The Flying Optometrist

One of the more picturesque communities we visit is Kintore, known locally as Walungurru.
530km west of Alice Springs in the Pintubi homelands, Kintore is home to approximately 450 residents of predominantly Pintubi speakers with a small population of Luritja and some Warlpiri people.
We felt very special when collected at the airstrip by our ‘very own’ Kuru (Eye) Doctor troupie!
We were also lucky to stay in one of the new clinic units - a 2 bedroom transportable fitted out with all the mod cons. While the big fence and gates are a requirement don’t be alarmed - we love going to Kintore, the people are great and we always feel very safe and welcome there.

Time to visit Finke River Community, named for the usually dry Finke River - one of the oldest river systems dating back 350 million years. It is home to approximately 160 Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara speakers who know it as Aputula.
Finke was established as a railway siding on the original Ghan railway line until 1981 when the railway line was relocated 150km to the west.
Unless you are lucky enough to have wings access today is by a 434km road which follows the old Ghan route from the Alice and through Titjikala.
Of course these days Finke’s claim to fame is through the annual Finke Desert Race but that’s a story for another day!

Meet VH-ZMT, affectionately known as Zip, the latest addition to the Flying Optometrist family.
The Cessna 210 was purchased earlier this year. It offers better fuel efficiency, faster flying and the flexibility of not having to rely on our previous plane, which we hired, being available.
Thanks to an underspend in last years budget we have also added a series of lightweight pelican cases to transport all of our equipment - easier to pack and stack compared to the $5 op shop suitcases we used for the first few years!
Once Jo removes 2 of Zip’s seats it is still a bit like a game of Tetris getting everything in but it works!

The theme for Book Week 2023 was ‘Read, Grow, Inspire’.
What a great opportunity for Jo to share his experiences as Central Australia’s Flying Optometrist with a visit to Bradshaw Primary School to read The Flying Optometrist to some very inquisitive students from Years 2 and 3.
This is Jo’s third year of Book Week visits where he reads the book, shares some stories and pictures of his adventures in some of our remote communities and answers a myriad of ‘interesting’ questions ranging from ‘What if you run out of petrol, forget to pack your water, crash or get lost?’
It’s always a fun visit and, who knows, maybe Jo will inspire our next budding pilots or optometrists by sharing his passion for both.

Final instalment of our CLC Ranger Camp experiences - we saved the best (and scariest) for last.
Rex Neindorf from Alice Springs Reptile Centre took the Rangers through their paces learning how to safely catch and contain Western Brown and Mulga snakes.

Success for the Ranger Camp tracking mob - fresh perentie for supper tonight!
Guess what - it tasted like chicken 😁

Central Land Council Ranger Camp - camp being the operative word.
Swags are the usual camp fare but the mosquitoes were particularly friendly this year so mozzie domes were a must.
Our comfy camp chairs were also very popular in the ‘waiting room’ - Camilla was more than happy to relax while she waited her turn.
Of course no camp experience is complete without a nutritious breakfast to kick off the day!

Bush trips sometimes call for ingenuity and flexibility- Central Land Council Ranger Camp is one of these times….
Jo consulted out of one of the unairconditioned bunkhouses while Andrea’s waiting room cm office was a shade structure.
The weather in late March was not particularly kind - 38 degrees every day.
The metal structure leaning against the wall of Jo’s room is a set of bunk beds that we pulled apart to create more room.
The window had been screwed shut - Jo’s trusty drill fixed that.
One of our particularly busy days saw Andrea working into the late evening - her camping head torch came in handy for finishing off those last minute notes!

One of Jo’s annual trips is a week out bush for Central Land Council Ranger Camp. Over 150 indigenous rangers at Ross River for a week of training in a range of different areas - 4 wheel driving, snake catching, dispute resolution, first aid, tracking, media studies and more.
The Rangers travel from far and wide - Warburton and Blackstone (WA), Kintore, Docker River, Nyirripi, Lajamanu, Kiwirrkurra and Kalkaringi to name a few.
The mob from Kalkaringi had been staying in Darwin as serious flooding had seen their community evacuated - they flew down. Everyone else travelled by road - some of them across 3 days.
Jo spent the week doing eye checks - almost 60 across 3 days.
The weather was pretty cruel - 38 degrees every day is not much fun when the office/waiting room is a shade shelter and the consulting room is a bunkhouse with no air conditioning 🥵.
Stay tuned for some of our Ranger Camp adventures over the next few weeks 😉

So many amazing landmarks to see when travelling with The Flying Optometrist

The Flying Optometrist has 6 remote communities on his ‘dance card’. They each average 2 visits a year ranging from 2-5 days each depending on the population.
The communities range in distance from Alice Springs with Finke being the closest at 317km south and Elliott the furthest at 761km north.
Elliott is the only community we visit that can be reached by a sealed road but is still an 8 hour drive.

