After the happily ever after: the realities of living in the country

Moving to the country is a mystery for most residents of our highly urbanised nation.

“Why did you do it?” people ask us country movers all the time. “Is it as good as everyone says it is?”

And the clincher: “What’s it really like?”

Living in the country may seem like the stuff dreams are made of; a utopian lifestyle filled with sunflower fields, brilliant sunsets and devoid of stress. Certainly, that’s what most of us sea and tree-changers would have you believe on social media – but there’s a little more to it. (Other than the sunsets: they’re as amazing as our Instagram pictures profess.)

I moved to north-east Victoria a couple of years ago, and I’m here to answer that question: What is life like after the “happily ever after” of moving to greener pastures?

Internet connection is the pits

My greatest challenge with country life is the internet – or lack thereof.

It’s the one tool my work is reliant on, so before we moved we did our research; internet suppliers reassured us that connection at the place we wanted to buy was solid. It was only when we actually moved that they told us our new home was in a non-internet zone. (Cue a couple of days of high stress.)

We ended up with a 3G mobile broadband setup, which gave us very little data for a very high cost. And every bit of data is used for my work; the kids are only allowed online at the end of the month if any data is left over. That’s the secret, really, of achieving the dream you see us country people smugly share: our kids are climbing trees rather than using social media because they have no choice.

The kids have carefree fun outside, but only because there’s no internet.

And that’s not too bad in the scheme of things: at one small business down the road, they have to stand on the front fence post to access connection for customer EFTPOS payments.

A mental health expert recently came to our region to work with school kids. He couldn’t help but notice that the kids were chatting to each other after school, and not a single one had their phone in hand. He turned to a parent and marvelled, “Wow, you guys are doing something incredible here: what’s the secret?”

“Nah, mate,” this dad replied, “it’s just that the service up here is shithouse.”

Get used to long drives

Us country people don’t have to miss out on all the things our suburban and city peers have: the food choices and the extracurricular activities for our kids. We just have to spend most of our time in the car to get to it.

And it’s not traffic that holds us up, either. We do an 80-kilometre round trip for our children’s swimming lessons, the same for a supermarket that has more than ten items in stock, and most high school-aged kids we know do a bus commute on a daily basis.

That’s all OK, as long as you like driving (and your kids don’t get car sick!).

The stress follows you

Look, it’s nice for us country dwellers to rave on about how life is slower in the country. We share images of wide open spaces, swimming in rivers and pints at the local craft brewery – and, while all those things really are great (actually, the beer is truly amazing), the truth is that life is life.

There are stresses wherever you live, and it’s naive to think otherwise. And if you want to reduce the stress, well, of course it’s possible with some strategies in one hand and a haul of home-grown veggies in the other.

On Instagram we’ll have you believe that wide skies and peaceful landscapes remove all of your stress.

Work can be hard to come by

I work for myself in a job that’s portable so, while internet connection is my big challenge, there are many people around who are simply finding it hard to get work in the first place.

Some commute back to the city – a three-hour one-way trip, which means they’re away from their families during the week. Others drive into the bigger towns, which works quite well for them. And others get creative about the work they do, perhaps working two smaller jobs, or each adult in the household working part-time and sharing domestic duties.

Some have careers that are thriving in this country environment, sometimes because they’re accessing a more relevant customer base or perhaps due to a newfound determination to make it work in order to maintain this lifestyle.

All of this makes for a highly resilient community, where people are given a red-hot go when work is available. But it’s worth planning your career before you move.

A country move? It’s definitely the best thing we ever did, but it’s best to go into it with your eyes wide open. After all, rose-tinted glasses don’t work in the long term.

A country move? The best thing we ever did.