Tree Change - Deciding where do you want to live

Waiting for the Judge. Another great photo by Gordon Smith because I like it.

This post continues to story of Katrina and Tom's search for an alternative life in Regional Australia. I have listed all the previous posts at the end of this post so that those who are interested can follow the story through.

Our focus in this post shifts to ways of analysing and ranking different localities, starting from the premise that you have followed previous advice and therefore have a pretty fair idea as to your needs.

Drawing up a Table

On good technique is to start with a table. Down the left hand side put your needs as you have defined them. Then along the top put the names of the areas that you are considering. This then allows you compare the varying advantages and disadvantages of different localities by inserting comments in each box.

Time and Distance

City people are used to thinking in terms of travel time rather than distance. For some reason when they look at the regional alternative, many switch to thinking in terms of distance. This is plain dumb.

Ten minutes in the city is the same as ten minutes in regional Australia. Ten kilometres or miles is not the same because it just takes so much longer to travel the distance in the city. So its very important to compare like with like.

In an earlier post, Sydney or the Bush - a few numbers, I attempted to compare a Sydney life style with an exactly equivalent regional one.

I followed this up with a post, Understanding the Regional Alternative -Comparing Like with Like, in which I looked at the normal patterns of metro life, suggesting that people thought of this in terms of a series of circles whose size was determined by travel time. My message was that you should apply the same approach in considering the regional alternative.

In Getting the Best out of Regional Living - Wagga Wagga case study, I took a major regional city and looked at just what was offered by the broader region around the city, comparing this with the things available to Sydney people, taking travel time into account.

Drawing from all this, I suggest that you draw three circles on the map around each locality under consideration:

• Circle one represents, say, 10-15 minutes driving time one way. This represents the normal city travel time for the day-to-day circle round home. Work travel time may be much longer. In regional areas most activities will be well within the circle. But there are advantages in adopting a broader approach.
• Circle two equates to around 60-80 minutes driving time one way. This is the maximum radius for things like city sporting activities, although most things - a special dinner for example - will be within a 30 minute radius.
• Circle three equates to 2-3 hours driving time. This is the maximum normal driving time that a city person will do for, say, a weekend away. Two hours driving is about the normal limit, 3 hours for something special.

You can then look at what is in each circle.

The advantage of this type of approach is that it provides a comparative structure for analysing total opportunities in any area.

Circle One: the 10-15 minute Circle

This is the day to day circle, so it is very important to understand just what lies within it. Here you need to look at:

Structure of the town: You need to get a feel for how the town fits together, the distances between things, the structure of life in the town. The local newspaper is usually a good source of information. Most now have an on-line presence, but to really get a feel you need a subscription. Beyond that, the only way to get a final feel is by visiting and then talking to people.

Housing: Most local real estate agents now have a web presence. Don't get caught by a heaven sale, buying at inflated prices. Take the time to really get to understand your options.

Education: Identify all the local schools in order to determine your options. Most schools have web sites that can give you some initial information. You can also get local feedback by talking to people. Beyond that, you have to visit. Depending upon your needs, you may want to check access to TAFE and University facilities. In smaller centres, you may need to consider studying externally or factor some travel in.

Health: Again, you need to check local health facilities. Where there is a local gap, you may need to check nearest availability and then look at travel times. These may or may not be greater than the metro equivalent.

Community, professional and recreational: Most professional bodies have specific support programs for regional areas and can provide advice here. Local professionals are usually happy to talk. Most councils maintain community directories that list local organisations. Most communities, too, have chambers of commerce that can act as a source of advice on business issues.

Supporting Infrastructure: In an earlier post, Getting the Best out of Regional Living - Using the On-line World, I looked at the impact of modern communications. This is an example of another thing you need to look at, supporting infrastructure. This includes:

• water and sewerage. Some regional areas, for example, have lots of water and no water restrictions at all, others suffer from periodic water shortages. If one of your reasons for considering a move is to have the type of home garden no longer possible in metro areas, then you need to take rainfall and water supply into account.
• communications. Availability of broadband may be important, as may access to air, bus or train travel. Air travel is generally more expensive in Regional Australia, so you will want to factor this in.
• business services. If you are looking to establish a business and require supporting services, you should check local availability. Some services may not exist in the immediate area.

