9 Things To Know if You’re Thinking About Relocating Away From the City

One year ago I packed up my life in Sydney, returning to the small beach town where I grew up, and let’s just say it has been an experience.

I’ve become part of a growing number of millennials who are swapping bustling metro lifestyles in favour of regional living thanks to a number of different socio-economic factors. A recent report detailed this growing trend in the 2023 Regional Movers Index which outlined the ins and outs of the great regional migration. When we drill down into the stats, the report tells a pretty compelling story, with people making a move to regional life hitting the highest level since March, 2018. We’re seeing this trend reflected globally too, with both a growing number of Americans and Brits heading out of town in search of greener pastures.

So why the big shift? Well, chiefly, we’re being priced out of the cities. It’s no secret that young millennials just can’t afford to stay in the big smoke with rising rental costs, inflated house prices and cost of living kicking us in the nethers, so to speak.

Growing up regionally, I simply could not wait to swap my humdrum existence for the bright lights of city life. After graduating from university I booked a one-way ticket to Sydney – it was a glorious time to be alive and I fell head over heels for the harbour city that opened up a world of convenience, excitement and nightlife.

However, the last few years have been full of change after welcoming two babies into my life. After having some big conversations about money and how we want to raise our children, my husband and I decided a regional move would be the best option for our family.

Under the allure of being closer to my family (grandparent daycare, iykyk), cheaper housing prices and a much more manageable cost of living set up, we set off for a new life at the southern end of the Gold Coast. One year on, I can confidently say that it has been a great learning lesson full of ups and downs – but ultimately has been a decision for the better.

If you’re thinking about making a similar sea/tree change – here are my biggest takeaways.

1. Hard fact: everything is cheaper.

The reality is, regional living is cheaper in every aspect, which is a welcome ease on the pocket. In the city it was starting to feel like every time I sneezed, $5 would automatically come out of my bank account.

No matter which way you slice it, the cost of living has come to the fore in everyone’s daily existence so it’s hard to ignore the positive effect that this has had on our outgoing costs. Rent is cheaper, house prices are cheaper, the growing number of extracurricular classes my two-year-old is signed up to are cheaper and every day necessities are a fraction of the cost.

2. Say goodbye to modern conveniences.

After I had my first child I lived on meal deliveries to fuel me through those early newborn days when it got to 2pm and I hadn’t eaten a morsel. Within a few taps on my iPhone I had a sumptuous sandwich on my doorstep in 30 minutes. Ever since moving regional, I’ve had to reacclimatise to not having these kinds of things available. At the beginning this kind of bummed me out, but I’m now in the mindset of consuming more mindfully.

We can still get a weekly grocery delivery – a godsend for anyone with a busy schedule – which ensures we have a stocked fridge to feed the whole family. On days when I don’t have my sh*t together it’s a little more challenging, but generally speaking, not having takeout isn’t all that bad.

3. The quiet takes getting used to.

For anyone who has lived in a city, you’ll know that every day is a cacophony of sounds that oscillate between construction clatter, busy buses and sirens blaring. It’s a soundtrack that gives a city its buzz, but can be highly annoying!

When we moved regionally, everything went quiet. So, so quiet. At first I loved the peacefulness, then my mind started playing games on me and I wondered if I was living on the set of a Truman Show-type studio lot and all the paid actors had headed home for the day. The crazy thing about quietness is that if you’re not used to it, being still can be quite deafening. Now, I’m actually very happy without the city noise and I’ve adjusted to the quiet perfectly.

4. A close-knit community is so rewarding.

Despite cities being jam-packed with people, it can often be lonely. After moving to Sydney I found my community in the workplace but as life shifts and changes, those connections can feel further away. When I became a mother there was a new level of isolation that took over and I truly yearned for community, which I feel like I have gained in spades since moving regionally. We’ve found friends through our children’s extracurriculars and just by chatting to locals, we already feel so welcomed by this community.

5. The Joneses – they don’t live here.

One thing about city life that always felt a bit foreign to me was trying to keep up with the scene of it all. Don’t get me wrong, I loved dining out and trying fun new venues, but there was a bit of a vortex that you could get sucked into.

Eating great food, drinking chic cocktails and hobnobbing at bars was fun and all, but you could quickly fall into the trappings of believing it was all worth something. Well, living regionally there truly are no hotspots to go to, so there’s no worry that you aren’t keeping up with the Joneses, because they do not live here! You won’t catch people posing with their meal and posting it on Instagram because it’s just a meat pie from the bakery. Delicious, but there’s definitely no peacocking going on here. And you know what – it feels nice to be just a little bit less polished.

6. There’s so much space…glorious space.

City living comes at a compromise of space. So when we moved into our new home we were quite frankly at a loss at what to do with all of this space.

We now have a double garage (!!), so many cupboards and room to breathe. I’ll always love my tiny city apartments, but for now, having extra space has come at the perfect time for this stage in my life.

Outside of our home, things are just generally expansive. Long beaches stretching for miles, huge parks and winding roads that lead to Fern Gully-esque wonderlands. Once we found our footing, there was a great big exhale and an unpicking of bound up tension. Sardine tin city living is fun, but have you ever felt the thrill of calling out from the top of the stairs and your husband can’t hear you because there’s so much SPACE? Ecstasy.

7. Long lunches at home are SO on.

Given the aforementioned predicament, we used to have little to no space in our city apartment which meant we rarely hosted. Much of our time was spent catching up with friends outside of the home. Now, with the pluck of feeling a lot more house proud, we have most certainly entered our long lunch era. My husband is an incredible cook and I love decorating – with our powers combined we’ve become long lunch power rangers. Our weekends are spent cooking up feasts (him) and decorating tables (me) with farm fresh flowers, linen tablecloths and glassware that we now own because we have cupboard space to store them!

We might not be dining out at the ritzy hot new eateries in town anymore but being able to have people over and host is a buzz all the same. For the first time in our adult lives we have a dining table fit for eight people and filling the seats each weekend is super special.

8. Getting back in touch with nature.

Laugh at me all you want for becoming a cliche, but moving regionally truly does make you appreciate the natural wonders of this country a whole lot more. In the city I would often scratch my head trying to find safe, outside activities for my daughter and would usually end up spending money to go to a big, flashy indoor kids play centre.

Now our weekends are filled with trips to the park, my parents farm and the local creek. It’s fresh air, it’s wholesome and I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve become one of those ~adventure mums~. It’s truly bliss and I love the childhood we’re creating for our girls.

9. Nothing is permanent.

I’m not going to lie – for the first six months after our regional migration I grappled with the big changes. I often missed the city and everything that I had come to love about my life there. Transitioning back into the small town that I had so desperately wanted to get out of when I was growing up certainly came with a lot of reflecting.

But in time, I have settled into my new (old) life and switched my mindset from ‘I’ve gone backwards in life’ to ‘how lucky am I to have this opportunity to build a really beautiful life for my family’. Sure, I can’t zip off to the museum or gaggle with my media buddies over drinks at the latest rooftop bar but that’s ok because everything is transient.

We shift and move through the stages of life for good reason. I was never meant to stand still – physically or metaphorically – so the growth that has led me back to regional life feels so right. Who knows where the next ten years will take me but isn’t that the spice of it all? For now I’m enjoying the ride and leaning into a slower pace with a heart full of memories from a life in the big smoke.