River Watch, a Channel News exclusive

Let's go to Steph Compton live with a Channel News exclusive.

Steph?

River watch. The mood is tense. I have been on some serious, serious reports,but nothing like this.

I... I... Marling...Darling is rising now.

I tried to get an interview, but they said, "You can't. It's a live, quickly rising river. It will literally rip your face off."

Hey! You're making me look stupid!

Get out here! River jerk!

Great story. Compelling and rich.

That's gonna do it for all of us at Channel News.

You stay classy, San Diego.

The river really is rising at an incredible rate (in the past 2 weeks it's risen almost 3 meters). What I'm finding particularly strange is the prospect of flooding but not much rain. For those of you who want specifics, this is the government site that keeps track of the depth at Wilcannia: www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDN60238/IDN60238.546010.plt.shtml

It's due to peak early to mid May. I'm coming home in mid May for Baz's birthday and to see Vampire Weekend so I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to get there. The road to Sydney theoretically shouldn't get cut off however this is being touted as a once in a hundred years flood and since the road and causeways in that direction were rebuilt about 30 years ago, we haven't had a big flood so no-one is really sure what will happen. The reason that this one will be so big is that the Paroo River is running. It running is a rare occurrence and mostly due to all the rain we had earlier this year and when the two meet, it should be very good fun!

I've been going swimming most days, the water is really warm but it's quite a work out - swim fast and stay still. The moment you stop swimming, off you go. And I've had to find another swimming spot and running route as a normally dry creek as filled up.

This is normally a dry creek bed, about 50m up from the main body of the Darling

The same spot 72 hours later

And another 72 hours later

Suffice to say that I'm a little excited - I've even got some new gumboots in readiness!!

Navigation by Volvo

This week I was lucky enough to have Ellen, Simon and Mischa come stay for a few days over Easter and we (well, at least I did!) had an awesome time. We went swimming in the river and discovered that if you swam full pelt, you stayed stationary. This meant that watching Misch try to time getting sticks was very very funny. El and I also meandered down river on a tractor intertube, feeling very zen.

They all got used to the bugs and necessity of strategic lights on/off and door opening times. This is the kitchen floor post Si getting slightly trigger happy with the bug spray.

We also went into Broken Hill for a couple of days and saw the sights. Me and the big red chair; El and the memorial to the miners; and the very charming Willyama Cottage that we stayed at overnight (and yes, El and I did sit on the chairs out the front with cups of tea and books and discussed scone recipes amongst other things. Being prematurely old is not necessarily a bad thing, ok?).

The title navigation by volvo was what Simon called our rather dark & stumbling attempts to make it back to the car after a fairly mediocre sunset. Our plan was to head up to Sunset Hill to see the sculptures, watch the sun go do and drink wine & eat cheese but it didn't quite work out like that. Misch was accompanying our expedition but alas dogs are not allowed there. Whilst our efforts to conceal her were valiant (hiding her in the back of the car whilst El and I chatted sweetly with the rangers and then El suffering from an acute loss of vision (which also interestingly made her voice drop a couple of octaves) and thus needing the assistance of a guide dog - see picture below), we got to the top and were discovered by a ranger. Undeterred, we found another place to watch the sun go down from which was a little more of a bush bash to get to. But we go there are drank some wine and ate some cheese and when the time came to return to the volvo, we were able to find it again from a fair distance in the dark due to the enormous distance you can turn the lights on from - thus navigating via a volvo. A certain amount of navigating via the shell memorial happened too :)

I got a lot of love from Mischa whilst she was here too. I'm not sure if she thought I had Wessie hidden away under my tshirt (these guys are best friends from way back) but in the morning when I went over, Misch was over the moon to see me. It was almost like she was convinced that I'd gone missing overnight and had been up worrying about me - she might not have much experience herding sheep but she is very good at herding humans! Anyway, this is Misch giving me some love.

Sadly they've now gone home and I only have Mum's fruit cake to drown my sorrows...... Read that as an invite to come visit!!! Thanks a bizillion for coming to visit dudes!!

