The Journey of a Traveling Midwife in Australia: A Nurse's Passport w/ Carly Jowitt #67

Ever wondered what it's like to deliver babies on the move? If so, get ready to join us for an exciting episode this week as we chat with Carly Jowitt, a traveling nurse / midwife. 

Born in the UK, she now calls Australia home where she and her husband lead a nomadic lifestyle filled with endless opportunities Down Under.

During our conversation, Carly reveals the highs, some challenges, and many unforgettable moments of her unique career in the world of traveling midwifery.

Curious about breaking into this dynamic industry?

Carly provides practical tips and insider knowledge on getting started as a traveling nurse / midwife, from navigating regulations to seizing job opportunities.

We also explore the perks of crafting a dream lifestyle centered around travel. From stunning landscapes to cultural experiences, Carly paints a vivid picture of the rewards of life on the road.

Whether you're an aspiring traveling midwife or simply craving inspiring tales from Down Under, this episode is for you!

Join us as we dive into Carly's incredible journey fueled by passion, compassion, and a whole lot of wanderlust.

TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• The conscious decision to make yourself houseless
• Benefits of working with agents to secure job placement
• What questions to ask and how to land a job as a traveling nurse / midwife
• Life on the move, the pros and cons
• Measuring time in contracts

RESOURCES:
Connect with Carly: Instagram, Website

⚡ ROUND 📚
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Emma Carey

EPISODE DETAILS:
28:35 - Instead of waiting for that one-day trip, why not just go now? You know the one. One day we'll tour Australia. 

13:17  - When deciding to work as a traveling nurse or a midwife, know that you can negotiate.

13:53 - Being a traveling nurse or traveling midwife allows you to travel to places that you wouldn't get to see otherwise.

21:40 - Having the opportunity to work in a variety of situations and places and facilities allows you to up-level your skills through all of that experience. 

24:26 - Time flies when you measure it in contracts.

Transcript

Kim Anderson: 0:00

I've seen so much of the country, I have met so many beautiful midwives, and just my experience and my skills have grown so much as a midwife as well.

Carly Jowitt: 0:16

Hello everyone, welcome to the Design Her Travel podcast. I'm your host, kim Anderson. As an avid traveler, global nomad and someone who considers themselves a citizen of the world, I want to say welcome. I'm so glad that you're here. My hope in creating this podcast is to inspire you to take the leap of faith and to design the life of your dreams. For me, that includes connecting with like-minded individuals and creating a community of souls living their best lives out in and around the world. Each week, you'll hear stories and conversations from fellow travelers who have figured out how to incorporate travel as a key component in their daily lives. Their stories are beautiful and inspiring. Just like you, I can't wait to go on this journey with you. So let's do this. Here we go. Hello, hello. Design Her Travel tribe.

Carly Jowitt: 1:26

I wanted to hop on and let you know about our weekly newsletter. It is all things latest and greatest in the Design Her Travel world. It's delivered straight to your inbox once a week. It's packed with exclusive stories, travel opportunities and the inside scoop in the Design Her Travel world. You can sign up now with the link in the show notes. So go ahead, click that now. I'll see you there. Hello, hello, hello. Beautiful souls. Welcome back to the Design Her Travel podcast. I am your host, kim Anderson. I am super excited about today's guest. Today I have on the show Carly Jowett. Carly was born in England and moved to Australia in 2002. She is a registered nurse and midwife and is currently traveling around Australia with her husband working as a traveling midwife. So welcome to the show, carly. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. And so where are you currently in the world? It's very exciting. As a traveling midwife all around Australia, you get to see some amazing places. So where are you currently?

Kim Anderson: 2:46

I do so I'm currently in Adelaide, South Australia. I'm actually just having a little mini holiday here for a couple of weeks before going to South Australia for my next contract.

Carly Jowitt: 2:58

Lovely, and so when you started out as a nurse and a midwife, did you do this where you could have a traveling lifestyle? Like what was your journey that led you to this particular nomadic style of life? I've definitely.

