Sorry
its been silent for a fair few weeks! Its been a little crazy!
After
hunting online I found a veterinary practice advertising for a
veterinary nurse to work part time. I emailed my CV and immediately
received a response asking me to come in for an interview. There
followed a very interesting interview experience! First off the
interviewers were 20minutes late to the interview, which was to be
held at the emergency vet hospital. When they finally arrived they
hustled me inside and guided me through to the 'meeting room'; a
narrow room with a bed in it – where I was instructed to leave my
bag and jacket – and a lot of junk which they shuffled around to
produce three chairs placed in a row, facing the bed and the wall. I
was told to sit in the centre chair so I spent the interview
swivelling left to right to speak to both of them – not ideal!
During the interview amongst the many gems were the following two
comments from one of the interviewers. When we were discussing the
veterinary charity Mission Rabies, that I had raised money for
earlier in the year I told them that currently one child dies every
hour of rabies in India. Their response? 'Goodness, is that so....
Although given the current population explosion in India that's
probably not a bad thing!'. I was a little stunned to say the
least! They then explained to me that, 'a lot of people get worried,
upset, hysterical even, at emergency work as you don't know what may
come through the door, but this is merely a symptom of the
feminisation of the veterinary industry'. It was at this moment I
decided I definitely didn't want to work at this practice.
Luckily
a few days later I successfully applied to work at a local vets as
part-time maternity cover. The job has worked out perfectly – the
people are really great and I'm earning a few dollars each week to
keep me going! The only downside at present is that the practice is
not just small animal but large animal – cue multiple incidents of
farmers coming in, asking for things, and getting a blank smile from
me in return!
On one
of my days off I decided to take a road trip west. I first headed
south to Waitomo, and then followed the road all the way to the
coast. About forty minutes west of Waitomo, you come to Mangapohue
natural bridge. You walk through a limestone gorge to reach the very
impressive 17m high limestone arch with stalactite formations hanging
from the roof. I then followed the loop track back to the car-park
past 25million year old oyster fossils; not much to look at but their
age is pretty mind-boggling!
Further
west I stopped at the PiriPiri caves. I bravely descended into the
darkness with my borrowed head torch and saw lots of glimmering
glow-worms covering the walls – I was the only visitor and it made
for a pretty special experience. The next stop on the road was a
short walk to the Marokopa Falls; although not particularly high they
are rather pretty and the walk offered an opportunity to stretch the
legs.
I then
continued west for many miles, following the bending road, before
leaving the tarmac behind and heading onto the unsealed tracks (I
managed a bit of accidental drifting here by driving a little too
fast!). For part of the drive I was stuck behind a car towing a
boat. Nothing out of the ordinary, apart from the fact every few
miles it would slam on its brakes and come to a dead-stop. Then the
passenger would climb out, pick up some road-kill (possums were
particularly prevalent), sling the dearly departed into the boat with
a loud “THUD”, and then get back in the car to resume the
journey. The only possible reason for this behaviour I could come up
with was that they use the road-kill for bait – but why so many
possums!? They must have been preparing to empty the Tasman! After
watching this for a fair few miles, I seized the first opportunity
to overtake and leave the road-kill collectors far behind.
After an
hour or so I finally, and very literally reached the end of the road
- there was an actual sign stating this in case of confusion. I had
reached the west coast of the North Island at a pretty cool location.
I climbed out of the car and walked through a small dark tunnel,
about 150m in length. The tunnel is carved though the rock, and as
you walk through you are buffeted by strong wind, and deafened by the
sound of roaring waves coming from the bright end of the tunnel
ahead. When you finally reach the end of the tunnel you come out
onto a wild, deserted beach, with the waves pounding the shore. It
was a truly dramatic end to a beautiful day!
