Are You Ready to Move to the Country- Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Move to Rural Australia.

Don't get me wrong, I love the country. There is an undeniable pleasure of looking out over undulating paddocks of golden grasses and a quiet satisfaction of watching sheep ambling along grazing contentedly. Quiet, calm, peaceful. The traffic, crowds, ambulance sirens, police helicopters and drunken brawlers replaced by wide open roads, big skies, chirping birds and lowing cattle. The peace and quiet surely has a universal appeal to frazzled city folk everywhere.  We visit a quaint country town for a weekend B&B stay and return home refreshed, thinking: "That's the life for me!". But be warned. The idyllic dream of country life is just that- a dream. Visiting the countryside and living in it are as different as visiting Venice and living there. Nice to pass through and sample all the pleasures while leaving before you encounter any of the inconveniences. Just as living in the city has its unpleasant elements, so does living in the country. My advice to anyone considering a move from the city to the country- try before you buy!




Let me suggest some things that you might consider before you move.

1. Think about the community you are buying into.

Ask yourself:
"What is the population of this community and what employment and activities do they undertake?"
"Who are the people in this community- what are their interests, pastimes, passions and prejudices?"
"What services and businesses are easily accessible in this community?"
"What inconveniences am I willing to tolerate in exchange for the perceived benefits of living in the country?"
"How often do I like to socialise, and how varied do I like my social activities to be?"
"How much do I  enjoy choice and variety in services, resources, recreation and lifestyle?"

Then ask yourself: "Am I going to enjoy living in a community like this one?" Try to put aside your images of rolling green hills and fresh country air for a moment and really think about the place and the people you will be living amongst. Know who you are, and what you like. Are you going to, once the veneer cracks, be content to inhabit a smaller, more insular world than you previously had?


Country town versus countryside
The smaller the community, the less variety and choice you will have. There is going to be less variation in almost everything : social activities; people; conversations; ideas; work; hobbies, shopping, and even food. This is because most of the people are engaged in similar activities- agriculture and/or servicing the agricultural industry. If you enjoy some choice and variety, choose to live in a town rather than out in the farmlands. If you enjoy more choice and variety choose a town with a large population. I made the mistake of buying land 32 kilometres out of a town which had a population of only 100 people! There were limited choices in the town, but 32 kms out, there was less.

Investigate the area before you buy.
Check what the town has to offer. Get the local newspaper or newsletter and see what is going on. Check the local phone directory to find out what groups are operating in the community. Check out the Shire website for community activities. But be careful. Once you find out that a sewing group meets weekly, go along and investigate! Make sure the group does what it says it does. You may discover that the group consists of a couple of disgruntled women who do little more than whinge about everybody else in town whilst sitting in front of a sewing machine!
Make sure other people actually go to these groups-  I joined an art group but, after driving in to town to attend, discovered I was the only one at the centre, and so may as well have painted in the nude at home. Even government funded or tourist establishments often appear to be more than they are- I joined a volunteer group for a local tourist attraction, only to discover that  no-one planned to give me any training or instruction which was okay because often no tourists showed up anyway!  I only went there a few times before the 64 km round trip didn't seem worth the while.
Remember, small communities are great at building events, activities ands organisations up to appear far greater than they actually are. Be aware of this, and don't be fooled by the hype. Look for the evidence that people are actively involved!

Window shopping.
Look at what shops and services are in the town, and don't fool yourself into believing that the small supermarket that sells only a basic variety of vegetables will suffice because you will be growing all your own produce.....let me tell you, no you won't. In mid winter when your vegetable garden is bare, except for the spinach which you are now almost nauseated at the sight of, you will curse that small shop for having no stock! You will find yourself driving to the nearest large town and this will soon become part of your routine. Long drives to proper shops just so you can buy your groceries and cast your eyes over several varieties of cheese instead of two. If you like or need to shop on a regular basis, make sure your town has the shops you like or need, or these shops are within a comfortable driving distance! Our nearest large town was over an hour away. Initially this was not a problem, but after a year of driving back and forward, it became a problem. It is very frustrating to remember, as you arrive home, that you forgot to buy those screws from Bunnings!!! I can assure you, you will not be getting back into that car to return to Bunnings. You will  instead chisel screws out of bits of scrap wood you have learned never to throw away, just in case.....