Kim Anderson: 3:13

I've always loved travel Like travel's always been a big part of my life. But I was just working kind of your regular job where I'd save all my annual leave, and just in my office job I used to get four weeks annual leave. And just in my office job I used to get four weeks annual leave. And I was always going into negative leave because I was just always booking more holidays than leaves I had, and I was pretty lucky I had a boss that didn't mind me doing that. Then I was just getting tired of it felt boring to me. I was just like this isn't that exciting, I don't want to do this for the rest of my life. And I was just thinking, well, what can I do that I can travel and work at the same time.

Kim Anderson: 3:49

And that's when I sort of fell into nursing and I thought, well, you know what? My mom was a nurse when I was growing up and I just thought I don't think I want to be a nurse. That doesn't sound like fun for me. And I didn't even know what it was called at the time. I was like, oh, a baby nurse. I was like I don't mind hanging out with little babies. And then, through my research I was like oh, they like you to be a midwife. I ended up doing a double degree, which is four years, in Melbourne where I was living, to become a nurse and midwife and ended up falling in love with midwifery. So I do sometimes still as a midwife. You can still work in what we call our special care nursery with the neonates. So I do do that sometimes, but I mainly work as a midwife.

Carly Jowitt: 4:32

I love that and I have to say, part of your story. A lot of people don't know this about me but I'm actually a birth doula and I took a trip in high school and we went to the neonatal ICU and I said I'm going to be a pediatric, like neonatal ICU doctor, like that's what I wanted to be. I started university and I was like, oh well, not like the doctor path is not for me. But in America midwives are not common and so I didn't know anything about midwifery. I had no idea. So I got a degree in something completely different midwifery I had no idea, so I got a degree in something completely different.

Carly Jowitt: 5:07

Years later I learned about midwifery and then I became a birth doula and I feel like if I'd have known that midwives were a thing, then I would have probably studied that going on in life. And so I feel you on the research where it seems like there are lots of pieces that you need and it's not really always clear and direct on the path to get to being a midwife. So kudos to you for like jumping on that and making the change you know it's and falling in love with it. There's something to be said about being around humans when they're entering the world like what a magical gift.

Kim Anderson: 5:43

Yeah, it definitely is. Like every time, every birth is special, but whenever you see it, sometimes you just like these magical ones and it just reminds you and you're like, oh my, this is why I love it, this is why I do it. I think this setup is a little bit different in America. So whereas labor wards, maternity wards generally staffed by midwives, not by nurses in the hospital, so even in the public system, you get a midwife. It's not like you have to have a home birth to have a midwife yeah, we have a completely wild system.

Carly Jowitt: 6:14

Midwives aren't even legally allowed to practice in every state in the united states and they're not given hospital clearance.

Kim Anderson: 6:22

You, you guys, have, I think, a much more holistic approach and system than yeah, we have a national registration, which is nice, so it's very easy for me to work throughout the whole country. It's our registration to recognize across the whole country.

Carly Jowitt: 6:37

That's cool. I think the question you posed is kind of the great question of the moment and it's how can I get paid to travel, like how is there something that allows me the freedom to see the world, to do what I want to do and get paid along the way? And so how does it work being a traveling midwife? Are you a freelance contractor? Do you go through headhunters? Are your contracts for long-term Like what is that process like for you?

Kim Anderson: 7:04

Yep, so you go through an agency and there are literally hundreds of agencies that will supply midwives or nurses to hospitals Australia-wide and you can be registered with multiple agencies and you don't pay them a fee. They organize a fee with the hospital, basically for finding you. So I'm registered with several agencies. So some agencies will cover the whole of Australia, some will only cover certain states and because I'm travelling with my husband as well, we, like accommodation is supplied with your contracts. So it helps to be registered with multiple agencies. For the fact that sometimes I call up one agency and they say look, you know, we just we don't have anything. Or we've only got jobs in WA at the moment and I might currently be located in, say, queensland, which is the other side of the country, and when I first started doing this, I was really just going through one agent and whatever they had I was taking, but I was literally driving back and forth across our country, which is huge and there's work all over the country. I don't need to be driving from one end of the country to the next. If I'm in Queensland, let me find another contract within that state or even the state next door, so that we're not doing this, driving for five days to get somewhere. So essentially I register with an agency and they said you can register with as many as you like. It's called an onboarding process, which basically you just have to send them copies of your registration so they know that you really are registered ID checks, all that kind of boring paperwork stuff when you sign up for a job and then you literally just tell your agency what you want. So I will say I'm looking for a contract, however many weeks, so you can do as little as two weeks, up to six months, eight months. Really, you can sort of specify what you want and then your agency can come back and say this is what I found. So I will normally specify the length of contract. I want the type of contract.

