Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral

Wow, what a huge day - a lot of miles covered in our minibus - think 12 people and all their luggage scooting through narrow little lanes meeting crazy British drivers at each corner!
Along the way we visited Avebury (gorgeous manor house, village and stone circles), Stonehenge and finally the Salisbury Cathedral.

Stone circle at Avebury village

The size of both Stonehenge and the Cathedral were very impressive. Its amazing standing in a building built in the 1200's - it's also built over the path of 5 rivers and when we visited the water level was less than a metre under the floor!
Stonehenge has no time frame attached to it and its amazing to look at it and wonder how on earth they built it.

The amazing Stonehenge rocks

We found a fantastic Indian restaurant for tea and a quaint pub for our evening handover. Tomorrow I am Team Assistant and we are heading back past London to Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital and then back to London for a Jack the Ripper tour. Hope to catch up with Miranda (YAY!) tomorrow night to finalise plans for our day in London.

Spotted my first Robin Redbreast today

Fitzpatrick Referrals "Bionic Vet"

Another fantastic industry visit today - Fitzpatrick Referral Centre tucked away in Godalming, Surrey.

Our day included 2 surgical presentation lectures by the head nurse, a tour of the facility and a chat with Sam - a Melbourne veterinary science student doing a 1 year research placement at the referral centre.

There was only limited opportunity to take photos due to client privacy but what we saw was impressive. Well thought out ward set ups (glass doors on all cages), great equipment (every surgical and diagnostic toy imaginable) and fabulous facilities for clients and staff (think gym, conference room and virtual tours in waiting room).

Just one of the amazing plating procedures!

The practice has grown from a staff of approx 10 to over 50 in approximately 4 years. They mainly offer orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery's, hydrotherapy and physio. They also employ 3 physios who run the rehab programs with the surgeons.

Their vision is to remove or improve pain levels in their patients either by surgery or physical therapy. They look at the whole picture for the patient and make their recommendations according to what is in the best interests of the pet. Besides vets, residents, interns and nurses, they also have auxiliary staff who are dedicated to hand feeding, grooming and sitting with the patients in the wards. They are responsible for sending the patients home in the best possible condition as this is so important to the owners.

As the UK has a very high incidence of owners/patients with pet insurance, they are able to treat many cases that would be unaffordable in Australia. During our visit we saw 2 dogs with prosthetic limbs and Eric Clapton's dog was in for treatment! Definitely a facility for the rich and famous :)

When driving on to our accommodation (Manor House in Farnham - gorgeous!) we saw our first squirrel dash across the road, canal boats and an amazing old pub. Fabulous day - even with lots of rain!

Sheila and Joey with canal boats.

 

Tomorrow we travel to Salisbury, visiting Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral.

Royal Veterinary College - Hawkshead Campus

Today we toured the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in Hertfordshire. The RVC has a campus in Camden, London and the campus we visited in Hawkshead. The RVC was founded in 1791 and is the oldest English speaking veterinary college.

                                     

The college was established thanks to a race horse called Eclipse, who won every race he ever ran. When he died scientists wanted to conduct an autopsy to see why he was such an amazing racehorse. The autopsy revealed that he was normal except for an extra large heart which allowed him to pump increased amounts of blood throughout his body. Phar Lap also had an enlarged heart! The RVC was given royal charter in 1875.

The skeleton of Eclipse

 

It's the largest and only independent vet school in the UK. It's unique in that it only offers 3 courses - veterinary medicine, veterinary nursing and biomedical science. The college graduates approximately 210 veterinary science students and 60 veterinary nurses each year.
It's also home to the Queen Mother Hospital (a referral/second opinion hospital) which sees approx 10,000 cases per year. It employs over 200 staff and is the largest small animal hospital in the UK.
Our visit included a tour of both the college and the hospital - both of which are very impressive facilities. We also visited the Clinical Skills Centre and had a practical session on suturing - great fun and nice to try correct instrument handling.

Suturing prac at RVC - a surreal experience!

We also attended a veterinary nursing presentation by Sue Gregory - Professor of Veterinary Nursing. This was interesting as it broke down the veterinary nurse training pathways and explained the difference between a foundation science VN and a bachelor of science VN. These are university educated nurses with placement experience as opposed to vocational trained nurses, who work full/part time and study part time as we do in Australia.
It was a very informative day that gave us lots to think about!

