“ I was bought up in Cowra in western NSW and I’m one of 11 children, 8 girls and 3 boys. We lived in housing commission and there were 6 of us girls in one room for many years…3 sets of double bunks.
My folks worked really hard. My mother was a Catholic hence all us kids and we went to a Catholic school. My Mum had all of us doing our jobs. My father always had 3 or so jobs at the one time. He was a shoe repairer by trade. He made beautiful shoes until they became less fixable. He worked on the electricity commission as a linesman for many years.
My Dad was a cyclist so he built bikes for all of us. We father used to have a motor bike with a sidecar before us kids came along. After Mum had three of us she said Ron, I think we need a car. Everyone in town used to give their old bikes to Dad because he would do all the old bikes up in his workshop and give them to all the kids in the neighbourhood who couldn’t afford bikes. He was the only bloke out on a bike in a country town. He was different my father. They never let us watch commercial TV, only the ABC and definitely no TV at dinner. We had a big dinner table with 13 of us around the table where we would all chat about our day.
Sadly one of my brothers was killed on a motor bike when he was 22 which was a long time ago so there’s 10 of us now. My mum was a stay at home Mum till all the kids went to school then she got a job at the Catholic School. Everyone loved my Mum. She was an amazing woman.
I was always a sporty kid, I was a swimmer, the school captain, kind of an all rounder. When I left school, I went to Sydney and studied Nursing. I only did 2 years of my training and ended up doing an Enrolled Nursing course. I wanted to travel so I bought a motorbike and rode it from Sydney to Perth when I was 23. I put my bike on a boat to New Zealand and rode around NZ for 6 months.
I always had itchy feet to go here, there and everywhere. I went to Asia for 9 months…Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal, India, all over. Our dollar back then went a long way. I came back and worked in the Shoalhaven Hospital for a few years. I was diagnosed with a malignant Melanoma at 25 so I had a big chunk cut out of my thigh. At the time I was nursing but had booked to go back to Asia and there was a Doctors strike on at the time which meant they couldn’t operate for months. I looked over to the book and said, Can you just fit me in at the end of that day? Suddenly I was in for my op within 2 weeks.
I never really worried about it but one night I was in Ko Samui, I’d had a smoke and it just hit me, the whole Melanoma thing and I was a mess. Up until then I’d gone to the hospital on my own, had the op on my own, recovered on my own and worked again. It really hit me and I cried hard.
I’d done a massage course when I was nursing and everyone loved my massages. I had massages in Burma and I did a Thai Massage course in Thailand. In 1985 I ended up in China before it opened up. It was an interesting time because the Chinese at that time didn’t want to know you. You’d try and book a hotel and they’d say there was no room. In saying that it was very interesting. The minority groups in China were beautiful. My friend and I went to place called Lijiang which was a matriarchal society and the women were so welcoming. They had only been open to Westerners for 3 weeks. I was travelling with a woman called Fran who was a friend of my sister. Fran actually lives in Clunes and worked at the Lismore Base Hospital for years.
I went for a Chinese massage with a guy who was blind and couldn’t speak. I walked out of there and my energy was switched on. It was so unbelievable. I came out and said to Fran…I have got to study that. I went back 5 days in a row to that guy. Something moved in me. It was quite profound and I knew then that was the reason I was in China. Fran returned to Australia and I decided I was going to London so I bought a ticket from Beijing to Berlin on the Trans Mongolian train. I had to get all my visas for Mongolia, Russia, Poland and East Germany. That ticket was only $160US for 6 days. I was in a Sleeper with 6 others, an Aussie, a Kiwi, a couple of Danes and we had the best time. As we went through the countries they changed the food on the train so first was Mongolian then Russian and so on. As we pulled into Siberia I looked out and we were surrounded by soldiers with guns. They checked all our gear and books. They took one of my books. A couple of us decided to get off in Moscow. We could leave the train and get back on the next day or so. It was when Gorbachev had banned alcohol and we couldn’t get a drink in Russia (laughs). The stations were so elaborate from back in the Tsar days. Marble and chandeliers in the railway stations. It was unbelievable. I got off again in Warsaw then again in East Berlin and then finally Berlin. I love Berlin. This was still when the Berlin Wall was up.
I’d met some Dutch women who said come to Amsterdam, you’ll love it! I stayed for a month and worked at a hostel and fell in love with Amsterdam. I have been back many times since. I was looking through a mag and saw a Shiatsu course advertised in London. I signed up, moved into a great little flat and spent 2 years studying Chinese Medicine and Shiatsu. I also did a course in Macrobiotic cooking. I did private nursing at the same time. I cycled everywhere, went to Europe and the Canary Islands.
During those years I did have quite a few flings. I’d met this Swedish guy in Berlin and he visited in London for a while. I met a couple of Irish fellows that I had little romances with. I wasn’t totally on my own.
I started giving all my friends Shiatsus to practice. I came back home to Australia in ’88 after being away for 3 years. I worked 3 months at Balmain Hospital and got a job at IKU which was a great little Macrobiotic place in Glebe. Willem and Holly owned it and it was beautiful food. It’s so bizarre because here I am now in Girards Hill and Airdre who I also worked with lives here too as does Eben who is Willem’s brother. We all knew each other back then and ended up in the same neighbourhood all these years later.”
