Australia's Flying Doctors

                                              Busy Medical Service

     Wireless, wings, and stethoscopes---Down Under that refers to the Royal Flying Doctor Service. I looked forward to and was fascinated with the interesting visit to the service  in the middle of the Australian Outback.

    In a small auditorium we viewed a fantastic film of the Service in action, learning that the service started in1928 with one plane. Today, in Alice Springs, the Service operates with six doctors, six nurses, six pilots, three planes and three engineers.  The goal is to do three clinics a day or 1000 a year in the Outback.

    Everyone works a 12-hour shift for two days, has one day off and then repeats. The  annual budget is 9-million dollars. Tourists involved in accidents, many at Uluru or Ayers Rock, account for 18% of their calls, and most of the averaged five evacuations a day are also from Uluru.

     A drug box containing 100 drugs packaged by number, not name, is kept at numerous outposts around the country. Much prescribing is  done by phone. The Service at Alice Springs covers an area of 70 kilometers in any direction from the city. The population of this area, including the city, is approximately 16,000. The pilots have access to 150 air-strips. The entire Service covers 2.3 million square kilometers.

    Today the Service is in the hands of six mainland sections, each having one or more radio control stations. There are 16 base locations around the country from which Flying Doctors operate. In total the Service employs 27 doctors, 58 nurses, 65 pilots, 34 engineers, 51 admin staff,46 mechanics and other staff and 9 general hands.

    No other service in the world operates over such a vast territory providing such a comprehensive health service. They are not merely an aerial ambulance, but a remote area health care provider. They are 2 hours or less from each location. What a fantastic service and outfit!

Fabulous Opera House

                                         Sydney's most Unique Building

     I  have seen a lot of historic and beautiful buildings, but I was intrigued with one of the most notable landmarks in the world---the Sydney Opera House, touring it both times when in Australia.

     Standing the height of a 22-story building  and facing the harbor, the sailed structure has quite a history. Enormous controversy and debate existed in 1959 with the inception of the idea for an opera house. The dazzling and dramatic design of Danish architect, Joern Utzon, won an international competition. The technology did not exist in the 1950s to build the sails that form the roof and walls, B U T

     Built in three stages, the original cost estimate was $7-million dollars with a projected construction time of four years. But as most often happens, the cost actually was $102-million and construction took 15 years!  A special lottery paid the additional bills and the opera house was completely paid for by mid-1970, just two years after opening.

     One day while peeling an orange Utzon  had the inspiration to construct the shells from rib sections forming the skeleton of the building,  then prefabricated and joined together with 217-miles of tension steel. In 1966 Utzon resigned from the project and a team of  Australian architects took over the project, completing stage two in about a year. The 1,056,000 white Swedish tiles covering the roof appear as a mosaic.

     The term Opera House is really a misnomer as it is actually a performing arts center housing 1000 rooms including the opera theater, concert hall, reception hall, drama theater, five rehearsal studios, four restaurants, six theater bars, many foyers and lounge areas, 60 dressing rooms, library, admin offices and extensive plant and machinery areas.

     The power supply, adequate for a city of 25,000, involves 400 miles of electrical cable run from 120 distribution boards. There are 12 miles of air conditioning duct. How would you like to trouble shoot those systems.

    It is truly a fantastic building and one that is recognized around the world.