Kim Anderson: 9:07

So I'm a midwife and they will often say, oh, do you want to do a nursing contract as well? Which I normally say no, because it's not what I enjoy working in. So I'll say yes, I want a midwifery based contract, ideally the area like. I'll try and limit it to a state, or I might say I don't mind, queensland, new South Wales, this is where I'm based currently. I'll tell them I want accommodation. I'll tell them. I am driving, so I'd like some sort of travel allowance. I tell them what my pay expectations are and when I want to start, and then the agency will come back to me and just say, okay, this is what we've got. And then I will say, okay, yeah, that sounds like I can do that, or I don't like that. What else have you got? And then, once I've said yeah, I'm happy with that, then my resume would then get sent to the hospital and they would say, yes or no, they're happy for me to have. And then I'd get a start date and off.

Carly Jowitt: 10:01

I go Brilliant. And so it's amazing that accommodation is included as well. Like that's huge. And I know that in in the U S a traveling nurses are are pretty common and I know people that do that. The pay is really good because it's short term, it's needed now, and so the pay is great and they love it because they're able to like sock away a bunch of money, not have their living expenses or reduce their living expenses. And so is it similar in Australia, where the short term contracts pay really well.

Kim Anderson: 10:33

Definitely. So there are some that will just pay your regular casual rates. But because I can basically choose where I want to work, I will generally not do those contracts because as far as I'm concerned, if I wanted to stay and just get regular rates, I would have just stayed back in Melbourne working at the hospital I was working at Roughly. I'm getting double what I was earning back in Melbourne and the same. I do short contracts. I think you just have to be a little bit sensible of your money, because it is contract work so they can cancel at short notice. But there is also a lot of work out there as well. So even if one contract does get cancelled, you can normally pick one up within the next week or two afterwards and I love that.

Carly Jowitt: 11:13

And one of the things I love is because the job hunt can be so cumbersome, take so much time and effort, so when you have headhunters doing the work for you, that makes it so much easier. You just send out some emails and say I'm available, this is what I want, and they like magically find it, and so that is like such a huge bonus in the job search.

Kim Anderson: 11:34

Literally is. I have a little template that I've just made really, really clear Like, and it literally says dates available, how long I want to work, where I want to work, what I want included in my contract, and I would just email it to my agency. You know, it takes like two seconds and then they'll come back with offers for me and I can just be like yes, yes, no, yeah.

Carly Jowitt: 11:56

That's absolutely fantastic, and so, if someone's interested in sort of starting out doing this, what are some of the considerations or things that you wished you would have known when you got started?

Kim Anderson: 12:09

I think that you can negotiate and ask questions. So I remember when I first started, one contract said to me oh, it's agency rates. And I just assumed that agency rates were exactly the same everywhere. But they're not. Every hospital has different rates. Every agency has different rates. Some agencies will have different rates for different contracts depending on what the hospital's offering. So I think just to ask more questions.

Kim Anderson: 12:38

So if someone says, agency rates, get specific, okay, what does that include? Knowing that we have a ward here where you can sign off and say you want at least a 10-hour break in between shifts? So At the start I used to be like it's fine, I'll do the eight-hour break, which would sometimes mean you're finishing work at 11 pm and starting at seven. So although technically it's an eight-hour break, you're not even getting that out of sleep. Now I generally always say, yes, I want the 10-hour break, and so they have to rush you that and if they don't, then you get paid like an extra fee, you get paid like a fatigue allowance. So which sort of makes it a bit more worth it? Just ask lots of questions, be flexible and know that you can say no to things as well. It will normally say in your contract that you only have to give one hour's notice, so you don't have to feel. If you feel that something's that you're not comfortable with it, then speak up and be like no, this is not for me.