My folks worked really hard. My mother was a Catholic hence all us kids and we went to a Catholic school. My Mum had all of us doing our jobs. My father always had 3 or so jobs at the one time. He was a shoe repairer by trade. He made beautiful shoes until they became less fixable. He worked on the electricity commission as a linesman for many years.
My Dad was a cyclist so he built bikes for all of us. We father used to have a motor bike with a sidecar before us kids came along. After Mum had three of us she said Ron, I think we need a car. Everyone in town used to give their old bikes to Dad because he would do all the old bikes up in his workshop and give them to all the kids in the neighbourhood who couldn’t afford bikes. He was the only bloke out on a bike in a country town. He was different my father. They never let us watch commercial TV, only the ABC and definitely no TV at dinner. We had a big dinner table with 13 of us around the table where we would all chat about our day.
Sadly one of my brothers was killed on a motor bike when he was 22 which was a long time ago so there’s 10 of us now. My mum was a stay at home Mum till all the kids went to school then she got a job at the Catholic School. Everyone loved my Mum. She was an amazing woman.
I was always a sporty kid, I was a swimmer, the school captain, kind of an all rounder. When I left school, I went to Sydney and studied Nursing. I only did 2 years of my training and ended up doing an Enrolled Nursing course. I wanted to travel so I bought a motorbike and rode it from Sydney to Perth when I was 23. I put my bike on a boat to New Zealand and rode around NZ for 6 months.
I always had itchy feet to go here, there and everywhere. I went to Asia for 9 months…Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal, India, all over. Our dollar back then went a long way. I came back and worked in the Shoalhaven Hospital for a few years. I was diagnosed with a malignant Melanoma at 25 so I had a big chunk cut out of my thigh. At the time I was nursing but had booked to go back to Asia and there was a Doctors strike on at the time which meant they couldn’t operate for months. I looked over to the book and said, Can you just fit me in at the end of that day? Suddenly I was in for my op within 2 weeks.
I never really worried about it but one night I was in Ko Samui, I’d had a smoke and it just hit me, the whole Melanoma thing and I was a mess. Up until then I’d gone to the hospital on my own, had the op on my own, recovered on my own and worked again. It really hit me and I cried hard.
I’d done a massage course when I was nursing and everyone loved my massages. I had massages in Burma and I did a Thai Massage course in Thailand. In 1985 I ended up in China before it opened up. It was an interesting time because the Chinese at that time didn’t want to know you. You’d try and book a hotel and they’d say there was no room. In saying that it was very interesting. The minority groups in China were beautiful. My friend and I went to place called Lijiang which was a matriarchal society and the women were so welcoming. They had only been open to Westerners for 3 weeks. I was travelling with a woman called Fran who was a friend of my sister. Fran actually lives in Clunes and worked at the Lismore Base Hospital for years.
I went for a Chinese massage with a guy who was blind and couldn’t speak. I walked out of there and my energy was switched on. It was so unbelievable. I came out and said to Fran…I have got to study that. I went back 5 days in a row to that guy. Something moved in me. It was quite profound and I knew then that was the reason I was in China. Fran returned to Australia and I decided I was going to London so I bought a ticket from Beijing to Berlin on the Trans Mongolian train. I had to get all my visas for Mongolia, Russia, Poland and East Germany. That ticket was only $160US for 6 days. I was in a Sleeper with 6 others, an Aussie, a Kiwi, a couple of Danes and we had the best time. As we went through the countries they changed the food on the train so first was Mongolian then Russian and so on. As we pulled into Siberia I looked out and we were surrounded by soldiers with guns. They checked all our gear and books. They took one of my books. A couple of us decided to get off in Moscow. We could leave the train and get back on the next day or so. It was when Gorbachev had banned alcohol and we couldn’t get a drink in Russia (laughs). The stations were so elaborate from back in the Tsar days. Marble and chandeliers in the railway stations. It was unbelievable. I got off again in Warsaw then again in East Berlin and then finally Berlin. I love Berlin. This was still when the Berlin Wall was up.
I’d met some Dutch women who said come to Amsterdam, you’ll love it! I stayed for a month and worked at a hostel and fell in love with Amsterdam. I have been back many times since. I was looking through a mag and saw a Shiatsu course advertised in London. I signed up, moved into a great little flat and spent 2 years studying Chinese Medicine and Shiatsu. I also did a course in Macrobiotic cooking. I did private nursing at the same time. I cycled everywhere, went to Europe and the Canary Islands.
During those years I did have quite a few flings. I’d met this Swedish guy in Berlin and he visited in London for a while. I met a couple of Irish fellows that I had little romances with. I wasn’t totally on my own.
I started giving all my friends Shiatsus to practice. I came back home to Australia in ’88 after being away for 3 years. I worked 3 months at Balmain Hospital and got a job at IKU which was a great little Macrobiotic place in Glebe. Willem and Holly owned it and it was beautiful food. It’s so bizarre because here I am now in Girards Hill and Airdre who I also worked with lives here too as does Eben who is Willem’s brother. We all knew each other back then and ended up in the same neighbourhood all these years later.”