It’s a long way from Biddeford to the Top of the North

That’s Biddeford, Maine – a town that’s darn near as far north as you can go in the United States – and the Northern-most tip of New Zealand, where two oceans collide.

The Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea surround this completely unspoiled land of long sandy beaches, island-studded bays and dense subtropical forests. Cape Reinga, just twelve degrees below the Tropic of Capricorn, plays host to the historic lighthouse that guards the country’s northwestern shores. Magnificent Ninety Mile Beach stretches in an unbroken span of white sand for nearly 50 miles (88 km) where boogie-boards become slick toboggans on the golden sand dunes. Surfers, sea kayakers and sailors take to the waves. And it’s all flanked by the Aupouri Forest, a Narnia-like place where bands of wild horses roam free. Yes, the Top of the North is a hub for outdoor and historical activity, but it’s in the “wop-wops” by Kiwi standards – out of the way and the last stop before nowhere.

So when Judith Ziegler, DO, took a recent holiday trip to New Zealand, she hadn’t really planned to go back to the Northland, where she had locumed in 2007. As travelers are known to do, however, she changed course and took the four-hour detour only to be shocked when she “met” the new locum physician there – a classmate from medical school whom she hadn’t seen in nearly 20 years! Global Medical locum, Christopher Brace, DO, was just as stunned. After all, the University of New England's College of Osteopathic Medicine in Biddeford is more than 9,000 miles (15,000 km) from the Top of the North. Plus, the med school is tiny. Yet both graduates of this itsy-bitsy school went to the same itsy-bitsy spot in the wop-wops to locum. Who'd a thunk? By all accounts the good docs had a good “yack” in the Northland.

Judith Ziegler is an FP from Portland, Maine who says a "little postcard" from Global Medical changed her life; Christopher Brace, also an FP, lives in Honolulu, Hawaii

“Sitting here in grey, cold and sun-forsaken Ireland, I miss the contrasting weather of Gove (Australia) – predictably warm and sultry, with an occasional evening storm, but always pleasant and bearable. The Gove nights could be humid at times, but relief was provided by the large rotating fans suspended from the ceiling in each bedroom. Not to mention the good, refreshing Ozzie beer!

I have been thinking of those wonderful days spent at Gove and wondering what it would be like to go back for another experience! We were often on the beach in the evenings after work, and had to keep a watchful eye as "salties" (salt-water crocs) often roamed the beach in search of a delicacy! Sitting on the rocks and watching the sun slowly sink below the wide expanse of endless blue ocean was a rare treat, and the "barbies" (barbecues) on the beach that followed marked the perfect ending to so many perfect days.

My wife, Sandy, and her friend, Denise, met a water buffalo on the road one morning while strolling, but it decided that two females were too much for it to handle, so after rudely snorting at them, it turned tail and ran off to the river! On another occasion a water buffalo strayed onto the school grounds and the police (much to my disgust and anger) shot and killed it. Rumors of a water buffalo wandering in our garden were greatly exaggerated, although we did have wild dogs in our back garden on a few nights trying to make a meal of our pet ducks!

Medical practice in rural Australia beats anything I have done anywhere in Ireland or Canada. Being part of a rural medical team, as at Gove Hospital, is enriching and professionally rewarding, as each practitioner brings to every challenge their own experiences and expertise, thereby contributing to an unforgettable, and unparalleled, shared learning experience. Would I go back? In a heartbeat!

Thanks to Global Medical for a wonderful experience. I have cherished the opportunity to be immersed within the heart and centre of these communities and their peculiar and unique spectrum of needs, each different from the other, yet sharing many similar fundamental characteristics. I can think of no greater challenge or fulfilling exercise than these meaningful and memorable expeditions. I hope this challenges other physicians to explore and experience rural practice in Australia.

NOTE: Gove Peninsula, in the far northeast of Arnhem Aboriginal Land, is one of the most remote areas of Australia’s Northern Territory and very much off the tourist track. In fact, it can only be reached by all-terrain vehicles. The reward for the long and difficult journey lies in the wild coastal scenery, the beautiful empty beaches, the tropical vegetation and the excellent fishing in the rivers.

Dr. Neville Wilson is a Family Medical Practitioner from South Africa. He and his wife, Sandy, have raised four children and are seasoned travelers. In addition to his locum tenens stint for GMS in rural Australia, Dr. Wilson has practiced medicine in urban East London, remote Zululand, within the isolated Aboriginal communities of Northern Manitoba, Canada and is now practicing in Ireland. He plans to locum again in either Australia or the Cayman Islands.