We get to see, and sometimes meet, a wide variety of interesting creatures on our travels….
Some of the dogs can be a bit cheeky, but in a good way.
We have been advised to always carry a stick when out walking though - cheeky on communities can also mean vicious. So far we’ve only encountered cheeky good!!

The roads less travelled…….there’s nothing like the rich colours of an outback dirt road in Central Australia. Even the grey bitumen is surrounded by the warmth of that red, red dirt.

The Flying Optometrist’s day starts early when heading off to communities. So many beautiful sunrises…….

The Flying Optometrist visits Yulara and Uluṟu a few times a year.
We are often too busy to get to see Uluṟu other than from the air as we fly in and out.
On our last visit for 2022 we were treated to something not many visitors get to see - rain on The Rock. There was no way we were going to miss out on a close up view!

Today we said good bye to a friend and true Territorian, Chris Connellan. Chris was a very generous and humble man. He was involved with many local organisations, including the Connellan Airways Trust, which has provided support to many people living and working in outback Australia, including myself. In 2017, I was the inaugural recipient of the Roger Connellan Award which enabled me to achieve a night and instrument rating. It was fitting that this morning we took off from the Connellan Airport in Yulara before sunrise to make it home for the funeral.

On our last visit to Nyirripi we used a story book written in language to assess some of our patients vision after they were given their glasses.
One of the authors was Tiger Tjapaljarri Morris.
Pictured holding the book is his grand daughter, she was very excited to tell me all about it and proudly have her photo taken for The Flying Optometrist social media pages.

Jo checked Gerrard and Charlene’s eyes in Kintore last week and they both need glasses.
Gerrard was in Alice Springs doing some training this week so was able to collect his new specs. Looking pretty deadly there Gerrard, and even better - he was thrilled at being able to see everything so clearly.
We don’t often get to hand deliver specs - we post them out to the relevant communities. It’s a bonus when we can see the excitement on the faces when putting them on for the first time 😊
Charlene is looking forward to getting hers soon too!

How’s this for an ingenious lock/key system!
Visiting communities can sometimes present challenges:-
Jo’s accommodation in Kintore last week was not quite as secure as usual after the previous visitors managed to snap the key off in the lock.
Not an easy fix with the closest hardware store a 9 hour drive away. Easily fixed - but I do wonder how many matching ‘keys’ there may have been around the place.
NOTE - everything was safe and sound for the duration of our stay 😁

The Flying Optometrist is thinking of changing his name to Rainman - on each of our trips to Kintore (Walungurru) over the past 18 months it has rained while we were there.
This trip it rained practically non stop for 12 hours - the ranges were draped in low cloud the next morning.
Luckily it cleared enough for our departure later that day.

Kintore (Walungurru) evening walk and the sunset never disappoints.
Accommodation on communities varies but is (almost!) always clean and comfortable - we were spoilt with very nice converted shipping container apartments this visit.

It’s Book Week 2022 so Jo visited Bradshaw Primary School to read The Flying Optometrist and talk about his work to Year 2 classes 2C (Chunys) and 2L (Liddle)
The students were very attentive and asked a lot of very good questions about eyes, eye tests and glasses.
They were also very interested to know what would happen if Jo’s plane ran out of fuel or what he would do if he had to land in the middle of the desert and had forgotten to pack his emergency water supply 😁
Thank you 2C and 2L for being such a great audience!

Artwork is used right across the community of Kintore (Walungurru)……the Kurru Doctor? - that’s us, the Eye Doctor!

The Flying Optometrist headed out to Kintore (Walungurru) last week……so many amazing landmarks to see on the way there.

Manmade, a natural phenomena or 👽 ??
We noticed these perfectly concentric circles on the ground when flying back to Alice Springs from Yulara.
It was clearly visible at 9,500ft so they certainly aren’t small.
Any ideas who, what, when or why?

It’s always fun meeting the four legged locals when visiting remote communities.
Meet some of the Nyirripi characters……

After a long break due to Covid restrictions on remote communities The Flying Optometrist is finally back in the sky and on track to deliver eye care to some of the remotest areas in Central Australia.