Stories From The Road – Travel Nurse, Danika K. tells us about her adventure.
Imagine boarding a plane with no boarding pass or identification needed, just a tag on your luggage, which happens to include a cooler filled with fruits and veggies. Minutes before take-off the pilot comes to the back of the plane and says, “one exit at the back, fire extinguisher on your right, and please keep your seatbelt on” and walks back up to his cockpit. Then imagine you are flying over the thousands of ponds, rocks, and small trees spread across The Big Land. You are able to look through the crack in the door of the plane and notice the cool breeze seeping through. Upon landing, you see the ocean below and just off the coastline a small gravel path. This can’t possibly be the landing strip? Indeed, it was and I lived to tell the story. At the “airport” we didn’t know anything. No cell service, no idea how to get into town, no idea where the town was. Thankfully one of nurses from the clinic picked us up in a Grenfell-Health old Chevy pick-up truck. We arrived at the clinic and were directed up the stairs to our new home for the next few days. As we entered into the living room my eyes zeroed in on a comfy chair perfectly placed facing out the window at the ocean. Rigolet felt surreal. The town consists of about 300 very kind, welcoming, smiley people. Everyone waved and said hi when you walked past. The highlight of this trip was walking along the 8.4km boardwalk the community built. The first evening we walked along in awe of the surrounding mountains, smells of ocean, and incredible sunset. Out of nowhere I heard the blow hole of a whale, nothing was mentioned about whales in this area so I thought this must be my imagination. Then we heard a splash in the water and there he was. A “grumpus” whale (this is the name the people of Labrador gave the Minke whale). The rest of the evening was spent watching this whale hunt for fish along the shoreline (or play in the water, which was what it seemed he was doing). Rigolet is a truly inspiring, peaceful, magical place that I would go back to in a heartbeat.
Photos and story submitted by: Danika K. – Travel Nurse with Solutions Staffing Inc.
If you would like to submit a travel nurse photo and story to be featured on our broadcast, please send your story and picture to support@solutionsstaffing.ca
