“I never planned to leave the NHS.”

I never planned to leave the NHS.

I was working as a radiographer in Manchester and I was happy. I had good friends, I enjoyed my job and I’d built a life there. I certainly wasn’t sitting at home searching for jobs in Australia.

I’d always dreamed about living somewhere warmer and by the sea, though.

It was one of those things I’d talked about for years without ever really believing I’d do it. I’d see pictures of Australia and think imagine living somewhere like that, and then get on with normal life.

They were recruiting radiographers for Australia and asked whether I’d ever considered making the move.

My first reaction was probably, not really.

And then I thought about it.

I had. I just hadn’t thought of it as something that could realistically happen to me.

We had an initial conversation and there was no pressure to apply for anything. We talked about my experience, the sort of work I enjoyed and, importantly for me, what I wanted my life outside work to look like.

When I said I’d always wanted to live somewhere warmer and near the sea, the Sunshine Coast came up.

That was probably the moment the whole thing started.

Suddenly I’m looking at beaches, suburbs and apartments and checking how far different hospitals are from the coast. I’m looking at the temperature in Queensland while it’s raining in Manchester.

The idea had gone from wouldn’t that be nice? to hang on, could I do this?

Eventually there was an interview, then an offer, and suddenly this thing I’d casually talked about for years wasn’t hypothetical anymore. I was moving to the Sunshine Coast.

There were forms, registration, paperwork, flights, packing up my life in Manchester, saying goodbye to people and the slightly horrifying amount of money you spend when you first arrive somewhere.

There were definitely moments when I wondered what on earth I was doing.

The first few weeks weren’t an Instagram reel either. I was jet-lagged, living somewhere temporary, trying to work out supermarkets and phone contracts and where I was going to live while also starting a new job.

I missed home.

I found somewhere to live. I made friends at work. I stopped using Google Maps every time I got in the car. I found my coffee place and started having favourite beaches rather than just knowing their names.

And I remember one afternoon particularly clearly.

I’d finished work, had my swimmers in the car and decided to go down to the beach.

About half an hour later I was in the water.

And I remember thinking: this is it.

This was the completely ordinary life I’d imagined when I was sitting in Manchester.

Work can still be busy. I miss people at home enormously and sometimes being this far away is really hard. There are things about Manchester and the NHS that I’ll probably always miss.

But I don’t regret coming.

The funny thing is, if that LinkedIn message hadn’t arrived, I’m not sure I would ever have done it. I might still have been saying “one day I’d love to live somewhere warmer by the sea.”

Now I do.