Heywire Winning Entry

Imagine living three hours from a town. Three hours if there is an emergency. Three hours from a pub. Three hours. Well I live three hours away from all of these things. I live and work on a cattle station in the Kimberley. Three Hours from anything.

Two years ago, I was a swimming teacher in a Queensland mining town, I was paying $500 a week rent and spending a fortune just living. I was always on my phone. I was reliant on technology to get by in everyday life. I would spend $10 on a gossip magazine, which I would read while eating my microwave dinner. Full of protein and toxic goodness. Was this the life I wanted to live?

I needed some direction. I googled and I binged. And I stumbled across a website called governessaustralia.com. I decided to upload my resume, sit back and wait.

I was not prepared for what happened next. Within three days I got over 30 job offers. From all over Australia.

But none of the jobs felt right. Until one day I received a phone call that changed my life.

It was from a woman called Helen, from Anna Plains cattle station, three hours from Broome. She was very polite and got straight to the point. I would be teaching two children School of the Air.

And then she put the children on the phone.

I decided right then that I would take the job.

I had never lived or worked on a cattle station before. Flying across the country, I knew this was going to be a big change. I was so nervous. Words can't explain how I felt that day.

My job turned out to be amazing. It was so fulfilling. Helping two young children learn was truly satisfying. I got to watch them grow and become young adults. They were picking up on my jokes and my sense of humour.

The months past at Anna, and I had slowly come to terms that I no longer had mobile reception. I was reading books instead of watching TV. I was listening to triple j instead of mainstream radio. I was enjoying life!

Two years on, moving here, three hours from anywhere, has been the best thing I had ever done!