Qwezo in Australia

August, 2007 -Brisbane, Australia - Last week after a long day on Stradbroke Island, Bobbi, Amy and I were starving for dinner. We were missing home right about that time and came upon this restaurant on our way home called 'Taste of Texas', kid you not. We dreamed about the queso you get at places like Taco Cabana and practically raced each other to the front door. We were greeted by waitresses in cowboy hats, boots, jean skirts and all. We immediately ordered queso, and what was brought out was the aussie version of queso - which was NOT what we were expecting. The waitress referred to it as "qwezo" and we about died. We proceeded to ask the waitress what was in the suspicious qwezo and she proceeded to tell us that it was a "traditional mexican dish with cheeses and spices". We didn't tell her we were from Texas, and we make queso better than that with our eyes closed, but we kept our mouths shut...

Needless to say, we didn't try Mexican food again until we were back in the US. :)

You Tube-ing

When Brooke was here visiting the fam before Christmas, we did a little You Tube -ing, with our favorites from this past year. This one's ABSOLUTELY hilarious and is about a minute...watch....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzS-OdWVpHo

Bless his little heart.

Christmas 2007 at the ranch

Putting up the Christmas trees
Falling off the Slackline (kinda like tightrope walking)
Amy falling off while slacklining
Adam slacklining

Kayak race on the creek Adam's Birthday on 12/23
My homemade ribbon Christmas ornaments
Papa and I in our new Crocs on Christmas
The Beloved Fireplace

Back in America!!!!

On the way home from Aussie we had a 6 day stopover in Tahiti and stayed on one of the islands called Moorea. It was a beautiful island!! We rested, layed out, snorkeled, and took it easy after the craziness of leaving Australia. The island was full of native Tahitians, most of who have NEVER left their island. They live in little huts on the turquoise ocean, most don't have running water...but it seems like they are content with life. Hibiscus plants, fruit trees, pineapple fields in every direction. It was a mountainous island - everything was green! We swam with sting rays and sharks (highlight)!!!
Then we flew onto LAX, then San Antonio last night. It felt so good to be on American soil. And there was definitely some Christmas cheer in the air...I didn't feel it at all in Australia or Tahiti. Got some good sleep last night and went through my HUGE pile of mail today. Guess who has jury duty bright and early tomorrow morning! The exciting part of going through my mail....I got a $5 gift certificate to Starbucks and an Aveda birthday gift.

Nursing in Aussie

me in my lovely uniform at work

This post if for my friends who are interested in Australian nursing some day! Highly recommended!


A day in the life:
Get to work, meet in the break room for a short "handover" (report) from the Charge Nurse from the shift before. The nurses pick their patients - so you speak up if you want to take care of a certain patient that day (i loved that!)
Then, you get "handover" from the nurse who took care of your pt the shift prior at the bedside
Every morning there was "rounds" with the doctors, manager, pharmacist, nutritionist, social worker in the break room (when they get around to talking about your pt, you go in the break room and listen and give them any input)
Break #1 - 30 min
Break #2 - 30 min lunch
Break #3 - 20 min

On nightshift, we would get a 30 min lunch then a one hour "sleep". Can't complain!


Unique to Australia:
- All meds are double checked - even NS
- Dr's draw blood (unless it's from a line -a nurse can do that)
- Dr's start IV's
- Nurses can change vent setting if they feel necessary and tell the Dr later
- Nurses manage the ventilator (set up, clean up, trouble-shooting, charting, running gases, etc)
- Nurses clean the bedside and equipment once a pt is discharged, and set-up for a new patient.
- All meds are "free-for-all" in a cabinet, and VERY FEW are locked up and checked regularly
- They have Tylenol IV (called Panadol or Paracetamol in Australia)
- There is no such thing as Benadryl
- There are no nursing aids, but there were always "resource nurses" with no patients to help you out. So, there was a charge nurse and usually 2-3 resource nurses with no patients!! Unheard of!
- All vented kids were 1:1 - there had to be a nurse at the bedside at all times (hence the need for resource nurses)
- If you discharge a kid home, there is NO paperwork to give them - is so super easy.
- Nurses don't wear scrubs. They wear navy blue pants, the button down shirt (in the pic above), and black shoes. Not my favorite.
- The doctors are called Registrars (aka residents) and there are Consultants (aka attending)

We lived acroos the street from the hospital, so it was a short walk to work which was awesome!!!

