This is the final blog post in this series where we look at my time living in Rockhampton to the present day.
Rockhampton
After we left PNG we moved to Rockhampton, Queensland. I started school quite late in the year (November). It was a vast change from the laid back atmosphere of PNG. I had never seen or realised how disrespectful people were to each other. It was also at this time and into the next school year I realised how different I was. It was at this point I tried to disguise my openess to spirit, something that would continue for decades.
We had only been in Rockhampton a few months when Mum was taken to Brisbane for 3 months with the same mystery illness she had in PNG. It turned out that she had tumours on her thyroid and it was strangling her. She was unable to eat or breathe. Once it was removed we had her back home and well again!
We still had animals, but not as many as we had in PNG. We had a grey cat named Smoka (who passed away young) and a miniature dachshund named Seike. He went everywhere with my in a picnic basket. The only time we were separated was when he had to go in the run with the cat while I was at school.
I spent a lot of time off school due to illness -, especially with infections. I eventually left school and at age 16 I went and completed a maternal child welfare course. Due to Dad’s position at the hospital I was unable to find work, so we moved again.
Canberra
We moved to Canberra in the middle of July. It was quite a shock coming from the tropics to the middle of winter.
Our stay here was short and rather uneventful. I started my Div 2 nursing course in October for 12 months. After finishing my course and having been in Canberra for 18 months we all decided it was time to move again, this time to Melbourne.
Melbourne
Another uneventful stay! We lived in Melbourne for 12 months. I worked at
Horsham
We decided the busy city life wasn’t for us and moved to Horsham.
Seike was still with us. Unlike the previous moves, we lived rather uneventfully in Horsham for 3 years.
Hamilton
Dad got a position at Hamilton Hospital, so we all decided to move again. While I was an adult and could have stayed in Horsham (or Melbourne for that matter) there was nothing keeping me from moving, so I decided to go along too.
At this point we still had Seike. He passed away an old man 12 months after arriving in Hamilton.
While working on the hospital ward I met my future husband Geoff, a cleaner at the hospital. We got married two and a half years later. We went on to have two daughters Emma and Sarah. I still managed to have a menagerie of animals, and over the years we had several dogs (Sandy, Meg and Suzie) many cats (Snowy, Simba, Cheetah,
On a visit to
Moving to Hamilton proved to be the longest stint for all of us. I ended up living there for 32 years. Dad retired and passed away here.
Geelong
It had been an aspiration of my husband’s to move to Geelong. I never thought we would but it finally happened, though slowly.
I had been working night duty as a nurse for 25 years and it had taken a toll on my health. I needed to move to the day shift.
Thankfully our youngest daughter Sarah was living in Geelong attending university, so I decided to apply for jobs here. I eventually found work at another aged care facility and would split my time between Geelong and Hamilton. This was a tough couple of years. In the end my husband made the call that he and Emma would move to Geelong. That was a big decision for them, but it has been so positive for all of us!
Due to an
Now I run Talk With Your Angels and spend as much time as possible with my grandson Thomas!
This is the last post in the Get To Know Me series. Stay tuned for the next blog series where we will examine crystals, how to take care of them and how they can be used in your everyday life.