Hot Kebabs

I don’t know what I was expecting when I rounding the corner and started down the little lane behind the shops. The complaint said that there had been a load of meat left outside at the rear of the shop for the afternoon. I don’t know why it was the last thing that I was expecting. I thought that it would just be a complaint by a neighbouring shop owner; just an unfounded dispute where one side thinks it would be more inconvenient for the other part for the health inspectors to come around and inspect. I didn’t expect that I would go down that alley and find two and a half pallets of meat sat out the back of the shop.

Of course, that’s exactly what I found. The pallets were just sitting there. I walked up to them and had a look around. It was meat alright, some defrosted, outer temperatures well inside the ‘danger zone’. I went inside the shop and talked to the manager. Delivered by mistake, meant to go to the other store, no time to move it, thought it was still frozen… The usual excuses were given, none of which changed the fact that there was nearly three tonnes of meat sat outside in the sun. In the end the decision was down to a combination of temperature and time. The time was about 6 hours. The temperature was from frozen to the low teens. I called my boss. It was a lot of meat and the first time that I’d dealt with anything like this. I was glad that my boss agreed. The meat that had defrosted must be put in the refrigerator straight away while the meat that was frozen may be put into the freezer. This was based on the supposition that the meat would have been within the ‘danger zone’ for less than two hours. I left the shop as it was being loaded onto a truck to be taken to another store.

The next day I had to follow up. It was not what I expected. The meat had all been put into the freezer. That along with another couple of inconsistencies within the stories made the next decision tougher. I went back to talk to my manager. Due to the uncertainty and non-compliance with the previous directions, we were to seize all the meat. All two and a half tonnes! The owner wasn’t happy but we had no choice. We taped up the freezer where the meat was all stored to await the 72 hour appeal period. It was a stressful week of waiting. Each day I thought that I would be getting a phone call from the local courthouse saying that I was expected in court to present my case to the magistrate. I was surprised that the call never came. Even so, I spent that week writing up detailed statements and notes regarding the seizure. All reasons and actions had to be justified with legal justification. I couldn’t wait for noon on Friday the 13th. That’s when we would be able to collect the meat and dispose of it. The appeal period would be over and only further investigation, clarification and education left to do.

As the clock hit 11:30 am I started to relax. It was the time for action. We parked the ute behind the shop and started to load. It took us nearly three hours to load all the meat onto the ute and then stack it in the bin. We filled the bin up and still had a ute load left. It was almost two and a half tonne that we disposed of in the end. It was all taken down to the local tip and buried in the rubbish.

It certainly was a waste but really there was no excuse and it had to be done. The owner and his staff should have known better. From what I hear this is one of the biggest seizures that has happened in Alice Springs. It isn't over yet. There are now further interviews to conduct, reports to write and education to be conducted to ensure that this kind of thing doesn't happen again.

To Coober Pedy

I hadn’t been back in Alice Springs an hour when Stewart said that he’d like to head down to a place near Coober Pedy to look for a legless lizard. We were driving back from the airport and I must say that I didn’t think much of it at the time. A round trip of 1400 kms is a long way to go just for a little lizard, even if it is a legless one. Despite the distance and my initial uneasiness about putting the kilometers on my car, I agreed to drive down there with Stewart.

It’s always interesting to go out with Stewart as you get to see some weird and wonderful creatures that you otherwise would not have even the slightest chance of seeing. These things you need to look for! The drive down there was long and tiring, but the passing scenery and the book on tape kept interested. It’s always amazing to see how the landscape changes. Around Alice Springs it is hilly with a few low trees. As one drives south the scenery changes into sand country with dunes and spinifex dominating the landscape. All too soon though this changes to rocky woodland then open plains with vast treeless expanses stretching across the horizon. Around Coober Pedy though the landscape gets even more unusual. There isn’t a tree to be seen anywhere on the land. Large heaps of dirt (left over from the opal mining) are piled everywhere with new ones being made every week means that it is a continually changing the landscape. These large heaps become the dominant feature. On an open plain with a few rocks lying around the place even a mouse walking across it would be the dominant feature. For that reason, Coober Pedy seems to be another world. The native Coober Pedians make it even stranger.

We stopped just outside Coober Pedy and had a poke around. After a bit of searching and a lot of swearing about the flies, we found the legless lizard that we were looking for. After taking a few photos we were on our way back into town for tea. It was a long but eventful day.

The next day we were up early with the hope of having a look around the town and surrounding landscape. Unfortunately it had rained overnight which made me a bit apprehensive about driving over the roads. We drove out along the main road that heads off to Oonadatta and stopped just after the dog fence. Driving along I could feel the mud sticking to the wheels of the car. When I got out and over to the dog fence to take a photo and then walked back to the car and had grown by two inches. I didn’t think driving to the ‘Moon Plains’ would be a smart idea. Especially in my car that, while I had every confidence in the vehicle, wasn’t equipped for off road travel. That’s the trouble with getting blow outs and being bogged in the work vehicles (which has happened quite a bit over the past couple of weeks). It makes one quite uneasy about taking a two wheel drive vehicle with road tyres on muddy corrugated roads. The high clearance doesn’t help with those sorts of drives. We didn’t get to see the ‘Moon Plains’. I don’t know how moon like they are (apparently it’s just a wide open are with small rocks everywhere) but it will have to be left for another trip. I think that if it hadn’t had rained I would have gone on it. The road wasn’t that bad just sticky. It wasn’t as bad as driving on black soil but it might have been further down the road. I didn’t want to risk it.

In the end Stewart seemed happy enough to carry on and even happier when we found a little dragon on our way back. That was another new tick for him (and me). It was a big drive as we arrived back in Alice Springs just as it was getting dark.

Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) 01, originally uploaded by Ryan McLean.

Drying itself in the morning sun after going for a diver in a pond at Melbourne Zoo.

Common Eggfly Butterfly (Hypolimnas bolina)

Common Eggfly Butterfly (Hypolimnas bolina), originally uploaded by Ryan McLean.

This photo was taken inside Melbourne Zoo's Butterfly House. The tip of this butterfly's wing has been broken off which may suggest a run in with some over-zealous tourist who tried to pick it up.

Orchard Butterfly (Papilio aegeus)

Orchard Butterfly (Papilio aegeus), originally uploaded by Ryan McLean.

I went to Melbourne Zoo this afternoon (again) and took this photo in the butterfly house.

Meerkats for my birthday

As I looked out of my window this morning the world was covered in a thick fog. From the spare room at Laura and Paul's apartment I could hardly see the other side of the street. The city, which can usually be seen with the lights still shining, was invisible. As I swung my legs out of bed I sighed. Today was my birthday. 32 today! It seems to have come around so quickly. Feels like only yesterday I was 31. The years just now seem to be going so fast.

This year was going to be different though. I was spending my birthday in Melbourne with Laura. I'd come down a couple of days before and had spent my days entertaining Max and shopping in the city. Our birthday morning started getting up with Laura and Paul seeing to Max's morning needs before we settled down with a cup of tea to open the presents. I received a book on insects and a Bill Bryson book from Mum and Dad and from Laura and Paul I got a meerkat cup, meerkat t-shirt and my photo taken with the meerkats at Melbourne Zoo.

We arrived at the zoo around 10:30 and went straight over to the meerkats to get our photo. We were let into the enclosure through the rear and sat on a log. As soon as we sat down the meerkats came over to us and started to over our laps. To keep them interested the keeper threw mealworms onto our laps. The meerkats loved them and grabbed them as soon as they could get to them. At one point we had all nine climbing on us. It was good fun. The meerkats are cute little things and their fur is surprisingly soft and their claws unsurprisingly sharp. It was something that I'd never really do and was very fun.

Laura and me with the meerkats.

Graduating

I never thought that graduating was a big thing. To me it seemed to be a lot of money to spend for a couple of seconds walking across the stage and getting to shake the hand of the head of the uni whom you have never even spoken to before. For that reason I wasn't going to go to my graduation. That's what I said but I still booked my flight back to Brisbane and paid the money after being told by a few friends that I really should go and do it.

And so this afternoon, me, Mum and Dad drove up to the Sunshine Coast for me to graduate. Before I could walk across the stage I had to get my uniform. It consisted of a cape, hood and a mortar board hat. After about fifteen minutes I was able to get it all on together the right way and looking presentable. With that we started to wander over to the sports stadium where the ceremony would take place. After two hours of waiting around we took our seats and settled down for the ceremony.

It started with a procession of all the academics in their gowns with all the trimmings. Speeches followed. After what seemed like a long while the procession of students getting their degrees began. From my degree there was only me and one other person who received their degrees. The other two people who were graduating didn't attend. Still we walked across the stage and shook hands with the Chancellor, he said well done and we walked off the stage. That was it.

It was all over very quickly but I'm kind of glad that I went. It was good to get my certificate. I feel quite proud of what I've done although I do think that anyone can complete a degree, it was good that I did it.

Me in my graduation gown and hat.

Dad, Me and Mum at the Graduation.

Complaints, complaints, complaints...

The first complaint about me came as a bit of a shock. I’d just arrived at work and the boss comes over to me to say that they have to write a ministerial (a brief for the minister for health which then gets distributed to the local member of parliament) about me. I wondered why. What had I done that was so bad? My first complaint was due to a letter that I had written. The proprietor had seen it as me threatening him and saying that I would close down the place. Where he got this idea from I don’t know. You only have to look at the track record of our program to see that we haven’t closed a place down recently. We haven’t closed a place down in the past five years. We haven’t closed a place down… ever, as far as I’m aware. I received a couple of letters from local members of parliament whom I really would have liked to have written back to. Unfortunately I can’t tell them where they can stick their support and just had to stick the letter on the file with no reply. Just another thing I guess I’ll have to get used to.

