Okay, so I'm not actually based in Sydney. I just liked the title. And, lets face it, the Coast, where I'm based now, isn't the most metropolitan area in Australia.

But, for the next six weeks, I'm out at a wee town called SQuIRT. Yep, Some Queensland Isolated Rural Town. SQuIRT, population <500.

My colleagues are getting shunted to various outposts, inposts and mid-posts across greater Queensland. For some, they've never heard of where they're going. Others have been allocated towns they're most familiar with, either through growing up there or nearby, or because it's a gun holiday spot, or even because their destination is well covered by the mainstream media for 'health issues'. Mostly, though, people haven't had much of a say in where they've been sent.

Actually, I'm pretty sure the choice comes down to Regional, Rural or Remote and the AIHW published a list of several methodologies to define the terms.

Due to SQuIRT's surrounding area and population (about 1,500 all told), I think it qualifies as Remote. However, the proximity of other main centres somewhat lessens the designation on a number of scales, which peg it back variously to 'Outer Regional' or 'Moderately Accessible'. Either way, it's bloody small.

I'd never heard of SQuIRT until it popped up in the MedSchool's email. Not surprising, I guess, given that SQuIRT's not the most populous, not the most acclaimed and certainly not the most marketable joint in Queensland. No worries.

I've got a few plans for my time at SQuIRT; some medicine related, others not so much. Plenty of reading (non-med and med, too), and hopefully some good kms on Rosie, my bike. This is, of course, dependent on the roads being a) suitably metalled and, b) not competing with road-trains for tarmac.

I will say that I'm very much looking forward to living in a small town; meeting new people, seeing what's important in their lives and, well, getting into the routine of rural life in SQuIRT. Oh, and Rural Medicine? I'm definately into that. No worries at all.