Different lingo for food:
Ice block -popsicle
Cordial - juice
Jelly - Jello (I got so confused)

Last Days in Oz

My last day of working in Australia is tomorrow! It's going to be bittersweet because I am so super excited to go home, but I'm really going to miss it here. The work, the people I work with, my apartment, living across the street from the hospital (greatness), the beaches, the warm weather, ...
Now that I'm behind on blogging about New Zealand, Melbourne, and the Whitsundays...I might as well just talk about something else.
So, Bobbi and I have our last day of work Friday, then frantically pack our bags on Saturday, as well as take stuff to give-away, and cancel our ph/elect/water/all those things that you put off to do til the last minute. Then, we sadly leave on Sunday morning to go to TAHITI for a few days before heading to the states on the 15th! This will be our 13th flight here in Australia - yes, we've travelled like maniacs in the last six months. But I have loved just about every second of it. I'm going to look back on living in Australia and I'm sure I'll be remembering it as one of the best times in my life. I remember in May flying here and thinking to myself, "I have so many things to be thankful for - and God is so GOOD!". I was in shock that the whole Australia thing really was happening. Now those same thoughts run through my head - I am SO blessed to have been able to live in Australia, experience life in a different country, and see some of the most AMAZING things. But more importantly, God makes a way for us to live out our dreams and passions...and that's something He's really creative at!!!! I'm so excited for what's next for me in life, although I have no idea what that is!
I'll post pics from my last day tomorrow. It's "Party Day" at the hospital and all the units have a theme and everyone dresses us. The ICU's theme is Anamalia- so we're dressing up as animals...and i'm a lady bug (the Aussie's call them LadyBeetle's - i don't want to be called a Beetle thank you very much!)

A few of my favorite Aussie saying:
Picture = "picky"
Breakfast = "Brekky"
School holiday for the seniors = "Schoolies"
Sunglasses = "sunnies"
Television = "telly"

'En Zed'

NZ -- We Americans say 'en zee', but oh no - the Aussies and Kiwis say 'en zed'. throws me off every time.
I seriously need to write about my time in this AMAZING place...coming soon!!!! I have so much updating to do it's getting ridiculous. I wish I were good at pulling all-nighters...

Tasmanian adventures!

