Locums for a Small World Blog

The daily concert outside my window

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Written by Elma Johnson, MD 

To say that I have itchy feet is an understatement as travel has always been my biggest hobby. Growing up in the Caribbean, I have always had a strong curiosity about different countries and cultures. Living in New York for the past 20 years has further fueled my curiosity. Australia just happened to be one of those countries that grabbed my interest.

Living on the coast reminded me of being in the Caribbean; beautiful scenery - with ocean on one side and mountains on the other. The people were very nice, met some global travelers like myself and was made to feel welcome and at home. Australia is amazing, a paradise for outdoor enthusiasts and wildlife lovers. Speaking of which, I was constantly amused by the craziest and funniest bird sounds that I have ever heard. There was a daily concert outside of my window.

My hospital was approx 45 minutes from Brisbane, which was perfect for me. It was fairly busy with lots of good medical cases. There was quite a bit of minor trauma with a few major trauma cases and my training in NY more than prepared me for this. I also learned a few things while there so it was a very good exchange. The workload was definitely manageable as I was coming from a very busy urban hospital.

My experience in Australia both as a physician and traveler was one of the best that I have ever had. Will I consider returning? Absolutely. I'm planning on it. I now keep telling some of my colleagues that a sabbatical down under is something that they need to do at least once.

Elma Johnson, MD is an Emergency Physician from Brooklyn, New York, USA, whose itchy feet never let up. Expect to see more dispatches from her locum travels right here.

Never anger a male cassowary, and other lessons from a bird-loving South African locum

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Written by Kenneth Goulding, MD

Being a bit of a bird-watching fanatic, I found the outback of Queensland an amazing place - we managed to see 285 different species and learn a lot of new calls during the year. I am sure that a more diligent and more clued up observer could easily improve on that tally!

I experienced the adrenaline rush of meeting the endangered, angry, male cassowary on a narrow path in the Atherton Tablelands, and then being chased back down to the creek. Later in the trip we were fortunate enough to see 9 more cassowaries, including a male with 3 chicks.

In the Angela National Park, it was exciting to hear and find a noisy pitta - a very colorful forest bird. In the same park we saw platypus busy in the river at midday, which was rather unusual. We had seen them before, but only at dawn or dusk! From the boat during a conducted tour of the Mareeba Wetlands, we saw pigmy geese and jacanas amongst the flowering lotuses. We were shown the captive breeding, gouldian finches - most colorful little birds. Whilst in Mt. Isa during the hot summer, we were privileged to see swarming black clouds of hundreds of thousands of budgerigars coming in to drink at the lakes edge.

A walk around the Apex Park lakes would regularly yield 30-40 species, including a majestic pair of black swans with 7 cygnets and hundreds of plumed whistling ducks. I will really miss the colorful parrots and the rousing dawn chorus of the kookaburras, magpies, crows, currawongs and the ubiquitous "kamikaze pilots" of the Australian skies, the rainbow lorikeets!

I would strongly recommend this itinerant locum stint in Queensland for any nature loving doctor wanting to get to know the avifauna of Australia more closely.

Dr. Kenneth Goulding is an MBCHB (General Practice) physician from Port Alfred, South Africa. Dr. Goulding has worked as a locum for Global Medical three times - twice in Australia and once in New Zealand. He's a proud grandfather and travels frequently, but he doesn't go by the slick travel brochures - he takes his pages from the Birdwatcher's Handbook.