This is housed in a building noted to be the "largest pyramid in the Southern Hemisphere". I was surprised at how much stuff was crammed into a building that didn't look that large from the outside- the magic of the pyramids I guess. Besides very nice galleries of art, natural history, and local historical objects, there is a tuatara breeding program and a great exhibit called "Beyond the Roaring Forties- New Zealands SubAntarctic Islands". The tuatara is a unique reptile, sole survivor of its order from the time of the dinosaurs, and lives only on a few offshore islands in New Zealand. "Henry", the icon of the museum is over 100 years old, and is quite a specimen. I was intriged to see the small fused "feathers" that form these animals dorsal spines.
The highlight of the museum however, was the art exhibit, "Te Ara O Takitimu/ The Path of Takitimu" by William Berry. Vicki and I were both struck by the unusual pictures of this exhibit, which featured landscapes covered with calligraphy. The writing included small diagrams from history and geology textbooks, mariner's maps and other sources that formed a palimpsest over the colors of the topography. At first it looks busy or odd, but then you get up close and read the paragraphs and look at the diagrams. As you step back, or look at the picture from across the room, suddenly the landscape jumps out at you, and you see it not only in 3D space, but also in dimensions of time and culture. Very memorable. We were impressed enough that we bought one of the pictures this week. After our museum visit, we took a walk through Queen's Park. This lovely English-style park includes a beautiful Winter Garden (greenhouse) and an Aviary. The aviary was great- I finally got to see some keas up close. They are huge mountain parrots, the size of one of our bald eagles. And obviously quite intelligent- I'm sure he was sizing me up for dinner as we looked at each other through the cage wire. I can see how they could eat live sheep and destroy car windshield wipers and hikers packs.
Sunday we dragged Liz out and took her for a walk up in the Forest Hill reserve. This lovely chunk of bush is only 5 minutes from Winton. We parked the car at the Forest Hill cemetary and walked 2 km up the road to the trail head, then up into the bush and all the way to the lookout. There was snow on the Takitumu and in Fiordland mountains, and for the first time we could see all of Stewart Island off to the south. This was the third time Vicki and I have walked up there, but this time there were more tui than I have ever seen before. They were singing like mad, and I managed to get a few photographs (difficult!) and record their amazing song.
I worked 4 days this week, and last evening took the 1st call at the Urgent Doctor clinic in Invercargill. I sent both of the first 2 patients over to the hospital for appendicitis. The first, a young lady planning to go to the school ball this weekend, had a fever of 39, shaking chills and a 3 day history of abdominal pain which her mum had treated by taking her to the massage therapist. The therapist sent her over to me last night, but I suspect her appendix had already burst. The second patient was dragged in by her husband who told me she'd been in agony with "back pain" for 2 days. On exam she had focal tenderness in the right local quadrant. The surgical registrar was not happy to get 2 calls from me within 30 minutes, but at least I sent the third abdominal pain patient (who showed up later in the evening) home with instructions for treating constipation.
Tomorrow we take our last "expedition" of this trip to Stewart Island. I'm looking forward to a long weekend of hiking, eating, shopping and hanging out with Liz and Vicki. I have only 5 weeks left now, and Vicki leaves in about 2 weeks. Some of the older patients that I have bonded with, have started to wish me goodbye. Its clear that they know they will not see me again in their lifetimes, as they tell me, "its been nice knowing you, and thanks for coming to work here in Winton". It wil be nice to get a break, as I know it will be tough to say all the goodbyes to come.