Lowering My Standards

Last weekend I went to Broken Hill for the St Pat's Day races. These are billed as the biggest social event of the year in the hill and considering that there is a population of about 22,000 and 8,000 people attended, I'd say it's a well justified claim. Despite the family history, it's the first time I've been to the races and it was a wonderful day - I even managed to win $35!!

Bek and Jason are a couple of Sydney Uni med students who spent 2 weeks in Wilcannia (remember the raft/trampoline thingy? they were on that). These guys are fantastically good fun and I headed to the races with them, some other med students, some of the RFDS doctors, a few of the Broken Hill nurses and we ran into some of the Wilcannia teachers gang too.

I also learnt a few lessons whilst I was there. This photo is of Bek's incredibly impressive shoes early on in the day. Most important lesson that I learnt was that dirt and heels don't mix well together after a few hours - the wounds on my poor feel will bear testament to this.

I like this photo of Jason because it a nutshell kind of way, it encompasses a good few things about the races: lots of sun (so knitting a wool/silk 1920s style cloche was a bad idea); some people dressed rather fancily, some others not; cold beer; and not all that many people really taking a huge amount of interest in the horse races themselves.

Trackside

After my horse won!!!

As to the lowering of my standards, this is a little embarrassing to admit but I feel that most blogs are meant at some point to have embarrassing anecdotes in them so here goes. The party carried on well into the evening and later that night, I found myself at the fine Broken Hill establishment, the Mulga, with some nursing buddies. I was looking around the room and was gobsmacked - there appeared to be quite handsome, eligible men everywhere. I'd never seen anything like it! I mentioned this to my friends and they looked at me like I was some kind of crazy woman who had been taking mind-altering substances all afternoon. This was something that I certainly had not been doing, I hadn't even been drinking that much. Pondering it the next day, I realised with horror that in all likelihood, I was in my right mind when I said that - the only explanation that makes any sense to me is that after having been in Wilcannia for a while, my standards have dropped to such a degree that having more than a 5 word vocabulary, being able to read and write and not getting all nutritional requirements from mosie are all that I'm looking for in a man! Please save me from myself......... this is bad!!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Apologies if my last post was not as coherent as it could have been, I'd just finished my first ever night shift.

The Good: I've joined an indoor soccer team and our first game is on Wed night; I've been out on my first solo ambo calls; a student nurse told be that another nurse (who I think is a fantastic nurse) and myself "really knew our stuff"- I think she was just being nice but it still made me smile, mostly because the stuff I don't know is about a bazillion times greater than the stuff I do know!

The Bad: Night shift. Horrid.

The Ugly: Me after 4 nights.

The only upside of nights is the view as I stumble back home:

The Flinders Ranges

Last week I had a few days off so I decided to head to the Flinders Ranges and do some walking. I'm taking this as evidence that I'm getting used to living out here - whilst I may previously have thought 7 hours a little too far to drive for a couple of days walking, I no longer do. The trip had an auspicious start - I must have been halfway to Broken Hill when the road got closed due to flooding but it was too late to turn around, I wouldn't have been able to make it back. Undeterred, I pushed on and was (un)fortunate enough to meet a lovely South Australian police man and discover that I too seem to have the Compton lead foot - I got a $220 fine (!!!!!) for going 12km (!!!!!!!) over the speed limit but lost no points as it was in SA. Needless to say, I've since overcome my previous aversion to cruise control :)

So I eventually arrived at Wilpena, which is a little town (although that doesn't really describe it well) within the Finders National Park. It has an info centre/general store, camping ground, unity/cabin kind of things and a restaurant & pub. It is lovely. The only people there are those visiting & walking in the area and the only bad thing that I could possibly say about it is that the wallabies are waaaaaaay to tame. They materialize as soon as you've cooked dinner (on the nifty stove I got with my first pay) and then try harder to get some than even Wes does!

