It’s a modern fantasy most of us city-dwelling folk have thought about at least once in our lives: pack up everything and move to the country or the coast. A little shack in Tassie, or a home on the beach in Cairns, anywhere away from traffic and high density living.
According to the latest census, just over 10 per cent of the Australian population live in a small town – that’s 2.3 million people. And though time will tell if summer’s bushfires will dint that number, for now, it seems, people remain more committed than ever to staying.
Sophie Lord and her partner Ben Gray have discovered a simpler life.Credit:Sophie Lord
Experts say the current housing crisis is a factor as prices in our cities shoot back up, now on track to outstrip the peak of the 2017 property boom. The median cost of a home in Sydney was teetering over the $1 million mark last month, while Melbourne came in second at $809,000.
Auction clearance rates were at 68 per cent on Saturday – 20 percentage points higher than this time last year. And that's despite a pandemic threatening our country. It’s easy to see why a small town might be so tempting.
It was certainly the case for Sophie Lord, a media producer, and her architect partner, Ben Gray, who moved from Cronulla in Sydney’s south to Kangaroo Valley, a two-hour drive away with a population of roughly 900 people.
“For two years we spent our Saturdays attending open houses and auctions that never failed to end in disappointment” Lord says.
“This was during the peak real estate craziness of 2016 and 2017 when a two-bedroom poky apartment a block back from Cronulla beach – with no car space, mind you – would sell into the millions.
Ben Gray sorts out the tent. Credit:@aframekangaroovalley
“We just couldn’t bring ourselves to spend such a ridiculous amount of money on such a tiny space that we were sure to outgrow almost immediately. There just had to be more to life than this.”
Instead, the couple began their search for a heritage home in the Kangaroo Valley to buy and restore.
When their first choice fell through, the couple decided to buy 16 acres for $700,000 and build their house virtually from scratch, with no power or water.
That was 18 months ago. Today, they are still living in a tent – and couldn’t be happier. Lord believes the mental health benefits alone have been worth it.
Sophie Lord says the joy in simplicity has been huge since the move.Credit:@aframekangaroovalley
“The more time we spend down there. the more it becomes painstakingly clear just how bad staring at a computer screen for up to 14 hours a day can be,” she says.
Lord says going bush has helped them rethink their priorities.
“As small business owners neither of us are in a position to leave the computers behind,” says Sophie. “But this block of land has forced us to think more about how we want our life to be, and structuring work around that, rather than squeezing life in around our work.”
Dr Rachael Wallis, a University of Queensland researcher who has studied why Australians are so attracted to “sea changes”, believes ditching city life is as much about affordability as it is a longing to get back to basics.
“My research suggests that people move to the country for a better life, but this can mean different things to people,” Wallis explains. “Most of the people I’ve studied wanted some variation of a more value-led life.”
For Lord, one of those values is simplicity.
“We’ve developed so many routines since we started camping on the land, stuff we never did in Sydney because we just did not have the time,” she says.
“Ben’s always up first and makes us a fire and fills the billy and then I set about making us coffee and tea. Our life in Kangaroo Valley feels more like how life is supposed to be – slower. We rise with the sun and sleep when it sets and the hours in-between are spent moving our bodies.”
According to Wallis, the influence of pop culture is undeniable. “People I surveyed saw these things in books, magazines and TV shows and put these influences into action in their own lives.”
Wallis says the desire to experience what she calls “rural abundance” and to live some sort of adventure can be traced back to shows such as SeaChange and, more recently, the Byron Bay “Insta-Mums” who appear to be living a thoroughly chilled and idyllic existence, feeding their children home-harvested food in between flower-picking and surfing.
“Abundance” is one word Natasha Morgan uses to describe her new life, one that has been close to a decade in the making.
“Since my early university days studying landscape architecture, I had dreamt of a little country getaway,” Morgan says.
She originally thought her house could be a weekender, but ended up moving from Melbourne’s West Footscray to the Wombat State Forest in 2014 with her two children and partner.
Natasha Morgan says her two children have been able to “shine” in their small community.Credit:Natasha Morgan
The five-acre property, located between Daylesford and Woodend and known for its ecological diversity, was rich in potential. The house – originally built as a post office in the 1860s – was derelict, and had bats flying through the roof. But Morgan was undeterred.
“That very first day standing under the huge colonial trees, I knew,” she says. “I’ve never been so sure of anything.”
These days Morgan, who has her own small farm and home-grown gardens, runs workshops for locals and visitors, including dry-stone wall building and garden design.
Side view of Natasha Morgan’s house, which has been a post office and general store.Credit:Natasha Morgan
She says she has been thoroughly embraced by the tiny population.
“I never imagined I’d lose my anonymity, that I’d meet more people in a few short years than I’d met in a lifetime, or that the quality of those relationships would be so remarkable.”
University of Melbourne Associate Professor Janet Stanley recently co-authored a research paper on the development of Melbourne as a city. She believes that though it has been awarded “the most liveable city” in previous years, the population growth of the last 25 years has led to congestion and long work commutes. The knock-on effect of this, says Stanley, leads to poorer social outcomes including in education and health.
Morgan, who separated from her partner in 2016, believes her children’s wellbeing has only improved since the move.
“I have two incredible young children who have found the means to express themselves in ways I hadn’t imagined as a result of this county life,” she says.
“They are more connected to the world and have benefited from the support the community has offered them.
“People tell me on Instagram all the time that I’m living the dream.”
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