I was born in Lethbridge, Alberta, on the Canadian prairie. When I was 2 years old we moved to Calgary, Alberta, and when I was 3 years old we moved to Ottawa, Ontario.

We stayed there until I was 12 years old, and I went through the first 7 years of primary school there in six years. This was because of some funny idea they had called "accelerating", where certain kids had the luxury of taking grades 2 and 3 the same year. At the end of it all I was then in grade 7, with (so I thought) one year left of primary school.

We then moved to Regina and lived there one year, and to my joy grade 8 in Regina was the first year of high school.

Then the big move came, and at age 13 my family emigrated to Australia.