Our journey began back in January 2017, well actually, way before then but that would take far too long for you to read, so let us start here.....it was getting towards the end of the school holidays, we were restless and a bit flat. We had just had the holiday of a lifetime...Christmas in New York....hence we were all suffering from post-holiday blues. So, to cheer everyone up and refocus, we decided to go away for a mini break before school returned the following week, somewhere we had never been but was a place we had always wanted to visit, Echuca!! We loved the history behind the town and the Victorian Port district. Being school holidays and Echuca a very popular tourist destination, we were struggling to find somewhere nice to stay. That evening we thought we would have one more look and to our surprise a lovely little cottage in town popped up, so we booked it and set off the next day.

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​Now, the problem we tend to have whenever we go anywhere, is we cannot help but look at property prices. We have had a long history of moving and renovating, buying and selling and whilst we absolutely loved where we were living, in the beautiful Southern Highlands of NSW, we were only on a half-acre block and we had, for a long time, dreamed of having more land, but to be completely honest, and probably like most people close to or in cities, unfortunately due to the recent increases in the property prices, we could not afford much more land than what we had, in our area.

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With a 7 hour drive from the Highlands to Echuca we had plenty of time to flick through realestate.com.au and the closer we became, the more we felt like change was on the cards. Stopping along the way at all the little country towns, we loved the history that Victoria has preserved.

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​Once we arrived in Echuca we instantly fell in love with its old-world charm, set on the banks of the Murray River surrounded by natural bush land with a perfect balance of the relaxing Victorian Port leading onto a CBD that had everything you could possibly need (apart from Ikea of course).

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​So, after a lovely 3 days that just etched the town deeper into our hearts, we headed back to the Highlands with a plan to sell up and move.... and like most things in our lives, it almost happened over night, within 5 months our house was sold, and we had arrived, moved into our short-term rental, found a property to buy, (with far more land than we expected so close to the Port District) and our new journey as landowners and farmers began.

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To follow our ups and downs, lessons learned, achievement and disasters, laughter and tears click here.

 

Please feel free to send us an email as we are happy to share what we have learned so far, with anyone thinking of doing what we have done. Maybe you have already made the move and struggling to find information or ideas. We don't claim to be experts or offer professional advice, just share what has worked or hasn't worked for us, we are still learning everyday. What works for some may not work for others. It can be hard to just get started with no contacts in the area and not much experience in farming, or no one to talk to about what direction you want to take, what are my options, am I right or wrong, google can only help so much.....that was us in the beginning.... but what we did have was an almighty urge to give it a go, try to become more self sufficient, live off the land and to give our family a new and healthier lifestyle in the country. 

 

Everything in life started out as a thought or idea....

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Sometimes, decisions or ideas can take on a life of their own, but if its meant to be, it will feel like the process is moving quicker than we are and we are just trying to keep up......or maybe that's just us....hanging on by the skin of our teeth!