Day 0 - Media Day

Monday saw the Dig For The Doctors appeal kick off with a trip up to Kippa Ring to collect the team shirts... which weren’t ready. Undeterred we headed back to the RFDS base at Brisbane airport, where we met with Katrina Garvin, Nino (QLD RFDS CEO) and many others who work hard to keep the RFDS in the air.


Whilst at the base we were shown around the hanger, and learnt of the ever increasing demands on RFDS services in rural and remote areas of Queensland, much of which can be attributed to the greater population working in mining or associated industries.

Cosy Conditions Inside the New RFDS Beechcraft King Air B200

We then made our way to the offices of the Courier Mail for a brief interview, before heading south to the offices of Philcomm, where we were presented with their contribution to our appeal – two Icom UHF/VHF handheld radio’s, and a satellite phone for emergencies. Many thanks to Fred and his team, we sincerely hope we don’t have to use the sat phone.

Neil, Tom and Katrina in the Brisbane RFDS Hangar

The rest of the day passed in a flurry of pre trip packing, arranging, unpacking and rearranging. Neil collected the shirts, then proceeded to wash them with a pocketful of stickers. Many thanks go to K and T who worked on the shirts until late that night to clean up the resulting mess.