Cafe au lait. s'il vous plait??
Does your town have a cafe? I know, you are thinking:" No wonder this soft little city slicker didn't make it out there in the bush....cafes, please!!" But mark my words, you too will find yourself hankering for a coffee, cake and chat with friends whilst sitting on the sidewalk al fresco area watching the world go by. What you will get if you chose your town poorly is an instant coffee at a greasy table of the local roadhouse, probably sitting alone because no-one else "does coffee" in the town. Worse, you could end up at home with a Pablo. I recall the excitement generated by the locals when the nearest roadhouse got a real espressso machine! However, I never saw any groups of local ladies sitting chatting and eating cake in the roadhouse as they watched trucks refuel on the oil stained concrete pad outside the window. It's not just the coffee, is it? It's the atmosphere and experience.....

When does inconvenient become unbearable?
Think about the little things. Think about the routine, day-to-day things.
 Is your bank in town? Is there an ATM in town, and if it is located in the pub how much can you withdraw? Do you have a mail delivery service or will you have to drive to town to collect your mail? Is there a rubbish collection service or do you have to dispose of your rubbish under your own steam? Ask yourself this- where is the rubbish tip and how far will I be driving every other week to dump off this trash?? And forget about recycling- it simply doesn't exist in small communities!
How far will you have to drive to get a haircut, a manicure, a leg wax? Will you have to give these away, find alternative solutions and do you really want to? What kind of phone and internet services are available? Are they efficient? How much will they cost over time? Does the power cut out everytime it rains or the wind blows? If you are way out in the middle of nowhere, you will find yourself without power on a regular basis. And it can be many, many hours until the power is restored. The most common time for the power to go out is just after dark, just before your favourite show is about to come on TV, and it will be out all night. No TV. No lights. No pumps so no water. Darkness all around you. Nothing to do but sit and think. Time for bed and it's only 7.30 pm. At least you'll know what it feels like to be a nursing home resident. The other most common time for the power to go out is in the morning just before you planned to shower and go to work. No pumps, no water. No iron. Thank the Lord for anti- perspirants, scrunchies and the fact that wearing tracksuit pants to work is not seen as a oddity in your new abode.
How long will you have to wait to get a plumber or electrician, how far will they have to travel to get to you and how much will it all cost? I planned an extension to our house. The builder said that because of the distance I would have to accommodate and feed the building team during the week, while they worked, as it was too far for them to drive every day! Now calculate that into the cost of an already ridiculously high quote! Needless to say, we did the renovations a la Ikea!
These things will seem like small inconveniences until you encounter them every day or week, and then they become bigger inconveniences and eventually irritating rant worthy annoyances!

Is there a doctor in the house?
Look at the vital services that the town provides. Is there a doctor? How far away is the nearest hospital? Remember, this could be a matter of life or death-  a heart attack, stroke or a severed arm when you are more than many minutes away from a hospital, ambulance or doctor may not bode well for you. Is the hospital attended by several doctors or a country GP.
My husband developed abdominal pain when we lived in larger town with a hospital.  After a long wait at the small rural hospital, the GP arrived ( he had been in another town, but we were not informed of this. The staff just kept assuring us he was "on his way"!!) He had a quick look, told us it was possibly appendicitis so he had to go to the large regional hospital which was 3 hours away- where we would have driven 3 hours earlier if the staff had told us that the doctor was, in fact, missing in action!  And my husband couldn't have any strong pain relief because after it is administered he would have had to stay under observation for an hour before discharge, as per hospital policy.  Again be warned, when all is going well you probably won't think too much about it. But when disaster strikes, you may find yourself coping totally alone.
Is there a pharmacy in town or near by- it is not ideal to have to make an uncomfortably long drive just to purchase thrush treatment. Is there a dentist near-by? Again, if you are driven to the dentist by sheer agony, you want the drive to be short! Is there a veterinarian? Anyone who has transported a wounded animal 100's of kilometres in the back of their car will tell you how dismal that can be.

Let me entertain you....
Find out what the locals do for entertainment. Go to the pubs and/or restaurants in town and see how many people are actually there, and look at what they are doing. If you walk in and see 2 people hanging off the bar while the bar attendant is sitting flicking through a magazine, you may want to rethink your decision to move. If you are the only group in the restaurant on a Friday night (and it's not harvest or seeding time!) you may conclude that the nightlife is a little stale. If there are no other cars in town on a weekend night, run as fast as you can away from that town and never entertain the idea of returning. Where I lived the main entertainment outside of playing, watching and talking about sport, was going to other people's houses, sitting around a table drinking. It is easy to see that after a short time, depending on the community you live in, it could very easily become the same people with the same conversations but at a different table. This is especially true if there is someone in the group who is a conversation hijacker, rarely allowing others to finish talking before they jump in with their often pointless comments or corrections. It only takes one such person in a small group to bring a depressing tone to the evening! What at first may be novel, can quickly become repetitious and then can slide into monotony. And there is nowhere else to go unless you are up for a long drive!
And be warned. Some people in the country drink and drive. They have little choice, There are no taxis. The lack of police and lack of traffic lulls them into a false sense of safety. Be very careful driving on country roads at night, especially after sporting events!
 How far do your friends and family have to travel to visit you? Realistically, how often are you going to see each other? Is it going to be enough? Are you, or they, going to get tired of the drive? Once you start missing your loved ones, you are on the slippery slope to relocation!

