Just Jules

I've been thinking that perhaps it is about time I wrote a little about myself! Most of you have met me at one stage or another, and some of you may even have noticed that I'm not around quite as much as I used to be... well there is good reason for that and her name is Lena! However, I'll start at the start...

I finished year 12 in 2003 (ouch) and had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life.. so I went travelling. I moved to Spain when I was 18, rented my first apartment and fell into a job selling tickets for a pub crawl in San Sebastian, a beautiful surfing town in Northern Spain. I worked my way through parts of Europe for a year before heading home via Canada to see my grandpa.

Instead of returning to my home town in South Australia I decided to make Airlie Beach in far North Queensland my home for the next few years. Here I worked bartending in night clubs for a while before deciding I needed some fresh air and started leading tour groups around the Whitsunday Islands. When I grew tired of palm trees and coral (who knew that was possible) I moved to Brisbane and landed my first job in an oil refinery thanks to my big brother, Jim.

The oil refinery life suited me perfectly! I could work 12 hour days or nights 6 days a week or 13 days a fortnight, save up all of that hard earned cash and then blow it on plane tickets to head back to Europe for a few months whenever I felt the desire!

One of my best friends had always said she wanted to come with me on one of my adventures.....so I booked her an around the world ticket with out asking and then announced to her that she owed me $3000 and that we left for Africa in a couple of months time...! Lucky for me she was excited and didn't freak out too much...

We safaried through the Kruger, marvelled at Victoria Falls, got chased by an elephant, camped on the banks of the Olifants river, drank far too much wine in Cape Town, partied at Glastonbury festival in the UK and then made it back to my second home at the time, Ios - Greece.

It was in Ios that Jen left me to continue on her own adventure as I had gotten my old job back in a nightclub and started to fall in love..

My Ios love is now my husband and a big part of the reason I stopped working in oil refineries and decided to find work a little closer to the heart and much closer to home.

I had a short stint working as a travel agent and another short stint doing some work placement at the Brandon Park Vet before Leight emailed me the add for a nursing position at the Oakleigh Central Vet.

Despite the holes in my resume where I spent years traveling and despite having no relevant qualifications, David and the team somehow decided that I was the right person for the job.. lucky for me!

Finally I feel as though I have found a job that fits. It may not allow the frequent travel that the refinery life did, but it just feels good. I get to go to work and spend my days with beautiful animals and the people who provide loving homes for them, it doesn't get much better.

Not only does this job feel good for my working self, but it has allowed me to have a family life too. I get to bring my dogs to work, to come home after work every night to my husband and daughter instead of living away, I get to work part time and look after my little Lena and I get to work with likeminded, compassionate people.

I may only be in the clinic two days a week at the moment, but I keep my eye on things through running our Facebook, Instagram and Newsletters. I will take maternity leave again in November with baby 2.0 due at the end of the month, but I will still keep popping in and no doubt you'll see me around.