Lawn mowing doctor departs Griffith after enchanting town

“I love mowing lawns; can I please mow them?”

As president of Griffith Tennis Club, that was a sentence I’d never thought I’d hear.

Our reliable groundsman Jack Clifford has been out of action for a month, and grass and weeds were growing all over the place. The huge swathes of lawn stretching around 11 courts from Wyangan Avenue down towards Jubilee Oval take hours to cut, and I’d been unsuccessfully trying to talk players attending our Wednesday mixed tennis comp into doing the job.

That’s when Dr Mike Cavaye, a surgeon doing a three-month rotation at Griffith Base Hospital, overhead me and interrupted to volunteer his services.

The following day, he showed up at the club at 5 pm after his hospital shift, did all the lawns, then rang me at 8 pm to ask if he could use the edger.

The 28-year-old has been a hit at both tennis and the hospital, but sadly left town and returned to Sydney last week. Region caught up with him to find out about his love of mowing, his experience in Griffith and advice for those considering a career in medicine.

Do you seriously like mowing lawns? Why?

I’ve always loved lawn mowing and my mum loves it too. I used to do it a lot growing up but I now live in an apartment in Rose Bay with no garden. I missed doing it so I was grateful to have the opportunity at the club. I find mowing therapeutic.

I know we didn’t pay you, but I hope you were rewarded in some way?

Robyn Meehan [club treasurer] gave me a bottle of water to say thank you for mowing the lawns. She told me there’s nowhere in Australia that has water like Griffith.

That’s true. So how did you end up coming here?

I’m three years out of university, doing general surgery for the year. I’m based at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney and I do three-month rural rotations, Griffith is one of the connected hospitals we can go to. I also did a stint in Wagga.

How is working in a rural Riverina hospital different from your city role?

The patients are a lot more appreciative. There’s a different demographic here, a lot of farmers. A lot of people come in for one thing and you find two or three other things.

Overall, the work is more hands-on, you have a wider range of tasks to do and there are more face-to-face consultations. You have to be a bit more considerate; if someone has driven from 200 km away, you have to factor that in to your care.

What about life in general in Griffith?

It’s such a nice country town; it’s small enough to give it a great sense of community.

I took up playing competitive tennis for the first time here.

The thing about the country is that everything is accessible. You can finish work at 6:30 pm and still make tennis. In the city that’s more of a challenge.

What advice would you give to a Year 12 graduate considering a career in medicine?

If you’re interested in it, get a job in the space. You can get a job as a wardsman or a cleaner or anything that gives you a bit of exposure to a hospital and how they run.

In Brisbane, I worked as a wardsman. I whipped the patients around, put them on the operating tables, mopped the floors, did all those sorts of things.

What’s the next move in your career?

I’m heading down the surgery route. I’m doing another year of surgery next year; I’ll be moving to the Sunshine Coast to work.

What will you miss most about Griffith?

The tennis. No, mowing the lawns actually.