I want to document this process for two main reasons; firstly for others in the same position as myself who are looking to nurse in Australia, as I found the information available was pretty scant, and I was desperate for honest first-hand accounts of how people had coped; and secondly, so that a few months down the line when I'm feeling homesick and mardy and full of regret, I can look back on this blog and see how far I've come. So here are a mish-mash of my thoughts thus far...
Perhaps the biggest thing for me at the moment is that I am now, for the first time in my adult life, I am unemployed. I no longer have a steady income from a full-time job, and have no idea when I will be starting my next job. Although I have a job lined up in a forensic hospital, my start date entirely depends on how long it takes for both my sponsorship visa and AHPRA registration to be confirmed. I already have a working holiday visa which allows me to stay in the country for a year, and would allow me to pick up some temporary work, however the minute my other visa is confirmed, the working holiday visa becomes void. This leaves me in quite the state of worry regarding how long I am going to be unemployed and how far I can make my savings stretch.
The last week has unfortunately involved a lot of big sums of money leaving my account, such as for my visa, the bond for a place to live, fees for my air bnb where I am temporarily staying, and other chunks of money which have all acrued to cause me more stress! The uncertainty of not knowing how long I need to live off my limited savings means I can't exactly budget, and will be living rather frugally. Not exactly how I had envisioned my exotic arrival in Australia!
Packing
Packing for a holiday is one of my most-hated chores of all time. I never know what I want to wear that day, let alone of the rest of the week or fortnight. The added challenge here of course, is packing to move my entire life 9,000 miles away within just two 23kg suitcases. I have no idea where to begin with packing for both Summer and Winter, work-wear, gym-wear, essentials, and whatever else I need in order to not feel like a complete nomad when I get there. It's causing me an almighty headache!
Fitness
I joined a new gym in December as soon as it opened, and have been there almost daily ever since. I adore the classes, I've got to know the other members and the staff, and it feels like a rather dysfunctional home from home. I've never enjoyed exercise more, and the class timetable fits well with my life and keeps me motivated. Although I can walk straight into a gym in Melbourne as the same chain exists out there, it will be a completely different experience. Will the classes be the same? Will I gel with the people?
I also enjoy running and have myself several running routes that I know well around where I live. I'm actually quite looking forward to finding my way around the Melbourne suburbs, and running will be a great way to do that.
Social Life
A biggie here, but starting a new life so many miles away means incessant worries about whether I'll meet people I get on with, whether they'll like me and my Pommie ways, and whether I'll be able to get into a nice work-life balance out there in the same way I have developed here. I feel like I am starting a completely clean slate and although that's in some ways quite exciting, it's also rather terrifying!
That's just a start on all of the worries and anxieties that are swirling around my head at the moment at a million miles an hour, but hopefully in a week's time when I am sitting on the plane I'll be feeling more excitement than terror. We'll see...
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