Be a big fish in a little pond

Rosie Peace knew that if she wanted to advance in her career after university, she’d need to move from her UK home in Newcastle to a city with more opportunities.

She moved to London but the real pull was Australia.

'I had friends who were in Australia at the time and I just was kind of following them. They were all in Sydney and just living that very dreamy, beachy Sydney, Bondi life.

'I thought: "Oh, I'll have some of that."'

With her working holiday maker visa in hand, Rosie landed in Sydney, where she worked for 12 months. As with all recipients of the working holiday maker visa, if Rosie wanted to extend her stay for another year, a 3-month stint working in a regional town was required.

She opted for Cairns, where she did banana 'stringing' – tying banana trees together to stop them falling over.

'Talking to people who had been in packing sheds, I thought: "Bloody hell, I’ve chosen the hardest work in 40-degree heat, out in the paddock with all the spiders and wild pigs,"' Rosie said.

'But It was fantastic, a really good learning experience.'

Rosie had never heard of Darwin and it was only through a friend who suggested she visit, that put Rosie on the path to the NT.

Her uni degree in Business Management and Marketing, helped her land a job as an Events Coordinator at aap Events & PR. She loved the job and her bosses loved her. So much that they agreed to sponsor her to stay in Australia. Eight years later and the 35-year-old is still with the same company where she is now a Public Relations & Event Manager.

'I honestly think for people who are wanting to grow in their careers and in some sense, be a big fish in a little pond, you get a lot more opportunities, responsibility, everything in Darwin,' she said.

'You can really fast-forward leaving uni with a degree and then having to get up that corporate ladder, in somewhere like Darwin.

'It is absolutely the place of opportunities because you get exposed to so much more and you become a real generalist rather than a specialist.'

Improved career prospects aren’t the only thing Rosie likes about Darwin.

'I love the weather. I'm definitely not cut out for the UK winters at all,' she said.

'I love that Darwin has a real community feel about it, which to someone coming from small towns, going to a big place like Sydney, you're a bit out of your depth. Whereas somewhere like Darwin, everyone's very friendly and the place has a good community vibe.'

So despite many of Rosie’s friends remaining in Sydney, she is very happy to tell them that Sydney’s loss has been Darwin’s gain.