Tasmanian devils, wineries, and snow...That sums up my most recent trip to Tasmania - an island south of the Australian mainland - a 3 hr plane ride from Brisbane. This place was amazing! (i say that about every place i've visited in Australia) Ok, so this place was doubly amazing. Heather and Kelly flew in from the US (bringing with them some of my fave shampoo and a little liquour from the Sydney duty-free shop!) They were fortunate enough to go to the Whitsundays for a few days on the Great Barrier Reef (while I worked at the hospital here.) That's a whole other story of it's own. A pretty hilarious one at that. Then we celebrated my 27th birthday at this great Turkish restaurant and literally had a feast. At the end, we forced Turkish delights down our throats we were so full. The next morning we began our journey to Tasmania, we landed in Hobart, and as fast as the lady almost put us in jail for having fruits with us from the mainland, we rented our car and set out to first stop - The famous Cadbury Factory. You haven't had chocolate until you've had Cadbury. This stuff is 'heaven on earth' we say. Our cute tour guide (who thought he was hilarious), took us through the factory, and we saw chocolate like we've never seen it before. We saw all the steps- making, coating, wrapping, packages, and eating!! :) Our last stop was the gift shop and you can only guess what happened there! We drove to Strahan on the west coast, dodging wallabies (small kangaroos) left and right. We slammed on the brakes too many times to count and as the sweet innocent wallabies saw their lives flash before them. We didn't get the memo to not drive at dusk, but now we know. We also saw an echidna (porcupine-looking cute australian animal) on the drive as well as a Tasmanian devil crossing the road. :)
Once in Strahan, we took a cruise down the Gordon River - passing lighthouses, rainforest, fish farms, and yes, Sarah Island (where convicts used to live!). After the cruise, we drive to Cradle Mountain where it started snowing on our drive up the moutain. We checked into our Cosy Cabin and headed for Cradle Mountain Lodge. We sat inside the pub with a huge fireplace, wine/ hot chocolate, and snow flurries outside. Unforgettable! We sat around for "ages" (using the Aussie lingo). The next morning we prepared for the hike around Dove Lake. Heather bought a rainjacket (great investment), and Bobbi and i bought ski socks at the giftshop. That's what the weather was like in anutshell - cold and rainy. We arrived at Dove Lake - and decided not to hike around the lake for the sake of not getting frostbit. The weatherwas crazy. SO instead we hike up a trail for about 45 min and ended upat the visitor's center. We looked around there for a while, did 2 moreshort hikes, then called it a day a Cradle Mtn. We packed up and headed down the mountain to begin our drive to Launceston which is the cutest Tassie town. Once we arrived in Launceston, we ate at this great restuarant called Star Bar and retired to our hotel to get in the hot tub! We drove to some wineries the next day and made it to the east coast of Tasmania - which is the best! We saw fairy penguins in the wild that night coming in from the ocean...and were there for a couple hours! It was penguin mating season at the time. We spent the next day at Freycinet National Park and endured a 6 hour hike...we loved it and saw Wineglass Bay (gorgeous!) We took in all the scenery we could that day. Next day: drove to Port Douglas the and drove back to Hobart where we caught our flight back to Brisbane. Such a fun trip with Heather, Kelly, and Bobbi - and so many memories! :)

SYDNEY!

There's nothing like having a day off work, nothing much on the agenda for the day, and being able to FINALLY sit down and journal about my life! I've been here for over 4 months now, and time has flown! We have 2 more months here and want to make the most of it and see everything we possibly can with no regrets!

One of the most recent excursions was to Syndey, which is a 'must' for anyone visiting Australia (in my opinion!). We bought our plane tickets last minute, and had 3 nights, 4 days there. It is a gorgeous city, surrounded by water, boats, and picturesque views from any direction! The first day we got there, we visited Darling Harbour - a beautiful small harbour surrounded by cafes and shops. We went to the Syndey Aquarium - awesome, and then went to Sydney tower where we took an elevator to the top for 360 ' views of the city at sunset. The next day we visited Bondi Beach and took a walk from Bondi to Bronte beach. That was also unforgettable! We took a bus to Watson's Bay for more amazing views and then took the ferry back to Circular Quay in the downtown district. We walked around some more, took in Sydney Opera house, and had some great seafood. We shopped, which was hilarious because I would leave the hotel and say "I'm not carrying around anything today!", and 2 hrs later we would have bags on each arms that we would then have to lug around for the rest of the day. Ridiculous! We went to Sydney Olympic Park, and really wished we could go to the Beijing Olympics. Then the highlight of the trip was climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge at sunset! We saw the city as the sun went down, and then saw it during the hustle and bustle of rush hour with the city lights! Our last day we took a train to the Blue Mountains (about 3 hrs from Sydney) and hiked around before taking the train back to the city. We had to make it to the airport to catch our flight back to Brisbane! It was a jam-packed few days, and it was fanstasic (the Aussie's love that word)!


On the ferry passing by the Sydney Opera House


Going under the Sydney Bridge


Darling Harbour


Olympic Park


Darling Harbour


Sydney Train Station


Yes, I'm the guide :)


Bondi Beach


Bondi to Bronte


Loved the moss-covered rocks!