On Friday I walked up to Tanderra Saddle which is just below St Mary's Peak, the highest point in the Flinders. The Adnyamathanha people who are the traditional owners of the land ask that you don't climb to the peak as it is central to their creation story (more of which below) however it is rather frustrating to see the peak so close and many European walkers with their poles and proper shoes walking on up whilst your enjoying a summit orange not quite at the summit. But anyway, the views from there were fantastic. The photo on the left is St Mary's Peak, in the middle is the view from the saddle into the pound and on the right is me, doing my best not to get sunburnt.

Wilpena Pound is a strange formation of mountains. Basically, the ridges form a U shape with a very narrow opening at one point only, hence the name pound (think impounded and you'll get the idea). Historically, it has been used for both sheep grazing and wheat growing and so has a really bizarre mix of vegetation and soil when you walk back across it. All in all, it was an awesome day.

The next morning I woke up to quite epic thunder and lightening and though I should probably have a chat to the rangers before I went walking. Good think I did as the peak I was planning to climb that day gets hit by lightening on a very regular basis and they strongly recommended that I didn't. Between that and the willingness of my tent to put up with thunderstorms (it doesn't complain about a little shower too much) I though that maybe I should just cut my losses and hit the road as I'm definitely going to head back when I next have time off to do some more walking. On the way out I did a quick walk up to Arkaroo Rock where there are some amazing cave paintings by the Adnyamathanha people that tell the creation story of Wilpena Pound.

Can you see the two black snakes in the bottom left hand? The story says that there was a gathering of some animals and a couple of humans for a ceremony in the pound. The snakes found out about it and planned to encircle them. The animals looked to see if the stars had risen so they could start and though they saw them but they had mistaken the snakes eyes for the stars (St Mary's Peak) and, to cut the story short, the snakes got them and the bodies of the snakes formed the pound.

There were a few wildflowers out which contrasted beautifully with the orange cliffs on a grey, misty, cold and wet morning (the flowering gums are for you Mum)

And the weird weather seemed to follow me back:

I learnt a few things about South Australians: they're very finicky about their fruit and veg and have tighter customs security than many airports; people driving don't nod and raise a lone finger in greeting like you almost have to here; and they are rather straight down the line about things - I liked these signs a lot:

It was a very good few days.

Firsts

This post, as the title suggests, is all about firsts. On the whole, I like firsts a lot. First time you see something or do something, it's always particularly exciting. Or terrifying. And it's not that what ever it is can never ever be topped or will never ever be as good because that's certainly not the case. I think it's more that there are lots and lots and lots of things I want to do and each time it's another first, well, it kind of feels like I'm actually doing something.

Given the above you might be surprised at some of the firsts that I'm including from the past week but I think they all count!

On Saturday I went to White Cliffs for the first time. It's a small town about 90km north of Wilcannia and all that really happens there is opal mining. 4 of us from the hospital went and it was an awesome day. This is White Cliffs:

It's stinking hot there in the summer, evidenced by the fact that the population doubles in the winter time. To escape the heat, many people in the town live in dugouts. These are great because they are about 18 degrees all year round and any time you want to add an extra room, you can just dig another. This dugout is rented by someone who works at the hospital and it was the first time I've been in a dugout.

You can't really go to White Cliffs without at least having a passing thought about opals, particularly with the number of stories about people stumbling across thousands of dollars worth of opal. My favourite is the one where a young boy was walking home from school behind the machine that is used to grade the roads. It unearthed an opal worth a quarter of a million dollars on the ground in front of him and his family moved out of town immediately! So I went opal fossicking for the first time in this riverbed:

And I found some!!!!! I had never really though that much of opal before this but I think that's because I'd only seen fairly crap stuff that is palmed off onto tourists. The colours (which you can't really see here because they only appear in certain light and then look like they are dancing across the top of the stone) are insane.

The next day I had to go into Broken Hill. As it was a Sunday, I was only expecting woollies and Big W to be open and so I nearly wept for joy when I found a cafe that was open. Below is the first coffee that I've had in weeks. (I also met a large number of Ulysses motorcycle club members in Broken Hill, they are all on their way to WA for a meetup - one of them wanted me to pinch him for luck so I got to pinch a bikie for the first time!)