Carly Jowitt: 13:33

Oh, brilliant. It sounds like there's a lot of flexibility in picking and choosing. Tell me about accommodations. Are you in hotels? Are you in homes? What are the styles?

Kim Anderson: 13:45

So it really varies. It varies so greatly. So we have been in motel rooms which literally like a studio room, and we've been put in three bedroom houses or to ourselves. So it will depend on one, the location, what they've got. Some more smaller towns or other towns just don't, literally don't have accommodation, so it will be whatever they've got. Yeah, sometimes we've been in caravan parks and in other towns where it's a bit more central or busy, they have more things to choose from. It will depend how much money the hospital slash agency want to pay towards the accommodation. Sometimes, especially if you're traveling with partner or family, they might say look, we're happy to cover X amount of dollars to the accommodation and but if it's more than that you'll have to supplement and pay extra on that. So it really varies from beautiful accommodation like oh gosh, I could live here to this ain't great, but I can put up with it for a short amount of time, and so do you get an inside peek into what the accommodation is when the contract's offered.

Carly Jowitt: 14:53

Sometimes I do, sometimes it will just say it's going to.

Kim Anderson: 14:55

Sometimes I do. Sometimes it will just say it's going to be a little unit and it will just show me a picture of the outside, so I don't really know what it's like inside. So it's really just when you get there I've learned that as well too. If you get somewhere and the accommodation is just disgusting or awful that you can literally call your agent and be like no, find me somewhere else, or I'm leaving. If it's not so bad to you. A lot of times it's not five star, but you don't need five star, you just need a bed, a kitchen really. And you've got to decide what you're comfortable with, essentially what you're happy to put up with.

Carly Jowitt: 15:31

Yeah, absolutely. And so how do you literally just pick by job, or do you choose, at this point, locations where you want to be, like, what's the main factor in what guides you to where you go next?

Kim Anderson: 15:46

Generally it's location.

Kim Anderson: 15:48

So I will base off kind of where we currently are and think that we really don't want to drive more than a day for the next contract, or, you know, maybe one or two days, because I normally have like a week off in between so that it's not trying to rush to get to the next place. So I'll look at location. But I'm in a lot of a lot of the agencies will send you out job alerts as well. So if one one of them sends out an alert and says, oh, we've actually got this contract and it's paying amazing, so sometimes in places that's paying such good money that's worth driving three days for. So it will vary. So it will be either location based on where I am, or if all of a sudden I get a really good offer, I do that. Or even if we just fancy, so, like I said, we're in Adelaide and we were like, oh, we just fancy a little holiday, we'll go to Adelaide, and then so I said, well, I'll just get my next contract in South Australia because we're already here.

Carly Jowitt: 16:46

It allows for so much flexibility.

Kim Anderson: 16:49

Yeah, so freedom, so you can just decide. We drive everywhere. But I do know a lot of travel midwives as well who have a home base and will go back to their home, kind of like what we call FIFO, like fly in, fly out, so they go back to their home and then the agency will just fly them to jobs and they might go home for, you know, two months and then go work for four weeks.

Carly Jowitt: 17:10

Yeah, it's really sounds like they're amazing possibilities. Obviously, in the medical field things are so different. But are you allowed to take your you know your trainings and work in any other countries, like, can you go back to the UK and do what you're doing in Australia?

Kim Anderson: 17:27

So my nursing registration is recognized in England but my midwifery is recognized, but I would have to jump through a few more hoops. So I think it could have changed. Because the last time I looked at this was a few years ago, but I believe I had to do sort of an exam and then have to do supervised practice in England and honestly, when I looked at it because that was initially my initial thought was, oh, I can work all over the world with this, but it is not quite that easy. It's a little bit more tricky, it is a few hoops to jump through, but in all my research it seems like Australia, compared to the rest of the world, we have pretty good working conditions and pretty good pay for what we do. So I did make the decision that, look, I'm just really going to work here and then I can take nice big chunks of time off and go overseas and just enjoy it as a holiday.

