I have a Dutch background and when I was 19 my auntie and uncle came from Holland to visit. A couple of months later, they suggested I go to Holland and stay with them. I spent a year there and I suppose you could say I was their surrogate daughter whilst there. I also went to Germany and Austria and holidayed with them. I came back a different person, much more confident and able to stand up for myself. It was wonderful. I encourage any young person to travel, explore and find themselves.

When I came back I set my plans in motion. I wanted to start working in hotels. A job came up to work at Tunarama in Coco-Cola vans which the Grand Tasman Hotel operated. I applied and was by far the oldest working in the vans. I worked hard that weekend, I really wanted to show them what I could do. By the end of Tunarama, I was offered a job at the Tasman Hotel. That's how I started working in pubs. I've worked in pubs for many years and it's where I met Garry. I loved every facet of hotel work from the front bar, restaurant and disco, as it was called back then.

From there, we went to work at the Northern Hotel and then we moved to Adelaide. We worked in a few hotels there, Garry in the managerial side in hotels and me as barmaid and waitress. After working in different places, we ended up managing the Two Wells Tavern, which we loved. It was close enough to the city, but with a real country town feel. We really got to know a lot of the patrons and enjoyed our stay there immensely.

We then went on and purchased our own commercial cleaning business. We left the hotel industry but still felt we were working in hospitality because we were cleaning function centers and hotels but also medical centres, post offices, dental offices, and lots of other little places. We worked long, hard hours, it was interesting work and worth the while.

Garry and I have been together for 35 years. “And they said it wouldn’t last” has always been a standing joke. Interestingly Garry was raised in Lock and went to school in Cummins at one stage. He also moved to Port Lincoln as a child. So, we are both very much EP people.

In 1997 we got married, had Teagan and sold the business not long afterwards. We moved back to Port Lincoln. I think with being married and having a baby, we just really wanted to get back to family and settle back on the EP.

When we moved to Port Lincoln, Garry managed the Marina Hotel, and I did a few shifts there. In 2000, our son Ryan was born. After years of moving and renting houses, we thought it was time to buy a house and settle down. We looked around Tumby Bay, Port Lincoln and Cummins. After driving around the town and doing some research we found that Cummins had a fantastic school and hospital, the sporting community was great and the feedback that it is a really good community to be part of. When we drove around the town, it was clean and there was notable lack of vandalism, the kids weren’t bored and that helped us make our decision to move to Cummins.

We looked at a couple of houses and went to have a look at 12 Railway Terrace. Street appeal was zero. You could barely see the roof and what you did see was dilapidated. It was old. The garden was overrun. We couldn't go in the front because of the overgrown prickly bougainvillea which had taken over the whole verandah, but as soon as we walked in the back door with its renovated kitchen, it was like coming home. We bought the house, moved in, started renovating and cleaning up straightaway and made it a really nice place to live.

Not long after, I found my first job in town at the Cummins Deli, when it was called ‘BnK’ Deli. I worked for Bob and Kath. Over the years I've worked with four different employers at the deli. I have also worked at the hotel, and with West Coast Homecare as a cleaner and respite worker, and as a disability support worker. In the meantime, Teagan and Ryan finished school and now work locally. Teagan as a baker at 5 Loaves Bakery and is now a manager there, and Ryan at the Cummins Tyre Centre and he is making a life with his partner Abbey. We feel very lucky. They have both grown into wonderful young adults and have both bought houses and living in Cummins. We are extremely proud of them both

I left working at the deli and got a job at IGA in the fruit and veg section and loved it, the days flew by. Then I was back at the deli, but this time with Garry, and as managers. Garry’s daughter Kimberley and her husband Paul bought the deli and we managed the business for them. We would get up at dawn and finish after 9. They were very long days, seven days a week, and managing staff and dealing with COVID proved quite stressful. But managing the deli did have its positives. As the deli was the first port of call for a lot of people and also because we were open 7 days, we heard a lot of what was going on in the community and tried to help wherever we could. Whether it was catering for the CFS, being open during blackouts where we were quite often inundated with people buying food, fuel or gas. We strived to help people behind the scenes dealing with grief and loss, and our community has had a fair share.

We were involved with R U OK? day whilst at the deli and I tried my best to put it into practice every day. I always had bags mixed lollies on the counter in my little corner where I made coffee. I could sometimes tell when people came in if they needed a little bit of sweetness to help them through the day. It was just a matter of throwing them a bag of mixed lollies or drawing a little smile on their coffee cup or their bag of hot chips. If someone came in and you could see they were not themselves and were asked “How are you travelling today?” you would get mixed responses. Sometimes it was a bit of a whinge about work, or it was just a shrug of the shoulders, sometimes it ended up being in the office having a chat with tears and tissues supplied. I’d like to feel that we were able to help. I think we did a good job at the deli and I like to think we put our all into it. We made some lasting friendships with most of the staff, we still catch up for a cup of tea or coffee or get a postcard in the mail, and although I don’t miss the daily grind, I do sometimes miss the banter, the chat and the interactions with the staff and customers.

My mental health did begin to suffer and I would find different ways to cope. One day I was coming back from an appointment in Port Lincoln and drove the long way home through the Koppio hills. The sun was shining, the windows were down and the wind was making a mess of my hair. I was just loving it. A song came on the radio and it made me stop, pull over and listen; Xavier Rudd - Follow the Sun. I just had a moment. From that day on every morning while I was having a shower, I played it. When you listen to the lyrics you can understand why. It was my get ready for the day song and I whistled it during the day. I still listen to the song. Not every morning. I do hum it every now and then. It's just one of those songs. I haven't listened to it for a while, so I think that sort of indicates that maybe I'm in a good place.