We ended the day with tea at an Italian restaurant and handover for tomorrows excursion to see the "Bionic Vet" at Fitzpatrick Referrals in Surrey. We're hoping to see some very innovative surgery!

RSPCA visit

Our first industry visit has been to RSPCA Southridge Animal Centre, which is an adoption centre just outside of London. It's set on about 5 acres and caters for dogs, cats, livestock, small pocket pets and birds. Its was a great tour - we expected to be about an hour with our guide but it ended up being 2.5 hours :) We all had so many questions as there are many points of difference between the UK and Australia regarding council laws and the adoption process. Our tour guide Kirsty was great - she loves her job and was happy to answer all our questions.
As this is an adoption centre and not a council pound - they receive approx 600 dogs a year and would only about 10 of these would be considered not suitable for rehoming. Similar numbers for cats - with only about 14 fails. They even rehome FIV positive cats to indoors-only homes. Once an animal is reserved by a family for adoption, a home visit is organised to check fences, cages etc before the family can collect the pet.
The grounds were really clean and well looked after. The centre has a fundraising charity which help raise appox 55,000 BP per year to help pay costs to help support their no destruction policy.
Firsts for today included seeing gerbils, hamsters and dugus - all cute little guys that make great pets!



Cute little hamster in his tunnel



This little guy was adorable - wanted to tuck him in my case.

A dugus - these little guys chew their way through anything and everything.
 

Following our visit to the RSPCA we explored Hatfield where we are staying for 2 nights. Its a very quaint historical town and Hatfield House, which is part of the royal households, sits at the top of the town. Unfortunately it's not open to the public until Wednesday but we will go and explore its church tomorrow.
We went to look at a few of the very old pubs as Charles Dickens used to frequent them. They are so quaint and the locals are very friendly. I love the names of these pubs!

The 8 Bells - Charles Dickens' local pub when he performed at Hatfield House.

We had tea at the Red Lion - steak and ale pie was awesome.
Next on the agenda is our visit to the Royal Veterinary College - Hawkshead Campus. This is the most prestigious industry visit that we will be doing, so its BHI uniforms tomorrow.

Made it!

Well, we have landed safe and sound - all I can say is that I will never whinge about a 4 hour flight in Australia again!!!! After 24 hours it was so nice to stand up and stretch!
We had a transfer arranged to our hotel and then after quick shower (seriously needed) we went to organise SIM cards and find some tea. First meal in an English pub - yum.
Considering it is now 4am Monday morning Aussie time, we are doing really well to stay awake for another hour (its only 7.30pm Sunday UK time) as breakfast is 7.45am and then we are on the bus at 9am to visit the London RSPCA.
So glad I already had British Pounds exchanged as I was able to use them in Abu Dhabi and straight away at Heathrow. My UK SIM card has activated with no probs, so I'm good to go.
No sure if any of this actually makes sense as I'm so tired that the room is tilting a wee bit.....
Will update tomorrow and start adding pics!
Huge thanks to everyone for their best wishes and support in getting me here  xx

Counting down........

Only a week to go from today!
It's finally starting feel like this is actually happening. I'm both nervous and excited.

Throughout the past 6 weeks we have had 2 x pre-departure sessions at TAFE to discuss everything from our itinerary, luggage tips, proposed projects, money and phone options and so many more details. It's been great talking as a group and swapping ideas but I still have moments when I'm sure I've missed something important. Time will tell........

I've managed to get everything into one small case and carry on bag, so feeling pretty proud of myself. We have a minibus that needs to hold 12 people and all their luggage, so the challenge went out to keep our luggage to a minimum. In reality that is only 2 pairs of shoes for 3 weeks!  

We looked at many options for money and phones. I've purchased a UK sim card which I can activate at Heathrow Airport and then I can text home when I need too. Also I've converted money through Australia Post to take (no commission charges) and then use a debit VISA. I hope these are wise choices - I will keep you posted for future reference.

Lots of projects to finalise for work by Tuesday and then I can board the plane and not worry about them. There will be plenty more when I get back :)