Sydney Aquarium


View from Sydney Tower


Huge photo of Sydney


The best photography display in Darling Harbour- we spent hours here

Trip to Cairns - Part 2: The Great Barrier Reef

Green Island: After exciting times in the Rainforest, we headed back to Cairns for some time on the reef. We stayed at a backpackers in Cairns and got up the next morning to catch a boat to Green Island for the day. We had a little too much fun on the boat, and had a great time snorkelling and hanging out on the island. The most exciting thing I saw snorkelling was a most beautiful bright purple starfish!! It was awesome! All the fish were bright, vibrant colors...so gorgeous! We got back that evening, with enough time for some sushi and sleep! :)

The Rum Runner Overnight Boat on the Reef: After Green Island, we stayed another night at the backpackers, called Global Palace, and got up early the next morning to pack our bags and get on the Rum Runner boat for a overnight trip on the reef. We got on the boat at Cairns Harbor which was luckily a 5 minute walk from our hostel. We showed up with suitcases and all, not realizing our sleeping quarters were MUCH smaller than expected! Even the crew looked at us like we were crazy when we brought bag, after suitcase, after bag on the boat. Our room was about 4 ft by 7 ft. TINY! We just laughed. Somehow we managed. Amy shared a bunk with the cook on the boat (a girl mind you), and Bobbi and I shared a bunk "room". We headed out 4 hrs to the reef where we would be spending that day and part of the next day. On the ride out, we had a crash coarse in scuba diving by one of the scuba instructors on the boat - we learned about the equipment, breathing, hand signals, re-pressurizing your ears, etc. WAAAY easier said than done. So, once we hit our first reef spot, a scuba instructor took us in groups of 3 or 4 out for our first dive. Amy, Bobbi and I were in a group together, and our instuctor pretty much lost all patience with us. We were freaking out about breathing, about getting water in our goggles, etc. Scuba diving was great and all, but i was focused SO much on breathing through that little hose that i honestly didn't get to really soak it in and enjoy the reef. We were down for about 20-30 minutes, and I was relieved when we were done! It takes a brave sole. The only thing that kept pushing me to not give up was the fact that a 12 yr old girl on our boat did the first dive with no problems, so that's what i had to keep telling myself! If she can do it, I can too!

After our intro dive, we had the choice to do more dives or snorkel. Bobbi, Amy, and I opted to snorkel the remainder of the time, which turned out to be AMAZING! We hit several more areas on the reef where the reef was literally 1-2 feet below the surface of the water. We would jump off the boat and reef was right there. We saw little Nemo's, some HUGE fish, amazing coral, and no sharks thank you! It was definitely an experience of a lifetime! On the way back to the harbor the next day, we spotted a baby humpback whale which jumped out of the water several times for our entertainment, and it was an awesome way to end the trip. :) We took an underwater camera which needs to get developed, so those pics to come soon!

Trip to Cairns - Part 1: Daintree National Park

While Amy was visiting, we took a trip to tropical northern Queensland where you find the Great Barrier Reef and many beautiful rainforests. After landing in Cairns, we rented a car and drove north to Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation. These national park are full of lush rainforest and lots of animals. It's not uncommon to spot a crock in the water, and we count ourselves lucky that we didn't encounter one. We stayed the night in a cabin in the middle of the rainforest, woke up early the next morning to go on a hike, in which we ended up having to turn around because we weren't keen on wading through knee deep water to find the trail. If it weren't for the possibility of a crock being in the water, we would have kept going. :) We then drove to Mossman Gorge where hiked short rainforest trail before heading back to Cairns for our next adventure.

Man vs Sand

When I asked people what roadtrips to take when we first moved here, everyone would say Fraser Island without hesitation, so we knew this was a place we must see. It's the largest sand island in the world and happens to be a few hours from Brisbane! We rented a 4wd (a must-have on the island), and we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. We got off the ferry and immediately were driving through thick treacherous roads of thick sand - very bumpy with lots of "fun" hills to try and drive up. The entire weekend we only got stuck in the sand twice...once 5 guys had to push us out of the sand. The crazy part is that the "beach" part where water meets land is the "highway" of the island where people go about 70 mph. There were some beautiful lakes, our favorite being Lake McKenzie (said to be one of the top beaches in the world, and I agree).


AMAZING Lake McKenzie



Starfish in the sand -
we saved him and put him back in the ocean where he belonged.



View from Indian Heads



Nasty/Huge jelly fish



Thos black dots in the ocean are manta-rays!



