Now living in the Teviot Valley, Teresa Frewen-Walsh found herself stranded in Australia when borders closed at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
She had been working as a midwife at a fully private maternity hospital in the United Kingdom, caring for the "unmistakably" rich and famous.
Needing work in Australia, Ms Frewen-Walsh found herself driving alone across the Outback — "I had all of Australia to myself" — to the first of many midwifery contract positions.
"The contrast to my life in London to my life in Australia could not have been further apart," she said.
This extreme contrast became the basis of her recently published book From City Lights to Outback Nights.
Ms Frewen-Walsh said at first her stories were done for a writing group she had joined back in the UK to retain her links to London.
"They were shocked at some of the stories I told, there was disbelief — whereas it was my everyday life," she said.
The lives of the indigenous women she was working with could not have been further from the women who gave birth in the private hospital.
In one community where Ms Frewen-Walsh worked, women in labour would get on a bus and travel five hours to deliver their baby, she said.
"They were entrusting such a unique time in their life to a stranger. The power control was completely inequitable.
"I’ve never come across that anywhere else I’ve worked."
Through it all she "was still their midwife", she said.
"Those women left such a gift with me, they left their story with me and they didn’t even know it sometimes."
She had only been back to London to visit since pandemic restrictions had been lifted.
"London is still here but my relationship with London was in a completely different category," she said.
When it came to writing the book, it was tough to know where to begin.
"I know that I’m probably a bit of a storyteller but I didn’t recognise it because I’m a bit whakama [shy] about it."
Ms Frewen-Walsh said the final product was a "yarn", similar to a short story collection.
It had been hard to return to some of the stories but she was proud of the book — it reminded her of what a journey it had been.
"You might think it’s ordinary and very ho-hum because it’s your lived experience but for someone picking up and reading your words, it’s new.
"The stories would have still been in my mind because they stay with you ... to get them out of your heart and out of your head — it’s really good therapy because then it makes space for more adventures."
From City Lights to Outback Nights is available at Paper Plus.
