I’ve just reached the end of my first week of “work” here in
New Zealand and thought I might restart some blogging to keep any of you that
are interested up to date whilst I’m on the other side of the world. I know all
of you guys are real busy with your proper gown-up jobs, but if you had a few
moments to update me on your lives’ too, I would love to read about it.
So, I’ve been away from home for about 10 days now I think,
I seem to have lost a day somewhere along the way what with time zones and all
that.
I had a perfectly alright journey out here, although did
spend an unexpected night in Dubai which was not nearly as interesting as it
sounds. Dubai struck me as an odd and very hot place; I was pleased to leave it
behind me.
I arrived in Christchurch safely and was met at the airport
by a family friend who kindly had me to stay for the night. I had heard Christchurch
was still in the process of rebuilding after the major earthquake in 2011, but
had only expected to see a bit of building work here and there. Instead, it
seemed like every other building was either boarded up, being knocked down or
only half built. The centre, which was one of the worst affected areas had only three 10+ storey buildings still standing, all of which were boarded up and
awaiting demolition. In the suburbs there were whole roads, which had no houses
left on them, there were roads closed all over the place and multiple bridges
being rebuilt. In the centre, to make up for the fact that the main shopping
centre was destroyed, they had a mall set up made from shipping containers,
which had been converted, into shops. It was a really interesting to see and
shows just how devastating the earthquake was and still is.
I was driven down to Timaru with the same friend and found
my way to the accommodation without I problem. I am sharing a flat with first
and second year house surgeon (F1/F2 equivalents) who have both been really
nice and welcoming, We’ve had some fun evenings so far watching New Zealand’s
version of The Bachelor, its actually surprisingly good!
On my first weekend, one of my flatmates drove me up to
Tekapo, a small town a few hours drive away. There’s a beautiful lake that is
surrounded by the Southern Alps on one side and Mackenzie Hills on the other (picture I took below).
It is apparently one of the least light polluted areas in the world and there
is a big observatory there. I’m planning on going back one night and looking at
the stars, which are supposed to be stunning.
Working in the emergency department has been an interesting
experience. It is a small department, staffed by only one consultant most of
the time. Despite that, it is the biggest hospital for about 3 hours in any
direction and so you end up with some serious cases coming in. This week
alone we’ve had several patients we’ve treated who have then had to be
helicoptered on to the bigger centres as they’ve been so sick.
This weekend I plan on exploring the local area on foot a
bit. My flat is 30 seconds walk from the beach and I’m told you occasionally
see penguins and seals along it as well as dolphins out in the bay so I’ll keep
an eye out for them. Besides that, there is a big rugby derby match on TV
tomorrow, the local side Christchurch Crusaders are playing their big rivals
the Dunedin Highlanders in rugby’s equivalent to the Premiership, so I’ll give
that a watch, either at home or see if I can find someone heading to the pub
for it.
I am missing you all terribly and hope you get a chance for
a wee blog sometime soon. I still maintain that each and every one of you
should come out here for June and we can go see the country together, it is all
so beautiful, you’d love it.