Neighbourhood watch
If you are thinking of living out of town, on a farm, find out who your neighbours are. Are any of the farm houses nearby vacant or only periodically occupied (during seeding and harvest). How many neighbours will you actually have and how far away are they? The move by farmers to purchase more land, then bigger machines to farm that land has reduced the number of people in small farming communities. Some houses throughout rural Australia are unoccupied or only occupied for short periods each year. If you are living amongst large farms, you may find yourself with a very small group of people from whom to select companionship! In small communities people can be clicky and if you fall out with one person, you may find yourself less welcomed by others. Unfortunately you will not really know if your neighbours are going to become friends or not until you are living on your new property. This will be a matter of luck, and if your neighbours are not to your liking, or you to theirs, this can become very difficult, especially if there are only a few people in your local vicinity! In the country a good neighbour truly is a blessing!

Small Talk
And talking about people- this is one of a small communities favourite pastimes! If you choose a very small community, you and everything you do and say are going to be known by everyone and open to public scrutiny and discussion. You will be judged, dissected and analysed. You will be criticised. You cannot remain detached and anonymous in a small town. When we first moved to town, people knew us and about us but we had never met them before. It was surreal and a little creepy.
There are several less obvious but equally unfortunate effects of everyone knowing everyone else.The first is that people want to drag you into their battles. If one person dislikes another, then they will want you to dislike this person also. It's kind of like: "You want to be my friend, then you can't be their friend". It is never actually said, but there will be a high degree of criticism of the disliked person in an effort to "poison the well". People do not want other people whom they themselves dislike to be showing up at their other friend's houses or parties. This can make associating freely with others a little more tricky than it needs to be.
The second unfortunate effect is that people can tend to become hypocritical or two faced. Where we lived there was a few smiling assassins, as I called them- people who smile to your face and act as thought they like you then talk about you in a derogative manner behind your back. I witnessed it in action on numerous occassions. Someone criticises another person frequently, yet when they meet that person at a social event they hug them, say "So good to see you" and chat away as if they are the best of friends. People like to throw mud, but in the country they prefer to do it from a very safe distance where the recipient of the mud slinging can never completely be certain where the mud actually came from! If you dislike the company of people who are two faced and deceitful, you may find yourself with an even narrower group of friends to choose from. But what have you lost? You will never be truly sure of who is and isn't your friend amongst people such as these!

The Daily Grind
Finally, how important is variety and choice in employment to you? Can you find the work you enjoy in the community you plan to live? Work choices are limited in the country and become more limited the smaller the community. If you are a chef you may not be able to sustain your interest in the job in a local pub that serves counter meals. If you are a microbiologist you will probably find yourself unemployed. If you plan to be self employed in an agricultural enterprise-I wish you luck!  It is important to feel like you are making some kind of contribution, doing something worthwhile with your life. Depression is a very real result of inertia, dissatisfaction and boredom. So is weight gain! If you find yourself without some form of industry to keep you occupied, you may very well become lazy, overweight, bored, boring and depressed. If you can't find a satisfactory job, take up a hobby, if you can find anyone in the local area who actually teaches any kind of craft! Whatever you do, do not get caught up in a lifestyle that does not suit you, no matter what you have invested financially or what income it produces. If you are not truly happy and excited about your existence, there is nothing worth staying for!

My best advice to anyone planning on moving to the country is this: live there first before you invest any money or effort into any property or venture.  No matter what your plans and dreams, if you end up purchasing a property or business in the wrong town or community for your needs, it will be destined to fail. But if it does fail, don't resign yourself to the new life you have created. Make the necessary changes to correct the problem. Life is too short to spend any time in endeavours you do not enjoy. If you are not having fun, if it is all mundane and monotonous, move on to something else. We are all different and need different things to make our lives joyful, worthwhile and satisfying. Farming may be exactly what you are looking for. Or it may be exactly what you should best avoid! Good on you for giving it a go. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Just keep your eyes, ears, mind and heart open- if it starts to feel wrong, start to ask why! If the answer is that you chose poorly- choose again. It is just life, after all, and is meant to be enjoyed and not endured!