I was expressing myself and felt a bit of a cross-dresser

I remember my Australian schooldays for a loving kiss chase and being on the girls' side and at the age of five. If that doesn't tell a story about me I don't know what does.

What I probably remember most though was writing essays which I hated despite having a great imagination, and writing at speed for exams. Another big part of those times was watching Dr Who on television and having violin lessons.

Early on I found learning difficult and my teachers thought I had a problem. Actually it was because I couldn't see and was very good at looking at the kid next to me to figure out what I should be doing. My eyesight difficulty was only diagnosed two years later. By seven or eight, I was behind with my reading and writing and my parents were freaking out.

So they sent me to a private school called Girton College and I was horrified because it was like going from Venus to Mars. There were kids with A$50 (HK$318) pocket money and being the 1970s in rural Victoria, this was definitely a bit strange.

I'd go to school by bus and there'd be tension between those who went to state school and those who went to the private one. I'd be teased as I wore ridiculous Coke-bottle glasses. Mrs Hall, my home economics teacher, though, was fantastic and her catchphrase was 'Shuuussshhhh'. She was so passionate about what she did that I loved her classes, they were certainly better than maths, science and English.

By the time I was 13 or 14, I'd become interested in the theatre thanks to Mrs Somerville, our music teacher. I remember being in The Boyfriend and Scrooge. After working on my dad, I left there to go to Bendigo High and found it was a breath of fresh air simply because it had kids from all backgrounds. I loved it because I could do all these subjects such as sewing and pattern making. But it was drama that really fired me up because it was such a blast and it became the highlight of my schooling.