The tree change...

[Upside]

So I'm starting this thread hoping to get some good input from the panel here!

My question is - can city folk adjust to country life, and can country folk adjust to city life?

I'm talking a permanent relocation. .. Up and sell, move ,and new work, new schools for the kids, etc etc. From a city of 3million, to a town of 3 thousand. Or a town of 3 thousand to a city of 3 million

We've done it. City to country. I'll bite my tongue until others have a say.....

 

[Gem in I]

Depends on what a person cherishes for themselves or if the person is too reflective of what others perceive then i don't know if moving would make any difference at all ?

Personally love country but tolerate the city to do what has to be done. eg. better education for kids, medical advantage is a no brainer. All a shame but valid reasons.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Of coarse you can, But where a lot of people go wrong is to start telling the natives/Town Folk how they should be living, When you move any where in the world you need to remember that You are going there so you need to adjust to their ways and not go there and expect people to change there ways to suit you, which is where many make their mistakes,

and remember a Smile will Open more Doors than a Fist, and that things out in the Country or the Bush happen at a more relaxed pace, You can get on well with the natives On Pluto as long as you don't ask why their Kids are blue and the Adults are Green :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[maxwell4]

Depends on the individual and their ability to adapt. I went from country to city aged 17,with no problem as I enjoyed sport, cricket,basketball, football etc and had little trouble in establishing friendships. Still live in the city but still love the country. Age may also have something to do with your being able to adapt. I believe if you have ever spent any time in a country town you will quickly realise the pace is slower, folk friendlier and lifestyle more laid back.

If you are going City to Country go for it, otherwise think hard about your decision.

Cheers
Bob

 

[Deepseeker]

Four years ago we moved from the edge of a city with a population of just under 5 million, to a rural town with a population around 14,000. There's pluses and minuses.

Pluses-

1. Except when there is an accident or tourists hit us hard on a long weekend, traffic jams are a thing of the past.
2. The kids get to go to a good school with great academic results, for a lot cheaper than it was going to cost us in Melbourne.
3. I'm less than an hour and a half away from the GT, and 40 minutes from Rushworth.
4. The shopfront that we lease costs us peanuts, for a business that does just as well or better profit-wise than it would in the city, and with much less competition.
5. If you were going to live here long term, properties are laughably cheaper compared to Melbourne.

Minuses-
1. Nowhere near the cultural diversity that we had in Melbourne, especially when it comes to dining out and choice of cuisine.
2. The attitudes of more of the locals to non-anglo cultures, races, and religions is downright scary at times.
3. There are way more religious people here per capita than I ever remember in the city. I guess that could be a plus or a minus depending on your own beliefs.

 

[Moneybox]

Moved from a bustling population of 3000 to the steady quiet life in a beautiful historic location with a population of 300. This is the most peaceful place since leaving Upper Brookfield as a teenager. The population was perhaps similar but we have passing traffic and migrating terrorists that never showed up when I was a kid.

These locations are great but if you want to buy more than a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk then the cost of freight and the delay in receiving your purchases can be frustrating.

One hour in the city is way too long.....I find myself looking for the EXIT signs :lol:

 

[panther]

I moved from city to country then back to city and couldn't wait to get out of it again. Now on 40 acres with no close neighbours and I do whatever I like.
Been here 16 years now and hate even going to the city to shop. Local town (12 minutes away) is really great for shopping and only 2 sets of traffic lights. I vote country.

 

[Dihusky]

Our Daughter has been hunting around Upper Brookfield, little school, honesty library the occasional old overgrown Mango plantation but now the encroaching McMansions, get up to the end of the road and it's a beaut area still.

Moved from the country to the smoke in 2005, because of Schooling, can't wait to get back to the bush, starting to count the months, then it'll be the weeks, then days, finally no looking back :inlove: :inlove: :inlove:

 

[Wishfull]

I love the country. Cant wait to leave the city when we have to go there. Too many idiots.
At least in the country if you were to hurt yourself some one would help you not just walk past.
Tourist season is the worst this year than Ive ever seen it. Glad it nearly over.
No way in hell I would go to live in tge city.