What do you Finke?

This week I went out to the community of Aputula, otherwise known as Finke. Finke is famous in Central Australia as it is the start/finish point for the Finke Desert Race, which is a major race on the off-motorcycling calendar and follows the Old South Road for over 200kms before finishing in Finke. The next day, the riders do it all again but head north. We weren’t here for that (being four months early – the race is in June). Our drive down to Finke wasn't as quick as the race (and we went down the highway before cutting across which is about 420 kms) but it was a good run down there.

Me Driving to Finke.

After receiving a complaint regarding the store we went down to investigate. Our time in the community was spend conducting inspections at the various registered premises in the town, touring the sewerage ponds, landfill, bores, power station and airstrip as well as meeting with various community representatives and managers from the shire services. We had quite a bit to do in the town but in the end we got our inspections done and letters written.

On Wednesday morning we left the community and headed back to Alice Springs. It is 151 kms of dirt road before getting to the Stuart Highway near Kulgera. On the way we saw a sign for the Lambert Centre and had to go. After all, it was only 12 km away. After some real four-wheel driving we arrived at the Lambert Cenre. The Lambert Centre is the geographical centre of Australia. Now I can say that I really have been to the middle of Australia!

The way to the geographical centre of Australia.

The Lambert Centre.

On the way back to Alice Springs I had another first. Driving along I heard this massive bang and the steering on the car became very still. I was traveling at around 110 km/h but managed to stop the car and pull over to the side of the road. It was my first blow out! It wasn't a big thing. Being in the outback there were no cars to hit and I could slow down easily. It was exciting though. The tyre took a while to change (another first) but we were soon on our way back to Alice. This time, we arrived without any further problems.

Changing my first blown out tyre.

A rapid trip to the Barkly

At the start of February, Cyclone Yassi hit Cairns. It was a category 5 cyclone and therefore, understandably, caused quite a bit of damage. It was bad to watch the devastation on the television but we didn’t think that it would affect us much. We might get a bit of rain, maybe a bit of wind too, but nothing too bad. You can imagine my surprise when I read in the local paper it would reach Alice Springs as a category 1 cyclone and we could expect widespread flooding. That lunchtime as I walked down the mall I was even more surprised to see people building walls of sandbags in front of their shops and businesses. I’m on the Public Health Counter Disaster Committee for Region 3 and the reports that we’d been given only stated that there might be minor flooding. These businesses were quite a way from the river and would only be reached with very major flooding. That weekend we were told that we might be called upon depending on what happens. It was very unlikely, but we had to be prepared just in case.

That weekend there were a few very heavy passing showers and lots of dark clouds on the horizon. Not the major flooding that the papers said would hit Alice. Not even the minor flooding that the Government had said may happen. The river didn’t flow that weekend. It dribbled over the following week but was that light that you hardly had to slow down when driving across the causeways. The storm passed to the south of Alice Springs. The decision was made however, to start a voluntary evacuation of some of the remote communities. In the end, one community did evacuate some residents. The thing was, they didn’t have anywhere to go. It wasn’t a disaster situation and therefore no shelters were open and the government departments didn’t have any legislative power to do anything really. In the end, the show grounds at Tennant Creek, the closest major town to the community, was opened for the influx of residents who left their community.

On Monday afternoon, I was asked if I wanted to go up to Tennant Creek with another EHO, Aaron Clifford, to do an assessment of the show grounds for environmental health considerations. So after a very busy afternoon booking accommodation, making phone calls to many other government agencies and a lot of paperwork it was confirmed. I was going up to Tennant Creek and would be back on Friday. We left early the next day and were up in Tennant Creek just after lunch. We went straight around to the show grounds and started work. Our job basically involved us checking out the facilities, ensuring the food preparation areas were safe and suitable for use; the ablution facilities were sufficient, in good working order and in a sanitary condition; that the accommodation was safe and sufficient and to basically look for any other environmental health issues that could affect the health of those staying at the grounds. We then had to arrange cleaning of the facilities, use of alternative food preparation and storage facilities and ensure that the necessary precautions were taken to ensure that the health of the residents was not compromised. It involved a lot of meetings with people and seeing what people could do to help. These people were then matched up and everyone was happy. It took us two days to get everything sorted and write our reports on the trip.

A flooded road near Wycliffe Well.

Me at the Devil's Marbles.


Tennant Creek.

It was a good trip up to Tennant Creek and a good learning experience on how do conduct a rapid assessment of an evacuation centre and how to get what you need through meetings, phone calls and lots of luck. In the end we accomplished what we'd set out to do and the boss was happy with the final report. It was a good week.