A healthcare worker moved to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory and doubled her income

A 27-year-old midwife is now living the life of her dreams after moving 2,750km away from her city life to work in the Northern Territory.

Sydney native Tylah McConnell found the love of her life, doubled her income and bought a home in the 18 months after moving from Sydney to Alice Springs in April 2021.

Ms McConnell originally planned to visit for six months on a secondment, but says she will now ‘never’ return to Sydney.

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Ms McConnell originally came to the Northern Territory for six months on a secondment, but ‘just couldn’t return,’ after falling in love with the land and the people

Ms McConnell grew up in Sydney and worked as a midwife there for three years before deciding to move to the Northern Territory, where she now works as a women’s health educator.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia she said she simply ‘couldn’t return’ once she moved. 

‘I fell in love with the land and the people. I’ll never live in Sydney again, only ever temporarily. Life is so stressful and hard there. It’s just a much easier lifestyle in the Northern Territory,’ she said.

The healthcare worker said that the housing crisis in Sydney made it impossible to buy a house alone, and she didn’t like that pressure to be in a relationship.

‘I started thinking, is this all there is for the rest of my life?’ 

Ms McConnell is now a women’s health educator and works in remote regions such as near Uluru. The healthcare worker says her work-life balance and community is much better in the Northern Territory

Ms McConnell had never thought of moving to the NT before, but something told her to go.

‘I got a calling one night to look up Alice Springs. I applied for a job and got it very easily. I didn’t even research the town, I just booked the flight. I didn’t know anyone, I just came on my own.’

She said she was expecting the town to be small minded but it’s very liberal and has an ‘amazing’ art scene.

‘It’s fantastic for LGBTQ+ rights. The town I’m in actually has the largest lesbian population per capita in Australia,’ she added.

What the healthcare worker loves most about Alice Springs is the sense of community.

‘You never have to catch a taxi as someone will always take you. You don’t have your family here, so friends become family,’ she said.

Her work-life balance has improved. ‘When I arrived here work said “why don’t you drop to part-time for your work-life balance?”‘ she laughed. 

She now has a buzzing social life as it only takes 15 minutes to get from one side of town to another so it’s easy to see friends.

The women’s health educator said her social life is amazing in Alice Springs, and friends have become family

Ms McConnell has a good balance between socialising at restaurants and bars, and activities like camping and 4WD driving.

She said there is only one main nightclub in Alice Springs, but the town still has a ‘really good’ nightlife.

An Abba tribute band recently played, there’s an active theatre scene and events such as pool parties.

‘It’s anything but boring,’ the healthcare worker said.

The dating scene is also different in the Northern Territory as the smaller population means you’re likely to run into people you’ve gone on a date with, so you have to leave things on better terms.

Ms McConnell met her partner, who works as a doctor in the same area, and they bought a house together within six months.

‘To buy a three-bed house in Alice Springs, I didn’t even have to use a third of the deposit I had been saving in Sydney,’ she added.

Ms McConnell met her boyfriend [pictured] and they bought a house together since moving to Alice Springs

The change in lifestyle has resulted in her saving thousands of dollars.

‘In Sydney I was always worried about money. I don’t even think about it here. I focus on friends and having good experiences,’ she said.

Ms McConnell said the day to day life of living so remotely is not as difficult as you’d expect.

‘In Sydney I spent so much money and did so much shopping. Here I don’t need that,’ she said.

The healthcare worker explains that Alice Springs doesn’t have a huge variety of shops, however they have the main grocery stores like as Coles, Woolworths and Kmart.

It only takes 15 minutes to get to a shop if you’re in Alice Springs, but once you go further out bush it could take hours. 

Ms McConnell has saved thousands of dollars from doubling her income and spending less. she also has a much better work-life balance in Alice Springs

Getting clothes can be difficult as there’s not a lot of shopping options and ordering online can take over two weeks.

However she admits this stops impulse buying, ‘the instant gratification of online shopping is gone when an order takes three weeks to arrive,’ she laughs, struggling to believe she was once able to get three hour express delivery in Sydney. 

She admits she does miss the ease of access to some services, for example healthcare and doctors.

 The women’s health educator said she misses the ease of access to services like healthcare and even restaurants, she also explained you have to be more self-sufficient and careful as there’s no phone services once you’re 15 minutes outside the town

Buying any special items such as specialty food can also be really difficult, but ‘you learn to live with a lot less’.

There are no 24/7 restaurants and establishments close early. Ms McConnell explains that UberEats doesn’t exist, and although they do have Menulog, delivery could take hours. There is one main restaurant but its ‘normally booked out’.

Another challenge is phone signal, once you’re 15 minutes outside of Alice Springs there’s no service.

Ms McConnell said recently her and her partners car broke down three hours outside the town and they hadn’t seen anyone in hours. They had to turn into ‘bush mechanics’ and use a fabric bag to fix the car until the next town. 

For Ms McConnell the biggest challenge of working in the Northern Territory is the lack of resources.

She went from working in one of Sydney’s best public hospitals, to somewhere where there isn’t as much staff available and agency is impossible, as the closest city is 1,500km away.

‘We don’t carry blood in the hospitals, so working here means you have to adjust to the fact that someone in a car accident is less likely to survive. 24 week babies have more chance to survive in Sydney than in a rural town,’ she said.

‘I love working with First Nations people because of how strong the sense of family and community is,’ Ms McConnell said about her work in the Northern Territory

Ms McConnell is ‘passionate’ about her work educating and promoting women’s health.

‘I think it’s so special to empower women and give them the confidence to look after their health,’ she said.

She ‘fell in love’ with indigenous health and caring for First Nations people after making the move to Alice Springs.

‘I love working with First Nations people because of how strong the sense of family and community is,’ she explained.

Ms McConnell is passionate about her work as a women’s health educator. Pictured are a pelvis and breast used to teach women about birth and breastfeeding

‘I noticed that individualism was more apparent in Sydney and so working as a midwife you had to take on a lot of different roles compensating for the lack of a wider connection to community.’ 

Ms McConnell prefers her work in the Northern Territory to her job in Sydney, she feels the work culture and expectations are very different.

‘In Sydney you’re sold this lie of that’s where opportunity is and the countryside is boring. I found the opposite, here there is no job competition, I feel so valued and doubled my income,’ she said.

She feels more free working in the Northern Territory, where there’s no one ‘watching over’ you and making sure you ‘tick all the boxes’.

‘Here it’s more important to do one thing and make it good, everyone just tries their best,’ she said.

She added that she has had access to job opportunities ‘you would never get in Sydney,’ she recently helped create an antenatal educational app.

The healthcare worker urges her followers to give living in the countryside a go.

‘People, especially those from big cities, should just try it, just try it and say you’ll give it that. It opens your life to what could be instead of what’s expected of you.’