Yulara township was the service centre for Uluru and sat outside the national park. The village was set around a circular roadway, approximately twenty kilometres distant from Uluru and fifty kilometres from Kata Tjuta. A hub of different levels of accommodation, from high-end to backpacker, with a shop and tour office, bus service and restaurants, the centre was self-sufficient on the whole and was surrounded by desert. The airport was a further ten minute’s drive away.

The medical centre and ambulance bay were both small, ground-level buildings set amid gardens and pedestrian paths that ran alongside the roadway. The medical centre ran as a weekday-only modern clinic, catering for locals and tourists who suffered minor injuries, mild medical conditions that needed monitoring, dressings and assessments, as well as being a centre for the critical transfer of emergency patients. Although it was well connected to telephone and internet higher-level support from Alice Springs and the RFDS, those too sick to deal with at the centre were airlifted or road-transported out to higher care as soon as possible.

Still, the excellent first-line emergency treatment onsite at the centre saved lives prior to such transfers. Usually it was a slow-paced general practice type of clinic, and Ava hoped this two-day visit would prove to be typical. However, when she pulled up outside the clinic, her best friend, Denise, a statuesque, ebony-skinned Anangu woman, was already waiting outside the door for her to arrive.

She’d known Denise since they were children. Ava knew most of the families from the local Anangu community, many as artists, and neighbours who hunted on lands adjacent to her family property – but she and Denise had struck a close bond from the outset. Denise, who was an artist and traditional healer, had a wicked sense of humour, and she and Ava had become known over the years as the laughing pair. Between Denise’s strong-boned face and gorgeous black plaits, and Ava’s blonde hair and blue eyes, they were a striking pair, and the fact that they laughed a lot together drew even more attention.

The two women hugged in greeting. Ava unlocked the door to the clinic and Denise followed her in. The nurse hadn’t arrived yet and Ava switched on the air conditioner to cool the room before any patients arrived.

‘You been out at Mutitjulu? I can feel your peace.’

Ava smiled. Denise just knew things sometimes. ‘Yes. Amelia’s day today.’

Denise hugged her again. ‘Thought it was.’ An unusually harried look crossed Denise’s face and Ava frowned. Her friend said, ‘I need you to visit the local community to see someone today. Maybe at morning tea time?’