Driving on the islands

I have been here for a week now and the first thing that I am moved to write about is driving.  So far I have been from the northern end of North Uist down to the southern end of South Uist, a distance of some 76Km.  My work vehicle is a Peugeot van, that has surprising off road capability. (I regularly drive over the machair sand country to yards to see cattle).

The roads here have no roadside markers and most are made of tarseal that has been laid on the ground with very little cutting or filling.  The result is a very undulating road which you frequently loose into hollows and over low rises.  On top of this is the fact that most are also single lane with passing bays randomly on one side of the road or the other.

Driving is a social event on the islands, everybody waves to each other, but it is not a relaxing occupation.   As most of the roads are single lane, tarseal with passing bays as I have already said, this results in a constant long distance game of chicken. 
As you drive you scan the road as far ahead as you can; several meters up to a kilometer.  On seeing a car you carry out a rapid mental calculation.  (a), where are the passing bays between me and him, (b), at our combined approach speed which passing bay will we be closest to at point of "impact", (c), do I need to slow or speed up to meet him at the selected passing bay.  Given that you are both travelling at 80 to 100 km/hr, do not know each other and have different levels of aggression and local knowledge several outcomes are possible.

The ideal outcome is that you both meet simultaneously at a passing bay and flash past each other at a combined speed of 120Km/hr on a length of two lane road 2 to 3 car lengths long.  Less ideal outcomes involve one, or both parties stopping or even one having to backup.  Emergency stops when meeting oncoming traffic on blind corners are not uncommon, however actual crashes seem to be rare.
Doing this in the dark (after 6 pm) adds a whole additional level of complication.
The other local behaviour is to pull over into a passing bay to let a faster car behind them pass.  This works well, but apparently the tourists that come in Summer have a lot of problems with this idea.

Arrival and first impressions

Take 2 (the first attempt just vanished into the ether)

Many people, on hearing what we are doing have told me that I must be mad, including the taxi driver that took us to the airport.  He thought that we were both brave (letting a stranger stay in out house) and mad.  The general considered opinion is that it is both dark, cold, wet and windy and that you won't be able to understand the locals because of their thick Scottish accent.  So far the exact reverse has turned out to be the case.
We landed at Benbecula airport on a clear, calm sunny Friday.  It is now Sunday and the weather has been sunny and calm all the time.   It is cold however, minus 1 over night and a daytime high of about 7C.   We are having the best and warmest weather of all of the UK however. 

 

Plane to the Hebrides at Glasgow 

I do realise that it is not going to be like this all the time, but it is a nice start.  The next door neighbour's wind turbine blew down last week (30,000 GBP damage) in a storm.
The plane that flew us here from Glasgow was a SAAB turbo prop that could take 30 passengers.  But that didn't reduce the security, you even had to take off your boots for x raying, and there were police with rifles in the arrivals lounge.   (They did have a ram raid at Glasgow airport a few years ago so take security very seriously)
Tonight is Sunday night and I have started work being on call and sole charge for the next couple of weeks. 

 

Loch behind the house Sunday morning

 

My initial impressions of the islands are very positive and as for the accent it is hardly there.  The Gaelic is spoken differently to Scottish brogue so the locals hardly sound Scottish at all.

Departure

Well the day has finally come and we are on our way to the UK and ultimately the Outer Hebrides by the end of the week.  I feel that I am going to spend a lot of time talking about the weather.  It has been the second true weekend of summer in Helensville.  Clear skies, a light breeze and a temperature in  the high 20's.  In  27 hours time we will land in Manchester to a daytime high of 9 and partly cloudy.  The driver taking us to the Airport thinks we are both a, mad, as we are going to get 3 winters in a row; and b, brave, as we are letting a stranger live in our house.
We had the usual manic last week before leaving, not helped by the launch night for Vet Tales at TVNZ on Wednesday night and a Fire Brigade evening on the Friday.  The best though was my last job on the Friday afternoon- a 7 day old RFM that turned out to be a retained mummified foetus.  Nothing like saving the best until last.
Any way we are now ensconced in the Emirates lounge at Auckland airport as we bit the bullet and purchased business class seats (old age and no children with you leads you to these things).  The final challenge is going to be getting below the weight restrictions for the flight from Glasgow to Bencecula, it may be messy.

T minus 30

Well it is now 30 days until we (my wife, Maureen and I) leave Helensville, New Zealand and head off to the other end of the world to the Outer Hebrides off the North West coast of Scotland.  This all came about as a result of one of the Vets from the "Southern Isles Veterinary Practice" getting in contact with my practice "Vets North" and proposing a job swap.  (The names of the two practices are both ironically wrong.  It just goes to show it all depends on your perspective).  So now I am off to the island of North Uist and he is coming to the town of Helensville.
This trip has been at least a year in the making and several people have asked me why??
I have always been keen on the outdoors, and the idea of working in remote places has always appealed.  Back in the 1980s just after the end of the Falklands war I applied for a 2 year vet job on the Falkland Islands.  I was quite happy to take my wife and kids there, I reckoned it would be a great adventure.  Unfortunately I didn't get the job.  Don't get me wrong I love living and working in Helensville, and I don't want to move to these out of the way places, I just want to go and live there for a while, try and get to understand the place and the people who do live there.
So we are off on Waitangi day, the middle of a warm, dry New Zealand Summer to arrive a week later in a cold, damp, dark Scottish Winter.  But the weather will improve, the days will get longer and Spring will come.  If the Outer Hebrides are all about the weather you might as well see the best (or worst) of it.
The part of the Outer Hebrides that we are going to is the central island grouping of North and South Uist and Benbecula.  The three islands are joined by causeways and have a total population of about 4000.  The islands are connected to the mainland by ferry service and flights to Glasgow (1 hour).  I will be living is the local vet's house in the village of Clachan on North Uist.