About Me

 About Trish Johansen

 

I was born and raised in New Zealand, apart from six of my early years spent in Western Australia. My dream from the age of three was to be a veterinarian. More accurately, it was an all consuming obsession that kept me at school beyond 15 years old, and on the straight and narrow. I put myself through Veterinary School, worked for two years then left New Zealand on my one way ticket  to travel the world and pay off my massive Veterinary School loan.

I travelled mainly throughout Europe and the Middle East to 50 or so countries. In between, I worked as a Veterinary locum, attended as many surgical courses as possible (I love surgery, particularly trauma surgery) and paid off my debts.   I procured my own Practice in the North of England, initially with one other Veterinarian.

Born with a restless need to explore the world,  I suppressed this desire after Lucas came along. Travelling with my child didn’t fit into my image of the ideal mother and I decided it was better for him if I gave up my free spirited approach to life  and settled into a 9-5 lifestyle.  After a few years I could no longer squash the travel bug and a backpacking trip to the Norwegian Arctic when Lucas was 2.5 years old became the first of our many wondrous journeys. Both our lives have been enriched immensely and I am a better role model for my son when I am being true to who I am! When the Practice was well established I backpacked  for several months each year with Lucas, visiting many diverse countries in the world.

 

After fifteen years away, the pull to return to NZ  became too strong and we went home to Queenstown New Zealand for seven years, surrounded by some of the most dramatic scenery in the world.

Over that time, I took a break from my Veterinary career to write a book about our travels, and I did articles for DISCOVER Travel Magazines and for The Love of Travel magazine.

 

We now live in Siem Reap, Cambodia where Lucas is thriving in secondary school.  I have started a veterinary practice, Siem Reap Veterinary Care for the community and for it to be a practical training hospital for Khmer veterinarians and veterinary students.  Two New Zealand colleagues and I we created the Lost Pet Asia Microchip Data Base. I am also working with the government and international agencies on a national rabies eradication program CREP and am the veterinarian for Cows For Cambodia and Karls Cows

I am passionate about sharing skills and capacity building to improve human health and animal health/welfare in developing countries, in a self-sustainable way that respects local culture and systems.  You can read more about that by clicking on the ‘Projects in Developing Countries’ link. I irregularly enjoy ice climbing, skiing and weekends away. More often, I hang out with friends, and Lucas and our pets.

If you have a story or travel advice to share, please leave a comment and/or email me. I can’t wait to hear from you!  If there’s anything you’d like to see on here, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do.  Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, leave comments and keep checking in for updates:-)