Kate Foran, Tennant & District Times
If you’ve stepped inside Barkly Vet Practice the last few weeks and found the clinic chillier than normal, we’ve been accommodating our visiting Scottish vet, Bill McCance!
Bill flew into Australia, arriving in Darwin, then immediately jumped onto a Greyhound bus and travelled directly to Tennant Creek, and felt like he’d entered a furnace!
To be fair to Bill, the first week he was here, his wife sent him a video of snow falling in their home yard in Aberdeen, Scotland, so, our unseasonably warm April has felt very hot to him!
Bill has enjoyed his adventurous stay in Tennant. He’s been out to Tingkkarli/Lake Mary Ann each night for a cooling swim after work. He’s been kindly taken bush for some bird watching and photography by local enthusiast, Garry Voysey. He visited Karlu Karlu/Devils Marbles to appreciate the sacred iconic landscape of our region, and he’s learned more about the new local tick disease, Ehrlichiosis, than he ever expected to!
There’s been some intense surgery happening, along with plenty of routine vaccinations and treatments. Today is his last day here, and Bill reckons we’re finally turning on some decent cooler weather, just as he is departing!
It’s a rare insight into your own region, looking through the eyes of a visitor from afar. Bill has delighted in wild flocks of budgerigars that he’s seen out bush. We showed him that the Barkly Region alone is five times the area of Scotland, and he has marvelled at the long distances some clients have brought their dogs in from. He has enjoyed the night skies and the wide open spaces, and been intrigued by the antics of local camp dogs. Regular clinic staff, Shoni and Kate, hosted a curry dinner out at the Dam one lovely sunset. Bill really enjoyed the visiting peacocks and all the birdlife out there.
We wish him well for the rest of his stay in Australia! He’s off now to the sister clinic in Victoria, a climate that will feel much more familiar to him!
Farewell Bill, and thanks for all your good work with our Barkly pets.
This article appeared in Tennant & District Times, 22 April 2022.
