It’s been 365 days, to this very hour, since the Skywest Fokker 50 landed at Esperance Airport and my journey from the Gold Coast via Perth was complete.

Thinking back to that time I was so scared, but an overwhelming sense of excitement kept my temperature from reaching fever pitch. After seven years of various roles in the radio industry, my dream of “working in a real radio station, on the air” was finally being recognised. I’d done so much volunteer work for community radio stations, aboriginal LPON and online plus my numerous opportunities at RG Capital/Macquarie Regional Radioworks in the IT and Engineering field and it had all added up to this.

Weeks earlier I had received a phone call asking me to apply for the position. I was at the Hillsong Conference in Sydney, enjoying a really good time with friends and lapping up the Sydney City culture and in the space of a few days I’d been thrown three balls to juggle.

A church in North Queensland had offered me a great staff position doing what I was already doing at SURFCiTY Church, just in much better conditions with some people I really loved working with and plus I’d be within minutes of family which was a real drawcard.

One of Australia’s largest touring companies had asked me to submit a proposal to create a new division within that company, an online video archive of all of the great concerts they’d promoted in the past and had video of plus also to live stream upcoming concerts and offer online concert tickets, a very exciting venture.

The third phone call came and the Group Program Director of Southern Cross Media knew that I had been really keen to get on air on one of his stations, I’d continually email him and harass him stating so. He had passed my details on to the West Australia Group PD who then called me and let me know there was a job opportunity and I might like to apply.

When it rains it pours.

Suffice to say I ended up in Esperance, Western Australia based on a gut feeling, one year on and it’s working out with a few social and relational hitches. I’ve never had such a great opportunity to live my dream as I have had here, though I’ve never been so far away from people that I loved, which I never would’ve thought of as an pertinent issue.

I could list the numerous problems and issues I’ve had, or address the dire loneliness I’ve felt but it’s all fickle and worthless. The loneliness isn’t so much about being alone, but it’s the residue, left over after relationships have deflated over the Nullarbor.

Where to from here? I’ve got no idea, but I’m sure it’ll be in radio.