Ballarat is one of those places that manage to combine much of what makes Melbourne marvellous with a truly Victorian sense of space and serenity. Dr Cameron Taverna, originally from Echuca, says "I really enjoy it. The town is very active and diverse.'' He appreciates its compactness:

"It is a whole heap easier to have a life-work balance when your travelling times are down. I live what is considered across town, and if I leave on my bike 10 minutes before I need to be there I can do it.''

Medicine has always been Dr Taverna's passion. "But maybe without understanding what it was. That is probably a common experience for people who have come from families that have not been involved with medicine. It is easy to underestimate how difficult and demanding the lifestyle and  the work really is.''

For his first rotation for the year, Dr Taverna is working in obstetrics and gynaecology. "I really enjoy it, for most of the people who come in it is a very special and joyful experience. They are basically well and we are helping with a normal, natural process.'' In the long term Dr Taverna is aiming at general practice.

Outside the hospital, where one part of health care is delivered, out in the community you realise that so much is happening, all those steps upstream of when people land in hospital. It's a big divide. Hospitals are a system, a machine. It depends if you want to be part of that or if you want to be independent and self-managing.

"I want to help where help is needed,'' explains Intern Dr Buddhika Mudugamuwa. That is why I wanted to experience a rural health system here in Ballarat...

"My whole family is in medicine, my exposure from childhood has been to medicine, I like caring for people, talking to people, listening to their problems and assisting them when they need help. Through school I wanted to become a doctor and finally I got the chance. Then I wanted to practice in a country where the health system is more advanced. I had the opportunity in Australia, so I took it.''

Ballarat is a long way from Sri Lanka, but it has made Dr Mudugamuwa welcome. "I really like it, everybody is supportive and the people are friendly. "The consultants are really supportive, and whenever you want some help, they are always willing to come, and the consultants have time for one-on-one training, there is nothing more I could ask for. The administration, the doctors, the nurses, they are all working together for the betterment of the community. As a doctor that is what you want, and when you see this it motivates you to do much better. That is something I saw here, and is why I am planning to stay as a rural GP, because they are needed here in the community.''