Sponsored by
This Life: Tucker for the poms
Kellee Godfrey, 32, was born and bred in Queensland, Australia.
She left her home 10 years ago sto travel the world – and ended up in Leeds, working as head chef at the Blackhouse Grill. Rod McPhee found out what makes a woman leave the outback for England.
* Click here to watch latest YEP news and sport video reports.
My childhood was pretty normal really. Well, normal for Oz. We used to get fruit bats and poisonous snakes coming in the house.
* Click here for latest YEP news and sport picture slideshows.
My mum was once bitten by a brown snake when she was pregnant with either myself or one of my two sisters, I can't remember which. But you learn to adapt.
* Click here to sign up to free news and sport email alerts from your YEP.
If you get bitten by something venomous you know not to panic and to get to hospital as fast as you can. We were also taught never to lift up logs or go into long grass without boots on because there are poisonous spiders too.
* Click here to follow the YEP on Twitter.
My dad was a bricklayer so we lived in quite a few houses because he would always build a new home and we'd end up moving.
* Click here to become a fan of the YEP on Facebook.
Most of the time we'd be in a small town where my cousins and my grandparents all lived just down the road so it was pretty close-knit and special. But it was also quite quiet and cut off, which is great in some ways but it always made me want to go off and see the rest of the world.
The one thing I couldn't live without would be my car because my best friend lives in Glasgow and my boyfriend, Neil, lives in Ellesmere Port. Plus, I usually finish work at about 12.30am, sometimes 1am, so I need some means of getting back home to Kirkstall. Driving long distances doesn't bother me. It's just normal in Oz. I'd think nothing of travelling for 90 minutes just to go for a night out back home. Australia is so huge and Britain is tiny by comparison. I remember once we drove from the bottom to the top of Australia and even after 24 hours we hadn't completed it.
My first job was as a 'checkout chick' in a supermarket in the town where I lived. I did it to save up for a car, which, like I said, is pretty much an essential thing in Australia.
Something that might surprise other people about me is that I used to be really big – probably about a size 24 or something like that. You probably wouldn't think so to look at me now, because I'm only about 5ft tall. But I lost most of it, just through the usual methods – a better diet and lots of exercise.
The thing I'm most proud of is the fact that I went round the world travelling. I always wanted to get out and see the world when I was a kid. It kind of frustrates me that everyone else I know back home doesn't want to do the same thing, although I also understand why they might not!
I love travelling. I spent quite a while in Thailand and thought it was great – I would go back there tomorrow. But I also love Britain, I don't know why exactly, I guess I like the accent – and I did fall in love with an English guy after all. I also quite like the snow, which is just as well recently. I didn't even see snow until I was about 22 so it's a real novelty for me.
The last time I cried? I cry all the time to be fair. I cry when I leave Britain to go back to Oz and I cry when I leave my family behind to come back to Britain. The one place I've never cried is in the kitchen, even though I've got grief and stress over the years working in various places. But no matter how upset I get I always save it for when I get home – never let them have the satisfaction of seeing you cry!
To relax I read or listen to music on the way home. I have to unwind after a night in the kitchen. I realised this a while ago because I used to go straight to bed the minute I got home and I found I would end up dreaming about being at work again – so even in my sleep there was no escape! Now I wind down and try to forget about cooking before I get my head down.
My philosophy on life is to get out there and live it and make sure you enjoy yourself. Go out there and see the world. It's a bit of an Aussie attitude I reckon. There's some truth in the old line about whinging poms in some ways – for example, you complain about it being too cold in winter then, as soon as the temperature gets above 22 degrees centigrade, you all say it's too hot!
The person I'd most like to meet is chef Jamie Oliver. I like him because, obviously, we both love cooking, but also because he isn't fussy and just throws great dishes together and that's a little bit like me. I'm not one for fine dining, I love good, hearty cooking that's carefully made and full of flavour and that seems to me what Jamie is about too.
The best piece of advice I ever received came from someone who trained me and that's to put cling film round a serving spoon when you're serving up mashed potato – it makes a beautiful shape. I got most of my help in cooking from my grandparents, they set me off when I was about 11 or 12 doing baking – I used to bake for my mum's friends. They'd actually put orders in with me for fairy cakes and bread and stuff.
My first love was a boy who was about two years older than me in school and one day in class we had to dance together and I kind of fell in love with him when we did the cha-cha. Obviously nothing ever came of it as I never told him how I felt about him – I would never dare. He was very much one of the cool gang and I certainly wasn't.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 0 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
