G'Day! Life's been pretty hectic lately! As you can tell from the photos (or not if you haven't looked at them yet!) I've been a busy little bee! Or whatever the Aussie version is... Taronga Zoo was a good cold rainy day filler. My new favourite animal is the Red Panda - Google it cos it's funny. The Giraffe photo is my fave though with the harbour backdrop! For my first weekend I did the touristy thing with a student nurse called Kate. We went up Centre Point Tower, round China Town, to Paddy's Markets then hoppped on the Manly Ferry accross the Harbour for some Fosh & Chops (as NZs apparently say!). Then on the Sunday Kate, another student nurse called Lisa & I took a road trip up Central Coast to Newcastle. Drove most of the way with the fuel light on! Stopping on the way at some beaches & the Entrance (where the Pelicans randomly were!), getting to Newcastle in the dark. Were some funny signs on the way up saying that straight on were Newcastle, Swansea and Cardiff! How random is Australia?! On Wednesday the electivers all went out to Minus 5 Bar - an ice bar where you can only stay for half an hour, have to dress up like Kenny & have drinks in glasses made of ice! Lots of fun & cool sculptures (quite literally!). Last Friday I went to the Sexpo with Kate - a bit like the Ideal Home Show in Earls Court, except it was on Sex & at the Fox Studios. But Kate & I thought it was at the Olympic Park so we took a 2hour detour via the park! Was good to see where the games were held though... The Sexpo was shocking - spent the whole evening looking bewildered and bemused by the variety of dildos available - although nothing could particularly shock us by the end of the night as we'd seen the guy who does Puppetry of the Penis, a guy who paint with his..., and lots of other quite frankly shocking stuff! On Saturday Kate, her friend Emma & I took another road trip. This time west to the Blue Mountains & went horse riding. Comedy all round as Kate caused carnage by not keeping in line & causing the horses to go mental! The best bit was trotting through a field of long grass then seeing a dozen Kangaroo ears then heads pop up out of the grass before they all hopped off into the bush ahead of us. Pretty awesome! On Sunday I took it upon myself to be a cheesy tourist & get a surfing lesson on Bondi Beach! After 2 hours of falling off my board, kneeling on it, jumping then sitting on it, being thrown about by waves and swallowing a lot of salt water, I managed to just about stand on it (twice!). Mission accomplished! I actually hurt my hand in the process - ironic or what?! The sad thing is that instead of just thinking "ow!" I actually thought "ow my flexor tendons!" Must get away from medicine!!! So my body is thoroughly aching & sore from horseriding &/or surfing - surfing is a lot harder than it looks! My thoughts turned from "this is my wave now" to "I Will F*cking stand up!!" So what about the medicine I hear you cry?! I've actually been in everyday but one - geek chic rules! Seen some pretty crazeee stuff - especially at the Congenital Hand Clinic over at Westmead Hospital - lots of wierd & wonderful extra fingers, toes, thumbs, or lack thereof. Still assisting in surgery & getting to do more in clinics like taking out sutures & cutting off plaster splints. The fracture sight is coming on a bit, but still pretty blind & not really describing them better than "there's a fracture there" & pointing! The take home message is to definately not play with knives, walls, dog's mouths, lawnmovers or chain saws - it's just not clever! One kid playing chicken with a knife really missed the spot & got the artery in the middle of his palm - how far out can you get?! Gonna be in hospital all week and seeing friends / going oot the rest of the time. Hope you're all well & coping with your lack of Laura! ;-) Lxx