Another small town

Mitchell, Queensland! Love it!

When I first found out that I would be going to Mitchell, and even more so after I saw the population on Wikipedia (1,000), I was a little apprehensive about spending two weeks in a town half the size of Bethel. That was, of course, before I met all of the wonderful people from Mitchell. Today marks the week mark of our arrival here.

The nursing quarters that we are staying in are really nice. We have a nice kitchen, nice bathrooms, heaters in our rooms, and a big TV in the living room. The best part may be that it is a 30sec walk to the hospital. The hospital is a small community hospital, but it is rarely quiet. We have four permanent residents which keep us on our toes, as well as various other outpatients that come to the hospital presenting with loads of different problems. Clearly I cannot divulge any of these problems, but I have been getting a proper nursing training. Which I was skeptical of before arriving. The nurses and other staff at the hospital have been so accommodating and incredibly nice since we have arrived. I feel like I've been here for such a long time. It's funny to get back into that small town feel and remember that everyone IS related and everyone DOES know everyone's business.

Mitchell itself is a quaint little town. Being the "Gateway to the Outback" it is very flat and looks a lot like grasslands. There is one main street with two grocery stores, a hardware store, two clothing stores, a butcher, a bakery, and a pharmacy. Most of the corners in town have hotels on them, with bars beneath. The side streets are mainly filled with homes, and a few restaurants or bottle shops. There is also one gas station. :)

Lauren and I had our one day off yesterday (Saturday) and we crammed it full of popular Mitchell activities. We woke up early-ish and went to the Spa. It's called a Spa, but it isn't a spa as we would think of in the US. It is essentially a natural hot-spring pool. The water was right around 100 degrees and it felt so good. There was another pool right next to the hot one that was kept at 70 degrees. Needless to say, I only went in there for the amount of time it took me to jump in and climb out as fast as possible. We felt a little out of place as we slipped into the massive hot tub with twenty other people from Mitchell... who probably all said to themselves: "Who are these people?" Regardless, we hung out for about an hour and a half before going back to the nursing quarters to get ready for the "Pink Bowls!" Now Bowls, or Lawn Bowling, is a popular sport here in Australia and is very similar to Bocce Ball. You stand on a rectangular court with 4 people per team, two bowls (NOT balls - even though they are spherical) per person, and a small white ball called a "Jack" which you are trying to come close to with your balls. Now, this particular game was called "Pink-Bowls" because it was raising money for Breast Cancer Research. Lauren and I were put on a team with two unfortunate, but very friendly and helpful bowls-veterans. I say unfortunate because, had they not had us on their team, the score may not have been 25-2 at the end. I would like to point out that Lauren and I each scored one of those two points that our team had. No big deal. The main difference between Bowls and Bocce is that there are 16 bowls all in all, and that they are unequally weighted: one size is heavier than the other, so the ball turns while rolling. Clearly this would be the case... make it harder than it already is. There was a raffle at the end of the day and one of my two tickets was picked to win a... Barbecue Kit. Complete with spatula, tongs, a machete-like knife, skewers and corn-on-the-cob handles. Now, what was I going to do with a BBQ Set?! I ended up giving it to one of the younger nurses who works at the hospital who said she needed one. In the end, we had a very fun day learning bowls, having a few beers, and meeting some great Mitchell people.

After the Bowls we went to an opening for the new historical society museum in town. There they had a traditional outback dinner where large holes are dug into the ground where heaps of hot coals are poured in, the food put in, then covered and cooked underground. Everything was delicious! There were two types of soups as the first course: Pumpkin and Pea and Ham. After that it was the main course which was a beef stew and also a curried sausage dish. These were sided with a traditional bread called Damper, which tasted much like shortcake. Desert was apple pie with custard and cream poured over it... SO RICH! It was a delicious meal and it was also very nice company. Afterward, Lauren and I were so tired that we walked back to the nurses quarters and called it an early night.

I have the morning off, but will be working a late shift tonight (2:30-11pm). Doing shift work has been interesting, and it's getting me excited for actually having a job at this time next year!

So Mitchell is great... and I'll be sad to leave on Friday. But I do plan to go to Byron Bay for a few days this weekend, or maybe next weekend. We'll see.

Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!