The 4wd truck we rented.



Driving on the island- this is one of the better roads



Lake McKenzie



Amy and I at the lake



Lake McKenzie



Champagne pools



Indian Heads - AMAZING views from the cliffs into the clear ocean!
From here we saw sharks, sea turtles, dolphins, manta-rays, and whales!



Indian Heads



Bobbi and Amy



Amy and I on the trip back to Brisbane - we stopped in a cute little beach town. :)

Trips to Byron Bay and Stradbroke (Round 2)

A little Slideshow from a trip to Byron Bay (a couple hrs south of us in New South Wales) and Stradbroke Island (second time to go there...this time with my sister and Bobbi). This time on the island we saw dolphins, whales, sea turles, and HUGE sting rays. It was warm enough for us to FINALLY swim, so we sure took advantage of that! I came home tired and sunburned...Totally worth it! :)

Australian nursing - sorry non-nurses, you might not "get" this one.

SOOO, working in the PICU is quite different than working in the states...we have respiratory therapists in the states who look after the ventilators, understand them, set them up, clean em up, troubleshoot them, run our gases, etc....however, here in Australia it's all the nurses responsibility. My first week in the PICU, i had a crash course (and i mean CRASH course) on ventilators. Crazy. Now that i've been working for over a month, i feel pretty comfortable with them (I never thought I would - in fact, I almost didn't come over to Australia for this very reason). Nurses only ever have one patient, so it gives us time to do everything (meds, vitals, keep our patient from dying) and manage the vents! I actually prefer it this way because I finally see the big "picture" of my patient. I set up my first ventilator yesterday, which is not easy by the way.
We do have to double-check ALL MEDS (not in the states), so that's time-consuming, but in the end, a lot safer.
That's PICU nursing for ya!
Overall, it's WAY easier than in the states....especially if your patient is not on the vent.
Yesterday I went to the "ward" (aka pediatric floor) to take care of a kid with EVD's and then they didn't need me after 1pm, so I went back up to our overstaffed PICU all to sit around for the next 6 hrs and read.
Today I had an EASY SHMEEZY kid who didn't need to be in the PICU, so I planned our trips for the rest of our time here. Can't complain.
I decided we HAVE to go to Tasmania now (after talking to my patient's mom and Andrea back home) so we're gonna go in September~any takers???
Oh, and we get two, yes two "tea breaks" during the day AND a lunch. (i'm lucky if I get a 20 minute lunch back home) People drink hot tea here like it's water... they have converted me.
Ok, more nurse talk later AND pics of our HOT uniforms (my patient's mom today said the shirts look like a tampon wrapper...I'll let you ponder that before i send you pics!)

I love my days off!

Typical Australia

Whale-watching off the coast

Last week Bobbi and i had 5 days off of work to rest up and play. I don't know which one I one did more of, but I had a blast! One day we headed to Stradbroke Island ("Straddie" as the locals call it). It's about a 3 hour journey from our apt to the island which is just to the east of Brisbane. We got on a bus from our apt to the train station, took the train to another bus which then took us to a ferry, and once we arrived on the island, we took another bus to our destination- Point Lookout. We were travelling fools. There were some awesome walks on the island and some serious scenery - we saw lots of dolphins, humpback whales on their migration north to Great Barrier Reef (this happens once a year around this time), and some amazing surfers! It was probably one of the warmest days we've had here since beginning of June, so it was perfect!

"Barbie" (that's what the Aussie's think her name is) got in trouble for this one on the ferry

Spotting the whales

Three surfers with a dolphin!

Proud of this pic!

Surfers in the front, humpback whale in the back (right) - you can see the mist he made.

Crystal clear water.

Do not fall, do not fall....

Then after Straddie we rented a car and headed north to Montville, Maleny, and Mooloolaba. Montville and Maleny are cute little towns inland with little shops and cafes. Mooloolaba has become one of our favorite beach towns - we visited the aquarium there :)

Montville - you can see the ocean WAY off in the distance

For those of you who know me best...

Sharks!

Holding a starfish!