Whilst it's common knowledge that the winter olympics have just been on, the existence of the Knitting Olympics is a more well kept secret. The Knitting Olympics was first envisioned by the stupendous Yarn Harlot and these are the rules:

Eligibility: Any knitter who, embracing the "Citius, Alitius Fortius" ideal, would like to challenge themselves while embracing the Olympic spirit, and is just whacked enough to play along with me.

Concept: You must cast on a project during the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, Friday, February 12, 2010 and finish before the Olympic flame goes out Sunday, February 28. That's 17 days.

Rules:
1. The project must be a challenge for you to complete in 17 days.
2. There are no rules about what a challenge would be. Like the real Olympics, there are many areas to compete in. If you are a new knitter, then a garter stitch baby sweater might do...If you are experienced, use your own conscience.
3. While this is intended to be somewhat difficult (like the Olympics) it is not intended to ruin your life. Don't set yourself up for failure. (Olympic athletes may cry, but they do not whine pitifully, sob and threaten members of their family with pointed sticks because they haven't slept in five days. ) This is intended to (like the Olympics) require some measure of sacrifice, and be difficult, but it should be possible to attain.
4. No casting on before the flame is lit. (The opening ceremonies run from 6-8 pst. If you can't watch, then I'd pick a time in there.)
5. Finish before the flame goes out.
6. You may swatch before the games. (I consider this "training.")

This year I decided to make the Ivy League Vest which I've been eyeing off for a number of years.

I decided on some more autumn-like colours:

And when the body of the knitting was done, it looked like this:

I'm well aware that it looks like something has gone drastically wrong with the top part. However that was all part of the pattern as for the first time in my life, I had to steek, a word that will strike fear in the heart of any knitter who is a steeking virgin. The idea is that you don't leave any holes for the neck or the arms as it's much easier to knit colour work like this in the round. Instead, you incorporate the decreases into your knitting and then take to it with a pair of scissors. This is just before the first steek and I'm pretty sure that the look on my face was one of pure terror.

Post-steek (and in desperate need of Elizabeth Zimmerman's prescribed remedy of a dark room and cool washcloth)

The olympics finished on Sunday (Monday morning our time) and the steeks were cut at about 8pm on Sun night. To cut a long story short, I didn't get to bed till 4am (and was then starting work at 7) but I'd fair isled and steeked for the first time and was done before the flame went out! Hurrah!!! This is the vest in most of its glory - only most because it hasn't yet been blocked in this picture (that's happening as I type) and post blocking, that curling on the neck and bottom will disappear.

And now for the last first, I promise! This was not such a fun as a completely terrifying first that scared the bejebers out of me. It was the first time that I went out to a car accident. The driver was actually someone from work, driving back from White Cliffs and the car had ended up on the embankment on the other side of the road, upside down and facing the wrong direction. The driver was flown out but ok and released the next day and I didn't actually have to do all that much at the site - the nurse educator was at Wilcannia that day and decided that it'd be good for me to see what happens (which it was) but it was a first that I was very very very glad to get out of the way. Next time I'll have a much better idea of what to expect and what I need to do

But to finish on a happier note, how cool is this photo? This was taken on the way back from Broken Hill and it looked like I was about to enter some strange rain like version of the parting of the red sea.

PS - Sorry I haven't answered questions from the last one but this is stupidly long and has taken forever to write so I promise next weeks one will be shorter and include answers!

PPS - For you heathens who have decided I'm just a little confused about the word blog (and you know who you are, I've been told your names), click here and the world will open up for you: www.xkcd.com/148/

Wilcannia

So I really meant to write/post this a few days ago but internet here doesn't really like to co-operate very often and it's taken me approx 4 days to upload photos. Also, knowing what to write about the town is hard. Partly because I'm pretty new here and partly because it's virtually impossible to know what the truth is which makes writing a fair representation of the town difficult (particularly if I want people to come visit me :) )

I'll start with kind of factual things then. Wilcannia is approx 1000km from Sydney - drive west and keep on driving and you'll eventually get here. It's on the Barrier Highway, 200km before Broken Hill. It's also on the Darling River and actually exists because it is on the river. Pre trains and trucks, everything was shipped by paddle steamer and Wilcannia was an important port, also known as the Queen of the Darling. Important enough that there was a Mark Foys here and the second x-rays done in the country were performed here (first in Sydney). It had lots of beautiful buildings, such as this one which was the post office.

