Australia Flying Doctors

VA2Aussie

Considering our very active agenda, is there any time when we could tour the Flying Doctors facility?
I think the closest is near Queensland. If there is a facility close to Melbourne that would be great.

I volunteer at an area children's hospital, therefore I am interested in how they handle emergencies, etc.
Weekly I am a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) cuddler. We hold the little ones that are grumpy when nurses or parents are not available. Some of our babies weigh in at 1 lb. 2 oz (approximately 23 week gestation). Of course at that weight only the assigned doctor and nurse touch them. It is just a miracle watching them grow and eventually gain strength to go home.

One of the other volunteers toured Australia in October with another company.
The flying doctor experience was part of their package. They even got a chance to visit an Aborigini school.

Richardb

We did this trip last October and I particularly wanted to visit a Flying Doctor base but sadly that was just not possible within the schedule. There is a base at Alice Springs, but you are just there for lunch, and one at Cairns but it is much too far away from the hotel for even a taxi break.
I went to the Cairns base about 10 years ago.
You can see their web at http://www.flyingdoctor.org.au/. The service is truly inspiring. It saved the life of my daughter's boyfriend in outback Queensland 5 years ago and I still support it financially from the UK, but would have loved to have been able to get to a Base again.
The main Queensland base is at Brisbane Airport.
I think this is a sad omission from the Tauck itinerary. I am sure that a visit to a Base would be mutually beneficial for both the Tour participants and the base itself if only from a merchandise point of view.
Enjoy tour tour - it is great even with this omission.
Richard

OzJohnno

Looking at the itinerary the nearest you come to a Flying Doctor base is when you visit Cairns. The base is in a Cairns suburb and not that far away from the city centre but a visit would depend on how much free time you had in Cairns. I'm sure your TD will be able to help you out at the time.

Richardb

The stay at Cairns is at the Kewarra Beach Resort & Spa, which is a beautiful place. You will arrive late evening then have two very full days. One day on the Gt Barrier Reef and another in the Rain forest. There is an early ( 0430) hot air balloon trip too if you want it.
The resort is some 15km north of Cairns. I found that the time here is very full on, so unless you want to sacrifice one of the all day terrific trips there is absolutely no time enough to get to RFDS and back during the daytime when RFDS base will be open.
Very disappointing I agree, but if you really do want to sacrifice one of the major trips I am sure the TD will facilitate that for you.