UWS

So quick overview of what I worked on the last 2 days. yesterday worked on a description for the tox/disaster group to be used in a focus group. Then went to campbelltown public hospital for a couple hours to see if its different. NG tubes for dehydration if fail po challenge- its part of the guidelines.

Registrars are the same as residents, though their training is different. One- attendings are on call, but not always in the hospital. Two everyone does a similar intern year. Three- basic training is the same as residency. Advanced training is similar to fellowship. But even if you just want to do general peds you would still do a form of advanced training. An example would be peds: intern year, 2 years basic, 3 years advance. total post grad time 5-6 years.

Med schools have 2 different types here- one is similar to the U.S. (undergrad, then med school). The other style is similar how UWS is. They apply to med school from secondary school and enter at the age of 18. They have a total of 5 years of med school. Interestingly, because girls are more mature than boys at 17, they have to predict if they will mature more or not.

Today, wrote a nice description of why hydrocarbons are additive (ASTDR)- at a request from NSW health.

Tommorow onto Port Douglas for some reef, beach, rainforest, and perhaps a hot air balloon!

day in Syndey and start at university

the entrance to Port jackson aka Sydney harbor (north and south heads)


me at Mrs macquarie's chair

So yesterday spent the day in Sydney- I started by going up via Bus (it was raining) to Manly. the surf was strong- did not see any do not swim due to shark signs, but did see a shark net. On the way took some nice pictures of the harbor. Also got some history from the driver- apparently the Aborigines and English didn't like each other- who would've thought. One point on the northern side of the harbor and Benalon (not sure if spelled correct- this is where the opera house sits) are named for aborigines.

Next went to the aquarium- see below for a picture of a platypus. It might look like some people's relatives. In the afternoon my tour of Sydney continued. Mrs Macquarie's chair/point has a great picture opportunity of both the opera house and bridge combined. Its named for the wife of the 5th governor. She apparently like watching the ships. The chair is just some carved rock. I also went to Bondi and Kings Cross- the coca cola sign is protected landmark. Many things need to go back to- the garderns, hyde park, a couple great museums and the zoo.

Today started work- everyone has been great so far and really nice. Met 2 working groups- air pollution and tox/disaster and finished the day by a great restaurant in Glebe (oysters rocked).

Sydney

So day 2 in sydney had some up/downs- one down: it poured in the am- and my umbrella broke- but that was the worst. Today started Sunday at 9am with a tour of the opera house. apparently, clubs in sydney stay open till 6a that plus rain allowed me to have a personal opera house tour. took some great pictures of the house- both inside and out.

Then explored the Rocks and Macquarie street- the oldest and first settled area of Sydney. It rained a bit, but learned some cool facts about those convicts- Bligh (of bounty fame was here as a governor). Macquarie was a governor in the early 1800s that built alot of the first infrastructure- I got a picture of the barracks, but hope to get more pictures of those old building (they are by the botanic garden) at another time.

After that it was time for Bridge climb- expensive, and was I glad it stopped raining. The wind was bad enough- the worst part is from the pylon to the main arch. the walk up the arch is not that bad. After that ate some great food at a fish place at circular quay- barimundi anyone? And topped it all off by watching the youtube orchestra. And for the 2nd time ever, the opera house had projections on the side as the music played.

Blue Mountains pt deux

here are the pictures I promised in the last post. the first one has the 3 sisters via echo point- I oped to see that today, but was unable to wit the storm and mist- there is an interesting legend about the 3 sisters. Years ago the local shaman's 3 daughters were being chased by a yeti like animal. To save them he turned them to stone. The animal then came after him so he turned himself into the fastest bird. But when the animal left, the bird could not find his magic bone/wand. As a result he stayed a bird, and his daughters stayed as stone. The second is from scenic world where you can bush walk part of the rain forest (this part also mined coal in the 1800-1950s). Even with the mist, the trees provided some gorgeous pictures.

Blue Mountains

Day one I spent recovering from jet lag. but did get some pictures of the queen victoria building.

So I attempted to go to the blue mountains- to give everyone stateside an idea its about 60 miles northwest of Sydney. The easiest way to get there is to join a day tour 24 hours in advance. So that is what I did. Only problem with a tour group- no weather guarantee. And guess what- the weather hit bad- it rained almost all day. There was one point in the am, when it seemed to let up and there were some peaks of blue sky, but alas it didn't make a prolonged appearance. So the negative was I went to a temperate rain forest hoping to see some great scenery, but did not get to see it. I did see some nice, mist covered trees. for comparison, there is a link and my pictures.

http://www.explorerworld.info/2011/02/blue-mountains-sydney.html

Also went to Leura, a quaint Blue mountains artsy village and Feathersdale Wildlife preserve (on the way back). That was interesting. The later is a rescue preserve- they take in only australian animals that can no longer survive in the wild.

sydney arrival

Store in terminal 5 of LAX- the delta terminal. was hoping to find a cool welcome to LA sign, but clearly they either don't exist or you have to go to baggage claim- I had 3 hours to kill so I started a blog. Truly I must be bored.