Carly Jowitt: 18:21

Yeah, that's brilliant. And what is the working week Like? How many hours is a full time position in Australia?

Kim Anderson: 18:27

I generally do full time, which is 40 hours a week. I have seen people do 0.8, which is works over the fortnight, so that's like 76 hours over the fortnight. I haven't ever seen contracts offer less, like part-time or one or two days a week. But, as I said, generally everything's negotiable. So you can ask. All you can do is ask. I always say if you want something, ask, and all they can do is come back and say, no, we can't do that. It doesn't hurt for you to ask. Just say, look this, you want something? Ask, and all they can do is come back and say, no, we can't do that. It doesn't hurt for you to ask. Just say, look, this is what I ideally want. And they can come back and say, oh, we've got this or we don't. And I think it depends if what you're offering meets the needs of a health system, then generally they will be happy to do that.

Carly Jowitt: 19:13

And so do you get to specify I mean, obviously babies come at any point in time, but there are day shifts, night shifts, second shifts, like do you get to specify the shifts that you prefer to work as well?

Kim Anderson: 19:22

Not really. So as agency we're basically coming in and filling a need, so we're filling up the spots that need to be filled. Generally they are a bit flexible. If I'm there for a two-month contract and say, look, I'd really like to have this day off if possible because I'd love to go see this a lot of times they're happy to do that. Or they're happy if you just swap shifts without the midwives, but it is normally sort of whatever you get on the on the bus. A lot of times places can be quite night shift heavy because they are generally the hardest shifts to fill. But I do see a lot of contracts for smaller areas as well where they just don't have the staff. So they're essentially on what we call bypass, so it means they're not birthing there anymore. So those facilities will offer like a Monday to Friday sort of nine to five hours to cover antenatal care, postnatal care, and then you'll be on call for like evenings and weekends, just in case someone happens to show up and you need to look after them or transfer them somewhere.

Carly Jowitt: 20:19

That's brilliant. That's almost like the gravy train positions. If you need like work but a little bit of a break, you can take the nine to five for a little bit. Exactly, I love all of the possibilities and I love the options. And so what is it that you love about being a traveling midwife and what is it about this that fills your soul and you're like this is what I totally love doing?

Kim Anderson: 20:40

I think firstly, I just love seeing so much of Australia. Australia is such a big place and I've gone to so many places that I never would have gone to, like places that are not on the tourist trail, not obvious places. Oh, I'm going to go visit this little town in the middle of nowhere, like you just wouldn't go there unless you happen to be around this. So I've seen so much of the country. I have met so many beautiful midwives and just my experience and my skills have grown so much as a midwife as well, like now having to work in these smaller facilities with maybe not as many people on hand.

Kim Anderson: 21:19

Yeah, I just feel like I've learned so much more than what I did just being in you know, I know I was working in a busy Melbourne hospital, but I just found I did meet some beautiful girlfriends there. But I also found experience just became a little bit toxic for me when you're working in the same place with maybe one or two people that you don't get on with and then you're having to see them every day and it just became unenjoyable for me and I didn't like going to work. I hated it. So now it's always exciting I'm going to a new place. What's it going to be like? Who am I going to meet?

Carly Jowitt: 21:53

Yeah, there's something to be said for stepping into a position and having do the day in and day out, it becomes a little bit of a grind. It's easy to start focusing on what it is that you don't like about a position or the place that you're working or whatever that is. I think that that's just human nature.

Carly Jowitt: 22:08

We don't always allow ourselves the change that we do really need, and so you kind of get to go in enjoy all of the great things about it and then leave at a high you know, and then step into the next thing.

Kim Anderson: 22:20

Exactly and I found that generally I don't really agree to long-term contracts off the bat. I normally kind of go like a six to eight weeks because in my mind that even if I get someone I really am not enjoying it. That time goes so quickly that I always think you know what six weeks, even if it's not great, I can do it for six weeks. It will go so quickly. But then on the flip side, if I'm loving it the majority of the times I can extend that contract. So when I my last contract I was on the New South Wales coast and I started off there eight weeks and loved it, so I ended up staying there just over three months.