I did not mind the hard work of the deli, I've worked hard all my life, but it did take its toll physically and mentally and we had to leave as I was finding it all quite difficult. While we were at the deli, we lost Garry's mum Pat, who was like a mother to me, and we also sold the house where we raised our kids, and I found it quite hard mentally. Home was my soft place to land. The house was too big for us after the kids moved out and we bought a smaller home, which is where we live now. I do love it. It's our new home. My new soft place to land.

Then I discovered birds, the feathered kind. While I was at the deli, I had this moment where I walked out the back door and I heard a really loud bird, probably just an ordinary Black Bird, but it made me stop and wonder how long it had been since I'd been outside. I became very interested in birds. Often, I would be standing at the kitchen sink, watching the murmuration's of the starlings, as they danced in the sky. I was mesmerised.

I think I have an addictive personality. I'm not into substance so I'm very lucky, I do get heavily involved and absorbed whatever hobby I am into at that moment. In the past, I threw myself into scrapbooking and found it as another escape. I loved creating the art and the storytelling that is scrapbooking. I could walk into my scrap room and my worries would simply go away for a while. Knitting and making chutneys and jams were also the addictions for a while. Now it is birds, photography and crochet.

After we left the deli, I really became more interested in birding and I treated myself to a new camera and zoom lens, which I affectionally call my Big Arse. I have found that birding is good for the soul. When I leave home I have the usual things going through my mind; maybe some stresses, worries and concerns or things like that. But once I’m out in the sunshine, breathing in the air and walking in the bush, I am focusing on all the small things, the sounds and little movements around me. I become immersed in nature and the habitat around me. Quite often I'll just drive the back roads and come across some farmers, I think initially they think I'm scoping the place out for sheep or fuel! I’ll hold my Big Arse up (camera) and they say, "Oh it’s you Sandra! If you just go in that gate there and try down there!” Most of the farmers are great. I've made a lot of connections with other people as well who I didn't think I initially would, all with a common interest in birds and their habitats.

I have been known to wear a ghillie suit. It's full camouflage and like what the snipers in the army wear. I have been caught wearing it a few times. Once in the Koppio Hills, I was walking up the road back to the car, it was so quiet and no one around. As soon as I'd stepped up onto the road, someone came along! The person was relieved when I turned around and realised what I had in my hands was a camera...they thought I had a gun! It's generally something I'll wear when I'm sure that I'm not going to see anyone because let's be honest, It's not a good look, but it's fun to see their expressions sometimes.

To find new birds and to try take a photo, I have a lot going through my mind. What bird did I just hear? Then I need to think of my camera settings. Is the sun over my shoulder? Is the wind blowing the right way? Is it behind that bush? How long can I crouch in this one position waiting before cramp sets in? I become so immersed in it and for all my well laid out plans, luck is probably the biggest factor. And when I have found a bird and taken a clear shot I find it such a little thrill. I know it sounds weird but sometimes I take a photo and I'm happy with that photo and I actually say thank you to the bird. And sometimes I swear under my breath at that little bird that just wont get out from behind those leaves! I recommend anyone that feels as though they are struggling to get back to nature, because it really does ground you. Even sitting on a beach, listening to the waves, the sounds and the smells you just become calmed by it. Distracted. It helps and I do recommend it. I am always looking to find birds that I haven’t seen before and enjoy going through my bird books or asking certain facebook groups, looking for an identification and I am finding that my hobby is evolving to other things in nature too.

I am also looking for native orchids now. An online friend of mine, who’s very much into birding, started taking photos of orchids. I was amazed. They said they were everywhere; you just have to look for them. It is another element of photography and nature. Instead of always looking up I’m now also looking down! Garry teasingly says that I’m becoming a bit of a “greeny”, I don’t think I have reformed to that extent, but I do have a more active interest in the environment around us.

Cummins is a good town and with any small town, it can also be a hard place to crack the code of who is who, and who is related to whom when you first move here. When we first got here, I did my best just to get involved, I volunteered at different places and helped here and there. I just immersed myself into it and did the best I could. You get to know people and people get to know you and then before you know it, you’re part of the town. Cummins might be a small town but it's community is far reaching. People move away and then they come back. It is that push and pull of a small town where everyone knows your business. Someone who wasn't a local, mentioned what a downfall it was that everyone knows your business. I said; if they don't know your business, how do they know if you need help or not? If you need help this community will surround you and help, it is all part of people helping and caring.

I’m really hesitant into committing to anything now. I don't know if that’s just a self-preservation thing. I’ve learnt over the years that I can say no and if I do say yes, I can also create guidelines or boundaries. I have learned where to set my limits, where to stop, where to just breathe and calm down and just say that’s beyond my control. Whenever I feel worried or anxious, I just grab my camera and sometimes even just walk in the backyard as it backs onto a farmyard. I just go out there with a camera and I'll stand in my little corner and see what birds come along. We are lucky to have so many birds in our own backyards in the country. To see birds, you have to be still and physically make yourself calmer. It's a great exercise.

Life is a lot slower for us now. Garry has retired and I now work as a disability worker and spend time with Relle, which I find very rewarding. Spending more time with our kids and grandkids is a highlight. Garry and I have a motor home and we're following our dream of traveling around and seeing a bit more of the country, and of course the camera goes everywhere. It’s surprising that no matter where you go someone always knows someone from Cummins! Port Lincoln was where I lived for a long time, but Cummins will always be home.

As I think back on my story, I find it interesting how some things come back full circle, in ways I am still that teenager, escaping to the scrub, but instead of sitting on Elephant Rock reading books, I am sitting in the bush looking for birds.