Dead sheep smell.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Some might even go as far to say they remind me of my dear brother. And as his lazy arse never bothers to read my blog i can be as rude as i like. Anyway, moving on from sibling rivalry (him being skiing while i'm post mortem-ing bloated sheep) i have made it to Mt Gambier for the second time this year. And it's been great. Apart from the sheep.
The placement in Warrnambool was disappointing to say the least. Quieter than a nunnery - not what you really want from your learning experience. And, honestly, for a 'student-friendly' practice they really weren't very friendly. Not unfriendly but i really had to work to get any conversation and normally i don't have that problem! Maybe they just didn't like me. Who knows. On the plus side when they did get chatty i think i learnt a fair bit and more importantly got more of the hands on experience: more pregnancy testing practice, tackled some lame cows and did a bit of cow wrangling on a temperamental Jersey with milk fever. Surprisingly doing it yourself is a bit more tricky than watching a practiced professional :-)
Warrnambool is a lovely town though - definately worth a visit. Great beach, nice climate, good vibe. Susie and Lana (two of my fellow students from Melbourne) were also in town on placement at the other clinic so we caught up a bit to sample the some of night life in the area... That said for the two weeks we were there we didn't exactly paint the town red. We're tight students now, godammit. So: The Warrnambool hotel is good if you like couches and 40 -50 year old men, but Guinness is always good after a hard day on the beach; Port Fairy is very quiet in the evenings but we had a drink at the oldest pub in Victoria anyway - reminds me of pubs in the UK right down to the dingy toilets... We drew the line at checking out Warrnambools premier nightclub 'The Gallery' but i've heard it's good...
I'm on my own here in Mt Gambier so, as yet, no big nights to check out the local scene - not that i do that much of that anyway growing prematurely old as i am - but the weathers been good and the clinic has been a lot of fun so far. Did 2 cat spays today, dealt with the aformentioned sheep, been synchronising non-cycling cows, more lame ones, seen some horse and even a seal pup. So i 've been keeping pretty busy. Louies coming up next week so we're off to the Wineries and, hopefully, Piccanie and Ewens Ponds - SA's premier cave dives [Picture courtesy of Matt Willis, www. underwater.com.au, Jan 2005].
Looking forward to it!