Carly Jowitt: 22:56

Yeah, that's a great bonus and I love that you can extend it. And so when you were speaking of working, you know six weeks, eight weeks, and I used to work in the private yacht industry and so I kept track of life in seasons, because we would be in a different location season by season and so, but time moved very quickly. It was easy to remember where you were and to say, oh yeah, last season I was in the Caribbean or whatever it was. So how do you find that as well? Does time as a whole just pass in a flash when you're living season by season?

Kim Anderson: 23:30

Yes, I literally just had this conversation with my husband yesterday. I said time is really going so quick and I said I think it's because we live our life in blocks of time. So we're saying, okay, for eight weeks we're going to be here, and then three weeks we're here, and then seven weeks we're there. So right now I've got my contracts planned out till roughly the end of June. But the same when you're just working the same job every day, going to the same place, and there's no end in sight, it just stretches out forever and feels like it's not going to end, whereas here everything goes so quick.

Carly Jowitt: 24:04

Yeah, it's absolutely wild. I noticed that I referred to time differently. Life was lived in seasons, and it's one of the things that I really enjoyed about that lifestyle, so I find it it does fly it really does, and I think it's funny that everywhere is because we don't have a home, like we don't own a home anymore.

Kim Anderson: 24:24

We sold our house. We don't have a home base. Everywhere we stay, we just call home. Now, If we're in like an Airbnb for two nights, it's like, oh, let's go home. I feel like we've just we've lived everywhere. Now Cause I'm like, how do you define if you've lived somewhere? I was like you spent three months there. Does that mean?

Carly Jowitt: 24:39

we lived there? Yeah, absolutely it's. I think I actually might've been in Australia when I realized that I'm home wherever I am. It just became where I'm like, oh, I'm just home where I am, and also you have all of your belongings with you. You know whether that's a large amount or a small amount. You have all of the things that are important, and so you're just home, and I think that, for me, is one of the things that makes that travel lifestyle so enjoyable, and I'm so settled in that, like some people would find that extremely disorienting because they don't have their own bed or their own kitchen utensils or their favorite coffee mug or whatever, that is the thing that makes it home to them. And then, for travelers, you can be home wherever you are, and so it's that freedom is the greatest joy.

Kim Anderson: 25:34

It's that freedom is the greatest joy, yeah, it really is, and I know that we had talked about oh, eventually we will buy a house on the coast. Our only prerequisites really was we want to be near a beach, but Australia is so big, the options it's overwhelming because there's so many places to choose from. And then also that thought of commitment as well, like now. Like I said, we've been living on the road for three years, so the thought now of buying a house and being tied to one place. It's just like we looked at a few houses when we were in New South Wales but we were just, I don't know. I think we've become a bit commitment phobe now. Now we're just like ah, I don't want to lock in and spend all this money unless this is absolutely perfect. So so we're just like you know, let's just keep living out of the car for a bit longer. It seems too scary now to jump in and spend all this money on a house.

Carly Jowitt: 26:24

Yes, and I think it's, you know, sort of one of the cosmic jokes for travelers. They'll be like oh, I'll travel until I find a place that I want to stay, and it's, I don't know, that I've. Most of the time, the conversation goes more like well, the more I travel, the more there is to see, and so it doesn't happen you don't find home, you become home definitely, and then the more places that you love and like.

Kim Anderson: 26:48

When we were on New South Wales, we were like, oh, love it, could live here, could live here. And now we've got back to South Australia. I was like, oh, I forgot how much I love it here. Oh, could we live in South Australia?

Carly Jowitt: 26:58

it's this world's apart so, oh yeah, it's brilliant, and when you get to live in some of the best places, then it makes it virtually impossible to settle in a place that's mediocre. Just your standards are raised. There's no going back. I love it. And so it sounds like you are very settled in this nomadic lifestyle and are living the life truly of your dreams. I have to commend you for that, because it takes bravery to say you know what I don't like this ordinary sort of nine to five. This isn't filling my spirit or bringing me this happiness that I desire. That's awesome that you and your husband have chosen to live this extraordinary life A hundred percent.

