If You Can, You Must: Travel Nursing and a Career Beyond the Ordinary

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By Bonnie Euler| Published 25 February 2026

Some careers unfold in neat little lines. Others… take you to the red dirt of Western Australia, the wards of metro hospitals and a floating hospital ship anchored off the coast of Madagascar.

In this episode of It Takes Heart, Sam Miklos and Kate Coomber chat with travel nurse Tessa Mitchell, whose path through travel nursing has been bold, generous and wonderfully unpredictable. And right from the start, you get the feeling Tessa lives by one simple mantra.

“If you can, you must.”

From Metro Burnout to the Outback (Fast)

Tessa didn’t set out to become a travel nurse. In fact, she says it wasn’t on her radar at all, until burnout forced a hard reset after the intensity of COVID.

“I was going to work, coming home, going straight to bed…”

Then she found a travel nursing Facebook page, posted that she could work “anywhere in Australia” and the first offer that landed was Broken Hill, becoming her first contact as a travel nurse. It was a leap and a scary one. But it was also the beginning of something that gave her energy back.

Travel Nursing as a Working Holiday

What’s beautiful about how Tessa describes travel nursing is that it’s not just about the contract, it’s about what happens outside of it.

She drives because it gives her freedom on days off. She camps. She explores. She collects coordinates and “pins” campsites to share with friends. She makes a list of things to do in town, even things she’s not sure she’ll like, just to push herself out the door.

“You have to get out, you cannot sit in your room like you were at home.”

A Floating Hospital off Madagascar

Then came one of Tessa’s biggest yeses: Mercy Ships, a charity organisation with hospital ships providing elective surgeries in countries without access to that care.

She explains it like a town at sea: wards, operating theatres, a cafeteria, a gym, even a bank. Tessa volunteered with the eye team, helping with sight restoration surgeries. What stayed with her most was the emotion of seeing people regain vision after decades.

“You’d have these people who had had no vision for decades… and just the appreciation… it changes lives.”

Skill, Confidence, and Being the Nurse on Shift

Back in Australia, travel nursing has also stretched Tessa clinically. In rural and remote settings, autonomy becomes real and quickly. It’s daunting at first, but it builds confidence you can’t really shortcut.

“Often you are the only nurse on shift and there’s no doctor coming. The doctor is a TV screen videoing in…”

Watch Season 3, Episode 36 of It Takes Heart with Tessa Mitchell

More about Tessa’s organisation of choice, Royal Flying Doctor Service

The RFDS were established in 2018 as a way to support the Flying Doctor in Queensland. It exists as an investment in the future of the Flying Doctor, the services it provides and the people and communities it serves. The Flying Doctor has grown to become one of Australia’s most reputable charities and a world leading aeromedical provider.

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