Young, tree-changing foodies running a farming startup in Greater Hume

When we starting planning a family, we knew we’d have to look further afield to have the kind of lifestyle we wanted. In Walla Walla, we’re only half an hour away from Albury, which affords us access to a lot of big city services. A lot of our friends in Sydney didn’t believe we’d actually do it.

They all thought it was just our little pipe dream, so when we did move, it was a bit of a shock for them. Our daughter Violet loves it here. She loves getting up in the morning, putting her little boots on and going to see her chickens. It’s given her a huge amount of confidence that I don’t think she would have had if we stayed living in the city.

Our neighbours are wonderful, and we’ve made some great friends down here. I feel like we’ve really been welcomed into an amazing little community, and I think we could grow old here.

Downsized their expenses to live a richer life in the Murrumbidgee

We used to live in Applecross, WA, where the median house price was $1.6 million. In April 2017, we bought a beautiful 5-bedroom home with a pool in Coleambally for just $200,000! It’s always nice to come back to the country because it’s got so much more to offer, with so many more options for the kids in a lot of ways.

Now we tend to do a lot more with them, and they often say, ‘wow, we couldn’t have done this in Perth!’ Country towns really benefit from new people coming from different backgrounds and bringing different abilities, so coming to the Murrumbidgee and running a picture framing business has been great. It’s unusual to have something like that in a small town, so the locals really enjoy it.

Come here for a holiday if you can, and just check it out!

Owners of 6 affordable acres in Junee

We moved from Wollongong to Junee in April 2017. We chose the community because of the affordability of land here, and after moving from a 480sqm block in Wollongong to six- acres, life has been so much more relaxed.

We’re not as busy now, so we get to hang out more as a family, which has been really good and brought everyone a lot closer. We haven’t looked back and we’ve told several of our friends to come and enjoy this lifestyle with us.

Academic researchers, and lovers of horses, dogs and the Coolamon lifestyle

We were both fortunate enough to be employed by Charles Sturt University, where we’ve had a lot of opportunities to pursue our interests in research and teaching. We wanted an area where we could raise our horses and have a few dogs, as well a being close to the university.

When we moved here, we didn’t necessarily think about being integrated into the community. We thought that would eventually come with time, but it actually happened a lot quicker than we thought, and we were made to feel very welcome. We wouldn’t trade it for anything else. We’re here forever.

Returned to the family farm in Gundagai to find family bliss and business success

There have been quite a lot of positives about coming back to the area, but the kids are one of the major ones. That community-based set up you get from the country – you can’t really replicate it in the bigger cities. The other thing that really springs to mind is that we get to spend more time together. A lot of people are dog paddling and not getting anywhere, trying to pay rents and mortgages that are completely out of control.

You’ve got the opportunity to move and buy a house for a quarter, or even a fifth of the price that you’re paying in the cities. There’s lots of opportunity here for people to come and set up a business and do something a little bit different. This area is crying out for people to come and do new stuff.

We have no regrets at all – it’s been the best decision we’ve made in our married life, and we’d definitely recommend the move.

Inspired by Narrandera’s vibrant community to make the country change

Each time we visited Narrandera, the people were always very warm and very welcoming, and we felt as though we just wanted to be a part of what they were doing. It was that sense of community that we hadn’t experienced in the other places that we’d lived in. So, after travelling down a few times, we thought we’d make the move.

When you drive around town, it’s a beautiful, clean town. You can say hello to people in the street and they’ll smile and say hello back… it’s beautiful. There’s a spiritual feeling that comes with living here – a connection to the land. You feel, this is home… this is my land. We love the trees, we love the river… we love the freedom. If you’re still not convinced, come and visit us, and we’ll change your mind. You should come here -we’ll convince you!

Relaxed Lockhart Resident with a job in Sydney

I moved to Lockhart in the middle of this year (2017), after having lived here for about 9 months last year. When I moved back up the coast, I realised how much I loved living in Lockhart… So, I decided to sell up and move down here. I feel really blessed to be able to work in a Sydney-based job, whilst being able to enjoy the lifestyle that comes with living in the country. Thanks to the NBN technology, my career hasn’t suffered in anyway by moving to Lockhart.

Part of the reason I moved here was to escape the ridiculously high mortgages in the city. I still have a mortgage here, but its very manageable and only about a quarter of what it used to be. Making a country change is something I’d thought about for a while, and I wish I had made that leap a lot sooner. It’s certainly given me a lot of balance, and a lot of time to just relax.

Snowy Valleys resident Passionate Vigneron, and co-owner of Courabyra Wines

We weren’t sure when we first moved here – but it’s just going from strength to strength, and we’ve had a really positive experience ever since we established Courabyra Wines back in 1993. The council has encouraged and supported Brian and I, ever since we put the application in to grow vineyards in the region. The council is so supportive of all the tourism and agriculture business in the shire.

It’s something I’d never look back on and regret doing, and I don’t think we would live anywhere else. The Snowy Valleys is such a beautiful and welcoming region, with a wonderful lifestyle and plenty to do in the picturesque outdoors. As the kids here grow up, they feel a real sense of place and a sense of family. It makes you really proud to be a part of this community. The Snowy Valleys region has so much to offer, and if anyone wanted to have a country change, I would say absolutely – definitely do it.

Temora - a friendly town was exactly what we were looking for!

At the Country Change Expo in Sydney, a sign caught our attention – ’Temora – the friendliest town in NSW.’ Even though we had never heard of Temora, we knew that a friendly town was exactly what we were looking for. We instantly fell in love with the place and we now have more friends here than what we had in 7 years on the Central Coast.

Even if we won the lottery, we could not go back again because the lifestyle here is just so incredible. Temora has amazing facilities, affordable housing, and even high speed internet – so doing business here is a breeze. We just wish we moved here 20 years ago!