My Saviour in Australia

In May 2011 I left Belfast to become an nanny/aupair in Brisbane, Australia. It took me 3 flights and 27 hours to get there, my gosh it was hell. Especially because I was travelling on my own, I was really upset leaving my friends & family and I was super nervous to be living that far away from home with people I barely knew. I found the family through easyaupair.com and had Skyped them a few times. They seemed lovely and they had a one and a half year old daughter who was just super cute. I was at a really bad point in my life, my parents had split up and I had dropped out of Uni, so I just didn't know what I wanted to do or what direction my life was going in. I decided that I should just get away from it all and move half way across the world......BAD CHOICE. Running away from your problems and fears isn't going to solve anything, it will just cost you a bloody fortune. I made such a swift and quick decision and never really sat down and had a proper think about it. I had just heard that Australia was great and I wanted to get out of Belfast. 


So I got to Australia and was staying in such a beautiful house. The family seemed so nice and my job was literally to just play with the little girl all day, it was the easiest job I had ever had because I was having fun and really enjoying it. Slowly but surely I began to feel quite distant with the parents. Without going into too much detail, I was just generally having a terrible time. I wasn't meeting as many people as I thought I would, considering I was living with the family so I couldn't meet friends like many travellers do by staying in hostels. Plus I was minding the baby all day and didn't go out late at night since I had to get up early the next morning. The weekends were my own but I just didn't know how to go about meeting people. I just felt really uncomfortable living in someone else's house and never really felt at home. I loved my job and looking after the baby but I just didn't seem to gel well with the father. He was a bit uptight and not very friendly, he made me very uneasy and I found it hard to have a conversation with him.

But before I left on my journey, I found out that a friend of a friend was moving to Australia as well to do some travelling. We didn't know each other at all really but we were friends on Facebook (due to our love of Biffy Clyro and me creepily tapping her shoulder at the concert, weirdo like). I emailed her while I was out there asking her if she was thinking about travelling to Brisbane. She was currently in Cairns, loving life with all of her new friends and wasn't planning on leaving for a while. 
I literally begged her to come to Brisbane and thank goodness she eventually did. She came right in time for my birthday so I was happy that I was able to spend it with a friendly face. We had literally only met once for about 5 seconds but we were both "too many" photo taking creeps and we got on instantly. I loved escaping the house for the weekends and hanging out with her and her new friends, I really did appreciate the time away from the family. 

I ended up leaving Australia after 3 months, 9 months short of my intended year. I was so disappointed in myself and I really wish I had of been strong enough to just move on, get another job and stay, but I knew it was time for me to go home. My health was being affected as I was hardly eating due to the growing stress and anxiety. I'm not the type of girl who ever really gets homesick but I was missing the comfort of my family and friends. I just felt like I had no one to confide in except Rach, of course. I felt so alone and my panic attacks were just horrendous. 

So I guess I am really just trying to say thank you Rachel :) I know it's been nearly 3 years (holy shizz) since we were in Oz but I don't think I ever really said how you literally made my trip! Without you there I think my anxiety would have been a million times worse and I would have not had anything to happily look back on. I have so many funny memories and I am so glad that they still make us laugh and reminisce about all the crazy things we done. You are an absolute life saver, or should I say trip saver. I can't thank you enough and you have no idea how glad I am that you come to Brisbane when you did. Thanks kid :)