Staying true to the name of this blog, Nick and I have once again uprooted and this time moved up to the Isle of Mull in Scotland. For those who don't know, Mull is the second largest island in the Inner Hebrides and lies just off the west coast of Scotland. We moved here because after a few months of sending off many, many, MANY job applications all over the country, Nick was offered a wildlife guide job for a whale and dolphin watching tour company. It is so incredibly hard to find an actual paying job in the marine conservation or marine tourism field in the UK, so it was such a relief for both of us when he was offered the position. I was then offered a role at the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, working in their visitors centre in Tobermory. I'm really enjoying it so far and get to talk about whales and dolphins all day long - heaven! Both our jobs are seasonal roles and will end some time around September/October when the town quietens down for the winter months.
That's Tobermory - you may recognize it from it's television alter ego Balamory!
We've been here a month now and it's safe to say that Mull is absolutely stunning. Even when driving around the island on a rainy day, the views take my breath away. The mountains are dramatic, the lochs and beaches are beautiful and the wildlife is epic. So far I've seen minke whales, common dolphins, harbour porpoise, puffins, red deer, golden eagles and white tailed eagles. Nick saw his first basking shark of the summer this week, and has had a few encounters with bottlenose dolphins (Scotland has the biggest bottlenose beasts in the world!) I feel very lucky to be spending a summer here and will try cram as much as possible into the next few months.
It feels like a different world up here. The water is so clear and some of the rock formations are insane. I never thought I'd get excited about rock formations but here we are. We went on a boat tour to Lunga to see the colony of puffins last week and oh my GAWSH are they cute. Did you know a baby puffin is called a PUFFLING?! As if they couldn't get more adorable.
Although we're incredibly grateful for these jobs, we're definitely at a point in life now where we'd quite like to stay in one place for a bit longer instead of moving from one seasonal job to the next. We both love going to new places and meeting new people, but being the 'newbies' all the time definitely takes it's toll, especially in small communities where friendships are already so tight.
It's really got me thinking about how moving around all the time affects us all and our emotional well-being. As humans we crave community, it's how our brains are wired. Once upon a time, you would be born in a certain town, grow up and get a job, marry a local, have kids and continue the cycle. Nobody would leave the place they grew up in and would therefore have a tight community of family and friends that would look out for one another. These days most of us will leave home at 18 and many won't end up going back. A lot of us will move cities, countries and even continents and won't settle down in the traditional sense, but keep moving to the next place, the next job, next adventure.
Now I'm not saying there's a right or wrong way to live out a life and there's definitely pros and cons to both. But from our own experience and talking to friends who are in the same position as us, not having that tight community of people around who know you, really know you properly, can leave you feeling out of place and a bit lost, even in the most beautiful of places. Sometimes all it takes is a connection with one or two other people and suddenly you feel a bit more at home, and sometimes it's something a lot bigger.
After the earthquake in Kaikoura our little community developed a bond so strong that I'll always feel a deep connection to the town and to everyone who went through it. We felt at home in Kaikoura much quicker than we probably would have if it wasn't for the earthquake because everybody pulled together to get through that difficult time, helping each other out and having each other's back when things were tough. It was community in the true sense of the word. I miss Kaikoura and New Zealand all the time and still feel like we're not quite done with it yet.
I'm not really sure what my point is here but it's something I've been mulling over, and a recent chat with a friend who's just moved to a new town and is struggling a bit got me thinking about it all. Saying all that, I wouldn't swap our adventures and the experiences we've had for the world!
We don't know what we're going to do when this season comes to an end in October, or where we'll end up anchoring down next, so watch this space. For now we're going to soak up as much of Mull as possible, see as much wildlife as we can, and enjoy each day of Scottish summer! The weather has been mostly lush so far, which everyone says is rare for Mull. I'm hoping it continues, but even if it doesn't, there are far worse places to be!
