Day 13 – Friday 16/1

Early this morning James, Nadia and I popped into the community radio station during Joanie’s show and we were invited to speak live on air. James and I declined – the shy print journos we are – but Nadia jumped at the chance and spoke eloquently about her experiences in Hedland so far. After Joanie’s show we stayed at the station and spoke to Grant Bussel about his passion for the environment and local issues high on his agenda. He is a very dedicated man and it is good to see people like him having an influential role in local politics.

We then headed to CUCRH where Nadia and I added the final touched to our story about Rosi Hogben – netballer. Our only problem was that the guys at the telegraph were after a more ‘sporty’ photo of Rosi rather than the one we took of her standing in the dress shop she works in. Nadia and I tried calling Rosi but she wasn’t answering, so we paid her a visit at the dress shop and asked is there is any way we could get some photos of her playing netball/holding a netball etc. Rosi told us she would email some photos through as soon as eh got home.

In the afternoon I called the Telegraph to see if they needed anymore stories and Liam said they did, so I followed up some information I had received from Joanie about the construction of the new yacht club. I called the Commodore of the yacht club, John Bartlem, and he was very helpful. I managed to write the story in about twenty minutes and John gave me permission to use a photo of the proposed yacht club that was online so I had no need to take a picture for my article. The guys at the Telegraph were pretty happy with my story and it should go in next week’s paper.

Tonight Nadia and I went to a barbeque on Cemetery beach that was held for some hospital staff due to leave on the weekend. James was invited too but stayed at home because he was very tired. Nadia and I spoke to Claire – a midwife working at the local hospital who is originally from NZ. She told us all about the midwifery system in NZ and their focus on home-care. It sounds a lot better than the system we have over here and Claire seemed quite frustrated with the services provided in Australia for pregnant women. We also spoke to Pete, a Pediatrician who is going back to Perth on Sunday. He told us a bit about what he has done up here and I arranged to have a proper interview with him on Sunday.