Kim Anderson: 27:45

When we first did it it was scary. You know, I've done all my research and I was like there's jobs out there, it's fine, but the moment you both quit your job, you sell your house and I just remember saying we have just made ourselves homeless and unemployed. Like we've done that to ourselves. Oh my God, like we've done this to ourselves. This is scary. Is it going to be okay? And it's okay. I love it and I'm so glad that we took that step, because it was something we'd kind of spoke about for so long. But one of those things oh, we'll travel Australia one day. That just always seemed in the future and was never really going to happen. And now it has happened. Honestly, best decision of my life.

Carly Jowitt: 28:26

I love that. That's all we want in life is to make that decision that you're just like yes, this is right, this is so good. So I think that's a beautiful place to end the conversation. Yeah, it's fantastic. And so with that we can move into the lightning round. And so the first question is what is a travel tip or an inside scoop for your current location? So in Adelaide, so in?

Kim Anderson: 28:52

Adelaide. I do love the whole of Adelaide. I love lots of beautiful wineries, but I do love Glenelg. It's like a little beach side suburb which is beautiful. Also, just outside Adelaelaide is I'm probably not pronouncing it right it's called like Aldinga. It's like A-L-D-I-N-G-A. Australians have all these places and I just look at them and kind of say it how it looks, and half the time people are like you haven't said that right. Anyway, it's just this beautiful little beachside suburbs that are really cute, nice little cafes, restaurants that you wouldn't necessarily think to go to if you're just in central Adelaide, and also the Adelaide Botanic Gardens if you're in central Adelaide. Just spend a day walking around there, beautiful.

Carly Jowitt: 29:37

Very cool, I love that. And the first one was did you say Glen Elk?

Kim Anderson: 29:41

It's like G-L-E-N-E-L-G, One of those words. It's about the same backwards and forwards.

Carly Jowitt: 29:52

Yeah, and it's a quaint little city, you know like it's a lovely spot, so I enjoyed my time there, and so the next question is question number two what is a book that has inspired you to design this extraordinary life?

Kim Anderson: 30:01

So a book that I love. It's actually by an Australian girl and it's called the Girl who Fell From the Sky. Her name is Emma Carey. I think a lot of Australians would know who she is. So essentially she went backpacking to Europe when she was younger and skydived and then there was an accident and she basically fell to the ground and but didn't die, lived, but ended up a paraplegic, but like a walking paraplegic and like it's this whole story. But it's amazing how she had this massive thing happen to her when she she was quite young, maybe 18 or 19, so went on this life-changing trip, but it actually was life-changing, not the way she thought it would be, but just reading her whole experience and that and how you can turn something around and cope with this massive cope with whatever happens to you, it's a very inspiring book anyway.

Carly Jowitt: 30:53

So wow, yeah, I will check that. I mean, once you mentioned the storyline, the title almost makes me cringe, like that's terrifying, okay. And the next question is what is something that you always take with you, Like when? Next question is what is something that you always take with you, like when you travel, what is something that you never leave home without? So this might sound really boring.

Kim Anderson: 31:14

And but power boards, because there's never enough plug sockets. Wherever you go, there's never enough sockets, those big power. Honestly, they're a godsend when you sometimes you get a place and there's one plug socket and you're just like what the hell? So power boards is one of the best things and I always have like in the boot of our car, always have and maybe because it's Australian, but always have like bathers and towels. If we stop somewhere and we're like, oh, this is great for a swim, we can just hop in and go for a swim that's fantastic.

Carly Jowitt: 31:45

I love it. And you right, like the whole power board thing, I always traveled with one and it was a surge protector. So when you're in like shoddy, like Southeast and Asia power, then it would, I could plug my laptop in and not worry about it getting fried. So they're important. No one has said that before. Actually, it's very essential. Totally, I'm with you. And so the last question is what is on the top of your bucket list for adventures or destinations?