Circle two: the 60 to 8o minute circle

This circle covers all those things that you might want to access on an irregular basis, including life style and recreational opportunities as well as special shopping, educational and business services.

The 60 to 80 minute circle can be especially important if you have chosen for life style reasons to live in a smaller community since this will, be definition, have fewer local services.

The clue here is simply to look at the map to identify possibilities for further investigation.

Circle three: the 2 to 3 hour circle

Although specific services in this broader circle may be important in particular cases, this should be thought of primarily as the play circle within which it is easy to get away. Again, use a map to identify possibilities.

Previous Posts in this Series

• In search of the regional alternative - the case of Katrina and Tom
• Tree change - defining your needs
• Tree Change & the loss of the familiar
• Tree Change & the job search process - the story of Tom & Katrina continues
• Tree Change - Contessa & removalists costs
• Tree Change & the job search process - accessing local sources of information

Tree Change & the Job Search Process - accessing local information

In my post Tom & Tree Change & the Job Search Process - the story of Katrina and Tom continues I outlined a number of general sources of information that Katrina and Tom might access to find out about job vacancies. They can then use this information to start investigating localities that might be of interest to them

An alternative route if you have already identified areas that might be of interest to you is to start with the local council. Increasingly councils and their economic development officers are playing a pro-active role in trying to attract people to their areas. This is best illustrated by example.

The city of Greater Taree in the beautiful Manning Valley on the Mid North Coast of NSW has a population of 43,000 and is home to a number of significant industrial establishments offering, among other things, the type of boilermaking work of interest to Tom. In this case, the Council web site has a specific relocation section including an on-line job matching service. Here you can enter details of your skills and Council will then match those with local employers needs.

Not all councils are as well organised as Taree. Sometimes you have to dig down a bit.

In the case of Dalby in Queensland for example, the council web site provides a range of general information about the town, but does not appear at first site to have any jobs information. However, if you keep clicking on links you will finally come to Your Guide to the Dalby Wambo Region which does have jobs information.

This split in information sources between councils and local guides, community or development sites is fairly common.

Rockhampton is another example. Here if you visit the council site, then click on tourist, migrant and business information and then on Rockhampton Tourist and Business Information (Information for Migrants) you will be taken through to the information site. This includes a relocation service.

The split in information sources can be a nuisance where proper links are not provided. However, you will usually pick up both through a web search on the town name.

Tamworth, NSW, provides another example of the need to dig down. Here you go to the council web site. Under business/industry there is an employment page. This provides some general information, but it is very general.

In this case, the council does not appear to offer direct relocation support. Your best bet is to go the regional directory on the council site which has a search facility that allows you not only to identify employment agencies but also firms in a variety of industry areas. This allows you to investigate directly.

Some councils sites, Duaringa Shire in Queensland is an example, may not provide any employment information. This shire contains a several mining centres. In this case, you will need to contact the council directly.

Tree Change & the Job Search Process - the story of Katrina and Tom continues

Photo: Park scene, Dalby, Queensland, one of Katrina and Tom's options.

This post continues the story of Katrina and Tom's search for a future in Regional Australia.

In my first post I reported that Katrina had sought advice on relocation possibilities in regional Queensland or possibly NSW. Because final choice depends upon family needs, my second post discussed Katrina and Tom's needs based on information supplied by Katrina.

At this point I diverted from Katrina and Tom's story to discuss the case of Contessa and a possible move to Tasmania. While a diversion, the theme (the need to think through needs) was the same.

Now that we understand Katrina and Tom's needs, the next step is to help them scope the marketplace for Tom's skills as a boilermaker. As they do this, we will then be able to start scoping the pluses and minuses of particular locations. Remember, it's not just a job for Tom that they want, but a life style no longer available in metro Australia.

