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Rescue and Release

Rob and I have given homes to many animals over the years, I remember once being accosted at the local IGA, “ah you’re the Noahs Ark people, so many animals in pairs at your place!” It was true!😆

2 mini- Italian Grey hounds
2 sheep (fat)
2 geese
2 turkeys
Multiple bantam chooks
Oh and a friendly peacock

Our own petting zoo.

The peacock (long gone now) would often fly up on the deck, display its magnificent feathers then shit on the hand rails and was often seen strutting up the animal- hating neighbours driveway, presumably shitting on theirs too. It also had a distinctive raucous call which Rob found charming, me not so much.

Along with the petting zoo we managed everyday life, work, home, acreage, little kids and with no family nearby the chaos was all ours (both our parents spent many long holidays with us, always such a wrench when they left😩😔)

Our Emigrating Story

I’ve always been a bit of a tree hugger, love the rainforest, the eucalyptusy smells, the birdsong, the silence.

Neighbours within poking distance is not my preference, i love people but like choosing when I interact and Rob, well he prefers animals! 😆

I’m used to the drive home from work, nose to tail traffic, petrol fumes, tradies driving up my arse. All worth it 40 minutes later when I park under the tree in front of the house, swing the car door open, feel my nervous system go aaaaaah soon as feet touch the ground

Moving entire countries, buying land, building a home together was a challenge, many “aah, that’s what we should have done” moments since. 🤦‍♀️

Learning To Be A Nurse Glasgow 1983

I’m from a family of nurses.

Great auntie Evelyn nursed in London during WW2.

Great Auntie Jean was a “Call The Midwife” helping women birth at home, day and night, in 1950’s Greenock in Scotland.

Three of dads’ sisters were nurses and my own mum a district nurse. Watching her leave home of a morning in navy uniform dress, hat and coat, big blue nylon bag over her shoulder full of mysterious dressings and paraphernalia, I knew I wanted to keep up the family tradition.

A Community Midwifery Service QLD 1997 – 1999

An accurate quote ❤️

Midwifery is both joyful and painful. We see the best and worst day of people’s lives in our everyday experience. We are incredibly lucky to be part of women’s lives when things are bright and jubilant, but also when they are darkest and most difficult. It allows us to see the light and shade of life in its sharpest exposure
Alexandra Ryan

Another Day At The Office

EMERGENCY 🤕🤒

Hi to smiley RN at the fish- bowl command centre then head off into the mix of unwell humanity

What’ll the day bring? Slight nerves give an edge working in a place like this, keeps her on her toes.

People everywhere, organised chaos.

Police, bodies slumped on trolleys, paramedics queue with their unwell human cargo, “not too bad today” says one. A baby wails in the background. A young beetroot faced lass is “finding it hard to breathe.”

A Shift On Maternity ward, Australia 2022

It’s a morning shift, the ward is a long, large L-shape with six bays (four beds in each) seven single rooms and two soundproofed bereavement rooms.

Looking in from the entrance it’s a hive of activity. Cleaners mop, wardies push beds, partners look for loved ones, midwives wheel babies in cots, trolleys jostle for space … blood collectors, meal delivery, laundry and obstetricians with their piles of precariously teetering charts.

Voluminous blue curtains surround each bed giving privacy but it’s noisy with the chorus of call bells, IV pumps, women in early labour, babies crying, private conversations, staff chit-chatting.