Kim Anderson: 32:12

so definitely within Australia. I really want to go far. I haven't gone like far north Queensland rainforest. I'd love to go and work up there and all across sort of the top coastline like drive across the top there. We did talk about this and say that we needed to upgrade our car to a better four-wheel drive before we do that. Personal life Sri Lanka has been on my bucket list for absolutely years and I still haven't made it there. But I'd really want to go there.

Carly Jowitt: 32:41

That's awesome. Yeah, in your overland travel in Australia it's got to have the proper vehicles.

Kim Anderson: 32:47

hey, yeah we've got like a Subaru SUV sort of it's an all-wheel drive and it does pretty well, but there are definitely some four-wheel drive tracks that we've gone on. That I'm a bit. Are we going to make this? Probably not, if we can avoid going down here it's better to do that.

Carly Jowitt: 33:02

Yeah, it's a whole different beast and there's just so much territory to cover between A and B. It's wild and preparedness is the key. So well, thank you, Carly, so much for joining me today. Where can people find you online or connect with you?

Kim Anderson: 33:17

Yeah, so I have got a blog, thetravelingmidwifecom, where I talk about all about my experiences. I just work in as a travel midwife and then I'm on all the socials as well. So TikTok I think I'm just the traveling midwife on TikTok, and then on Insta it's Carlythetravelingmidwife, Facebook, the traveling midwife.

Carly Jowitt: 33:38

Yeah, All there traveling with two L's. So, thank you, we'll link all of that in the show notes so people can connect with you and you connect with carly. Tell her that you heard, found her here, and let her know where you discovered her beautiful story and your inspiration. So thank you, carly, I appreciate it and I hope you continue to enjoy all of the wonderful experiences that australia has to offer thank you, it was such a pleasure being on.

Carly Jowitt: 34:04

Yeah, happy travels. I love how many options and the joy that Carly has for her life. And here are the key takeaways. Number one instead of waiting for that one day trip, why not just go now? You know the one One day we'll tour Australia. One day we'll go on that road trip. One day we'll do whatever it is. Why not just go now? Number two when deciding to work as a traveling nurse or a midwife, know that you can negotiate, you can ask questions on any particular facet of the contract or the position that's being offered. If you don't ask, you don't know. Number three being a traveling nurse or traveling midwife allows you to travel to places that you wouldn't get to see otherwise. You might get to see small town places that you may have never even heard of beforehand. Number four having the opportunity to work in a variety of situations and places and facilities allows you to uplevel your skills through all of that experience. And number five time flies when you measure it in contracts.

Carly Jowitt: 35:39

The quote that I would like to leave you with today is from John D Rockefeller. He said From John D Rockefeller, he said don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great, and I think that beautifully sums up Carly's experience. Even though she was not loving the job that she was currently in, she still gave up her home and all of the comforts of life that were good, and what she discovered was something even better she discovered what's great. So many of us can take that wisdom to heart. When there's something in our life that we are settling for or settling in, it's a good reminder to have the bravery to let go of the thing that might be good in order to allow room for the thing that is great. Thank you so much for joining me today. It is always such a pleasure to bring these amazing individuals and their wonderful stories to you. Witnessing the ways that people have designed their lives to incorporate more travel is one of my favorite things. My hope is that you have found a little piece of inspiration that allows you to step into your bravery and design the life of your dreams.

Carly Jowitt: 37:13

We will be back next week with another amazing episode, and until next time, thank you so much for showing up and listening to this episode. I know that there are so many things in life that you could be doing right now, and so it means a lot to me that you're here. There are so many more episodes coming your way. So if you enjoyed the show, please take a moment to review and follow us on Apple or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and if you know someone who might like to hear it, please share. Those little acts of kindness mean a lot and help more than you know.

Carly Jowitt: 38:04

I appreciate your time and getting the opportunity to share this moment. I'd love to hear more from you. I'd love to connect. So reach out on social. You can find me on Instagram at seafaringwanderer that's S-E-A-F-A-R-I-N-G-W-A-N-D-E-R-E-R, and then you can join our Facebook group at Design Her Travel Podcast. I would love to connect, hear more from you. Let me know what you'd like to hear, more of, places you'd like to hear about and things you'd like to know how to do when designing your life. So thank you everyone, and I'll be back soon.