About

Hello and welcome to my blog. Here’s a little bit of information about me: I was born in 1977; I studied Geology and Chemistry at university and completed a PhD in Geochemistry in 2003. I worked as a research scientist and project manager. I loved my job and I got to use and extend my scientific knowledge daily. I had a career change in 2017 to the public service and was fortunate to be able to transition into a new career without retraining. I left science and I’m not too sad about that. I miss the intellectual challenge and the ego boost of being considered an expert but I enjoy the stability now that I’m out of the unstable science job-market.

I grew up in an alternative setting and I maintain many of those principles now. I have two children, born 2007 (girl) and 2009 (boy). I took time off work for each child and I continue to work part-time to enjoy spending time with them and to allow myself time to explore growth opportunities. From 2015 to 2017 we lived in Trondheim, Norway while I was on an expat assignment. When we returned to Canberra we settled on a block large enough to let us grow lots of vegetables in large raised beds and to have over 20 fruit trees. I enjoyed gardening, composting and having fresh eggs from my own chooks.

My marriage has now ended and I’m embarking on a new life. I’m embracing the Jungian concept of individuation. I’m taking time to make decisions and going for the option that leads to enlargement.

I blog anonymously for a couple of reasons, one is to remove ego from the process as much as possible (so no photos of me or style tips from me), also I had a client-facing role with about 500 personal contacts on LinkedIn and I didn’t want them to read my thoughts on my blog! Finally, I travelled to countries that aren’t always kind to bloggers, so there’s a bit of self preservation in there too.

I eat a relatively healthy diet (mostly grain-free and low sugar) and I exercise regularly including cycling, Tae Kwon Do, hiking, swimming. I love being outdoors; hiking (e.g. Mount Tennent, Bymarka), camping (e.g. Wombeyan Caves and Blue Mountains), enjoying wildflowers, birdwatching, geologising.

I am committed to the principles of intentional consumption and attempt to minimise purchases by either doing without, borrowing/trading, buying secondhand, or if we have to buy then buying ethical, environmentally conscious products. We were car-free from 2015. That required a big adjustment for a family living in Australian suburbia but we made it work. I don’t read or listen to mainstream news. I love to read and over a wide range of material from psychology, travel to popular history, science and philosophy, to fiction, especially more challenging fiction, and I started a book group that’s been running continuously since 2007.

I believe in giving, I used to volunteer at my son’s school, I support micro-loans through sites like Kiva.org, and until I moved to Trondheim I donated time to my favourite charity (Room to Read). Education is very important to me! Most of all I love to connect with people.

I loved to travel! I’ve travelled so far to about 36 countries scattered throughout Asia, the Americas, the Middle East and Europe. I travelled internationally for pleasure with my family (e.g. Malaysia & Indonesia in 2013/4, Japan in 2014, Norway and Sweden), for work (e.g. Bahrain, Spain, Colombia, Kuwait, Ecuador, USA), and with Room to Read (e.g. Nepal in 2012). I love to sample different cuisines, try to speak different languages (I’ve studied German and Spanish extensively and beginner Arabic, I recently studied Italian, and I picked up beginner level Norwegian but I can also speak a little French, Polish and Indonesian), to connect with people, see amazing natural beauty and explore different cultures.

My motivations for blogging have changed over time and have included: to share my travel experiences, to express myself, to share my musings and ideas in the context of the books that I read, to express my discontent with the terrible Australian policies towards asylum seekers and hopefully to influence others to think about some of the concepts and ideas that I discuss.