There's nothing exciting about Mt. Gambier IV

Let's finish off with my day advanture to Wannon Fall in Victoria. So I checked out the sinkholes around the city one morning, and heard that there's a beautiful waterfall just outside of the city, having the beautiful sunny day ahead and fueled with caffeine, we set out to find the illustrious waterfall. Soon after leaving Mt. G, we crossed the Victorian border, which was rather exciting I thought. I was waiting for the signs pointing to the waterfall but it never appeared, and after about an hour drive, we came to Casterton, home of the Kelpies! There weren't much to see in town, but we stumble into a bakery which I later learned was run by the family of a scrub nurse back in MGH, small world. There was also an art gallery of this local artist, whose work based mainly on settlers theme, has a real talent on drawing horses. Anyway, we were given direction to the waterfall "just 30 minutes out of town, you will see the sign", and way we go.

Then we came to Coleraine, an even smaller town with nobody in it. We finally found a old man who told us the quickest way is not to take the highway, but through these convoluted, tortuous roads in the mountains. I was adventurous and so was my car. With a high sense of doubt and a full tank of petrol, we gambled with this little path. He turned out to be right!

The waterfall itself is only as impressive in the sense that it's a water feature that you don't see everyday in the back of your garden, so in other words not a whole worldly exciting. It is disappointing in terms of the scale, and you cant really get very close to it. Following the same river upstream we found Nigretta Fall, which is a much lusher reserve with a campsite, and you can get right up to the water where the fall is. I'd imagine a rather popular spot for camping in the summer, what with the swimming and fishing in the water, hiking and hunting in the woods, roasting marsh mellows and sacrificial rituals and whatever people do while camping.

To my surprise, I had a very exciting 6 weeks in Mt. Gambier where I had done many 'firsts'. It was as much a learning medical rotation as a holiday away, and I certainly felt the adventurous spirit. I guess life is like flour, plain and dull on it's own, but what you do with it makes all the difference in the end.

There's nothing exciting about Mt. Gambier III

One of the GP-anaesthetic reg, P, has done it all. He is definitely my new hero and idol. Before getting into medicine, P worked as a policeman for years, he was a high-ranked detective in narcotics and stuff around SA, made a couple of busts of drug trafficking and smuggling (Close to Port Mac where the smugglers would land). He's a amateur diver who is quite well-known in the diving circles, who had doubled for films and movies. Most of all, he's a rock star. He has his own band, they perform regularly in local pubs, and they did a couple of gigs while I was there, so of course there was no way I'd look pass it. I went to two of their gigs, old school classic rock music, P on the vocal, great guitarist with ripping solos, and a solid bass. Problem is they have no drummer, and they are all very shy about showmanship. A timid guitarist looks just weird especially when doing solos. Nevertheless, it was right up my alley. I must have embarrassed him with the loud cheering and excited beyond control when they played Sweet Child o Mine, but who goes to a live gig and just sit there?

Anyway, we were in RSL where they were playing. I was surprised to find how friendly the locals were and how easily you can just strike up a conversation with anyone there. Apart from a cute girl who turns out to be the daughter of the guitarist, I randomly met a French guy whose name is Guy. He's a sculptor, with a reservoir of knowledge on cheese, women and all things artistic. Because he does body sculptors, he studies people's body language, and being trained in psychology he studies people in fascinating details and accuracy. Some conversations interest you, some makes you smile and nod while screaming in your head hoping for it to end. This was definitely one of those where you know you've met a like-minded person. I went to visit him in his gallery the following weekend, we sat down with wine and talked about arts and his adventures as a Ballet Dancer working around the world, and how he found a liking in the small town of Penola and stayed. He invited me to stay for dinner, and he was able to rustle up a delicious meal for 4 people just like that, with the little groceries that his girlfriend came home with, it was quite impressive. Don't you hate how some people just 'have it'? It being the flair of excellence in everything that they do.

Snorkeling in freezing water of less than 10 degrees isn't exactly my description of a lazy Sat morning, but I had never done it before, and the Adelaide uni kids I met (these two are actually quite nice) were doing it, so I thought, why not. We drove for about 20 minutes to Port Mac, then further couple of minutes out of town to a local dairy that has a shed at the back of it for wetsuits hire. From there it was another 20 mins drive on the bumpy gravelly road to Ewen Pond. Diving into the freezing water and looking through the goggles, the world underwater is surreal. The water was clear, but tinted by the grey sky that day, and it was greenish blue all the way to the bottom of the pond couple of meters deep. It felt like we landed on a strange planet.

It took a little of climatising, but once you are comfortable you start to enjoy spotting things in the pond. There are three main ponds with interconnected waterways paved with golden aquatic grass, so we were able to navigate from one pond to another. The waterways were very pretty as shown in the pic, you glide through the water just touching the grass, and pass the fish hiding in it. there were huge yabbies dotting here and there, and underwater spring bubbling out of little cones at the bottom of the pond. I think I understand the attraction of snorkeling the Reef, if I get a kick out of this freezing, rather lifeless pond.

