Perks on Earth

For the past nine months, I have had the absolute pleasure of working with New
South Wales Rural Doctors Network. It makes me sad to think that that is now a past tense sentence, but I am so incredibly grateful for the experiences and knowledge this role has afforded me. Not only have I gotten to experience first hand the beauty of rural Australia, I have fallen in love with her, and through my time I have written rural Australian living into my future. Should I be lucky enough! This piece is slightly random, but I guess that reflects me pretty well! At the end of the most incredible chapter, reflection has made me incredibly grateful for all of my experiences, and all that is to come.

When I moved to Australia nearly a year ago, I was headed for the bush. Once the whole Roch-Perks crew arrived, we piled ourselves into three cars and headed out of Sydney towards Moorabinda. Four hours later, we arrived in one of the most beautiful places on this earth (I may be biased, but I’m also right on this one). Moorabinda is the farm where my Aunt and her husband live, where my cousins were raised, and the very place my Dad got down on one knee in front of my Mum 29 years ago. Moorabinda is a place of incredibly deep aura, healing running in the soil and the scenery. The rolling hills make the horizon seem both infinitely far yet at your fingertips. There is nowhere on earth quite like it.

Since those first few days, Moorabinda, and those who live there, have become my home away from home. I have spent my happiest times in the paddocks and along the river, and I have been wrapped in support and love when I have desperately needed it. I find it hard to put into words just how much it has meant to me, and will continue to do so. Moorabinda has also made me fall in love with the Australian country, with wide open spaces and mysterious creatures. I have relaxed into the quiet pace of life removed from the hustle and bustle of a city, a place where the constant sounds of engines is replaced by bird song. I have been endlessly inspired by the people who live and work in this area, and through my work, I have gotten to meet countless others who have found their homes in other areas across rural Australia. If I hadn’t fallen in love with the landscapes, the people are the selling point.

Whilst working with RDN with such an incredible team, the highlight of my time has been in the running of their Go Rural trips, which aim to inspire medical, nursing, and allied health students to potentially consider working rurally. I’m pretty passionate about the program’s results, and I think the fact that I’ve convinced myself along the way goes to show a lot !

I often reflect on my trips that one of my favorite things about rural communities here is how they make me feel at home. Anyone who is Irish, or has been to the Emerald Isle, can appreciate how welcoming and open Irish people are. Everywhere you walk, run, drive, or simply be, you will be greeted by a smile and a ‘and how are you today?’. Complete strangers. It is the most beautiful thing and somehow I cannot put it into words. It is a warmth and welcoming that people extend to one another. A small smile when you sit on the bus next to someone you have never met and may never meet again. Rural Australia reminds me of that. Everyone wants to welcome you, to know why you are there and what you are doing. People are curious and kind, and endlessly generous with their time. Somehow I have found home in the furthest place I could be.

In the last nine months, I have traveled to some of the most incredible places in Australia. From as far North as Tenterfeild, South as Bombala and Tathra, and round Deniliquin and Brewarrina along with countless others. I have fallen in love again and again with the places I have been and the people I have met. Through the amazing work of RDN, I have been lucky enough to bring students to some incredible healthcare facilities, meeting the most inspiring rural doctors, nurses, OT’s and so many more. I have been enamored by their passion for their communities, working as part of the vision for health equality in rural areas. I have been endlessly shocked by the openness of the communities we visit, each door opened and eager to show us the beauty of their little part of the world. I am inspired alongside the students, and from the students that come along on these trips. I am not sure how I was fortunate enough to find myself in this role, but I know I am the luckiest person to have been given such an amazing opportunity to learn and to grow. All whilst surrounded by incredible people and stunning surroundings. Thank you thank you thank you.

This time last year, I would never have guessed where I am sitting today. I could not have predicted the settled, content, and ambitious nature that fills each of my days. I came here with big dreams and a backpack. What I have gained on top of that in the last year, is direction. A bigger picture I want to be part of, and a path I can take to one day get there.

So thank you, to each and every person, community, and country which has been a part in this last journey, I cannot wait to see what the next may bring.