard day at work. I would honestly love to know who was more hygienic?

Tom Price, I do not love you!

Tom Price... Top Town in WA?

01/02/2011

6am: This morning mum took me to the airport to start my life as a new graduate physiotherapist in Tom Price, one of Western Australia's most remote towns, looking like I'd been punched in the face due to excessive crying...

7am: I pay a whopping $120 in excess baggage (probably my fault, I last minute packed giving myself no time to ship things up).

8:30am: I arrive at Paraburdoo airport, and straight away see maybe 5 out of the top ten world's largest bugs... some type of record? I think so! The airport is archaic to say the least. I walk inside to find the 'baggage claim' only to be told to 'wait outside for the trolley love'. I lug my excess baggage towards the Tom Price bus to discover I am not booked on it... 30 more dollars down the drain... and an insight into the West Australian Health Department.

10:00am: I arrive in Tom Price, top town in the pilbra? My senior physio Beth picks me up to take me on a tour of the town. This takes all of 2 minutes, and I leave my sunglasses on to hide the now common 'face punched' look I'm rocking. She tells me it is a telstra town only, I do not have a home phone or internet ($140 on an internet USB later) and I am not provided with a hospital car. All things I probably should have looked into before packing up my blissful life in Mosman Park.

10:02 am: Beth drops me at my new apartment.
FOUR THINGS I NOTICE STRAIGHT AWAY...
1.) My 70's style shit-hole is insanely hot!! Is the air-con old and rusty? Probably....
2.) It is very sparsely furnished... will I cope with only one chair? Have to...
3.) There is a large sign on the fridge... 'common household snakes, who to call'. Great, snakes are now of a household variety.
4.) I potentially have provided home to half of Tom Price's spider population.

1am: The air-con is not old and rusty, it just doesn't work. I sit in the cold shower wondering whether I've made the worst decision of my life...