Information Sources

Many skilled trades jobs in Regional Australia are no longer advertised simply because employers have found it so hard to get a response. I will talk about ways to access this marketplace later. For the moment, I want to focus on major information sources that Katrina can access via computer.

I start with Seek. This site used to be pretty awful outside metro areas, but is now getting much better regional coverage.

I started by doing a search on boilermaker/welder in NSW other. Eleven jobs had been listed over the last 30 days mainly located in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. This is an area where the growth of the coal industry has had a major impact.

I then looked at Queensland, other. Here there were 26 boilermaker/welder positions listed again with a bias towards manufacturing and mining areas in Regional Queensland. So this simple search has generated over 35 possibilities listed in the previous 30 days.

I then looked at the Rural Press JobsGuide. This covers job ads in Rural Press newspapers. I did not find the search categories here as helpful as the Search categories (there is no provision to search on boilermaking), so ended up searching on trades & services, light industry, NSW. This threw up a few jobs, including an urgent need in Oberon, a town that exactly fits Katrina and Tom's specifications.

I then did a similar search on Queensland, but Rural Press is weak in Queensland, so there was nothing there at this point.

I then looked at APN, who have major newspaper holdings especially in Regional Queensland and the North Coast of NSW as well as parts of NSW. I had a little difficulty finding the APN equivalent of JobsGuide. Finally I found a site called Checkout that allows you to search APN classifieds on APN sites. I then clicked on jobs all locations. I got through the first time identifying a number of boilermaker positions, but then the site went down.

I then found a Queensland Government site providing information on over 12,000 job vacancies in regional Queensland. This site also carries you through to the Australian Jobs Search site, a national site listing over 100,000 job vacancies around Australia. From this, you can drill down by area and occupation.

Next Steps

This should give Katrina enough information to start scoping job possibilities. In the next post I will change focus to look at the approach to be adopted in selecting between localities.

Tree Change - defining your needs

Photo: Gordon Smith, Detail of Orchid Flower. Photo included because I like it!

In my last post, In Search of the Regional Alternative - the case of Katrina and Tom, I reported on an email from Katrina: we are looking for a small town some where who needs the services of a boilermaker who loves a challenge , therein lies the trouble, finding one! "

The first step in the in the search process is to understand your own needs and that of your family. Relocation can be a big step, so you really do need to be clear on your needs before looking seriously at possibilities.

For that reason I emailed Katrina seeking more information. My questions and edited answers follow.

Family Connections

Access to family (parents, grandparents, siblings) can be important, especially for women with children. For that reason I asked "where is your family? Near you? Important to be near them?"

Katrina replied: "The only family we have is my brother and he spends more time overseas than home any way so as long as where ever we go has Internet access then he will be just as close to us as he is now. We do have a very special couple living in Briasbane who are more like family than any one else, but again they are big Internet uses as well and we have discussed this move with them and they think it would be right for us and would give them a place to holiday and an excuse to go! "

Katrina's reply shows that closeness to family is not an issue. However, the reply also draws out that the family are active internet users, so access to the internet is an issue to be considered. Many parts of Regional Australia have equal to if not better internet access than parts of metro Australia, but coverage does vary. So this is an issue that will need to be looked at in considering specific locations.

Children's Needs

No matter how happy parents may be, the move may fail if the needs of children are not taken into account. In this context, Katrina and Tom have four children aged fourteen down to nine weeks.

I therefore emailed Katrina "any special features re education?"

Katrina replied: Education, well my eldest is in grade 8 first year of high school while he isn't brilliant he is holding his own, he travels now to get to a decent school so that will be no big deal for him. The only other concern education wise is my second born who is in grade 6. He has trouble with his reading. He is making progress but slowly, so he would need extra help there. He is on the other hand gifted with maths and the arts. My daughter is well above average so is doing grade 3 and 4 work in her reading yet she is in grade 2 so as long as her teacher is willing to let her move forward at her pace. My youngest obviously has yet to start.

