Little squeaky noises in the mornings...

Farmers often shoot these birds but the pink Gallah is a gentle and intelligent Australian wild parrot that is a common sight in Western Australia. They make a racket when flying over but make a more polite, soft sound when they just stop for a drink or a brief visit.

Ebola and Ebola-free nations...

When I lived in Africa, Ebola and Congo Fever were possibly two of our greatest fears…above and beyond both  the civil wars of surrounding countries and the civil war within our own. When a nurse died after caring for a patient, in Cape Town, if my memory serves me right, intense medical discussion brought an Ebola plan to every hospital. Value was granted to that one life in a hell-ridden society that was almost immune to the mind-numbing political crime and "muti-killings". You could almost say that people died like flies. Believe me…Ebola is an insidious but cruel thing. This morning, I read a regional document that included instructions for an Ebola patient's 'visitors'. "Visitors?" I repeated to anyone that would listen, "Visitors…are you kidding me? A quarantined Ebola patient won't be having any visitors!". I still remember discussing how to bring an Ebola patient into ICU in 1987, without exposing anybody, and the possibility of 2 allocated nurses remaining on the premises for the whole containment period of care. Today, on another continent, a manager flippantly said, "Things really have changed today". Easy words from someone that hasn't  even seen a case of Cholera or been exposed to the diseases of Africa. 

As a nurse, I feel that we should look at what the South African (South Africa is a country, if you weren't aware) government is putting in place. In August this year, eleven hospitals were designated to receive  Ebola cases for care. A military medical  team has been trained in special isolation techniques. An aeromedical evacuation team with a transport isolator and ICU equipment is ready. They are not taking any chances and are not assuming that "it is never going to happen". It is happening. Listen to what is coming from a country that has trialled new drugs twenty years before Australia; listen to what is coming from a country that has been a leader in Aids research. The South Africans are not as stupid as they look. They are experts at working with little for a lot less. Nations  could fall into the trap of basing their decisions on their own ethnocentric cultures. Australia's health system is gorgeous. Ebola won't care.

Final moments... 09 October 2014 Western Australia. 'Blood Moon' eclipse.

A steamy cloud edge begins to conceal the moon. The sun is threatening to rise from the other side of the sky. These are the last views of the moon following the night's lunar eclipse, as seen from Leda Nature Reserve, Western Australia. 09 October 2104.

Driving to work with insects on my windscreen

14 th Anniversary of the Day I shrunk my Flatmates Underpants in the Tumbledryer...

Beating the predators...

Minature 'Kangaroo Paw' - an Australian wild flower.

When I first came to Australia, I waited an agonising six months for my registration to come through. Before I could have an interview, I was requested to find a local person as a personal referee to put with my overseas references and C.V. Australian? I didn't know any Australians...they had to be kidding.I didn't think it would really be suitable. "Do they have to be Australian?" , I asked. Unfortunately, the emphatic reply was,"Yes". Well, the only Australian that I knew was my sister's friend, so that was what it was going to have to be. I got the job, but I still sweat when I recount that I got my first job in Australia on the assurance of  'the chick in the fish and chip shop'.