My Life

I have loved writing forever, and don’t plan to stop.  As a child I was a good reader, and into my teens was writing – many words to my pen pals in UK, Asia and Australia.  These days “penpals” still exist but it can be different.  In those days we wrote letters by hand, inserted the letter into an envelope, wrote the name and address of the person who was to receive the letter, added a postage stamp, and put the letter into one of the red mailboxes that were commonplace in towns and suburbs.  Then we’d wait. And wait, for the reply.

I had no idea what my life would turn out to be!!

I was born before the end of World War II – in Adelaide, South Australia.  I have a lot of memories of that time with search lights scanning the skies for years after the war ended.

My education was in various schools in the suburbs of Adelaide, and I finished school at 16 years, and went to work in an office, which I hated.  I later worked for a doctor and it was there that I was inspired to do nursing training.

Leaving Home at 18 years

I packed up and left home, moving to a country town of Mt Gambier to live in the “Nurses Home” – accommodation for the students learning and working in the local hospital.  I have written many stories of our life there – and I left after graduating, and worked in Melbourne, Victoria for a few months before returning to Mt Gambier to do my Midwifery.  The course was cancelled the week before it was due to start, so I stayed on at the hospital for another year before getting married.  I left Mt Gambier and South Australia, never to return.

Only in China

The next years I lived in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland – as my husband was transferred back and forth – but ended staying in Queensland, so that the children could get all their education in one state.  And there I remain.

My Careers

For most of my working life I was a nurse, or medical representative working in hospitals and medical practices, but along the way I was a marketing manager for two major shopping centres, owned a craft gallery, and became a trainer and subsequently went to university and gained a Bachelor of Adult and Vocational teaching, which lead me to my life as a “teacher”.

My Crazy Life

I worked in Brisbane at a couple of adult education centres, before heading to China to teach ESL in a college/university in 2008 and 2020, and South Korea in 2009.

When I returned from my last teaching contract in China, my marriage broke up and for the next few years I was homeless (to some degree), and housesat for several years, before  surviving high rental places, before living in an old bus.

I certainly have stories to tell!!  My life is not the way I had imagined it would be – and I don’t know what life I have waiting for me.

Oh, there’s much more to my story – I’ve been involved in many women’s organisations, done a lot of volunteer work, been a guest speaker, and so much more.

I have driven around Australia on my own in my Mitsubishi lancer and driven to Uluru in my old bus, and had exciting wonderful and no so wonderful experiences. The grandchilden used to call me “Adventure Grandma”.

My Bus at Uluru