Once decent train lines and roads were in place, the importance of Wilcannia fell and continues to this day to. This is the other side of the road.

In terms of statistics, according to wiki there are 759 people here. However it's closer to 400 of which I would guess about 75% identify as Aboriginal Australian. Health statistics are pretty terrible - average life expectancy here is 38 for men and 44 for women. By virtue of being a small town employment opportunities are pretty limited and a lot of people left in the 70's to give their kids greener pastures.

This is where it moves from facts to things I've seen/heard. The problem with hearing things in Wilcannia is that there is at least 4 sides to every story. Most people seem to be distantly related or have a cousin that is going out with someones niece or the like. This means that you have to be unbelievably careful about what you say no matter where you are. It also means that you can hear the same story a number of times and only 3/4 of the way into it, realise that you've heard it before because it'll have things omitted/included/different emphasis depending on who you hear it from. So take everything from here with a grain of salt and I'm retaining the right to change my mind and opinion about it all, ok?

Alcohol and marijuana are really pretty prevalent problems across the whole community. Harder drugs are not looked upon well and tend to come from out of towners and there is a bit of petrol sniffing that goes on. Violence is also a big problem, although this seems to have gotten a bit better in the past few years. Police reckon that there is approx 1 attempted murder/grievous bodily harm every couple of months. In a town of 400 people, that's huge. Plenty of rumours exist about high levels of domestic violence and sexual assault and it seems that everyone knows someone who has been murdered. I went out to the cemetery the other day and aside from a number of unmarked graves, the most concerning thing was the huge number of young people buried there - it almost looks like a whole generation of people who were in their late teens or twenties are there.

This is getting a bit long but I don't want to wind up before I've said a bit about other things in town, like that nearly everyone who I've met so far has been really very lovely and welcoming, and very happy that I'm here (although a few have said that I won't last 6 months - I'm taking this as a challenge :)). The river is still what the town revolves around and features heavily in conversation (including mine!). The hospital was designed by the same guy that designed the nice bits of Sydney Uni - that's it below.

That front bit houses Marri Ma who are a huge primary health organisation that work out here. It goes into a T shape at the back with ED and a ward, although the number of in-patients is fairly minimal. Work is really really interesting but challenging - there are no doctors based in Wilcannia so anyone that comes in, the nurses see and then do a phone consult with the doctor if the need be. As a result, my assessment skills are getting better quick smart! There is a huge amount to learn in terms of assessment and skills that I need to be able to do so I'm studying a lot but am enjoying. My favourite thing about the hospital is the tea room which has a verandah on it and this is the view from it:

The hospital cook often makes us scones for morning tea :)

This is where I live and I can be early to a shift even if I leave 5 min before the shift starts.

Coming home at night, I can look up and see the milky way above me. It's dead quite when I fall asleep and I've never seen sunsets like the ones here anywhere else. What else to say about town? Hmmmmm. Ok, there is trivia on a thurs and bingo on a wed up at the golf club which also has a Chinese bistro. This is the only place to eat out here and the food is pretty good. It has a few vegetarian dishes although I'm not as good as a vegetarian as I used to be, mostly because with every single cup of tea I make, I'm always fishing bugs out and I'm sure that I must occasionally miss some.

There is one grocery store in town but it is extortionately expensive so I try not to get anything there. A fruit and veg man comes through every two weeks and he seems to have a pretty good range of things.

All in all, I'm really liking it here and I think it'll be a good 6 months. The only thing that is testing my patience slightly is the number of biting insects - I never realised what it truly meant to be itchy. However I've treated enough infected sandfly bites already to know that is a bad bad bad idea. I am considering taking out shares in a calamine lotion company though.....

Promise the next one will be shorter! and Petrina, I promise to do something more exciting to make the paper next time!