Tom and I love a challenge and our children are not really what you'd call city kids they love to be out doors and don't often play video type games. They email all their friends of course and we all have computers but they still love to run!

We haven't gone into this with our eyes closed we have talked things over with the kids so they are aware of what this would mean, they will miss there friends but will make new ones. They know it and so do I, they are all happy go lucky kids and we would rather they grow up some where where the nastier side of life isn't so in your face all the time, some where that we can feel safe to let them play in their own front yard or to go to the park and know that they will not be harassed or called names for being happy together.

We are a close family as we don't really have any one but each other to rely on so we can be happy any where as long as we have each other and a roof over our heads and plenty to keep dad busy!

Katrina's reply draws out a number of important issues. She and Tom have discussed the move with the kids and have involved them. This is very important since a move away from friends can create real worries in kid's minds.

Education may be an issue in final selection between towns and will need to be investigated. This has to be done on ground. The nature of the support available to the eldest to help with any learning diffculties will be important (country schools can be good in this area because of the personal support that can be provided in a smaller school), as will the capacity of the school to provide accelerated learning opportunities for Katrina and Tom's daughter.

Health services will also need to be investigated on ground. Medical services in a smaller town can be limited, with some services provided in the nearest major regional centre. The critical issue here is not distance but travel time.

Partner Needs

Partner considerations are important in any move because both sides have to be happy.

Katrina's responses focused the needs of Tom and her family, leading me to ask: "What do you want? Do you want to stay at home, to work part time, to work full time? What would you like to do?"

Katrina responded:

What do I want? Well I don't really want to work. I love being a mum and Tom works so I can stay home to raise our kids. Pre children I was working as a seamstress so I love all things making, still do it when I get time, sew that is, I love craft, I quilt, crochet and all things made by hand but my real passion is wood turning I have even sold some on line until getting pregnant and being unable to use the lathe for safety reasons .... I love to read and learn to make new things I am always on the look out for some thing new to try and create.

looking at this, Katrina can be happy pretty much anywhere so long as she and her family have the life style they need.

The life style issue is critical. The life Tom and Katrina want is really no longer obtainable in a metro area. Tom and Katrina need a biggish block with access to a shed and place for the children to play, to dig, to have pets. They need an area in which it is still posssible for the kids to hop on their bikes and vanish without their parents being worried.

In the next post I will discuss how Katrina and Tom might set about finding the job that Tom wants.

In Search of the Regional Alternative - the case of Katrina and Tom

On 19 October I invited people to submit questions about life in Regional Australia that I and my colleagues would try to find to answers for. Subsequently Katrina emailed me:

Hello I currently live in outer Brisbane with my husband and four children aged 13 years down to 9 weeks, we are looking to make a "country move" but there seems endless information that tells you not a lot I am afraid. You see my husband is a trade qualified boilermaker with transport and fabricating experience as well as some fitting and body work experience, and we are looking for a small town some where who needs the services of a boilermaker who loves a challenge , therein lies the trouble, finding one!

I was wondering if you new of any small towns in Queensland that are looking for the services of a boilermaker that can turn his hand to almost anything fabricating and isn't afraid of trying new things. If you don't would you be able to help us with where to start we don't have a specific place in mind but mountains come to mind and rivers! We love fishing and camping so we are planning an exploratory holiday in the Christmas holidays so any pointers as to where we may start would be greatly appreciated. I guess that isn't exactly a questions is it oh well we won't know if we don't ask.

I have read through your questions and answers section of the blog site but it seems to deal with NSW not that I have anything against it and from what I can gather we could move there with out worrying about work either but again I have no idea where to start. Thank you for your time. I look forward to your response.

I was very pleased to hear from Katrina since she and her husband are just the type of people Regional Australia needs. So we are going to try to help her. With her approval, we are going to feature the on-going story on this blog.