Our top 5 favorite locum 'war stories' from Down Under:

Some locum tenens stories sound more like fish tales than factual events, but these come from real Global Medical locum doctors:

#5 Do you take this animal barb from your common-law husband?

On Mornington Island - a speck of land about 50 miles off Queensland, Australia - Robert C. Bradley, MD, encountered a “large, extremely drunk woman” who’d been ‘harpooned’ by her de facto husband with the 10-inch tail of a stingray – now deeply embedded in her shoulder. For over 45 minutes Dr. Bradley tried to remove the barb, finally calling upon the Royal Flying Doctor Service to transport her to the main hospital where surgeons worked for two hours to remove the spear-like tail – which they finally had to shove through her back and yank out from the other side! The following day as Dr. Bradley wandered the local beach, he found a dead stingray. The five foot cartilaginous fish was missing (you guessed it) its tail.

#4 Hey Doc, can you write me out a “sickie”?

The night he arrived in Denmark, Australia, Ramsis Benjamin, MD, “drank himself silly” at a neighbor’s party and nearly drowned the next day surfing on his longboard. He should’ve turned in a “sickie” – a doctor’s note given to Australians who party hard over the weekend and want to get paid to take Monday off. No kidding.

When he arrived in the beautiful coastal town in Western Australia, Dr. Benjamin had anticipated an orientation for his new position. Instead, he found a handwritten note:

Welcome to Denmark

Beer in fridge

Surfboard in Shed

Don’t drown

Fortunately, he didn’t.

#3 Fishing: A dangerous sport



Dr. David Stoltze, who calls New Mexico home, went to the Australian Outback to locum as an ER doc with a pretty darn flexible attitude. An outdoorsman himself, he was a bit surprised when he encountered the incredibly dangerous sport of…fishing.

In Karumba, in Tropical North Queensland, Dr. Stoltze got up close and personal with the old ‘fish hook in the arm’ trick when a barramundi angler showed up with an 8-inch lure completely embedded in his arm. (The enormous barrandi fish are so big they eat foods on the surface of the water, like baby swans! Barramundi are also a favorite food of crocodiles, which is why many barramundi fisherman go fishing armed with large bore pistols.)

Then there was the guy who, after dropping a 44-pound fish on his boat, treated himself with ‘Bundaberg’ (rum) therapy, showed up with a severed fingertip and ‘boxing’ injuries from punching out deck mates. Or the Aboriginal man who handled a stonefish, a potentially lethal fish with toxin-laced spines that cause muscle weakness, temporarily paralysis and death if not treated.

Up next for Dr. Stoltze? The brutal contact sport of...golf.

#2 Crawk-crawk my boyfriend’s back!

Jack Paap, MD, and his wife were enjoying an early morning in their cottage outside of Kuranda in tropical North Queensland in Australia, when “nature” called to Jill. She headed to the ‘loo’ (or ‘thunder box’, a quaint Aussies term for the bathroom), but seconds later Dr. Paap heard a shrill yelp followed by Jill racing back through the door – ‘underdaks’ and all around her ankles!

Turns out an Aussie tree frog found Jill’s bottom too much to resist.

Well-known to residents in the area (which is surrounded by a rainforest) this chubby green frog loves human dwellings, in particular the ones that amplify its mating call. Crawk-crawk. Crawk-crawk.

“It was so slimy!” says Jill.

With good reason: this climbing amphibian’s body is coated with a sticky secretion. Ewwww. (By the way, Jill was the lead singer for the 1960’s girl group, The Angels, who recorded the hit, “My Boyfriend’s Back” – hey la, hey la!)

#1 Waxy buildup or a cockroach in your ear?

In the capitol of the Australian Outback, Alice Springs, Dr. James Stempien found himself taking a life – that of a cockroach that had crawled into the ear of a local Aboriginal boy. “He came in complaining of pain and a loud noise in his ear,” says Dr. Stempien. Loud indeed: A cockroach inside your ear can make a real fracas. So Dr. Stempien asphyxiated the pest with olive oil, and then used the forceps to get the dead roach out in bits and pieces.

Dr. Stempien also recalls a stint in Barrow Creek, where the Arrernte Aboriginal tribe has lived for 20,000 years. Not realizing the bar also served as the clinic, he’d had a beer, but was then asked to see patients. The good doctor kept his beer imbibing to post-clinic hours after that.

Do you have your own locum life experience to share? Bring it on!