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There's nothing exciting about Mt. Gambier II

I had imagined life in Mt. Gambier would be quite boring and brough a library of books with me, but as usual, I didn't read any of it. The combination of ease of commute, plentiful parking, and welcoming interns meant that I had a more active 'social life' than in Adelaide. We weren't spoiled with choices, but the limited selection of cafes and resturants actually simplifies dining out. The cafes in Mt. Gambier were friendly and unpretentious, simple food and great coffee as you would expect and just as desired. I really see no point in restaurants that charge a premium for some fancy-named 'reinvented' dish 'with a modern twist' that actually just means they cannot get the basics right, and parades it under the false banner of creativity.

Plus there were specials every week night at most places, soon we worked out a routine. It did not take long for Wednesday night steak and wine at Sorrentos to become a tradition. The waitresses there were quick to notice the newcomers, and soon we were ordering our 'usual' before even sitting down. There's $10 pizza at the G (Mt. G hotel) on thursday night, as well as $15 shinny at the Southern Aussie; although we thought about it, never ventured into the Southern Aussie, and the locals would understand why. The cafe in the city library has free wifi, so does most cafes in town. It's hard to comprehend why it is so hard to find a nice little cafe in Adelaide with free wifi and good coffee. Oh and the supermarkets open till 10, every night.

Then there was the Happy Hour on Friday night at Sorrentos with the Intern Boys (I am not kidding about the 90s boy-band reference, that's what they call themselves) and girls. With house wine for $2.50 a glass, it sets you comfortably tipsy and merry to start the weekend.

On Saturday morning, Metro cafe is The waterhole in town. It's like the Big Table in Adelaide. Nice selection of affordable breakfast menu and best coffee in town. Perfect way to start a Saturday morning, much of my CV was done on chilly Saturday mornings with a satisfying warm coffee in hand. It did nicely to feed my now well-established coffee addiction, we'd find ourselves there after morning wardrounds and before surgeries start (credit to the theatre staff, there is always at least 30 minutes before they can get ready even when they call you). Unfortunately they don't open on Sundays.

My adventure continues...

There's nothing exciting about Mt. Gambier I

I have put off writing this post for 6 weeks. My right brain is feeling particularly awake today, so I will get this done.

First off, the drive down was long and arduous despite plenty of caffeine and loud rock music. Even taking the 'scenic' route along the Great Ocean Road, the trip qickly became monotonous and boring. When you are driving, you can't really look out the ocean anyway. Interestingly I found the sights much more picturesque once the highway turned inland. You are confronted with the vast steppe of grassland with a sea of green nothingness and no proof of civilisation anywhere, apart from the lonely winding road, worned down and stretched far up the end of the horizon, disappearing beyond the eyes can see.

It was quite hard to stay awake driving by yourself. I had to stop by a couple of towns to refuel myself with greasy meat pies, energy drinks, and much needed rest; including one 20-min snooze at a resting station along the highway. It certainly did not help that I had a splitting alcohol-induced headache from the previous night, half of which had blurred into vague oblivion. I am pretty sure I had embarrassed myself and my friends, but that happens a lot anyway.

Some of the towns along the way were rather nice. Robe was a small sea-side town that I found out later as the holiday-house filled destination for a lot of Adelaideans and Mt. Gambier locals, being half way between the two. The famous gigantic sculpture of the red crustacean at Kingsington was the most exciting thing to see among the small town scenes.

The accommodation was nothing impressive. The stock standard 3-bedroom house with everything that you would need to sustain life, but at a bare minimum. It was no luxury mansion. The dribbling shower drizzles fluctuating hot and cold water was the bane of my stay. But, it did come with a roaring gas heater in the living room (the fan can be rather noisy), and two good housemates. Linens were provided by the hospital, and sure enough, it's the same hospital linens that they use for patients, so I slept in my sleeping bag for the 6 weeks.

The hospital is a portion of the size to its previous incarnation. It was a glorious 400-bed regional hospital built in the 50s, but as the demand unable to live up to the supply, the hospital was running a big loss. As medical technology improved, the hospital required to be upgraded. It'd have made more sense to tear the building down, and rebuild on the same site as it was prime location, but the asbestos in the building meant that it'd cost millions just to tear it down. It was thought to be cheaper to rebuild a new smaller hospital on the other side of town, and so they did, without the foresight of extra room for future expansion, now there's problem with a small hospital unable to meet the demands of the quickly expanding population, and no room for expansion.

The old hospital is left standing by the lake, abandoned, overlooking the town like an old guard still manning its post. One walks pass it as part of the trail around the Lakes. It now looks like something you'd find in a movie set in the post-war Soviet era East Berlin. It's the place to go if you are looking for hard drugs at night, among other transactions that still take place there.

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