The Vet Voyage with Dr. Littlewood - Episode 11: Freedom!

Dr. Janet Littlewood (MA PhD BVSc (Hons) DVR DVD MRCVS) is a veterinary dermatology specialist practicing at her independent clinical referral dermatology service in Cambridge, the United Kingdom. In February 2022, Dr. Littlewood will begin a 4-month dermatology locum at Animal Dermatology Clinic – Perth, in Australia.

Join Dr. Littlewood here for her travel blog as she journeys from the UK to Australia during these interesting times for global travel, and begins practicing veterinary dermatology in the Land Down Under!

Episode 11: Freedom!

Quarantine over! It was wonderful to see Dr Mandy coming into the hotel lobby as I finalised my escape paperwork at hotel reception! I am now enjoying settling in to the lovely apartment where I will be living, meeting the ADC Perth team and embarking on life and work in a new country. I still feel as if I have sensory overload after the period of isolation, and there are some quirks to a new country, some of which have reduced us to fits of laughter. Struggled to change the batteries in the air conditioner remotes – failed to slide the cover far enough down to open the battery compartment! The lock on the apartment door turns the opposite way to the UK – we say “Righty- tighty, lefty- loosey” to turn keys and locks, but maybe I should have expected it would be different “down under”! Similar problem with the shower – hot and cold are the opposite way around to what I expected – had two tepid showers before I worked it out!

Fortunately, driving is on the same side of the road as I am used to, but have managed to get lost twice – the sat nav in the car isn’t up to date with all the new roads, and seems to disagree with the route suggested by my Apple or Google maps! Have successfully managed to get a bank account (empty at the moment!), an Australian SIM card, a tax reference number, and almost managed to register for Medicare. I brought a spare mobile phone with me so that I could use my UK card in that, but can’t make it work – so need a trip to the Apple Store at the weekend. But I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am finally to be here and getting into the routine of work! Everyone is making me feel so welcome, and it is a joy to be working with such lovely people! Thanks to everyone who have made this adventure possible so far!

Janet