 

[user 4386]

You do need to choose carefully if going from city to country - a lot of people don't realise what isn't available in small places (eg medical, internet, TV, electrical power 24 hours and 240V - sometimes remedied at a lot of cost). And that the kids have enough to occupy them (I find young kids like anywhere with a few mates, but the majority of rural teenagers prefer the big city). Using present populations, the places I have lived are

10,000 (5 years)
4 million (16 years)
50 (2 years)
1 million (2 years)
4 million (1 year)
3,000 (4 years)
500,000 (1 year)
1 million (6 years)
4 million (3 years)
100,000 (22 years)
4,500 (3 years)

With about 7 years briefly in many places of a few hundred to a few thousand people

The smaller places were the best by far, although I don't recommend the place with 50 (Sandstone WA, was 30 then) - a bit too isolated. You can get a bit sick of only having a couple of roo shooters, cop, barman, postman and store owner and families to talk to, where the biggest event each week is the stores truck bringing in next weeks' food or the occasional cyclone. The kids got a bit grumpy as older teenagers but were so active that they were mostly OK in a place of 100,000, but then left home for the city after High School.

 

[user 4386]

Four years ago we moved from the edge of a city with a population of just under 5 million, to a rural town with a population around 14,000. There's pluses and minuses.

Pluses-

1. Except when there is an accident or tourists hit us hard on a long weekend, traffic jams are a thing of the past.
2. The kids get to go to a good school with great academic results, for a lot cheaper than it was going to cost us in Melbourne.
3. I'm less than an hour and a half away from the GT, and 40 minutes from Rushworth.
4. The shopfront that we lease costs us peanuts, for a business that does just as well or better profit-wise than it would in the city, and with much less competition.
5. If you were going to live here long term, properties are laughably cheaper compared to Melbourne.

Minuses-
1. Nowhere near the cultural diversity that we had in Melbourne, especially when it comes to dining out and choice of cuisine.
2. The attitudes of more of the locals to non-anglo cultures, races, and religions is downright scary at times.
3. There are way more religious people here per capita than I ever remember in the city. I guess that could be a plus or a minus depending on your own beliefs.

Agree with all of that.

 

[Mackka]

Interesting comments. I just counted the residences I have lived in for more than 6 months and they total 17. Mainly on the Eastern Seaboard and I think of a small township on the NSW South Coast ( 46years ago) where the fishing was great, surfing, camping and the beer was cold and the women were hot. Probably my favourite time of life.
Mackka

 

[Moneybox]

Our Daughter has been hunting around Upper Brookfield, little school, honesty library the occasional old overgrown Mango plantation but now the encroaching McMansions, get up to the end of the road and it's a beaut area still.

Moved from the country to the smoke in 2005, because of Schooling, can't wait to get back to the bush, starting to count the months, then it'll be the weeks, then days, finally no looking back :inlove: :inlove: :inlove:

We lived at 800 Upper Brookfield road long before street numbers existed there. My father moved there at the age of 12 in 1921 and helped cut the road in. He split the property into two when his dad died in 1956. Mum stayed there until just before she left us a few years back. My nephew lives there now and he went down and erected a sign BOX LANE on our old pump track that leads into the block dad cut off. Since Google spotted the sign it's now officially Box Lane.

If it wasn't for the media kids would be quite contented with country life in a small community. We had a one teacher school for many years and then two teachers in later years but we never missed out on a good upbringing with no alcohol, drugs or cigarettes. Mum made our clothes and we never wore shoes but it was a very good life.

 

[user 4386]

Moneybox, media is life to many people nowadays, particularly younger people. I find plenty of drugs and alcohol in small communities now. Alcohol was always an issue in my experience, people staggering home from the pub to pound the wife, or wacking other locals. A minority of course, and not a feature of really tiny communities where people cooperated more.

 

[Dihusky]

If it wasn't for the media kids would be quite contented with country life in a small community. We had a one teacher school for many years and then two teachers in later years but we never missed out on a good upbringing with no alcohol, drugs or cigarettes. Mum made our clothes and we never wore shoes but it was a very good life.

Daughter also went to a small school 39 kids, she didn't think about 'community' back then, it just was, she misses it now though and want's her kids to grow up in something similar so they understand it until they move on. We had a look at 674, but way too much work to pull it back into shape and the house needed a D9. Remember seeing the Box Lane sign :Y: